A Progress Report

I tell you what…anymore, if it’s summer my name is Worthless. It’s something that’s occurred over the past couple of years. Last summer and this summer, I might as well be a lump of mashed potatoes. With some butter on top. Ohhhh…and some sour cream! With bacon.

Yummmm. Mashed potatoes…

Anyway. I’m extremely inactive. It’s the heat I’m sure. And that my kiddo is home from school. And that hubby is home from school (but at least he works in the basement and is productive). Whatever it is, I feel like I lose my mojo.

I was in our powder room today, looking around at the holes in the walls (that I still haven’t patched after months), and I was reminded of my list of goals I had for this year that I told you about here.

Let’s go through the list, shall we?

First up, the kitchen redo that I started over a year ago. Or was it two years ago? I honestly have no idea. Really. No idea.

I told you I wanted install glass fronts in the cabinets. Still haven’t done that. I’m utterly frozen in fear at the thought of it. I mean, what if I don’t like it? What if they mess it up? (No way I’m DIYing that one.)

If we had painted cabs I wouldn’t be as worried about it, but if one of these gets messed up, we’re pretty much out of luck. I’m frozen people. :)

One thing I did get done – hanging the crown molding:

 

I still haven’t even painted that. ;) Oh yeah, I did paint the back door, so that’s something too. And we all know what a science fair that was, so I get, like, triple points for that.

I discovered the recessed light to hanging light kit at Lowe’s last year, and I still want to find a light to try over the island:

I’m thinking a big lantern, like this:

Or a glass one like this – I’m actually quite obsessed with this lately:

Both are nearly $200, so unless the lighting fairy comes by, I don’t think they’ll happen. I’ve been checking out our local Restore all year for options I could rework and haven’t found anything.

But like everything…it will come eventually. It just takes forever sometimes.

By now I had planned to have the wall behind our bed painted:

And those stripes are still going strong. It would take about an hour for me to just do it…but there they are. Stripes.

I had also hoped to have wainscoting installed throughout the room by now, but the walls are still nekked. Heck, back in January I decided to write an ebook on molding, that I hoped to have mostly done by now.

Gotta do the molding to write about molding. ;)

Speaking of molding – that’s about the only thing I’ve accomplished in the office since January:

OK, a few more things…but not what I had hoped to have done:

The office has taken three years to finish up. Or something like that. Eighteen months…whatever. A LONG TIME.

Remember when I said I was going to paint the chocolate powder room?:

A normal person would just paint the powder room. Not me.

I thought, well if I’m going to paint, I might as well redo it all. I’ll just rip everything off the walls and do something completely different:

That’s how normal people think, right?

The stuff’s been ripped off the walls since April. It doesn’t look too bad from far away, but up close  you see all the goodness:

Since APRIL. :)

I have completed one thing! The ceiling is no longer brown – it’s a beautiful shade of blue/grey:

So at least I’ve got that going for me.

I do this thing where I’ll say “I’ll finish the powder room when I finish the office. But then…I’ll finish the office when I finish the kitchen. But I really want to work on the guest room, but I need to wait till I finish the powder room.”

Aren’t you glad you’re not in my head? ;)

One of the biggest projects I wanted to tackle this year was moving the washer and dryer out of our mud/laundry room:

Because it constantly…I mean ALL. THE. TIME. looks like this:

 

And this:

(Yes, that chalkboard has said the same thing for almost two years. If that tells you anything.)

It drives me NUTS! This is what we see every time we walk in the house – not exactly calming.

I’ve tried to keep it clean. Desperately. It lasts for about 24 hours. There are certain things you learn about yourself and your family that just don’t work. Having our laundry right when you walk in the door is one of those things.

Sooo…I had hoped to move them (up or down) by now. But then I get busy with totally unnecessary projects like book nooks. ;)

No matter that it’s going to take professionals to help move the washer and dryer…so I’m at the mercy of the budget for this one.

The BIGGIE we had hoped to have started by now was the basement:

Our plan after we paid off all of our debt was to start the process of finishing it off. That project has been interrupted by the outdoors, and I’m actually really stinking excited about it.

BIG FAT SMILEY FACE HERE.

It involves some of this:

And a WHOLE lot of this:

So excited I could just pee my pants. :)

This one is not going to be DIY though – which is pretty darn awesome for a change. It’s just beyond our skills so we’re hiring out. They say it will be done before Labor Day, which I believe calls for a HUGE Labor Day party. :)

We decided to move forward with the outdoor project instead of the basement because we know our backyard is an underutilized space – we don’t use it efficiently, for reasons I’ll explain soon. The basement, although unfinished, we use almost daily.

So, outside it is. It will by far be the biggest project we’ve ever done to our house. I’ll show you the process along the way for sure!

So there you go…a progress report on the little progress I’ve made on the to do list for 2012. Encouraging, eh? And yes, I know we have five months left in the year, but fall is coming. That means the holidays come after that (did you know?), so I’ll be pretty obsessed with those two seasons for the next few months.

I am determined to get the office done and the powder room at least started in the next month. And I’m making some minor (inexpensive) changes to the dining room that I’m pretty excited about.

So, when you work on a space, do you just do it or take forever like me? (I call it Decorating ADD.) Tell me, can you walk through your laundry room? What’s the biggest project you’ve undertaken at your house?

And most importantly…do you think there’s any hope for me?

Don’t answer that.

:)

My biggest purge yet!

Hello there! Hope you’re having a GREAT week!

I mentioned earlier this week that I’m DONE with the decluttering of the basement…this is huge for me peeps. HUGE. Every year for the past few years, I spend what seems like half the year decrapifying this space.

This time, it only took me a whole year. :)

For reals. Seriously. A YEAR.

One thing I have learned on my decrapification journey is that ridding your home of STUFF is not something you can do just once every twelve months. At least in our house – it’s a constant process.

Now our home is a bit different than most. I mean, I tend to gather stuff faster than the average person. It’s the nature of my “job” – being a home decor blogger. Add to that a thrifty home decor blogger, and it just spells T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

It physically pains a thrifty blogger to leave that perfect such-and-such or so-and-so at their local Goodwill because if I see it, leave it and walk out without it, OHDEARLORDIMIGHTNEEDIT!!!

Like, tomorrow! Or next week. Or next year?

Or something like that. :)

Sheesh. It is intense people.

But over the past year, I was increasingly over the STUFF. I wanted our house back. I wanted empty shelves back. And I was tired of seeing wasted money sitting around.

I got really intense with it late last summer when my father-in-law passed away. As we went through his house (for weeks), I found my tolerance for our unused, unappreciated stuff was less and less.

I decided then that I only wanted items in our house that 1.) we found useful (and currently USED) 2.) were meaningful to us or 3.) we loved (things that were passed down, or that we truly enjoyed). 

If it didn’t meet one of these three, it was gone. Our biggest problem area has always been our basement. It’s just a prime landing spot for junk, obviously.

I’m happy to announce I have gone through and organized every. little. bitty. thing in the space now. It’s done.

I started with my craft area back in January:

This spot holds extra pantry and entertaining items, tools, craft supplies, electronics and my stash of decor stuff. Those plastic shelves are awesome! I think they run about $20 each and really hold up great.

The area to the left of my craft room will be our future movie viewing spot:

Hubs envisions a very large flat screen on that long wall. I see some gorgeous built ins.  ;)

We used to have a massive weight system in that space:

And it had turned into a perch for STUFF. We never, ever used it. EVER. For months and years, we kept it, thinking we’d use it again.

We didn’t. :)

(In our defense, there were a few problems that needed to be fixed. We kept saying we’d fix them. We didn’t.)

And then I decided it didn’t meet our criteria – so it was GONE. I called a company to see how much they’d charge to take it down, and it was $250. PuSHAW. I figured I could totally do that myself – so I did.

I spent a few days with a socket wrench and took that baby down. It felt SO GOOD.

We didn’t use it, didn’t love it, so why keep it? Yes, I know it was an investment at one time. But I’d rather it go to someone who would use it, rather than sitting in our basement, acting as a coat rack.

Over the last few months, I’ve moved the majority of the Bub’s toys down to this space:

His DIY train tables are a perfect play surface and there’s plenty of floor space (covered with a carpet remnant). It’s so nice to have a spot dedicated to the toys!

The plastic shelves make an appearance in this area too:

We keep the kitty litter in the spot behind these (under the stairs), so to keep that area as separate as possible, I stapled some cheap muslin up on the studs behind the shelves.

I also hot glued a fun polka-dot fabric to the backs of the shelves:

It helps to keep the toys put and it’s just a dash of cute. :)

We already have some great lighting in the basement, but there’s a few spots that need a little extra. I’ve found these plug-in lights at most hardware stores:

They ROCK. Ours hold up to a 150 watt bulb. It’s fantastic for extra light! (They run about $7 each.)

One of my favorite changes in our basement is hubby’s office. It used to look like this:

Actually, it usually looked like a pit of despair. The floor was always covered with fake snow, ornaments, fall leaves and Easter basket filler. :)

Both walls were filled with storage bins, and eventually I realized it was a waste of great space. After MUCH purging, I moved them to the end of the basement instead:

I’m hoping to get some fantabulous shelving to organize these even more. It is ridiculous that shelving makes me so giddy. :)

Now that former bin-filled space is hubby’s office:

It’s actually a really cozy space! As cozy as cement walls and floors can be anyway. I like to think of it as loft-like. ;) Hubs writes music, so he LOVES this spot. It’s far enough away so that he doesn’t bother us with the music and we don’t bother him.

When I said I went through every little thing in this space, I’m not kidding. I can’t even believe how many paint cans we had:

Insanity!!

Even though I had purged the holiday stuff last Christmas, I still had a pile of STUFF that I hadn’t organized:

My tower of junk had fallen, so it gives a little extra drama to the madness. ;)

And I even went through each and every CD and floppy disk from up to ten years ago:

I spent hours at the computer going through files. I was determined to get it ALL done.

I took the last of the purge upstairs over the weekend and I was SO HAPPY when I saw the amount of storage stuff I didn’t need anymore:

Over the past year, I kept count of the large storage bins I’ve sold or given away. It was right at 17. Seventeen big bins – and I didn’t keep ONE. That doesn’t even count all of the baskets, small bins, shelves…whatever. All of them are gone!

I didn’t want the temptation.

From now on, if I can’t fit an item the storage we have, then something has to go. My hope is to never buy another storage bin again…forever and ever AMEN.

:)

I snapped that picture above and texted my girlfriends to come and get free storage stuff…and even after one showed up and took a bunch of them, I still ended up finding more to add to the pile:

And then more:

I was on a roll. :) I gave a bunch to friends, and the rest was donated or taken to consignment.

Obviously, we still have lots of things. I like things. Pretty things, shiny things, thrifty things. I’m just not going to let them take over our home anymore.

So now, our foyer looks like this again:

It’s the first time in months I haven’t had a Goodwill pile by the front door. It feels good. :)

And our problem area, the spot where STUFF went to die…is now organized and ready for the (hopefully this year, crossing my fingers, pretty pretty please!) finished basement:

Whew. Just…WHEW. It nearly beat me people. But I overcame the clutter. :) Now…if I can just keep it in check!

So that’s the tale of my biggest decrapification yet. It didn’t happen over a weekend. Or a month…or even a few months. But it happened. And that’s all that mattered.

WHOO!! :)

Now…onto more decorating and DIY! (Double whoo!)

But first, we declutter

Hey all! WHEW – I have been working my tail off on our basement over the past week. It’s been exhausting, liberating and a little disturbing all in one. :)

Every single year in January, I start a massive decrapification of our house. I go room by room, putting all the STUFF I’m not sure about in the basement. And then after I’m done with every. single. room…I start on the basement.

That’s usually around August, just in time for the fall decor bins to start creeping out. And then the holiday mess in the basement begins…mixed in with the rest of the stuff from the house.

It’s a recipe for an absolute disaster. I feel like I’m working on cleaning out the basement constantly, all year long…because I am. Gah. What’s that definition of insanity again?

I finally realized a solution this year – first of all, I need to start with the basement. Then I’ll have a spot for the STUFF from the rest of the house. And if I don’t have a spot, I’ll know it’s gotta go. Which brings me to my next revelation – we have way, way, way too much stuff.

I know, I say that a lot, and I get rid of a lot every month…every year. But as I get older, my tolerance for stuff is getting less and less. I just don’t want anything that’s not meaningful, pretty, or useful in our home. If it’s not one of those things to us, it’s OUTTA HERE.

Buh bye. Don’t let the door hit you in the patoot.

So, with all of that in mind, I started with the basement last week. The befores are not pretty. Prepare yourself.

My craft “room” started like this last week (excuse the poor iPhone pics):

It’s like this half of the year, and did I mention I’m SO OVER IT?

I ask you, who can craft in this?:

 

Holy cats, it’s giving me hives just looking at the pictures. Did I mention I was over. it? This is the very last time I will have to do this – mark my words.

It helps to have thousands of people mark your words. ;)

I’ll give you a little tour of the space first, because I’m just so darn proud of it! First, the wrapping shelves, which were filled before:

I keep a TON of gift bags – so I went through all of them and tossed (or donated) any that weren’t in great shape, or that I just didn’t like. If I wouldn’t have picked it out myself, it was gone.

Why? Because otherwise I knew it would continue to sit there for YEARS (like some of them had). And I was over. it.

I also had so many little random gift boxes – boxes I’ve kept for probably 10 years now. Seriously…OH EM GEE. Will it kill me to get a box from the dollar store if I need one?

Ridiculous. You can’t see in that picture above, but the bottom two shelves are now pretty much empty. It is a glorious thing.

WHOOHOO!!

Next up is my crafty stuff. This area was more reorganizing than purging:

I separated everything into categories -- wood crafts, random crafty stuff, paint, ribbon, contact paper/wallpaper and a big bin at the bottom that holds all holiday crafts.

By the way, do you see that empty spot on the shelf? Gleeeee!

My decorative stuff is next:

This was a HUGE purge – and it wasn’t easy. I had to pry a few things out of my own hands. I held each piece in my hand and asked myself – have I used it lately? Do I love it? How much would it cost to replace? Do I love it?

Do I really, really, I’m-not-even-kidding, this-is-insane, REALLY love it? If not, gone.

(I still think I kept too many candles, but you should have seen what I had before.)

On a quick side note – I’ve used these plastic shelves for years and luuurve em! They hold a ton of weight, it takes about five minutes to put them together, and they’re cheap! I’ve gotten them from both Target and Lowe’s.

I like to install the shelves backwards for decorative stuff, so there’s a little lip at the front edge:

It keeps things from sliding off. :)

I was determined to only use what I had to organize everything, so a lot of the stuff is in random baskets:

Looks like a farmer’s market, eh? ;)

It’s hard for me to part with lamps. They’re not cheap and they’re so easy to redo -- but they take up so much space. I moved them up to the top so they are out of the way:

Next up – the tools (happy sigh):

I’ll tell you right now – I don’t purge tools. :) Tools (usually) aren’t cheap, and if I buy something – I know I’ll use it. It stays.

Back away from the tools peeps!

I keep the major power tools in the garage, but the smaller ones I keep in small bins down here:

 

I’ve had them organized like this for years and it works great (for me!). I can’t do a big toolbox – the organizer in me needs separation and labels. ;)

The last set of shelves is one I’m pretty excited about. First of all, because it’s half empty:

Secondly, because I decided I want a mini-pantry of sorts down there. Not for food, but for entertaining pieces, party supplies, surplus paper products – all that stuff that I don’t have room for upstairs.

LOVE!! :)

(YES, you can see adult diapers sticking out of one bin, and NO they are not for us. :) We use them as piddle pads for pee cat. Long, long, story.)

Many of you have seen my craft table:

The table is really a large, (nasty), metal folding table. I covered the top in fabric and then hot glued a “skirt” around it (with cheap muslin). Talk about a transformation! It’s so dang cute, I can’t even stand it!!

My life is complete with colorful supplies, a picture of my baby Bub, a coaster for my hot chocolate and my silicon hot pad that I rest the hot glue gun on:

:)

I found a spice organizer at Goodwill forever ago and knew it would be perfect for the glitter:

I hung it up on the pole next to my table and it’s just perfect!

My craft room -- purged, organized and with EMPTY space:

I feel about 150 pounds lighter. :)

I like decluttering and it was still a monster. But I’m SO glad I got this done, and in January? I’m ready to tackle the rest of the house!

Maybe next week. ;)

Let’s take a look at the before and after again, shall we? Cause it’s pretty fantastic!!:

It took four days of working down there every free minute. But it was so worth it – I’m just not doing it ever. again. Did I mention that? ;)

Sooo…what are YOU working on? Spill it! It can’t be as bad as my before. Really.

P.S. Anything I don’t want the Bub to get to it placed up on the higher shelves. He doesn’t get into any of my stuff anyway. Yes, he’s that good. :)

P.P.S. I’m taking some of stuff to Goodwill, some to the consignment shop. That’s my standard after-purge protocol.