Monday, June 30, 2008

hip chick + hunky handyman

A minor (but packs a big punch) home improvement project happened here over the weekend. Put an ambitious-creative-visionary-super-hip-chick together with a hunky-handyman/home-improvement-for-a-living-very-talented husband (quick plug) and you get spectacular results!

This room next to the kitchen and back door houses the washer, dryer, and wash basin on one wall (backed up against the kitchen) and the facing wall that you see is our pantry, storage, and utilities. We spent $60 for white shelving, (we had extra plywood in the garage and leftover paint from the baby's room), and we went from chaos, Ugh! This is embarrassing to even show you ... but with five people in an 1100 something sq. ft. house ... it can be unavoidable.

To order!! Shazam! It's just so fabulous I can't even take it. It feels like we gained a whole room. I'm so proud of this space.

There is a fifth cubbie next to Kiana's that is mine. So now we each have a place for jackets/bags/backpacks and we each have a little green basket (Dollar Store!) for the little things like hats/mittens/cell phones/trinkets. I hope this will put an end to the jackets draped over chairs, hooks overflowing by the door, and purses and trinkets floating around the counter tops. Instead of the shoe cubbies by the back door, each kid now has a little green basket in their room where their shoes go.

This is so fulfilling. The key to this remaining organized is to purge the unnessary. (How many jackets does a child ... or mom ... need?). I'm a big purger. It's just stuff. This little house can't handle the stuff. If we're not using it, it gets given away.

Next I have to devise a system to bring order to all the paper and information that comes home from school ... I have a couple of months to dream up that solution. Any ideas? Please share!

2 comments:

meg duerksen said...

i need a paper system too!
oh man there are so many papres that come home. and for me...i get 3 copies of the same papers every week at school.
ridiculous!

your pantry is awesome.
seriously awesome!
good for you!

Mike said...

Want the high-tech solution? Scan the pages, tag them with relevant meta-data (like 'school', 'hunter', and 'field trips'. Then use a smart photo-browsing application that allows you to sort those messages by tags, due date, etc.

The low-tech method? Get a few paper boxes (I've these anytime you like) and a hundred manila folders. One box per month (or two depending on the volume) --> Split the box into sections for each person, and then use individual folders for each topic (like school, church, crafts, medical, etc).

Something similar to that works really well for me in the office.

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I'm a creative spirit who, only recently, has discovered that I must do something creative every day. I love my three children. I love my hard working husband. I love experiencing God's goodness in everyday things and my deepest desire is to grow more in love with Him every day. I love worship, I love God's Word, and I love expressing the gifts he's given me through art and in my home. I am passionate about life and all things creative! All text, art, and photos are copyrighted 2007 - 2008 all rights reserved.

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