Cleaning Out The Closet

Hi everyone! So in my last post about "declutterfication", I showed you how I cleared out our linen closet HERE. I mentioned that I tackled my own closet and now I have the pictures to prove it.

Here's the before:

Whoa Nelly. 

In the place we live I actually have my very own closet. It's kind of weird not having to share. (I guess that means I have no one to blame but myself for it to look like this....)

After:

At the top of the closet there are 2 really big shelves to use. I lined up all of my scrapbooks on one of them and then had room for my camera bag. On the second one I have 2 boxes of older photos and 2 canvas baskets that I've put tank tops and plain colored long sleeved shirts.

On the beautiful carpeted floor (that I can now see) I tucked a trunk that I had on one side that has out of season clothes in it. On the other side is a rolling cart with some extra scrapbooking goodies.

Again, some tips for this are the same for our linen closet. It actually didn't take me long once I went through the clothes. That's the hardest part for me. Actually I haven't even got rid of some of the clothes that I need to yet. I did a first pass through by just grabbing anything that I wouldn't wear. Either I didn't like it anymore,  or it had a stain or hole in it. I still haven't gone for the second pass through. That's the one wear I'm going to get rid of anything that doesn't fit. I haven't been able to get myself to do that because for some reason it is just too hard to do right now. Ugh 

So anyways, get those closets cleaned out! 

Work in progress I guess. :)

Linen Closet Declutterfication

Declutterfication. haha A new word I just made up....

Anyways...

  If you saw my title page for Project Life, I mentioned that my One Little Word for this year is REDUCE. I've decided that I'm going to use that in many different ways. Reduce clutter, reduce weight, reduce stress, reduce debt. I could go on and on.

 So I've been trying to get in the mood to declutter our place. The best way for me to do that is to start small. Find little places that I can quickly get done within an hour.

About 3 weeks ago I tackled my closet and I even took before and after pictures like a good blogger should do. :) BUT I took them with my cell phone and I have no idea how to get those photos onto my computer. LOL (So if anyone could help with that, just leave me a comment down below please :) )

This week I decided to go through our linen closet:

Here's the before:

I'm sure it has been worse, but I was tired of not being able to find anything!

Here's the after:

So much better, right?

So here's some tips that helped me:

1. Drag everything out that you possible can. It's going to look worse before it gets better.

2. I started with the actual linens first. Get all the sheets together and store kids sheets in a container so they're easy to find quickly. (Think middle of the night chaos.) The container I used for the crib sheets, I got at Dollar Tree. The wicker one I bought a Wal-mart MANY years ago. I have ALWAYS stored my sheets inside their own pillow case. I think my Grandma showed me that, I can't remember.

3. Sort through your towels. If there's any you don't want anymore (that are in good condition) donate to a women's shelter. If there are any that are not in great shape, donate to an animal's shelter. Fold the rest and line them up.  (I keep washcloths and hand towels in the bathroom)

4. I put our summer blanket and our son's summer quilt in one of those clear zipped up bags. I had some extra pillowcases that I put in the bag that our shower curtain came in.

5. I used one container to store extra bottled goods. Extra shampoo, hairspray etc. then a smaller one (blue box from Dollar Tree) for extra razors, deodorant, toothpaste etc. I also keep a huge zip-lock bag for trial sized things.(I used it when I had my youngest at the hospital.)

So that's what I've been up to! Have you been getting the new year itch?

The Boys' Room!

I really wanted to get a post up on the latest Project Life I've been up to, but the last 2 days have been pretty cloudy/rainy. (Hard to get good pictures) So it will just have to wait for another day. :)

So INSTEAD you get a grand tour of the boys' room! Yay!

I gave you a little sneak peek HERE

We've been in this place 6 months and I finally feel like their room is done. Go figure. :)

The view from the door. 

Mr. Reed's hangout

This sign I made the Summer after Reed was born. I wish it was a little bit lower but little hands seem to cause trouble. :) Seriously just a couple of old boards screwed together. I just used some foam letters and white acrylic paint to stamp my favorite brother quote on.

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero."  :)

Chase's "book nook" (and sometimes Reed's too) 

The silhouette printout I bought off of Etsy HERE

The little Route 66 box is from Hobby Lobby and the globe I got off of a facebook consignment group.

Chase fun hangout. This loft bed we got for Chase for his 4th birthday. It originally came with a slide attached to the left side, which he absolutely LOVED. Unfortunately soon after Reed came along (7 months later) we had to take it off so that Reed's crib could fit in the same room. They both enjoy hanging out underneath with a sheet or towel hanging from the rod. :)

This little project is what I've been wanting to work on for the last couple of months but just never got to it. My parent's recently moved out of their house that they've been in for over 20 years and my dad had most of these license plates in his garage.

I bought a sheet of plywood that was 2' X 4' and attached the plates with liquid nails. We attached it to the wall with anchored screws. 

Here's the clipboard wall that I use to hang pictures and projects the boys have made.

And then here's the wall with both closets. I hung a framed picture of each boys' hospital picture here.

This little table is the other project I have been working on. I painted it red and we keep all of Chase's Autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving books under there right now. On top is the holy sound machine that my boys would probably never sleep without. Not kidding. If your kids have to share a room, this is a complete life saver. Or sleep saver, whichever. :)

Here's a couple shots of inside their closets. It looks a little messy but it's actually pretty organized. The one of the right is mainly the toys closet. It houses all of Chase's puzzles, board games or anything that we don't Reed to get into unsupervised on the shelves.

The chalkboard painted dresser houses most of Reed's clothes.

The left closet has any leftover toys on the shelf but it's mostly clothes. Any bags you see are clothes that are either too big or too small right now and then I hung an extra rod so that Chase could reach his clothes on the bottom and still fit Reed's shirts also.

I think we got this thing at Target. It has a hook on each side to hang from the top rod. Pretty cool. 

So anyways, there is the boys' hangout. Where they sleep, play and have become the best of friends. Well, most days. :)

Hey, you wanna see my bathroom?

Hey hey! Thanks for stopping by. I finally got 1 room in our house completely done. Well done, enough. Basically all we can do to change anything is paint, so I'm going to have to learn to be content with what we have because it's a whole lot better than living in a cardboard box! :)

And since my mom is probably the only one who actually reads all my ramblings, (Hi mom!) I have no shame sharing our bathroom. :)

SOooo without further ado: our bathroom 

This is what it looked like before we moved in (bad cell phone pic) :

And now...

Don't blink! You might miss all the good parts! lol  

Like these super cute boys :)

Installing a double hook down lower is super helpful for little lads who can't reach very high. :)

And more likely that wet towels will get hung up.

Come on. If that don't make you smile.....

One more thing. If you have kids you know what a pain it is to store all those bath toys. I finally came up with a solution that I like, so far. Just get one of those mesh bags that some use for laundry and hang it up with those super strong peel and stick hooks!

Seriously, we've had this up for about a month now and LOOOVE it. So easy to just scoop up all the toys and let them air dry. 

So there you have it! Our super small but very efficient bathroom. :) More details about storage in another post!

(BTW, paint color is Pacific Pines (D0425) From Glidden)