Commanding the Entry

Lillie and Dani start school in less than two months. That means backpacks, homework, coats, and shoes need a place to land.

Right now, all of those things drape across our love seat, stack up on the console, pile up on the shoe rack, and get strewn on the floor.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Not any more.

It's time to be able to find the mail, find the homework, find the permission slip when I need to.

It's time to take command of my makeshift entryway. It's time to make it the command center it is screaming out to be.

**cue awesome action music**

I need hooks. I need mail sorters. I need a place to scribble notes.

I need help.

I pretend to be an organized person, but that organized person ran away roughly five and a half years ago when I brought home infant twins.

I need to find my old organizational self and kick her into gear because once school starts, I doubt I'll make the time for it.

So let's start with the space. This is what it looks like now. In a brief moment of motivation, I took two of my mail folders off the wall, and now I have tears in the plaster. Yay me. :/

Those two dressers that act as a console are currently holding scarves, mittens, hats, batteries, and a slew of things that don't need to be in there. I'm thinking I can downsize to one dresser for winter accessories, grocery bags, and miscellaneous office items like pens and stamps. The other can go to the land of Craigslist.

I'm also thinking my little tiny corkboard needs some steroids. That's obviously not enough room for me to pin things...or maybe I should just stop pinning things.

The keys obviously have a nice home, but the mail doesn't. (What you can't see in this picture is the piles of mail on the bar table just to the left.)

The awkward placement of the doorbell and the thermostat do make for interesting obstacles, but I can work with that I'm sure.

Here are my inspirations:

This one is the closest to what I'm going for. I don't really like the cubbies or the lamp, but I do want a small bench, hooks and to keep one of my Rast dressers.

source: Better Homes & Garden

This one has a very cool coat hooks. I like the idea of mixing up the hooks so it's a little playful without being crazy colors right by the door. The small shelf above would be a great place for library books and small things like keys and sunglasses.

source: View From the Fridge

I like the cubbies, the small shelf, and the calendar happening here. Also I will need plenty of hooks for coats, backpacks, and my purse.

source: Get On With It Already

Even though this is far too low key for my entry, I really love the bench and the basket. Plus I could whip up that bench is a few hours. I'm cool like that.

source: DIY on the Cheap by Erin Spain

And finally this one, in all of its organized paper glory. I would like to believe that I could always keep every piece of mail and important papers this organized.

source: The Caldwell Project

Big Girl Design: So Much Color

Lillie and Dani have begun voicing opinions about their room. Next year, I plan to bunk their beds, so I think that will be a good time to do some redesign. I want the decor to be something that can stay with them through the tween years. (I may like makeovers, but they are so much work, I don't want to do them all the time!)

The most surprising thing is that they have agreed on nearly everything for the room! Even today, Dani said that she wanted the bottom bunk so she could make a "Dani cave." (This may have been helped by the fact that I said I could add string lights so she could read at night.)

I have to relish in all the cooperation and agreement on design. I doubt it will last too long.

Can't you just picture this with glowing lights?
source: Annipalanni the blog

The first thing they decided was a need for some color on the doors. At first, we were just going to paint the closet door bright pink. But then Lillie didn't find this too fair since purple is her favorite color (even though their bathroom is purple), but Dani was cool with it. We'll be painting the closet and the main door each two colors--purple and blue and pink and yellow.

source: Honey We're Home

Then, to complement the pattern on the doors, we'll be doing a big pattern on the wall behind the beds in all four of the colors.

source: Habitually Chic

I figure this big bold design will be good for them as little girls and will hopefully still be cool as they get older. If not, posters and art can cover it, right?

We're still working out the curtains since green is now so taboo. ("Mommy, green is not our favorite color.") I'm leaning towards white with pom-pom edging. I may like color, but I don't need it to be overwhelming.

The plans are slowly coming together, and I hope to have everything planned out by December since I'd like to make the changes around their sixth birthday.

Wow. Sixth birthday. I think I need a moment.

My Resolution

I used to be a stickler for organization. I still love walking into The Container Store. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy. But with two little ones ransacking the house on a regular basis, my need to be perfectly organized has been stuffed in the back corner of my brain.

Not anymore.

I find I get stressed when I can't find anything, and I don't want the extra stress. I find I get frustrated when I forget things because they end up hidden under piles of other things. I don't want the extra frustration.

It is time to be more organized. It is time to accept that I will never have a home that looks like a Container Store ad, but I can have a home in which I can find things.

A place for everything, and everything (eventually) in its place.

It will begin with my office. My office is a scary place where everything goes to hide.

I can't actually walk into my office closet. I literally spent about three minutes trying to get out of it when I went in to find a box of something.

I recently found my glue gun which had been lost since last Halloween. It was in my office closet.

I also didn't realize I'd bought brackets for my office shelf. I found them in a bag under the chair.

This is bad. This isn't as bad as Malcolm in the Middle's Hal and Lois finding an extra bathroom when they cleaned out their bedroom closet, but it's getting close. I fear that one day I won't see the floor anymore.

Even though I would love to be more active and be stronger in 2014, even though I would love to cook more and create more and write more, I feel that I cannot do any of these things until I can feel good about where I put the junk in my home.

What are you New Year's resolutions? Anything that you're rehashing or trying for the first time?

Big Girl Design: The Beginning

If you know me at all, you know that I'm slightly obsessed with a few things: sci-fi television, Harry Potter, and interior design. I'll let you guess what this blog is about.

Tim and I finally came to an agreement on the big girl beds for Lillie and Dani. Check them out here. For me, the plan is to begin with the beds and leave the rest of the room (mostly) as is. Over the next year or so, I will transform (pardon me for imagining the word "transform" being said in some big booming voice with an echo effect) the baby/toddler room into a big girl room that will hopefully stay that way through their tween years.

The only solid plan is the wall color. It's currently a nice neutral (Vanilla Brandy from Olympic), so I plan to keep them that color. Bright accents with a neutral background are far more appealing than bright walls that could be outgrown faster.

Most of the other design elements are just ideas I have brewing, so I thought I would start sharing because there are soooo many. I also happen to have two little girls who are a bit opinionated when it comes to their room decor, so I'm allowing them to put in their two cents (four cents?) as well.

Already bought the bedding (green for D and purple for L).

I love these blankets and plan to do something similar in coordinating colors for each of them.

Both Dani and Lillie fell in love with this cat pattern fabric. I'm thinking pillow cases or throw pillows for their beds. It's cute, but I couldn't take it in large doses. :D

Fabric or Paint? A Question of DIY

To upholster or not is really the question I'm asking here. A few months back, Tim & I took apart the girls cribs-turned-toddler beds because Dani had taken to sleeping on the floor. They've been sleeping on their mattresses on the floors with success (save the occasional room destruction that results in overturned mattresses).

Since the transition from bed to floor, I've been thinking about their big girl beds. Bunks beds were a big consideration, and then my mind turned to loft beds because they could both have a top bunk and room to play underneath. Then my brain started churning again, and I decided that loft beds weren't something that would last. Around 10 or 11, they would want something a little more grown up, and there I am rethinking beds again. Finally, my brain settled on upholstering beds for the girls. I pinned an awesome tutorial from a blog called All Things Campbell. I priced out the project and even have a swatch of the chosen fabric pinned (literally, not digitally) to my bulletin board.

And then my brain started up again. (Can someone make it stop doing that all the time?)

Do I really want to upholster beds for the girls? It's a large project that needs quite a bit of space. It's rather involved and something with which they can't help very much. I also feel that I don't have the extra time to make it as great as I want. Then, of course, Pinterest reared its massively addictive head again, and I once again fell in love with beds like this bright happy yellow one (which is actually from a 2 year-old's bedroom):

source: Project Nursery

And this lovely navy one:

source: Ethan Allen

And this bright red one (I think Tim's love of WKU would make this one a hit.):

source: Jessica Helgerson via Design Sponge 

Of course, the upholstered look is something that could still happen. I still love the look of twin beds with cushy fabric. Here are a couple so it doesn't seem like I'm completely one-sided. 

source: Little Green Notebook

source: Domino Magazine

source: Bear Hill Interiors via Cococozy

So... What do you think? Paint or fabric? Weigh in!

Let's Make Art!!

In an effort to come up with more activities for the girls AND to do some DIY decor around the house, I came up with the (brilliant) idea of having the girls paint an abstract for the family room. I'm not going to lie, in my head I envisioned bright colors flung about on the large canvas. There was definitely flinging, but mostly it was smearing and giggling as they splashed paint with the sponges and painted everything including the concrete, the grass, and the retaining wall.

The final result was not exactly amazing. OK, it was amazing for toddler art but not for my wall. I decided to start over by painting the entire canvas white. This was the result: 

I actually thought that looked pretty cool, but it was too boring. Plus I had Mommy Guilt for covering up my daughters' art. So I let this new paint dry, added masking tape and gave them another go with some brighter paint. And voila!

Now we have an L&D original hanging on our wall in the family room. When they're a bit older, I'll have them sign it.

Color, Color Everywhere!

In the next couple of months, I plan to do some painting. I want to paint the girls' bathroom and play table. I want to paint the kitchen table and chairs. I want to paint an old hope chest I inherited from my great uncle. I'd like to paint my office desk, but that behemoth may have to wait for another burst of inspiration and energy.

With all this urge to paint, I've been checking out a lot of color palettes online (and by online I mean Pinterest). There are a lot of great color combos, but sometimes you need to go and create your own. So here are a few I did in the last couple of days.

What do you think? Is it too much color? (What?! There's no such thing as too much color when there are kiddos around!!)

I like this one for our family room. We currently have a red sofa, so I'd like everything to be near neutral.

I think I'm starting to like pink...uh oh. I like this color combo for the girls' room  when they get a bit bigger and we move to twin beds.

I've decided the girls will have a purple bathroom. I'm still tossing around colors to go with the deep purple walls. This one is sitting well with me. (Notice how that darn pink popped up again.)

This super bright happiness would be in my office. I don't think Tim could handle colors like this in any other room. Granted, I think I'm halfway there with the first three colors already incorporated. 

Kitchen Storage

For a few months now, I've been trying to find a good storage solution for fruit and vegetables in the kitchen. Since moving into our house, I'd been using a large white bowl to hold fruit and veggies. It worked well for the most part, but sometimes I get a little gung-ho with the produce and end up with far more potatoes, apples, bananas, tomatoes, etc than can fit in my pretty white bowl.

Then I discovered Pinterest.

Pinterest introduced me to joys and wonders of beautiful and cool things I will never have or have time to make, but alas, I spend lots of time there. That's where I found these very cool wall baskets. Perfect for the small piece of wall between the pantry and the fridge. Perfect...if they were still available.

My search began, and every time I thought I'd found the best basket, it ended up being the wrong size or far more expensive than I wanted to go with.

Finally, I came across some great baskets at Kohl's. They were originally $30, on clearance for $5 each. I happened to have a gift card for Kohl's, so those baskets were free! That's the best price ever. So, without further ado, here's my new fruit and veggie storage in the kitchen.

Nice, huh? I just hope the girls don't go crazy trying to grab the lower one from the wall.


By the way, if you'd like to follow me on Pinterest, click here: http://pinterest.com/fabfish

Planning Far, Far, Far Ahead

I have a problem. I've had it for years, but with kids, I must say that's it has gotten worse. I love to redecorate. At this juncture, I do not have the funds (or truly the time) to do so, but I definitely do lots of planning. I have links to about twenty home improvement, DIY and decor sites on my bookmark list. I would cry big tears of happiness if someone gave me a shopping spree to Lowe's, Havertys, and Ikea. (Wow, I'd have one awesome family room if I could pull that off....) I also happen to have a small collection of inspiration photos for redecorating the girls' room when they move to "big girl" beds.

Yep, I have inspiration photos for something that probably will not happen for another four years or so. I told you I have a problem.

We bought convertible cribs for the girls so we could get the most bang for our buck, so when they're out of crib stage, we'll convert them to toddler beds. Once they leave toddler beds, I still want them to be in the same room; therefore, converting the toddler beds to full-size beds won't fly in a 100 square foot room. This is where the planning starts--what kind of beds do we go to?

Twin beds, duh.

But bunks beds? Side-by-side beds? Storage beds? There are so many choices!!

from Better Homes & Garden

Bunk beds, at first, were the way to go for me. The girls get there own space yet we open up some floor space for a play area and a desk (which is already in there as a changing table right now). The downside is storage. The girl in the top bunk doesn't get much in the way of a nightstand or anything. I mean, I could install a wall shelf or something, but it still seems a bit lacking. Plus there's the whole ladder thing. Yes, they make cool bunks that have stairs on the side, but I'm still not keen on someone climbing to bed every night OR a parent having to carry a sleeping child to a bed that's taller than said parent.

Even though I'll still consider them, I'm leaning more towards the side-by-side idea. Everyone gets a bed and a nightstand. Depending on how I set up the room, both can have a little bench or seat at the foot for getting ready. Also, I've always wanted a room with side-by-side twin beds. If we hadn't had children, I actually thought about doing it in the guest bedroom anyway. There's just something very clean and inviting about the symmetry of it all!

from Apartment Therapy

I love the bright headboards paired with the bold striped rug in this picture. I'm not so keen on the perfectly matched bedding, though. Just as with their clothes, I don't think I'd give Lillie and Dani identical bedding. The centering of the photos over the nightstand is a nice twist on the norm as well. I'm thinking that I'll still have the mural up that's painted there, so I won't even worry about additional art, but who knows! Maybe Mommy the girls will grow tired of it and want a change.

I also think storage is a big, big, huge deal. Beds with built-in storage seem like the way to go. But their beds will be rather close together side-by-side, so I can imagine pulling out drawers being a bit of a nightmare when two little ones are rushing to get ready. So then I think about a different room set up to allow for ultimate storage.

The L-shape set up in this picture gives plenty of room for drawers plus a central nightstand/storage place for each girl. Plus I'm pretty sure this could be very optimal for sleepovers later down the road since a wider bit of floor would be open.

So many decisions and so little much time to go back and forth and back and forth. Of course, I'll just keep these inspirations tucked away in a folder and add to them as I find new pictures. But it is fun to share my little obsession with people just to get some extra feedback (either on my ideas or a good counselor I could see).

My Ikea Hack

For months (OK, it may actually be years), I have been looking for a great piece to go in our makeshift entryway. I needed it to be no more than 12 inches deep and 50 inches wide. I wanted to have closed storage to keep the girls out of it, and I didn't want it to be too cookie cutter. Every single piece I found fit only one of my criteria. In fact, the dream piece I found at Pottery Barn (for a mere $599!) is too big for the space.

Expensive, but beautiful!

I'd finally found a piece--or pieces rather--that worked for me: closed storage, the right dimensions, and...well, they're a little cookie cutter because they're from Ikea. I knew that I could take these boring pine dressers and make them my own.

I purchased two Rast Dressers through ModerNash (love you guys!). I also purchased some stain, new knobs and some foam brushes. That way, these cookie cutter dressers could become what I wanted them to be.

So here you go.

 

And (drumroll please...) the after! Well, not exactly the after; it's more the in progress. Eventually, I plan to make these two dressers look like one as well as add legs to bump it up about six inches. For now, though, I really am proud of the work I did. 

I'll take some better pictures in the future when I've done a little more work on it, but I was just too excited to not share right now. What do you think?

Little Touches, Playroom Edition

As I stated in this blog, I've gone on a cleaning rampage. I have officially finished the dining room and, early this morning (around 1 AM), I finished the playroom. My goal was to dust, sweep and mop all the surfaces; hang new shelving and finish floor pillow covers for the girls. This morning, it was all about that last floor pillow.

Here are the results! (Click the photos to supersize.) I must say that I am very proud of myself. My dinky sewing machine broke halfway through the first pillow, so I had to sew those suckers by hand. And, of course, the embroidery is all hand done because I definitely don't have the money for one of those cool Martha Stewart embroidery machines.

The embroidered circles were my original design. In fact, I did a small version way before the girls arrived. I had planned on doing the pattern on curtains for their room, but that fell through. Then I started searching online and came up with the felt butterflies for the second pillow. I knew when I did the butterflies that I was going to love it more than the embroidered circles, but that's OK. I will not (will not, will not, will not) redo that circles pillow because I love it too.

The playroom will be ongoing--adding new art, replacing old toys. But for now, it's seems quite complete. When I finish the entire house, I shall have pictures.

Passing on the Music

This is a picture of me at six years old. That little piano there is probably a few months old, and I'm playing a little tune in my first grade music class. I absolutely adored that piano. I played it nearly everyday until my grandmother bought me the real thing. Then that piano sat safely underneath my real one, still treasured.

When I went off to college, got married and then moved away from home, that little piano was still sitting underneath my big piano. When I moved back to Nashville and bought a house, my big piano came with me, but the little one stayed behind.

Then the girls came along, and I started to really think about that little piano. When they got big enough to really be interested in banging on keys, I knew it was time to bring the little piano to my house.

Alas, my parents didn't love it as much since there was no one to play it. This is what it looked like when I finally rescued it--water stains on top, dust and dirt in nearly every crevice, exposed staples and nails, plus stickers that were put on around the time that picture up there was taken. This little piano needed more than just a little cleaning.

I knew I wanted it to be something special for my girls. I figured I couldn't save the finish and replacing pieces the water stained wood was pretty much out of the question. So I decided to go bold.

After lots of scrubbing, sanding, scraping, priming and painting, and painting, and a little more painting, Lillie and Dani now have a little piano to call their own.

It will not sit safely underneath the big piano, but instead beside it. I hope they play with it well and learn to love music as much as their mommy.

Planning for Next Year's Christmas

Every year, I drool over Christmas decorations in decorating magazines, on HGTV, and on Pottery Barn's website. I long to have a cozy house filled with spicy smells, lots of glittery lights and wonderful decorations outside. But, this year--just like every other year--I put up our tree and decorated it with red and silver ornaments. I hung the stockings (five this year instead of three). I curled the simple three strands of lights outside around our door and railing.

This is the last year that I will do that. Probably to the dismay of Tim, I plan to hit it out of the park next year with the Christmas decorations. I will not be my mother who has about 50 angels and Santa Clauses oozing from every nook and cranny in the house. I will be me, but the me who's been looking at decorating magazines for years. Why not this year? Well, the girls are ten months old, they won't care. They enjoyed watching me put up the lights, but they barely even notice the tree.

Next year, they'll be nearly two years old. Starting next year, I get to live Christmas through the eyes of my children. I get to talk about Santa Claus and elves. I get to hide gifts and stuff stockings. I get to truly enjoy putting up the decorations instead of just wishing someone else could do it so I could imagine it.

And just like with nearly every other thing I do in my life, I must begin planning. I'm planning so early because this is the perfect time to buy decorations for next year! I just have to really decide what I want to do.

I'm definitely moving the tree down a floor so it's by our lovely fireplace. I also want the outside to be bigger...with lights along the walkway and in the bushes by the house. I definitely think outdoor ornaments would look nice and be an inexpensive, simple way to dress up the outside (over-sized ornaments always go on sale after Christmas). The rest is still up in the air. Hopefully I still have this blog going next year, and I can show off the new or improved decorations in 2011.

Design Dilemma...Again

A while back, I wrote about the girls' playroom. I wanted to put some storage in there for toys and whatnot, but now I've decided that a bookcase probably isn't the best way to go. I'm thinking about soft-sided storage ottomans that can serve multiple purposes--seating for adults, storage for toys, and a soft item for the girls to pull up on when they get to that point (which will probably be very soon the way Dani is crawling up on pillows). I'd either go with a couple of cube ones or a larger trunk-like one.

Here's the room! Fun times, right?

So what do I need in this room to make it truly baby friendly? A gate is priority one. We have one, and it will hopefully be going up this week, as soon as a replacement part is delivered. Number two priority is something to cover the bottom of the piano. Dani has already attempted to lick the pedals, and I just can't have that. It has to be movable since I actually do play it. I'm leaning towards a decorative skirt. If I do the skirt on the piano, I'm thinking the floor pillows over there by the window will be in the same fabric.

Then there are the walls. This room is across from our dining room. Definitely not a formal setting, but it is a nice room, so I don't want the playroom to be so overtly childish that it looks weird across from our dining room. What would you do to decorate this room so that it's fun yet still nice enough to be the first room people see when they come over to your house? Do the soft ottomans sound like a good idea or would you just invest in more floor pillows for seating and just put the toys in a basket? Would you hang artwork on the walls? Or do some sort of removable vinyl sticker mural?

Help!

Keeping an Organized Home

Back in pre-twin January, I wrote an entry called I Accept This Mess, and even though I have accepted the mess that my home has become, I don't have to be happy about it. So, in attempt to kick myself in the butt and try to make my home a little more organized and clean, I've decided to blog about it first. Maybe by putting it out there in the Internet universe, somehow I will actually make it all happen.

The biggest question of all is, how do you clean when you're taking care of two four-month old girls who don't especially like to take naps? The answer: a little bit at a time.

At first, I found myself completely overwhelmed by cleaning bottles, loading the dishwasher, vacuuming, laundry, sorting mail, dusting, etc. I would clean bottles as I needed them sometimes, or let the recycling pile up until there was a row of cardboard spilling over into the dining room. Now, I try doing mini-cleans when I can. I'll empty the dishwasher or take out the recycling while the bottles are warming. I'll wash bottles early in the morning if I'm not feeling deliriously tired. I'll do small loads of laundry while entertaining the girls with silly laundry dances. (I have a silly dance for everything.) You get the idea. It's amazing how much better I feel when the carpet is fur free, or I can actually see my kitchen table instead of a mound of junk mail and (oh, this is horrible) unpaid medical bills!

 Excuse me while I drool a little bit over this pantry from Real Simple Magazine.

One of these days, I really am going to send the family away and take a day to super clean. I even have a list: clean all sinks, mop, dust, clean mirrors, organize closets and pantry, clean out the refrigerator, unpack summer clothes, store winter clothes, and vacuum. What would make it all perfect? An unlimited shopping spree to Bed, Bath & Beyond, The Container Store, or my new mecca so I could be the envy of all organizational moms out there.

What would I buy there? 

First, a wall-mounted mail organizer. My biggest pet peeve right now is the mail. I go get it; I glance at it, and then I throw it on the table, on the bar stool, on the loveseat. I would do a better job if there was a place for it, and I sorted it once a week. (Daily would be ideal, but I don't live ideally.)

Then, decorative boxes/cubbies for the coat closet and laundry room. I'm a person who believes everything should have a place. If I created places for tools, batteries, lint brushes, tape, etc., then things around the house would be easier to find and cleanly out of sight.

Hooks, hooks, and more hooks. Think about how much neater you would be if you had a couple of hooks in every room of your house. I'm serious.

Simple shelves. Adding shelves in the laundry room and the master bathroom would allow for better use of vertical space. With kids, you've got to think about places to put everything.

So many food storage containers, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Nothing would stay in its original box again!