Declutter/Organize Project 2: Dining Room

Here is the dining room. A mess eh? It’s not even being used as a dining room. It’s a downstairs office/photography studio. We have clutter on the shelves, coats and shoes and misc. scattered all over the place, and tons of bigger ticket items waiting to be sold on e-Bay. We have e-Bay auctions on this week, so hopefully by this weekend a lot of that stuff will be cleared out. So, in any event, my dining room adventure is slowly beginning now, and my due date will be Saturday, February 21st. Hopefully it will look a little more organized, although the computer and photography equipment will stay.

We are looking to have Lexi’s birthday party here on Sunday, March 8th, so it will certainly be as organized as possible before then, since it’s the main room to do things in.

Oh...and notice the hole in the ceiling above Luke's head in the last picture. That's because the upstairs sink has a leak, and it made a hole in the ceiling, so we cut an even bigger hole to see how to fix it. Problem is...it hasn't been fixed yet, so now I have this awesomely huge hole in my dining room ceiling. I'm sure that is just what clients want to see when they will be here for a photo shoot.

Mini Home Improvement Projects

This week we have had below zero temperatures at night (-11.6 last night, without the wind-chill), leaving the house freezing cold. Our furnaces don’t work very well (yes we have two, since it is a duplex), so it is cheaper to heat the house with electric heaters right now. We are running everything we have, but it’s still cold. Our kitchen is blocked off by a big piece of fabric in the door, and the temperature in the kitchen now averages between 36-40 degrees Fahrenheit. We actually moved a heater in there yesterday, fearing the pipes would freeze. Today, the water to the dishwasher actually did freeze for a while. We have been doing mini weatherproofing projects around the house to try and block out any cold air we can. So far we have:

-plastic on both of our bedroom windows
-foam door to foyer in our bedroom
-plastic on both of the girls’ bedroom windows
-plastic on kitchen window
-more insulation in pantry since the drywall isn’t finished yet
-roll up fabric on floor underneath doors to stop airflow
-put a piece of drywall in the ceiling in the back staircase to stop some airflow

Needless to say, we haven’t made our trip to Lowe’s yet for the bathroom. It’s been so cold, and Luke has to fix his air compressor leak before we can get started anyways. It’s been so cold in the basement, that he has been avoiding it. Here's the drywall patch...

Declutter/Organize Project 1: Finished Bedroom

Well I got the bedroom finished up Monday afternoon. I still have a ton of containers in there, but it’s school and crafting supplies, and at least I know what is in them! I also reorganized the top bunk in the girls’ room. There are lots of clothes and blankets, but hopefully in another couple years, I will have a massive yard sale of all things baby. Here are the after shots.



My de-cluttering project has kicked it in to high gear. I have made a deal with Luke, that any money he makes with fixing computers, photography, or selling his things, he can keep to buy stuff he wants (mainly lenses right now), and anything I make with candles, jewelry, babysitting, and selling my things will be used by me for my hobbies. He is running around the house finding all of his big-ticket items to sell on eBay or Craigslist, and I couldn’t be happier! Little things are still being stored in the foyer for a yard sale this spring, although I don’t know how much more room we can spare in there.

Declutter/Organize Project 1: Finished Living Room

We got the living room finished up last weekend. This is as good as it gets until spring hits and all those toys can go back into the sunroom. It will be our project this year to make that sunroom as weather-proofed as possible, so hopefully next winter we can keep it open all winter. It helps open the house up so much, and it keeps the living room de-cluttered. I’m still working on finishing the bedroom, Luke’s been making a temporary office downstairs in the dining room since it’s cold and cluttered in the big office upstairs, so things have been moving around to the bedroom some.

I am also going through baby clothes containers I have stored on the top bunk in the girls’ bedroom. I have 3 large containers and 3 boxes full of clothes that are too small for the girls. I plan to keep most since we aren’t finished having kids, but there are some things I am sure I can put in the yard sale pile.

We haven’t made it to Lowe’s yet for the bathroom supplies. We need to get to my dad’s house first to get our tile saw, and then we can start that project. Hopefully next week we can start work in the bathroom.

Here are the living room "after" shots, along with the "before" shot of the bunkbeds. I'll post after pictures of the bunkbeds when I post for the bedroom after this weekend.

Home Improvement Project 1: Downstairs Bathroom

Our first major home improvement project will be the bathroom. We have $250 from Christmas to get a jumpstart on the project, and we budget $50 a month for home improvement. Right now we bathe in a bubble, since the shower tile isn't finished, so the first step will be to get new window trim up, so we can finish tiling the tub surround. After that, we will turn our focus on the rest of the bathroom trim (base, crown molding, backsplash). We also need to buy or custom build a medicine cabinet, build a false wall to hide the shower pipes (but keep them easily accessible), and enclose our shelving to make it look more like a built-in cabinet. I just want to shower without plastic trying to cling and attack, so that is the main focus.

We have some minor projects that need attention as well. The girls' bedroom outlet needs rewired so we can re-position our heaters in the house. The kitchen power is out as well; accept for the fridge, freezer, and dishwasher. We have a trouble light from the bathroom hanging above the stove right now, so we can keep in plugged in, and have a little light in there when it gets dark. We have the kitchen blocked off with a blanket now anyways, since it's so cold out, so the kitchen isn't top priority right now. Keeping warm is! We don't need to buy anything to do the wiring, so the budget won't need adjusted. We just need to find the time.

Declutter/Organize Project 1: Living Room and Bedroom

The living room will be my first project room. The sunroom right off of the living room is just way too cold to use in the winter. That is where all of the girls' toys were, and now they are all over the living room, so I must make do until spring hits. My plan is to go through the toys, and get them placed in the toy box and other bags and bins we have. Our end table is cluttered with Dr. Pepper cans and paper, and the fireplace mantel is covered with miscellaneous clutter. I will give myself until the weekend after New Year's Day to get it cleaned, since we will be packing up the Christmas stuff the day after New Year's, so that will free up some space in the living room as well.

Along with the living room, I may sporadically start organizing the bedroom as well. Right now it is a catchall, and a disaster from hoarding presents for months. Eventually the room will be painted (hopefully this summer), so the walls are mostly bare, and need some drywall mud applied. The door behind the crib will get taken out this summer too, as it goes to the foyer, and isn't needed in the bedroom. I bought a couple containers to help organize the bedroom. I have crafty/scrap booking supplies, and a bunch of school supplies for the girls, so this room will start being transformed as well once I start with the living room. I am hoping to have the bedroom completed by January 10th, so the living room will be done by then and I can focus primarily on the bedroom.