I Love You Because...

what once was...

what once was this... looks a lot less like this...

and now it looks a lot more like this... 

I can't even tell you how amazing my husband is! This project was started because of the PANTRY PROJECT of 2012. I need   want a new pantry space and as part of it there needed to be a way to access the laundry room from the spare room that was off the kitchen. Then we started reevalutating that room. We were already using it like a mud room/laundry room extention.  Actually as much as I love this new house for the last 9 months the one thing I have missed the most about my old house was The Laundry Room and the perfect system I had. So this extra bedroom is now getting a major rehaul and I can't wait to show you how it's evolved and how it will end up! This weekend is all about the new Laundry Room. 

Happy Friday!
J 

 

The Kitchen - and the BEFORE. The Butler's Pantry (round 1)

I realized after I posted about The Kitchen Island Upgrade last week that I hadn't actually posted about the kitchen originally and since I just got my house cleaned top to bottom, today was a good day to snap a few shots before it doesn't look quite as sparkly. 

The kitchen is one of the things that sold Husbandface. He loved it from the minute he saw it, I had to have it grow on me a little. It's not quite part of a great room but it is very open and the flow is perfect for us and all our entertaining plans. I love the granite counters, the travertine floors (that are addly heated... hello, people? we live in HOTlanta!) and the color they had it when we moved in. 

The view from the living room;

The view as you walk in from the garage door;

See that on the right? The HUGE sink? That is single handedly one of my top 5 favorite things about this house. Let me go on record now, experience one farmhouse sink and it will change your life, FOREVER. You'll never go back. (just sayin'). It's black and while I thought I wouldn't like that part of it, I love it too! 

And the view of the breakfast nook and bar;

You can see a another angle here. I love how much natural light there is and I love the windows going all the way to the floor and looking back on our adorable backyard.

By the garage door there is a pantry.... and the doors to the 1/2 bath, the laundry room and the bedroom/mudroom.... A lot of doors in a little space..... Don't worry, we're going to fix that. 

I show you this horrible picture to inlist your help... Yeah, I'm starting to formulate a new project. (just when that baby list was shrinking, I go on and make a new one....) Right now the pantry space is completely under utilized. The shelves are bad, the wasted space is excessive and the competition for space in a hallway is maddening. So we're planning a semi-big project. A BUTLER'S PANTRY. We're hoping to put it together 100% ourselves (and by we I mean he) and keep the budget to under $2500 while still getting a custom-high-end look oh, and we want to get it done before school gets out in May... accomplishing this with a newborn in our arms. (yes, to answer your question; most of the time we do realize we're slightly crazy.)

I fell in love with Bulter's Pantries when we lived in New England and up there every old house has at least one. Tons of storage, tons of personality... in every single personalized spot! They're hard to find pictures of to explain but, Here's what my first round of reseach has thought up. 

I have no idea how it will actually end up but it should be fun to see where this process takes us! So, any ideas and links you want to share before the demo and ordering takes place? Check out my Pintrest Board; To Plan - Pantry. Feel free to send me any ideas for simplifying, making the most of our money or for utilizing the space that you have? We're open to anything.

Share your thoughts!
Joanna  

 

 

Life Binders - Getting Started

** if you missed the intro to my version of Life Binders you can read that HERE**

Okay another week into my Life Binder project and it's already evolved quite a bit. Besides working on organizing the mountain of papers for Thursday's class and nursing my printer through ink cartridge after ink cartridge, I came up with a main list of categories that are pretty generic regardless of age/family situation.

Emergency, Calendar, Home, Health, Finances, Food/Menu, School, Church, Pets, Personal, Retirement/Legal. Basic enough, right? So that is what the class I'm teaching next Thursday is on. Coming up with your own system and making it work for you. In doing that this last week I learned that I needed to apply that same thought to my own house. The basic idea was perfect as a starter kit that everyone can use but after I organized all my stuff into it, I realized that some sections were out of control too full and others were missing aka; I still had piles of paperwork and information that needed storing but nowhere to put it. This is definately a very personal project so everyone's is going to be different. I decided to seperate mine into three categories/binders.  Family, Finances and Home. 

**In my Family Binder I have tabs for...

Emergency, Calendar, Home Info, Health, School, Pets, and a tab for each member of our family, including Baby Cameron (his in fact is bigger then anyone else's who knew an unborn child chould have so much paperwork!) 

**In my Home Binder the tabs are a lot less serious but still contain that information I'm constantly looking up and that is always cluttering my desk top...

Blog, Online, Cleaning, Food/Menu, Church, Holiday/Christmas, Entertaining, Travel and Garden.

**In my Finances Binder the tabs are...

Accounts, Monthly, Yearly and Past Budgets, Debt/Loans, Mortgage, Utilities, Insurance, Automobiles (I have one for each vehicle), Medical, Medicaid, Bethlehem Property, Tithing, Credit Reports, Taxes, Retirement, Manuals/Warranties and Goals. 

 

I'm sure I'll be adding to these in the future or maybe taking things away but for me the tabs were decided based on how I seperated my papers on my cluttered desk. Which is looking better if I do say so myself! I think I saw the actual desk yesterday for a fleeting moment. ;)

If you're looking to do a Home/Life Binder to keep your papers under control, check out a few free downloads I've put together to get you started, they are just categories or section ideas with a list of things you might want to put in them to keep track of it all but it's a great starting place to see if this type of a system might work for you. 

Download LifeSuggestions1
Download LifeSuggestions2
  Download LifeSuggestions3 

and here are a few more really helpful resources. I didn't use all of them but the info in them was invaluable.

simplify 101 - 10 great organizing printables.
design finch - 20 weekly planners, menus and cleaning checklist printables
blooming homestead - has a great home binder system with lots of daily logistic printables.  
evelyn kate designs - this is the cleaning calendar I put in the Life binder class. 

Trust me I have lots more downloads to share when everything is finalized for the class but if you'll excuse me, I have a paper jam that needs my attention...

J

 

Life Binders

The last month I've been consumed with a really fun project that I've had on my 'to-do list' since the move. We've been slowly drowning in paperwork since last June. Our filing system that we set up when we bought the last house (circa 2002) was really out of date and not working for us... we couldn't ever find anything and we were constantly looking up the same information 10x's a month. I've seen a bunch of Mommy-genda's or Home Binder Systems and while I thought they were great, none really jumped out at me as a complete answer for us. We needed to organize the paper clutter in the house ASAP so I decided in December that 2012 was the year I'd do it, I'd make up my own. In January I also attended a Relief Society Activity Committee planning meeting for the year and I happened to open my big mouth.... needless to say the idea got chosen as one of the activities/classes for the year and suddenly I was penciled in to design and teach the class. It turned out to be perfect for me because it pushed me over the edge to actually design something and get to work putting it all together. It's been theraputic and while at times oddly crazy, I've only had it as a working system for our family for two weeks and Husbandface and I can already see the difference. 

I've seperated our lives into different categories and just started filling in with whatever I could think of, clearning out my wallet full of business cards, recording info from both our cell phones. I started gathering papers piled up throughout the house, hole-punching them and sticking them wherever they needed to go... It's been liberating and I'm determined to fine-tune it all even more throughout the entire year! I started out by researching a lot of blogs about the general concept and to kinda check out what others have done. (I loved Jen's ideas at iheartorganizing, and the ideas at blooming homestead were invaluable!) I also jumped over to etsy first to see if they had any complete downloadable kits that would be a one-stop shop for me, no one had the one answer for me but, they all got the ideas flowing and that's always the biggest step!

I started by choosing my colors. If this was a home binder I wanted it to match my home. Simple... Turquoise and Gray... with birds. I decided to contact Skye over at 4print over on etsy to draw up my basic labels and everything was made up from there to match. She was wonderful and quick and super afforable. If you are thinking of doing this, you should contact her. Seriously it was her work that turned this project from a drag-my-feet 'to-do organizing project' into a can't wait to work on my 'designer life binder' project. I'm teaching the class on March 15th @ 7 (as long as the baby doesn't decide to come that day!) so, if you're here in the Atlanta Area you should come! It's free, and you'll get EVERYTHING to complete a basic Life Binder! Message me for the addy and I'll add you to the sign-up list.

More Life Binder info (and maybe some downloads?) to come! 

Joanna 

Bragging on my Builder- The Boy's Cave

I know since we've moved into the new house I've been oddly quiet around here.... not for lack of things to say more for lack of time to say it all. I have barely got the time to sit down by myself and type out my feelings and usually when I do have the precious me-time my prego body usually makes me do things horizontally with my feet up instead of vertical at a desk. Today I'm forcing myself to take a minute and give you a quick tour of one of the rooms in our new house. Hopefully if I do this more often, eventually you'll see everything. Today's peek is into Ethan's Room, probably because it's everyone's favorite room in the house. It's the had the most work put into it and is now the most complete. We all seem to end up there at the end of the day and any time we want to hang out as a family. We call it the Boy's Cave because really, it's just a mini version of a Man Cave and someday all three boys (ekk! Still weird to say that) will be in there. It's Red, Blue, White and Black and as much as I said I'd never do it again... it's themed. But, it's all for the boy in love with Star Wars so I guess in the end as long as he loves it, I love it. 

Ethan's Room.... 

Below - View From doorway... his couches/reading space. Still one of my favorite things in his room? The framed Star Wars pictures of the kids from a few years ago. (This next year, I might have to find a way to add the new baby intothem.) Ethan's favorite decoration? His Star Wars Lego Tree. (another post on that later.) 

He has two of these cute window boxes turned toy boxes under windows that let in light everytime of day... 

Next to the door... His desk, computer and Lego Shelves...

View from the other side.... The TV and drawers. Doug built those last month. We were just sitting in Ethan's room one day and I complained about LEgo's being everywhere and less than 2 weeks later Husbandface had completely custom designed and built them. (Yes, he's amazing) I'll probably do a completely seperate post about what is in those drawers and how it's organized but I will tell there are only 2 things filling up all of them. Game Systems in 2 of them and LEGOs in the remaining 7. 

Looking up... his closet is to the right and yes, there is a giant x-wing kite hanging from the ceiling. (he's 8... and loves it, don't judge.)

Oh yeah, and above the door.... Ethan's Bed. This project came to mind the same day Doug thought up brilliant built-in drawers. Then it was also completed within a month. Ethan accesses is through a ladder in his closet and in it sits a full-size twin mattress. He loves the cozy feeling of the enclosed in space and I love how amazingly talented my Husbandface is with a few power tools. 

There it is! We still have a few more projects/surprises we'd like to add into the room but this is how it is for now and I couldn't be happier with it. I'll post pictures of a few more rooms soon. Promise. 













 

Favorite Room in the House

Last week I gave a mini tour of my scrapbook room on The Tombow Blog HERE .  I thought I'd show a few more picts and bring in the rest of the family here. Besides, I'm working on a dozen new amazing projects right now and well.... it doesn't exactly look like this anymore so I'm living vicariously through my blog and reminding myself how pretty this room actually is. Since I work from home this is definitely the most used room in the house. 

Starting in the corner.... 

My Creative Desk. 

This is where I actually create things, where I cut, glue and most importantly, make a mess. My current project is usually on it in some form.  Underneath there is a lot of open space so it holds a box with all my Christmas/Holiday supplies and since I've been learning to quilt/sew this past year I keep my sewing machine under there as well, so I can just pull it out and use my desk as a sewing table. The drawers on the left hold my 8 1/2 x 11 papers. 

and the drawers on the right hold essentials that I always need within arms reach. Mats, cutters, corner rounder, black and brown ink pads, rulers, staples, keys, razor blade and embossing powder... kept there. Because the kids randomly get into my other supplies these are the drawers they are forbidden to touch or even look at for fear of extreme punishment. In the bottom drawer I keep misc. mini albums ready and waiting for me to work on and... a box of candy. (if the kids knew there was soo much candy so close to their level I'd be in big trouble! Hence the punishment.) 

Above my desk is that great cabinet that I begged Doug to put up when I told him I didn't have enough space... he argued I had too many supplies... I won. ;)  Inside it are my ribbons... a mess I know, a few albums and projects I'm in the process of working on, my Project Life supplies, My Tombow Dual Brush Pens and all the adhesives.... they are stored in a mini basket and come out on my desk every time I work. I love this system! 

To the right of my desk I keep all my scraps, sorted by color. The kids are constantly in these drawers, they love finding new papers and coming up with even more things to do with them and since they are always so close and handy I tend to go there first and use them more. I keep only papers that are 4x6 or bigger and since I'm getting more into fabric I've added that into the drawers as well. It's a win-win.

Moving to the right... My mega cabinet. It's actually a wardrobe that was bought at Home Depot for $150 and it has earned every single penny of it in the 4-5 years we've had it. I love it. The reason we bought this over other cabinets it because of it's depth. I'm able to put 12x12 paper in easily, the albums that hold them and still have space at the back to hold other/less used items. The top shelf has reference books and a few coloring books, then all my extra adhesives/markers from Tombow, one of the red boxes is full of items/gifts waiting to be altered and the other has everything electronic in it. All my apple cord, extra speakers and webcam stuff. Below that I hold my 12x12 papers. on the left is the cardstocks, organized by color. I'm growing out of this so someday soon I'm betting this system is either changed or added to (hint; hint; husbandface? can we say Christmas gifts?!) On the right is my patterned paper in the stacking shelves they are organized into color but in the box next to it are the page kits and complete collections> Since getting more and more packages for work I've outgrown this system as well... although instead of expanding it I think I'll just be purging and giving a lot of it away. (any takers?) Below all that cardstock are drawers and drawers of supplies. Sewing supplies, Brushes, stamps, stamp pads, Extra markers, Paint, Punches, cutters and scissors, Metal, Flowers, Buttons, Embossing guns, Patterns... you name it and I'm betting this is where it is. I've also added a few kids items like finger paints, stickers and glitter.

Next to the mega closet is my writing desk. Where I work, where I write and where I use the logical side of my brain. This picture isn't quite accurate, the top one is more recent. Just a few weeks ago we got Doug a computer for here at home, for him and the kids, so we all currently share a desk. At first, I thought I'd hate it and be annoyed sacrificing the space but, I absolutely love it. Owen will sit next to me and play online, Ethan and Lorali take turns sitting by me to do their homework while I'm crossing off a few extra things on my work to-do list and in the evening's Doug and I even sit and surf or shop or work next to each other. I love it! Below sits the printer and it's extra paper and supplies a mini filing cabinet holds bills and above the desk I keep all my work files.

Going around the room..... this side is Ethan's favorite. It houses the xbox, playstation and the wii (this coming from the girl who swore she'd never own a game console... ever!) We keep all our DVD in the drawers and the controllers, extra batteries and games are in the baskets... one for each system. While I hate them, it does bring the kids into the room with me and I love their company. On the bookshelf are all my albums, sheet music, church books and all of Ethan's therapy books and notes.

moving around the room to the right there is the door to the backyard and one my favorite decorations, a standing carousel full of mini albums... I love it... A LOT! 

The sad part is how much I love this entire room. While most of it I can take with me when the house finally sell, there will be a few key elements that I will miss forever. Like the view. 

Layers

Seriously, I'd be a brave girl if I took a picture of my desk right now. Actually let me rephrase that, BOTH desks. It would horrify my mother! There are layers and layers of projects on my creative desk and layers and layers of files on my writing desk. Too much to do, and too many interruptions. The major problem with this is that I've been asked to 'Share my Space' and create a little video/picture tour for another scrap blog as a featured designer. Apparently there is a deadline to my mess. So in an effort to document the chaos and live in the moment (and procrastinate a few more minutes) I'm going to clean it up just enough to tell you what is hidden.

First up? My writing desk. Let's see we're planning a disney trip so I know there are files and confirmation numbers and notes on that somewhere. I'm assistant Scout leader and I have TONS to catch up on there so again, I know that it's here somewhere but, not quite sure which pile. My murder mystery package came this week so that box is right on top along with about a dozen notes, random decorations and skulls. I finally printed out a bunch of pictures for my Project Life book so I have photo paper right on top too. I need to pay bills but can't find the sign-in info. to do so. I'm betting that it's somewhere on this desk too. I've had three BIG meetings with Tombow this past week and I'm working on new formatting and design, there are about 3 files for that, only one layer down. Lorali did her homework next to me yesterday afternoon so that is underneath today's emails. oh and flight plans and information for the funeral is glaring at me from one top of Owen's crayons. (on a side note, THANK YOU AMERICAN AIRLINES FOR BEREAVEMENT RATES. SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU!)

My creative desk? It's literally crying for me to have a few days of UNINTERRUPTED time and attention. I bought some fun new embossing tools about three weeks ago. They are sitting unopened on top of a cookbook project I am finishing up. I have a layout I designed the other day on my flight that is sitting half started on top of that. On one side I have a pile of Project Life, on another side I have Dallin's album basically done but for some reason I can't bring myself to actually add the pictures and journaling. In a bag I have pushed against the wall i have last summers mini album- which is a really fun concept but it's so labor intensive that work deadlines push it further and further off the edge. I just planned a few partnerships for Tombow so I have a file for that right on top and I'm working on a couple projects for the blog that were squeezed into any open spot I could find. Owen got into the puff paint today (interruption!) and Ethan pulled out a few too many markers for his birthday card to his teacher tonight so those are basically all over my chair and behind the desk.

I could go on and on. Needless to say.... I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and I wish there was more (alone) time in the day. I'm off to clean another layer or two before bed. 

things I've learned.

I've been organizing a lot this past week. Spring cleaning, (or something like it) I've realized a few things about myself. 

1. I have too much stuff. 

2. If I like something, I tend to buy a lot of it (and never get rid of it.)

 3. I like paper clips. 

4. Simple things really do make me happy.

5. I like organizing. 

6. I'm not getting rid of them. 

7. Sometimes I get less organizing done then I had planned and I just end up admiring all of the little things that I've collected over the years (and taking pictures of them.) 

Documenting Everyday

Four years ago I read in a vintage parenting book about a laundry system that seemed to make sense (thanks Jaime!). The idea was intriguing but I never really jumped on board. About a year ago my landry room was a dumping ground, I was constantly picking clothes up throughout the house and it took me 20 mins just to gather everyone's clothes up to get them dressed. At the time NONE of my kids could dress themselves yet (1,3 and 6). I was fed up. Then I re-did my laundry room system. We added shelves and a folding table, a few hanging bars, a bunch of cute bins and this big cabinet. Now EVERYTHING stays in the laundry room. ALL of the kids clothes (clean and dirty) stay in there. We have a bench and mirror in there and it's where they go to get dressed everyday. No more clothes strung throughout the house. Everything is in there. Dirty clothes in three bins by the washer (that get immediately washed when full) and clean clothes get folded straight out of the dryer and put in this cabinet.  Each kid has a shelf for clothes (pj's, shirts, pants) and a bin for shoes the smaller bins in the middle are socks, tights and undies. They even have special bins for things like ballet and swimming gear. Every child knows exactly where their clothes go 100% of the time and I'm no longer running through the entire house looking for 3 different outfits. The kids pick out their own clothes and I can't say enough how much WE LOVE THIS SYSTEM! Lorali and Owen can dress themselves now and even Ethan can put on his own jammies on a good day. Not to mention that It's a very PRETTY system...

But I think now that I have a two year old (that loves to dress himself) in the house, I might have to figure out how to add a lock into the mix. 
Welcome, Terrible Two's to my clean house. Please be gentle.