Master Closet Project: Plan, Cleanout and Clothes

Once I decided to repurpose a portion of the hang-up storage for drawer storage, I started doing online research for a storage solution and ended up on IKEA.com.  Since we don't have an IKEA super close by, I did the measurements and ordered online.  I had to use lots-o-lots of brain cells for this part of the project.  Almost as much thinking as I did in Calculus.  #notkidding

Bottom Line: Creating your own storage system and ordering the parts online is hard but possible.

Here is my drawn image of the storage solution.  I really am posting this to demonstrate that you don't have to have a fancy computer program or be an interior designer to design a closet space (you definitely can, but you don't HAVE to).

I contemplated using the Container Store system, but it was PRICEY.  Way more that I wanted to spend.  The total I spent on the ALGOT System with IKEA was $249 including shipping.  Much more affordable. 

To prepare for the storage system, I cleaned out the closet.  This part felt really good.  Sometimes the cleaning part can be overwhelming but the more I cleaned out the more empowered I felt.  I could see the true potential of the space.

I decided to use the 2 year rule which is "if I haven't worn it in 2 years, it's GONE."  Pretty liberating.  No holding onto the random shirt that was oh so cute that one time ... before I had kids???  .... GONE.  See what I mean? 

Sidenote: You have to be in the right state of mind to really clean out your closet. Almost an aggressive state of mind.  A "take no prisoners" mentality.  Did I just compare prisoners with cleaning out a closet? 

Anyway, that's where I was that day. Totally focused.  I made it happen.  To say that my husband was surprised by the mounds (please note the plural) would be an understatement.  

Then the many packages arrived from IKEA and my hubbie installed and put them in.  

Master Closet - Big Reveal

Finally, the reveal of my Master Closet.  This has been in the works for a L O N G time.

Here are some better angles of what was REALLY going on.

Okay, deep breaths.  To summarize this picture, I will use the following words: stacking, cramming, stuffing, hanging, messy, and in short overwhelmingly unorganized.

This half of the closet is a smidge better but BARELY.

Big Takeaway:  Transform a portion of my hang-up storage and replace with drawer storage.

Next week I'm going to run through each of the smaller projects that went into this closet overhaul.  But for now you can enjoy my sense of accomplishment by viewing the after pictures:)

Happy Friday, right?  Everything has a new, stylish, organized place:)  Details revealed next week!

 

Easy, Classic Fall Mantle

Two times every year I update the Living Room mantle - Fall/Thanksgiving and Christmas.  By the time October gets here, I'm ready for some browns, reds and oranges in this room.  We don't use the Living Room during the day much but I am in that room when I teach piano so I like it to be neat, fresh and updated.

Total time for this project: 35 minutes

Time breakdown:
20 minutes perusing "Free Fall Printables" on Pinterest
5 minutes printing the Free Printables and putting them in frames
10 minutes to place them and hang the wreath in the right place (without my husband present who has a keen eye for the exact right spot things should be in)

I was tempted to get do a more intense mantle arrangement, but I knew I would feel overwhelmed with it all.  Plus our mantle is pretty narrow so it is hard to do two-dimensional look on it.

I like to think of myself as simple and classic (hopefully my friends and family will agree!), so that's how I decorated the mantle.  Not too much, but just enough to recognize the beautiful change of the seasons.

God is so good.  Beautiful leaves changing colors.  The smell of pumpkin spice.  So many things to love.  Gifts from the Creator.  

 

31 Days of Praying for my Child

Long time no see, right?

Why the long break?  Well, it's quite a long story, but here is the condensed version.  I was putting too much of my time and energy into the blog.  I was choosing to work on organizing projects instead of taking care of my responsibilities as a wife and mother.  So I stepped back, reevaluated and adjusted my priorities accordingly.  I have continued to work on small projects but I allowed myself grace to just let things be instead of constantly working to make things better (more colorful) and more organized.

We are in a good school routine now and I am enjoying have a bit more time to myself so I have slowly picked up a few projects.  The first one was to put together a "31 Days of Praying for my Child" calendar.  We, as Christian parents, are called to be on our knees for our children.  I want to be purposeful in my prayers so I put together this calendar.  I have it printed in color, laminated and hung above my kitchen sink.

Will you join me in praying for our children?  I'd love for you to use this FREE PRINTABLE to help guide your prayers.  Click on the link or the picture to go to the download screen.

Download This

 

Reader's Space: Overflow to Organized

Wow, what an awesome response I have received from the Toy Rotation Strategy post earlier this week.  I love hearing how you guys implement ideas from this little blog! 

Today, I'm going to share how one Call-to-Order reader took her child's room from Overflow to Organized.

However hard we try, this area of my daughter's room ALWAYS stays messy.  It ends up being an  overflow toy area.   Lovely, right?

Child's Chore Chart

I recently implemented a Chore Chart system for my 5 year old.  She loves having a sense of purpose and order.  Just like her momma:)

After reading around and thinking about chores that would challenge her but that she could accomplish mostly on her own, I decided on 5 chores for her to do daily.

-Feed the dog
-Set/clear the table
-Put away laundry
-Pick up toys
-Make bed

Some of these chores (like feeding the dog and putting away laundry) were a big deal to her.  And honestly, a big deal to me.  I have had to "let go" of the way I think it should be done and let her do things her way.  So what if the clothes are not still folded the way I think they should be?  They are still in the right place and available to be worn.  So what if she likes to leave a trail of dog food so that our dog can "sniff out" the food?  The dog is still eating, right?

The bottom line is teaching her to be self-sufficient.  These chores help accomplish that end.

Toy Rotation Strategy

I recently created a toy rotation solution for Sister's room.   One of my favorite solutions is the IKEA Expedit Storage Solution.  Stacking is not a good idea for kids (in my humble opinion) because they cannot SEE what they have so therefore they FORGET what they have.  So we decided to go vertical and we have never looked back. 

 

However, each week more stuff gets stacked on the bookcase and we end up with this...

Potted Plants

Since my post earlier this week was about creating a Spring Garden and today's post is about Potted Plants, you may think that I actually do a lot of gardening.  You wold be mistaken.  I garden twice a year - in the fall I do pansies and in the spring I do sweet potato vine.  I may add another annual or perennial in the mix, but that's basically about as much as I can handle.  #thetruth

Our local Lowe's didn't have any sweet potato vine yet so I went to Calloways.  Oh Calloways.  You have such a lovely layout and superb selections.  I headed there with the kiddos in tow so I knew I needed to find what I needed FAST.  We managed to only pull about 8 flowers off other plants while there.  That's pretty good in my book.

Side note: last year, we added in a built-in grill area and hung large bulb string lights from the pergola and purchased new patio furniture.  We LOVE how it all came together.  We sit out there once the kids go to bed.  Divine. 

We also have 4 large potted plants in between the pergola columns.  We have a boxwood in the center and then change in seasonal flowers around it.  Last year our sweet potato vines were out of this world.  So long and oh so lovely.

Pansies are so incredibly hardy and can withstand crazy Texas weather.  They provide great color during the fall/winter months, but now it's time for them to go bye-bye!

How to Create a Spring Garden

Springtime = lovely flowers = learning about God = spring garden

This area in our backyard needs some serious TLC.  Our sprinklers haven't been doing the trick in this spot and I realized it too late, so the plants are mostly dead or dying.

Pretty sad, right?  Plus Charlee (our dog) has been intensely focused on digging up this area.  While I'm at it, I'll explain a few other things.

1) We decided against renovating our detached garage while doing the house renovation. 
2) We DID have every intention of painting the outside gray to match the house.
3) We didn't realize we forgot to have the painters paint it until 3 weeks post move in.
4) Hunter green was REALLY in during the 90's.
5) The whole garage needs LOTS-O-LOVE, but at the moment it's not getting any.
6) You are up to speed now:)

Makeshift Mudroom

I would like to have a mudroom.  I really would.  I love the idea of a room dedicated to things like backpacks, shoes, boots, and jackets. 

A few months ago, I started brainstorming about how I could bring a makeshift mudroom to my house.  After thinking and thinking and re-thinking, I finally thought of the perfect spot.  This little corner.

 It's right between the kids bedrooms and the kids bathroom.  I originally put the bookshelf as a safeguard to keep the kids from opening the little trap door.  Back in 1926, this door was used for easy access to the bathtub plumbing.  It also has a drop into the crawl space beneath our house.  #scary #dark #darkandscary

It has basically served as a place for random toy storage.  Enter the makeshift mudroom idea. 

 

I used this bench that I had in the kitchen area.  Fits perfectly, right?  I used a basket from the previous bookshelf and voila, the beginning of my mudroom.

It came together for $0 and about 30 minutes of work.   My Makeshift Mudroom.

Matters of the Heart

What a weighty title, right?   So, the title of this blog is Call to Order: Organizing home, time and heart.  The heart.

Let me back up just a bit.  I'm in a wonderful, out-of-this-world Bible study program called Bible Study Fellowship.  Well, I'm not just in it, my children go with me.  We all learn Scripture.  We study it.  We grow.  AMAZING.

This year we are studying the gospel of Matthew.  It is my first time to study the life of Jesus in detail.  Not a parable here and a history lesson there, but the WHOLE life of Jesus.  We just finished reading Jesus' eight woes to the Pharisees (Matthew 23:13-39).  Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites seven times in this passage.  SEVEN times.  He also uses the terms blind guides/men, fools, serpents, and brood of vipers.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence... So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Matthew 23:25, 28

The Pharisees worked very hard to appear righteous on the outside, but were full of self-indulgence on the inside.  They desired recognition from men more than from God. They idolized their rituals.  They choose to put more emphasis on the minute details of the law and forget the weightier provisions of the law - like justice, mercy and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23)

Kid's Bathroom: Cluttered to Clean COMPLETE

At the beginning of the week, I revealed My Plan for the bathroom.

I try to break up my larger projects into a handful of small jobs so that I don't get overwhelmed. For instance, declutter the entire pantry... OVERWHELMING.  Organize the canned goods portion of the pantry... TOTALLY DO-ABLE!  #seewhatimean #lifelessonfortoday

On Day 1, I ran through my problems and potential solutions. 

Day 2: Address the bow issue. 
Problem:  Bows.  Inevitable.  Girls have bows.  #lifelessonfortoday.   I want to display them so it's easier to keep organized and see what we have.
Solution: Buy a frame and make a bow holder

 Total cost of $14.99 and about 20 minutes of work. 

Bathroom Drawer

Are you ready for one of the most dramatic transformations in the Kid's bathroom: Cluttered to Clean Project?  

Remember this wonderful drawer? (insert sarcasm here)

 

Once I removed the bows and created the bow holder,

 

I was left with mostly toiletry items and hair items.  I debated a few different tactics and finally decided on buying an organizer for the drawer.  I was trying to make my own and it just wasn't strong enough to withhold lots of use.  I was thinking of using a utensil organizer, but I could not find one wide enough or cheap enough:) 

So, I headed to my local Michael's and stumbled upon the PERFECT organizer.  It was intended to be used to organize crafts, but it was wide enough to take up the drawer and had customizable inserts.  Plus it was only $5.49!