Seven Rooms, Seven Days - The Girls' Rooms

I'm not sure where to begin. I can only preface this all by saying I hope that even after reading and seeing all of this, you'll still want to be my friend.

Today, I tackled the girls' rooms. Let me sorta explain how our rooms are set up around here. We have three bedrooms - a master bedroom, a very large second bedroom, and a tiny third bedroom. As of right now, we call the second bedroom "Dacey's room" because her toys and furniture and Big Girl Bed are in that room. Big Girl Dacey, however, does not sleep in that room. She is actually still Crib Dweller Dacey. The tiny room is what we call "the nursery" because it has the crib and all of Aliza Joy's clothes in it. But that is not where Aliza Joy sleeps. She sleeps in various locations for naps (the crib, the sling, the swing, the Moses basket . . .) and at night, she starts out in a bassinet by our bed, but lands in bed with mom and dad around 2 am when she wakes up to nurse.

Are we all clear on the sleeping arrangements?

Okay, so . . . Dacey's room needs a makeover in the worst possible way. Her Big Girl Bed used to be our guest bed, and we haven't changed the bedding yet to be more Big-Girl-Friendly. We also have way, way, way too many toys and way, way, way too little cute storage. We want to get new bedroom furniture for that room - at the minimum, a new dresser and bookshelves and some sort of toy storage thingie - but just have not been able to find what we are looking for. As I've mentioned before, we're renting, so painting the walls is out of the question, but I sure would like to do some cute wall art. Anyway, the room needs a makeover.

And the nursery needs a makeover, too. We have cute new bedding and wall art for when D finally graduates out of the crib (and when will that be? Your guess is as good as mine.) but I want to wait until AJ moves into that room permanently to fix it up for her.

Now we've come to the part where I am hoping you can still be my friend. Dacey's room was by far the worst in the house. It sorta started around Christmas when I started slipping on getting her room picked up each night at bedtime. Then after Christmas there were, of course, more toys to add to the piles and I started getting really overwhelmed. And as we all know, the overwhelm can lead to the underperform. It just got worse and worse and worse. It finally got to the point where I was having to remind her Dad to be careful not to step om anything pointy and perhaps lethal as he carried her to her bed after her bath each night.

As I snapped the "before" pictures today, I was so sad and mad at myself for letting her room get this way. I feel deeply ashamed. I half-expected Oprah's film crew to show up to film a segment for one of her "You won't be able to believe that people live! like! this!" shows. I really felt like one of the people on those shows.

I don't know how this happened. I knew it was bad, I just didn't realize how bad it was until I saw it on film . . .

So, anyway, here we go. Brace yourself. (and there's a lot of pictures, too, girls. Forgive me!)

The nursery wasn't too awful. Mostly just clothes that had gotten lost on their way home and toys that had spilled out of D's room:

So two trashbags, one bag of toys to Freecycle, and many hours later, here it is. Still needs a visit from a design team, but at least it's organized!

I don't know why, but the child feels compelled to be at least half-naked at all times.

The dolls, they must be naked, too. That one in the carrier is only dressed because I snuck some clothes on her while I cleaned.

The Dora big wheel really belongs in the garage, it just keeps migrating inside . . .

When Dacey saw the end result, she said, "Wow! Cool room!" and promptly started messing things up playing again.

The nursery looks a might bit better, too.





So, that's that. Tonight as we were reading stories before bed, D kept getting annoyed with me because I would stop reading every little bit to enjoy the view. I couldn't help myself. I feel so. much. better.

Seven Rooms, Seven Days - The Living Room

Yep, got the living room and entryway done yesterday! It was actually the easiest room to undertake because I try to pick it up a little every night. I had fallen a bit behind though, as you can see . . .



I do love me some little baby clutter though!


I remember sometime back that Rachel Anne at Home Sanctuary talked about the importance of the entryway to your home - how it demonstrates your welcome to your guests. That's why I feel so awful when our entryway looks like this:






"Welcome to our home, but please understand I can't be bothered to keep the front porch swept for you . . ."




Oh, so much better! NOW, welcome to our home:

Lo hicimos! We did it!

Now, some gratuitous D and AJ snaps:

See? I'm not the only one . . .

who wants you to check the box!

We have a whirlwind of activities today, but I am aiming to get the living room done. May not get pics up until tomorrow. Thanks so much for your encouragement! It's what I'm running on at this point . . .

Seven Rooms, Seven Days - The Bathrooms

I am exhausted. It's been a non-stop, "Mommy, Mommy, I NEED YOU, Mommy!" day since D opened her eyes at 6:30 this morning. And it wasn't just Big. Little was in on the "Please oh please oh PLEASE don't put me down, Mommy!" act today, too. I did manage to tackle the two rooms on the list for today - the bathrooms.

We have two bathrooms in this house. The master bathroom is ridiculously small by comparison to the luxurious and spacious master suites of new construction. We decided upon moving in that The Coach would take the master bathroom as his and leave the slightly bigger hall bath for us girls to share. Because, you know, guys have less bathroom stuff and all.

But, oh wait. Not my husband! Something that probably a lot of you don't know about my man is that he is an avid and passionate advocate of wet shaving. You know, the old-fashioned kind of shaving with big, fluffy shave brushes and bowls of delicious smelling, foamy, hand-whipped shave cream or soap. He shaves with a vintage safety razors and has an extensive collection of all things wet shave. Because of this hobby of his, he actually does have a lot of bathroom stuff.

Behold the addiction collection (and this is only about half of it):

His bathroom is his quiet retreat for pondering thoughts on all manner of things. I don't mess around much in there and I certainly don't declutter (lesson learned the hard way). Since I just cleaned up in there, I didn't feel the need to share pictures.

Before I show you the work of the day, I have to show you something funny. As I've mentioned before, we don't own this house. (We're renters.) I have to think that if we owned this house, remodeling project numero uno would be doing something about the lovely wallpaper that has been chosen for the bathrooms here:

Or maybe we would leave it. Because I mean really, if you had the chance to surround yourself with brown and blue trees and birds and butterflies while you are in the loo, why wouldn't you? It's all very "nature calls."

Anyway, tacky wallpaper notwithstanding, here's the sad state of affairs before:

It was cluttery, yes. But also just dirty. Like eeeeeeeeeeew, dirty. Like, please, God, don't send any angels in disguise my way who might stop by to test my hospitality because there is no way I am letting anyone in that bathroom, no matter how badly they need to go dirty.

But now!

Ah yes, I've always dreamed of the day when the message sent by my hallway/guest bath would be "potty learners welcome here!"

Seven Rooms, Seven Days - The Kitchen

Wow! Day o' distractions, friends. My goodness.

Today started with a wonderful visit at my friend Kim's house where D got to try on her first ever princess dress. Magic! I was kicking myself for leaving the camera at home.

But then I had to bust booty when I got home to meet my deadline for today. And again, it was an afternoon just full of distractions and diversions - phone calls, fussy baby, hubby home for the day . . . it was very hard to stay on task.

Can I just tell you I am sincerely overwhelmed and surprised by the response to my Seven Rooms mission? I was thinking this would be total Yawnsville for everyone (and heck, by the end of this, most of you might very well be zonked out), but ya'll have been so gracious and supportive with your feedback. Thank you for that! It was actually very motivating to me today as I undertook the most lived-in, trafficked through, perpetually cluttery room in the house - my kitchen.


So yes, if you were to pop by the house on any given day in the past two or three weeks months, a glance in the kitchen would reveal an assortment of water bottles, dirty dishes, open boxes of cookies, and who knows what else . . .

The kitchen also hosts one of the hottest of Hot Spots. As usual, it was completely ablaze today. Let's see, I spy with my tired eye some cold lozenges and nasal spray that have been there since the week before Christmas (because where else would one store cold remedies?). There's the sinus rinse (fun), Dacey's "bunny scout brownies" over there at the left, and - can I be honest? - a whole bunch of The Coach's stuff.

So in between making and returning phone calls and bouncing cranky AJ and chit-chatting with the hubby, I managed to get this much done . . .

TA-DAAAAAAAAAH!

And here it is, almost nine in the evening, and it still looks almost as good as in the picture. Oh, there's some stuff yet to be done. I have a junk drawer that is scary with a capital S. But that's what zone work is for, right?

Seven Rooms, Seven Days - The Laundry Room

Let the excitement begin!

So, I decided to tackle the laundry room first. Although it is the smallest room in the house, it is also the most neglected. I figured I'd start fast and easy to really boost my motivation. Easy? Yes. Fast? Not so much. When I sketched out my Seven Days plan, I forgot to factor in the ninety-seven kajillion interuptions that have landed me here in the first place.

It took me the better part of the morning to do this one small room. Oy vey. Let me tell you - I have adjusted my expectations for the remaining rooms. This will not be a total declutter, but rather a surface declutter. That which is on countertops, tabletops, bedside tables, and bedroom floors - look out! That which lurks in drawers, under beds, and in the cracks of the couches - hang tight. I'll get to you later.

So here we go. Prepare to be amazed at the junky state of affairs of my home!

Not entirely awful here. I mean, doesn't everyone keep their wedding china in a big green plastic storage bin on the top shelf of the laundry room? And by the way, evidently when houses were being built in the late seventies/early eighties, people must have eaten less. Or maybe there used to be a legitimate pantry around here and I haven't found it yet. Either way, most of our dry goods get stored in the laundry room, because nothing says I Love You like Downy-scented rice.


AFTER: Not hugely different . . .


This is where things get ugly:


AFTER: So much better!


I'm embarrassed


AFTER: Much TIDE-ier! Get it? You know you were going to say it if I didn't!


This side of the room, the one with all the cleaning supplies? Yeah, it doesn't get much attention.


AFTER: Bettah.


Have I ever mentioned I hate ironing? Because oh yes I do.


AFTER: Wondering where The Coach's pants went? I IRONED THEM.


If anyone is looking for me, I'll be drinking tea on the floor of my laundry room - enjoying the neatness and trying to gear up for tomorrow's work - the kitchen.

Seven Rooms, Seven Days Challenge!

The packing, the unpacking, the travel, the being at home with no schedule . . . it's all taken it's toll on my SortaCrunchy home.  

Plus, there's something about the start of the new year that makes me want to mend broken relationships.  I've been thinking about it for a while now, and I think I'm ready.  I want to get back together with Fly Lady.

Fly Lady and I have had a sometimes happy, sometimes rocky, on-and-off again relationship for about six years now.  When it's good, it's very, very good.  When it's bad . . . well, it's ugly.  I broke up with her sometime around September 1st and we haven't been on speaking terms since then.  The thing is, I really need someone to tell me what to do on a daily basis so my home is the warm, welcoming, organized, happy nest that I so desire for it to be.  But, I also have these complex authority issues, and when I feel like Fly Lady gets a little bossy, I turn into a five year old with her fingers in her ears chanting, "You're not the boss of me!  You can't tell me what to do!"

And that's when things around here get bad.  It's shameful, really.

Now, I know Fly Lady well enough to know what she's going to want me to do to get back together with her.  Baby Steps.  But she doesn't know the depths of clutter and junk that have joined forces to overthrow this house.  So I am doing my own little kick-start challenge before I go crawling back to seek her good graces and helpful (but bossy) guidance.

I am giving myself SEVEN DAYS to tackle the SEVEN ROOMS of my house.  And if I learned nothing else from NaBloPoMo, I learned that there's something about public accountability to motivate me to follow through on an idea.  Now, I know this is all going to be terribly exciting, dangerously fascinating stuff.  Reading and watching a woman declutter her house - I mean, really, it's why you started reading blogs in the first place, right?

Just bear with me.  Stay after me.  Pray for me.  

I start today.

Big Bloggy Giveaway Winner!

Good morning all!

Thanks so much to all who entered our Big Bloggy Move Giveaways, and thank you again to Jennisa to donating this great prize! I am thrilled to announce the winner of the Jennisa's Bloggie Designs makeover - Carrington of Capri by the Lake. Anyone up for some delicious newborn baby goodness? Go over to Carrington's place and see her sweet, sweet, sweet new baby girl. (Baby fever, anyone? Stacey? hee hee . . .)

Christy will be announcing her winners later today (she did, afterall, have three giveaways to manage), so be sure to stop by her place later to see if you won.

I hope each of you who are looking for a new design (whether for your existing blog or for your soon-to-be-rolled-out new blog) will consider hiring one of the generous ladies who participated in our giveaways - Jennisa, Blue Yonder Designs ($10 off for giveaway entrants who didn't win!), RS Designs, and Betty of Simply Southern.

Thanks again to all who played. We look forward to seeing you back on February 11th for The Big Bloggy Move!