life and a yard sale

mornings are always a bit hectic around here.

school drop off is 7.00am.

we walk out of the door at 6.55am.

at 6.45am the hall bathroom looked something

like this.

the toilet lid was closed prior to the snapping of

this picture in order to protect your eyeballs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

while waiting on the plumber i got busy with sorting items for

our yard sale this saturday.



need some china? linens? vintage aprons?

home accessories? come on out. we'll have furniture

and lamps, too.

and ironstone. it's killing me but i'm thinning my collection

in order to maintain my simple living commitment.

if you're local holler and i'll give you directions.

~ stacy ~

snow, botched plans, and a closet re-do

my plans for last week did not go quite as expected.

i was going to start working on the boys' rooms and bathroom.

and then this happened. . .

we live in south carolina. which means that this kind of snowfall

shuts us down. the snow fell on a monday which meant no school.

it also meant no school for. . . tuesday. or wednesday. and late starts

on thursday and friday. no, it did not continue to snow on those days but it was

cold and there was ice. and apparently the powers that be are

afraid to allow south carolinians to drive on icy roads.
apparently there is good reason for that.

what this meant is that my plans for the boys' space was put on hold.

next week i'll take you on a tour of their awkward space but for today you get to see

my new and improved closet.

i had no plans to re-do my closet at this time but it was an easy project to 

tackle while the boys were at home.

can you say blah! our twin closets. pastor j's on the left, mine on the right.

have i ever mentioned that when we bought this house

all the walls were a fleshy color with pink undertones. like the underbelly

of a pig. not the prettiest color i've ever seen.

our bedroom is still this color. it's on the makeover list for this year.

because i tackled my closet makeover on a whim i didn't get

a before picture. i know, blogger fail.

but, i have the next best thing. pastor j's closet. which pretty much mirrors mine.



except his is neater than my before was. please note the light. every closet in this house

lacks a fixture. is this normal? i'm on a mission to change this.

here's my after.

the lighting is horrible. sorry about that. i painted the top blue hubbard
 (had it on hand from our bathroom and den) and the bottom

white (also on hand).

i put some floral craft paper on the backs of the cubbies 

using spray adhesive. chances are i'll

change this out when i find a paper i like better but

this will do just fine for now.

i started collecting velvet covered hangers in our old house, in preparation

of our move and the reality of smaller closets. these are much less bulky

and keep things feeling so much neater.

i scaled my purses down to one for each season plus a few

clutches for special occasions and threw them all in this galvanized

bucket.

apparently i cut off my light fixture. just noticed this. if someone is dying to

see it i'll snap another photo, otherwise just trust me that it

is tons better. baskets hold shorts and t-shirts.

 

since i took this photo i have put a rug in here and it warms it

up all the more.



so there you have it. my quickie closet makeover.

this is part of a larger plan for our bedroom. last weekend i sold

our dressers and plan to use my closet for all my clothes. so,

it was necessary for it to be more functional.

now i'm ready to get busy on the rest of our room.
and our closet doors?

i'm thinking this would look great.

kevin and layla nailed it again!




i'm linking up with beneath my heart and funky junk interiors.



an organized pantry

we have a small pantry. in fact it is combined with

our laundry room, right off our kitchen. it's about three feet

deep and nine feet wide. to the left is just enough

room for the washer, to the right is just enough room

for the dryer. above each we have some shelves.

not exactly a ton of room or even easy access to pantry items.

i love our little cottage but oh, how i would love a pantry like this.

or this.

or this.

all photos above from country living

i love an organized space!

apart from being more functional and accessible it's just so much

 nicer to look at. and that counts for something. if you enjoy your

space, if it inspires you, if it is functional and warm, you will

want to be there.

as a stay at home mom, my home is where i spend nearly all

my time. it's important to me that it makes me smile.

this week i decided to tackle my pantry/laundry room.

it's been in process since we moved in so it was time to finish

it up.

as i mentioned, our pantry is tiny. here are some

before pics. . .

there it is, right through that door. like i said. small.

the day after we moved in i took the bi-fold door off to

let light into the kitchen through that great floor to ceiling window.

this is the washer side.
lots o clutter. i put up the shelves on the right a month

or so ago in an effort to provide a bit more shelf space.

this is the dryer side. there are two cabs above which i have left alone.

the top of the dryer has become a major dumping ground for just about

anything you can imagine. we have meds, dapp putty, random tools,

pie crust, lunch boxes. a mess!

i don't have a before shot but the overhead light was just a bulb hanging out of  the

ceiling so i knew purchasing a fixture was on the to-do list.

apart from that, my goal was to spruce up the space without

spending any money.

here it is now. de-cluttered and much more functional.

i pulled all my canisters i could find around the house to sort

dry food, cleared off the area on top of the washer of

everything except detergents, and hung

up a couple vintage food charts, framed a verse from

deuteronomy and put it in an old frame i painted yellow.

the dryer side was decluttered. i have a red locker basket

with the boys lunch boxes and a tray for medicines. on the wall to the

right are hooks for grocery bags and some of the boys' art.

and i now have a proper light fixture. this is meant to be an outdoor

light but i like it here.

a wreath i had stuffed in our hall closet was pulled up to add

 a little pretty to this highly used space.

all in all, it's much better. i can't stop  thinking about that red screen door up above, though.

that would be the perfect solution here, no? it would let the light in and be awfully cute!

i'm linking up at domestically speaking for maryanne's "let's organize" party.



closet space or lack thereof

with downsizing on the horizon i have been purging over the last many weeks. i am specifically thinking about ways to maximize closet space as we will be loosing this most treasured space when we move. whenever that may be. so i hit up one of my favorite spots, houzz.com, for some inspiration.

and, um, i didn't find a whole lot that would be practical for us but there sure are some pretty closets out there.

who knew a closet could be so un-closety. so beautiful.

traditional closet design by san francisco general contractor Moroso Construction

traditional closet design by los angeles interior designer Abbott Moon

This is just plain pretty.

contemporary closet design by containerstore.com

hmmm, our space is going to be soooo much smaller. i might have to resort to this if i don't come up with a plan. . .

eclectic closet design

or this. i do like bringing the outdoors in.

eclectic closet design

i've always been a sucker for a wardrobe.

contemporary closet design by san francisco interior designer Niche Interiors

and this, love seeing furniture used in unique ways.

eclectic closet design

hold the phone. . .  great day in the morning i love this closet! the floors, the doors, the chandy. i would have my morning coffee in this closet if it were mine, it's so soothing.

traditional closet design

okay, wait, here's one i can work with. great use of space for a kids room.

traditional closet design

i think i need to keep purging. the great thing about downsizing is that it forces you to simplify and get creative. i'm looking forward to the challenge!