Entryway and Hallway Clean-Up

Room Two on the Schedule - Entryway and Hallway

Since I didn't have to babysit again today, I thought I would go ahead and get the entry and hall clean.  I know according to my schedule I have almost two more weeks to complete these areas, but starting this weekend I am hoping to put a lot of time working on the bedroom project (yes, I really want to win one of those fantastic prizes!).  I figured that today was a good day to get it done.  Little E was in a very good mood, and not too demanding.  All signs pointed to go clean. :)

Here are the before pictures:

It doesn't look too bad but there are things I notice that others may not - dust! 

Entryway Cleaning List:                                                       
- dust mop & damp mop walls                                                
- clean blinds & window
- dust shelf & contents
- vacuum rug
- scrub floor & stairs
{need to get paint & touch-up wall, baseboards & rail}

Hallway Cleaning List:
- dust mop & damp mop walls and doors
- clean light fixture
- dust shelf
- windex picture & mirror (vinegar & water solution)
- vacuum rug
- scrub floor

Here they are all clean & shiny:

I added some cute little Valentines decorations to the mirrored shelf:

I would love to get a new runner for the hall & a new mat for the entryway.  The craft closet door needs a new knob.  The wall in between the two doors on the right hand side is blank and I have no idea what to put there.

The wall on the left side currently holds this picture from our wedding day 

That is going to be replaced with a collage similar to this:

I am planning on making this console table to place under the collage

Image from Better Homes and Garden

Do you have any ideas of what would look great on that right wall? Or any other decorating ideas for these two spaces are more than welcome. :)

Entryway and Hallway Clean-Up

Living Room Clean-Up

Room One on the Schedule - Living Room

Since we are now officially in February I decided that I needed to finish up the chores in the living room so that I could cross that room off my list.  Since Miss. Bean was home from school and could help entertain Little E, I figured today was as good a day as any.  I really want to be able to spend the weekends when daddy is home working on the bedroom for the next few weeks.  I also don't want to fall behind on my schedule for cleaning either - so far so good!

Before I show you my cleaning list for this room, I thought I would show you the before pictures I took the morning before starting.

Living Room Cleaning List
- remove any trash from room
- clean up and declutter toys
- dust mop & damp mop walls
- dust all furniture
- windex all glass (I use vinegar & water solution)
- vacuum all furniture & under cushions
- move all furniture and vacuum
- clean window & window sill
- put up Valentine's Day decorations

This is the play area after cleaning:

This is the living room area after cleaning:

It was so nice after all this was finished to sit in this room and just enjoy how it looked.  I find it so much more relaxing when everything is in it's proper place.  There are some things I want to do to redecorate now that the room is all clean. These will be gradual things - I would love to have new furniture (couch and chairs), I want to go with something neutral so I can accent more for the seasons. I want to paint the mirror on the back wall - unsure what colour yet though. The big project that we are going to do is build a new entertainment center - like this one:

Image from Pottery Barn

The plans for it can be found on Ana's site - Knock off Wood. I'm not sure if I want to paint it black or a dark brown.  Remember I want to go neutral but I know for sure I do not want white or a variation of it in the living room.  I want something warm.  I think I'm leaning towards black though.  What do you think? What other decorating ideas do you see for this room?  I'm up for hearing your ideas too!

Living Room Clean-Up

28 Day Organizing Challenge in My Bedroom

I've known about this challenge for a couple of weeks now and I've tossed around the idea of joining. Two things were holding me back. First of all once you see the room you'll see it's going to be a huge commitment. Can I follow through? Or will I start and then freeze on it? Secondly I would have to take before pictures and share my embarrassing mess with all of you.  Admit I've got a dungeon - who likes to do that??  Well, I'm taking the plunge.  I'm joining the challenge and I hope by the end of the month I'll have a beautiful retreat to show you.

Before I get started on the great organizing mission I'm going to share the before shots *deep breath*

This is what you are greeted with when you walk in the bedroom. Not exactly the most welcoming retreat to walk into. 

And here we have the view from the bed. Best just to close your eyes and go right to sleep to avoid starring at the mess for too long.

And the view towards the closet. Lovely isn't it? I would have taken pictures of inside the closet but *ahem* I couldn't exactly get to the closet. Trust me, it isn't any better than the rest of the room though.

There you have it, in all it's glory - the mess from hell.  Now, in a little fairness some of this mess wasn't created until the great craft closet makeover. Everything from that closet was dumped into  my room and the leftover bins were also dumped in there. So it wasn't quite this bad a couple weeks ago - well, the closet was but not so much the rest of the room.

Just in case you've already forgotten - here it is again for you ;)

I hope to take pictures as I tackle this challenge and share some progress pictures with you. Now, don't flame me for my mess okay? Just hold my hand and tell me I can do this. Been there, done it? Have some tips for me? Have some ideas? Please share!

28 Day Organizing Challenge in My Bedroom

Organizing in the Kitchen - Menu Planning Step One

Day 331: groceries By: bookgrl on Flicker

I missed posting yesterday but I didn't actually do anything other than the basics to get through the day.  I had to babysit and with looking after two little ones, plus the big kids home for a snow day; keeping my sanity was the only goal. Today I took another easy day mostly. Did a little work in the living room, tidied the rest of the house and this evening I worked on my menu for next week.  Since menu planning is part of being organized I thought I would talk about it with you tonight.

Do you menu plan? Have you stood in front of your cabinets or freezer an hour before you should be serving supper wondering what in the world you could make tonight?  Do you often end up just ordering out because you can't figure out what to make? Menu planning can help! Spending a few minutes once a week can save you time, stress and money!

When I first started menu planning I just started with planning suppers, gradually I started adding in lunches and breakfasts.  This is particularly helpful when the kids are home on school holidays. Now I generally keep the same breakfast and lunch menu until the kids start saying they are sick of something, then I will change it up a little.  I plan only one week's worth of menus at a time.  If you get paid every two weeks it may be more helpful for you to plan two weeks at a time.  I've tried planning a months worth or more of menus before and I never stuck to the menu at all.

Recently I sat down and tried to figure out a faster system for menu planning and this is what I came up with.  Tonight we'll only talk about the first step. That way you can do the homework and come back next week for step two. The first thing I did was sit down with all the recipes I had printed, cookbooks I use, clippings I had saved and wrote down a huge list of things I like to make. This list does not include things I haven't made before or want to try; it's just things I know my family likes.  I have a list for spring/summer and fall/winter.  Doing it this way I know I'll have things on my menu the family enjoys and I can add a new recipe in whenever I want. You can see the list of meals I made here. I think I've added on to the list (via my cooking blog) since I made this list in my notebook, but I just used the notebook list to make this file for you.

This week you can try coming up with a list of meals your family enjoys. Next week we'll tackle the second step.

Are you finding this helpful? Do you have a different, maybe better way that you plan menus? If you do I'd be interested in hearing it, always looking for a new more efficient way to do things. :)

Organizing in the Kitchen - Menu Planning Step One

Kitchen Cabinet Organizing - Part 1

This evening I decided to tackle a couple of my kitchen cabinets. The worst of the bunch, the ones that annoy me when I open them and things are falling out or are so disorganized I can't find what I am looking for. I'm sure you know what I am talking about, right? I don't know about your family but mine can have the cabinets a bit messy again by next week. So, I'm going to try and make an extra effort to put things back in place when I see someone has just shoved in a rush. Maybe then my efforts will last a bit longer.

Are you wondering what state the cabinets were before I cleaned them out & organized them? Well, let's take a look...

And about 40 minutes later (I did this while making and serving supper to the kids so may have taken a bit longer that it should have), we have a couple of nicely organized kitchen cabinets!

There were quite a few boxes that only had crumbs left, so I left enough space to replace them when I go shopping. I'm pleased with the results mostly. Thinking about getting a couple baskets for tea & coffee boxes and maybe for snack items. Other than that I think it looks a lot better now. I can open the doors and smile instead of grumble, that is a good thing! 

Kitchen Cabinet Organizing - Part 1

What's in the Pantry??

Every day this week when making lunches I open the pantry door to get the lunch bags out and I cringe at what I see.  Okay, so this is been going on a bit longer than a week, more like a month or so but who's counting. ;) Today I finally had enough.  This would be the day I would win the battle of the messy pantry. Wanna know the best part - It only took me 15 minutes to empty, clean and re-organize the entire pantry. Yes, that's right all of the shelves took only 15 minutes!

This is the scary before picture. Lucky nothing fell out when I opened the doors.

15 minutes later...

Isn't that beautiful?  I just want to sit and stare at it.

The top shelf has my spices and all my cake decorating/candy making supplies in the basket. The second shelf has some of my baking supplies. The third shelf just holds some misc. things I didn't have room for in the cupboards. On the very bottom shelf is my bread machine and food storage bags/wraps.

I was able to donate all of the baby food (we never really used it, just had it on hand "in case") and the baby crackers. The best before dates on all of it were a long way off, so I felt good blessing some family that may need it for their little one.

Did you organize anything today? There are so many things you can do in 15 minutes or less. I know it's hard to not want to do anything unless you can do the whole room, but a little here and a little there and before you know it the whole room will be done.

What's in the Pantry??

5 Minutes to an Organized End Table

Tonight I realized I hadn't done any organization project so I needed to find something I could do quickly. What could I do quickly and quietly (the kids were all in bed)? Ah-ha! the end table in the living room. This is where all the weekly flyers get shoved, and then the next week's get shoved on top of that, and...are you seeing a pattern here? This is also where we keep the phone book (yes, we still use that *shock*) and it's often a trick to try and find the phone book in there, let alone get it out. This project took me I would say at the most 5 minutes. Seriously, how silly is it that we put off clearing things out when they take so little time?

Yes, thats a hamster wheel in there. No, we haven't had a hamster in almost 2 years...

And 5 minutes later we have...

a nice and organized end table.

What can you organize in 5 minutes? Go ahead, find something and organize it, I'll wait for you! :)

5 Minutes to an Organized End Table