I've Been A Very Busy Girl!

I'm feeling the need need to simply my life right now with Bennett's arrival right around the corner. I feel like if I don't get some of these things done, once he gets here, I won't have time with three kids. So I've been doing some organizing as well as decorating/painting and I'd thought I share my progress!

When we moved I had to make a couple of sacrifices, the big one being a smaller house due to the fact that I decided to stay home and we moved from the South to the North so there's just been some adjusting on my part. I'm trying not to complain because I love staying home with my girls but having a smaller pantry, laundry room and closets has been something I just have to get used to. I'm trying to look at it as having a smaller house means less to clean. And really, I'm very thankful for what we have and I know my husband works very hard so unless I want to go back to work I'd better be quiet about that!:)

I'll start with the boring stuff, the organizing. Pantry before...

....and after. Doesn't look like a huge change but using the bins has given us so more more room and now I can find things quickly and easily!

The laundry room, (well not really a room now, it's a closet) before...

...and after.

Here's one of our closets before, clothes either thrown above or below...

And after, amazing what some bins and hanging cabinets can do.

It's so nice to walk in my closet and find exactly what I'm looking for! Purses are now neatly stacked and not in a big pile on the floor. Does this closet fit all my clothes, purses and shoes? Well, no, those are dispersed in all the other closets as well as the basement but we won't go there.

Now for the fun stuff, some small decorating fixes. Let me start by sharing that I have a mom who is an Interior Decorator (now retired) :( , a dad that can do just about anything with his hands (making things, building, fixing etc.) and a sister that owns her own purse making business (again with the sewing, decorating, creativity). Then there's Adrienne. Adrienne is good at spending money. I know how to decorate but I'd rather go out and buy it or depend on my mom to make it for me. I just don't have the creativity and the know how to make my own curtains, slip covers, pillows, purses, clothes, furniture, decks, shelves that my other family members have! I know how to shop. So I've been trying to do some small things without spending a lot of money to jazz up the home a little. Big step for me. My first little project was to fix this stool that belonged to my Grandma. The fabric was torn and just need a little updating so I got this cute pattern at the fabric store and used a staple gun to cover the old fabric. Again, this is big for me people, I'd usually just by another stool. Oh, and the stool is an absolute necessity for our very small Maltese, Sophie to get up on the couch. That's right, she does not know how to jump up on the couch. Just a tad bit spoiled:)

The next thing was something that I've been thinking about doing- not usually a huge fan of the words on the wall thing but I'm also not good at deciding on art work and I don't like to spend a lot of money on art, unless I really like it. So I saw this word art in Target and it was cheap so I thought I'd give it a try. Next, I needed something to go under it but it couldn't be a table because this is a walk way and we need it to stay clear so I was browsing on Bless Our Nest and Shannon gave me the idea of using old picture frames and using extra fabric as the matte. I used the left over fabric from the stool and picked out my favorite pictures of the girls and left one in the middle for Bennett, of course! So it's not complete yet but I just love this fabric by itself so it doesn't bother me how it is. It was cheap and easy to do and now the saying doesn't look as "cheesy" as it did all by itself.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't show the close up because as you can see it's not perfect but as a group it looks good in person and maybe from a distance:). I'm also not a perfectionist when it comes to things like this- my mom would be measuring everything and making sure it was centered perfectly and I on the other hand want instant gratification so I eye-ball everything. But I'm okay with that.

So now I'm off to start painting our room, the last one, finally! I'm excited about the curtains I've done (with my mom's help and sister's advice). I'll show pics of the other rooms when I'm all done. I'm even starting to use a drill all by myself to hang curtains- a real drill- that's huge for me people!

Hmm, does the word nesting come to mind, anyone??