Family Chaos = A New Chair for the Livingroom?!

I must say that I am very fortunate to come from a large family, and have friends that are like family.  I also am blessed to have married a man with an equally large family.  This does, however, create some weekends when we are not home and have to juggle seeing multiple sides of the family.  That is what happened this weekend, so there was no time for home projects because we weren't there.

BUT we did end up with a new chair!  Turns out that Melissa's new house is 6 minutes away from IKEA!  Now I am sure you have heard of Ikea, but the nearest Ikea from our house is in either NJ or LI both of which are about an 1 hour and 30 minutes away from our house, so we have only been there once about 11 years ago.  Well, HOLY MOLY, was I excited the Sunday morning when Mel suggested we go.  I felt like I was at an amusement park.  Even my husband and kids enjoyed it!!!!!!! 

I will have pictures up soon of the new space :)

Linen Closet Chaos

This weekend I decided it was time to tackle the linen closet.

Here is our linen closet:

Honestly, I thought it was organized.  If I had to find sheets or towels, I knew where they were. Then I saw this Iheartorganizing.blogspot.com:

 and I knew that I was organized but not pretty.  So I decided this was my next project. 

I made a list of what this closet had that I wanted.

1. Paint, I love the blue back drop.

2. A shelf for each room. 

3. Nicely folded sheets

4. Labels

5. Extra space for over flow.

So I emptied the closet, sorted and purged.  The usual organizing 101 steps :)

I went to Lowes and bought some paint and BOOM!

Jack painted the inside of the closet.  Someone had to make dinner ;)

I am loving the blue!!!!!  It is so bright and cheery, I enjoyed putting the linens back in :)

Here is the after, isn't she lovely.

In a perfect world all my sheets and towels would be white but this is the real world, and most of our sheets were gifts :) 

So back to my list:

1. Paint, I love the blue back drop.

2. A shelf for each room. Starting at the top shelf: Guest sheets, table linens, towels, our room, kids rooms, extra space.  YAY!

3. Nicely folded sheets

4. Labels - I have to find or make some. :)

5. Extra space for over flow.The lower shelf.  That pillow is getting a cover and moving downstairs to the sofa.  One of the bins on the second shelf is empty !!!!!

Not bad for weekend project.

In case your are wondering I only kept the sheets that had ALL their pieces.  Then I folded them using the "envelope method"  ( not sure if that is what it is called but that's what I call it :)   Basically, I put the pillow case, flat sheet and fitted sheet and put it in the pillow case.  I like it because it keeps everything together .

I've joined the linking party at myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com and www.abowlfulloflemons.net

Bathroom Towel Chaos

Towel, towels, everywhere.  

It seems like everywhere I look there is a towel.  

They are on chairs, doors, and floors.  I have even found towels hanging on the mirrors.  

Crazy, I tell you.

Enough is enough.  I have decided to get this taken care of and create a towel system. 

( Ok, so I am a little bit of a nut about this )

First, I started by collecting the towels from around the house.

I purchased this peg hanger at the Container Store for about $12.   

Then I, I mean Jack attached it under the existing towel rack. 

( Why is there only one towel rack in a house with four people, I 'll never know ) 

Then, I color coded the towels.  Each family member now has a towel color.  

They know which towel to use and I know who didn't hang up their towel {evil grin}. WIN WIN !!!!!

A couple of labels and Voila!!!!! 

I gave Alex a mini version of my loofah, she loves it :)

 Organized chaos.  There is a place for towel, wash clothes, and loofahs. 

 We'll see how long it lasts :)

Organizing Ornaments: Time to Say Good Bye to Christmas:

Every year on Three Kings day (January 6) we pack up the Christmas decor and say good bye to Christmas.

With a little prep work putting away the decor has become a snap.

Here is what I do to kep the chaos organized:

1. I have the Christmas bins labeled so they are easy to find. I put away stockings, garland, and bows in bin so they will hold there shape for next year.  *Next year I hope to get all green bins to make it even easier to identify what is what :)

2. I have box that is only for ornaments. I bough it 11 years ago for our first Christmas. It has seen better days but it still works so I am not getting a fancy plastic one until this one breaks. Waste not.

Here is how I organize my ornaments:

First layer is round shatter proof ornaments.  They can take the brunt of being hauled up to the attic.

Second layer is sentimental ornaments.  We collect ornaments from our vacations and favorite places.  It feels grea talking about the memories that each ornament represents :)

Finally is the flat handmade ornaments.  These are the ornaments that the kids have made over the years.

3. Putting the Christmas tree away. Both my husband and I are allergic to pine trees so we have a fake one. ( I know the HORROR, but I like breathing, I find it keeps alive :)

As he takes  a layer of branches off, he ties them together.  This keeps all the layers in tack and no guessing as to where the branch belongs :)

Our tree is still in the same box it came in 11 years ago. Again, until it breaks we are keeping it :)

All packed up and ready to go to the attic.

Keeping everything organized this year makes putting the tree up super easy next year :)

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New Year's Resolution Time: Get Organized

An organized mind means an organized life.

1. I start my year with a brand new planner. It's a sickness really. I scour the ends of the earth looking for the one that will work for me this year. (somehow it's previous planners fault that I can't keep it together :) )
A planner can be paper and pen or digital. Right now I have a paper one but I am looking into getting a digital one for my my iPad, more on that later.

Here is the one I found at Staples.:

It is Martha Stewart brand and it's a little pricy but well worth it, so far ;)



2. I create a comand center, actually I have two; one in the kitchen and one in the office/craftroom upstairs.

This is the command center in the kitchen.

I write everything the family needs to know here. I put chores, sports, test, project due dates, dinner menu, etc...   There is no reason why anyone should not know what is going on.



The command center in office/craft room looks like this:

This is the REAL command center. This is where I do ALL of the planning then transfer it downstairs as needed. Here everything is color coded and on post its. The calendar has BIG grids to fit multiple things in one day. I love my zone. It makes me very happy.



I hope this helps you create your own command center or improve on the one you have.

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