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

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?

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

Space Saving DIYing

Lately, the girls have been helping me with the laundry. I've known for a long while that our laundry room needs some serious reorganization to allow for better use of the tiny, tiny space. I realized it even more when I was in the room with two little helpers. It was a tight squeeze and the girls are still just knee-height to me. I can't imagine when they're three years old and really helping me out! Therefore, I've started--you guessed it--a plan to make the laundry room more friendly. More friendly to clothes washing and drying and ironing, cleaning supplies storage, and even kitty littering.

The first step is finding a compact ironing board. I currently use a double folded bath sheet on top of the washing machine. Yep, it's as horrible as it sounds. But I believe I've come up with a solution. Two of these extremely clever folding shelf brackets along with a DIY pressing board in whatever size I'd like. (Thank you to Amanda at A Crafty Fox for the wonderful idea and tutorial!)

As I've always thought, starting a room with something cute and homemade makes it a better room to use...no matter how dreadful laundry can be.

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?

Super Spring Clean

I used to be a neat freak, and I've always been a procrastinator. Adding two little ones to the mix did not make matters better. My need to clean and straighten was quickly replaced by my need to eat and sleep.  But now I just can't take it anymore. I see dust on bookcases and fans, dingy spots on my beautiful white rug (Yes, I have a white rug in my sitting room...about one foot from Lillie's highchair.), stacks and stacks of junk mail piled up everywhere. I actually twitch a little when I walk into certain rooms.

Summer begins on June 21. That's seven weeks away. I plan to spend the remainder of this spring cleaning my house. And yes, I am insane.

I do not intend to spend every free moment cleaning. That's just crazy talk! I do, though, have a plan. An actual plan written on index cards with little boxes next to each task that can be satisfyingly checked off as I accomplish them.

I will go room by room and do some serious organizing and cleaning. I will dust baseboards and get cobwebs out of corners, vacuum a mattress, wash curtains, scrub a refrigerator and steam clean the wood floors. (If anyone can recommend a good steam mop, I'm all ears.) I plan to locate my staple gun that went missing some time last year. I'm sure it's hiding with other things that have gone into hiding.

It began last week when I put together the first of two bookcases for my office and actually got books off the floor. I continued this week with freeing the dining room of dust and cleaning the window. Next up, remove the rug and play mat from the playroom and take care of those floors as well as dust the piano. I'm sure I'll find a (un)healthy amount of Cheerio bits.

There's an interesting saying I found that states, "Cleaning while the kids are home is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing." Well, it's going to be snowing in this house for a long while, so I just have to get over it and do my best.

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!

Squeaky Clean

So...now that we've discussed organization and general tidiness. Let's talk about the actual cleaning. The let's-not-find-last-week's-can-of-soda-behind-the-nightstand kind of clean. (Unfortunately, I didn't just pull that statement out of thin air.)

With what do you clean?


I believe in keeping my kids toxic free. I've always used fragrance and dye free laundry detergent and dryer sheets. But in saying that, there are a few things that just work better because of the chemicals.

These are my cleaning friends:

Method Products
I've become a big fan of Method. They believe in clean cleaning--no harsh chemicals. Everything is plant-derived and people friendly. We use their all-purpose wipes, hand soaps, wood polish, stainless steel cleaner and home fragrances. I also like their wet dryer sheets, but the cost makes them a luxury rather than a staple.

Vinegar
It's a perfect way to clean drains and laminate flooring. In the drain, you pair it with baking soda, and it's a great way to freshen your garbage disposal and clear out small clogs. On the floor, it gets up gunky residue and doesn't leave a film behind. Hey, it also keeps ants at bay!

OxiClean
Formula stains be damned! OxiClean stain-treater works to get those spots out of bibs, baby clothes, and your clothes too. I also add a cup from my big bucket o' powder to the wash to make everything smell better and get cleaner. Oh, and it's great for spot cleaning carpets (but not so much on our red sofa). My biggest complaint is that it clumps on the cold cycle in the wash. The best way to prevent this is to put it in as the water's running, use a towel or burp cloth to swish it around, and then load the washer. I may try the little Max Packets for convenience when I run out of my big bucket.

Bleach

Never ever turn your nose up at bleach. It should be a parents' staple. You can sterilize toys, bottles, sippy cups, high chairs, bath tubs and even fruit and veggies (if it's super diluted). It will make socks and burp cloths and cloth diapers as white as the day you bought them. I pour some in all the toilet bowls, let it sit and then flush. Voila! Clean! To make the experience more pleasant, I buy the splashless Clorox bleach with a fresh scent. Not that I'm going around sniffing my bleach, but the scent does help cut back on the awful bleachy smell.

Scrubbing Bubbles

I'm lazy. Even though I love to see things sparkling and clean, I hate taking a long time to do it. I would rather my cleaning products work well and not require a lot of extra work from me. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you Scrubbing Bubbles. All those cute commercials are true. This stuff is a cleaning powerhouse. I spray in in the shower, in the sink or tub, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and wipe and rinse. It's amazing! While I was pregnant, I discovered that they make a natural cleaner. It works well, but not as well as the original. I use the natural spray on the sinks and counter tops while the original still goes to work on the tub and shower. I've even used it on the bathroom floors. I love it!


BabyGanics
I just discovered this company, and I'm already loving their hand sanitizer. It's alcohol-free, so I don't freak out when I use it and then Lille or Dani decides to grab my finger and chew on it. The smell isn't the best in the world, but it's not icky. They also carry laundry detergent, baby wash and shampoos, as well as all kinds of home cleaners. The company's motto is much like Method's--safe for the environment as well as the family. I did smell their laundry detergent, and I would recommend staying away from that unless the scent dissipates in the wash. I plan on trying their other products if the prices are better than Method.

Well, with all this talk of cleaning. I feel as if I should go clean some bottles. Happy cleaning everyone!

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!

Design Dilemma

For anyone who's been to my house, you know we have a dining room and piano room as you walk in the front door. I've decided to make the piano room a play area for the girls because, well, there's not much furniture in there and it's far away from Tim's office.

 The dining room in case you need a reminder. There are also red chairs that go at the host seats.

The thing it lacks is storage. Right now, there's one black bookcase. I would like to add three more so they line the back wall. Black bookcases are boring, so I need help. What do you do to dress up some plain inexpensive bookcases that will a) work nicely across from a dining room and b) be playful enough to seem kid friendly.

 Here's the bookcase from Wal-mart. A steal at $25!!

I've already decided to replace the crappy cardboard backing with plywood. The question is what do I do with the plywood. Should I paint it? If so, what color? Should I use wallpaper? Should I use mirror tiles on the top half and do something different with the lower half that's closer to kid height? I definitely want to get baskets to hold toys and prevent little climbers, but what kind of baskets?


I'm a mommy in a design dilemma. Help!

I Accept This Mess

Hello, my name is Faith, and I am an organizational freak. I cannot claim to be a neat freak. Just one look at my office will tell you I'm not quite that, but I do like for everything to have its place and be in that place. I do not like seeing piles of mail or dishes or clothes where they do not belong. I am a firm believer in The Container Store, all organizational articles written in Real Simple magazine, and Martha Stewart's pantry would probably make me cry.

With that said, I am learning to accept the mess my house has currently become. We've been receiving boxes  from Internet orders as well as trying to get the nursery together, all topped with my inability to stay on my feet for long bouts and working my tail off to get projects finished. In the wake of all this mini-chaos, the house has become a little less than perfect.

The girls will be arriving soon, and I know that I will not have the time to load and unload the dishwasher, put away everything I use, or generally tidy up at the end of the day. So I'm looking at this current pre-baby mess as practice for the sure-to-be-bigger baby mess. I am trying to clean a little bit at a time, but it's not the kind of organized I like. And I must learn to get used to it.

I also have to get used to letting someone else do it. Oh, I'm that too--a control freak. I've been very good (I think) lately about letting Tim do more stuff without making comment. My mom and my brother came over and folded clothes and vacuumed. I kept my mouth shut except for the big thanks I gave them as they were leaving.

So, as I prepare for parenthood by reading baby books, buying baby things, and putting together the nursery, I'm also learning what messy is. And how it's OK...sometimes.