Sunday, March 25, 2012

Announcement

Spring Cleaning season is upon us!

And there is so much more I'd rather do.  Not to mention, reno mode is not really the best of times to decide to do a top to bottom clean up.  3 seconds after your multi hour scour...oh look, another layer of drywall dust everywhere.
Swell.

So!  Instead, next Sunday, April 1st I will be introducing my 
SPEEDY SPRING PRETTY ORGANIZE.

I will be walking you through 2 organizing projects each week in April.  Each project will take no longer than 30 minutes.  There will be a prize opportunity!  Oh how I love prizes!!
By month end, you will have the potential to have 8 spaces in your home organized without having committed more than 4 hours.

If this sounds good to you, check back on Sunday, April 1st to get full details and to hear about the first 2 projects.

Jones Design Company via fleuretica.com

Happy Spring Break Everyone!!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Joy!

I had the pleasure of working with Joy yesterday.  She is one busy lady with 4 sweet kiddos 5 and under.  She wanted me to help her sort out their rooms a bit.  The time had come for baby to move from her parents' room so the goal was for us to arrange a girl room and a boy room.  

Here you can see the fab loft bed Joy's husband built in order to get both girls together.
We moved it all the way against the wall to create a little space for a book shelf we stole from the boys' room.  


Before
After

We moved the dresser to the other side of the room and fit all the girls clothes into it with baskets on top for baby socks and shoes.

After
Before






















 Joy is refinishing a cute desk which will live in the space where the dresser had been.



We moved a cupboard into the closet to create a spot for tidy toy storage.

After
Before






















After a serious purge and sort, we ended up with 4 categories of toys and used bins from around the house to hold them which will make for easier clean up.



And now for the boys.
We used an empty filing cabinet from the basement for toy storage.

Before
After









Lego is loose in the bottom drawer so it is easy for the boys to sit on the floor and access it.  The top drawer has a bin for cars and a few larger toys.  The container on top holds all other toys.  Stuffies are literally stuffed in the corner of the closet. 
Keeping clean up for little ones basic and straight forward without too many sorting requirements, makes it much easier to train them to keep their rooms tidy.



Since we were able to empty the storage unit I switched up the dresser a bit.

Before
After



This little unit was also in the basement so I brought him up to store books.  Board books for little brother in the basket and big boy books hiding behind the door.



The chair moved into the empty space where the bookshelf had been that I brought into the girls' room.



On to the office area.
We sorted the papers on the upper shelf into file boxes.  The tool basket got switched for a prettier look.

Before
After






















We found a container for pencils, set up a file box for "to do" items and sorted and purged random papers.

Before
After







We did some more sorting and purging through the boxes on the shelves and ta da!  

Before
After



I had a wonderful time working with Joy who is extremely creative and so sweet!  Huge thanks to her hubby for all the carrying, hanging and fixing.  

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Springtime!

 I have such wonderful memories of my home growing up.  My mom is a fantastic seasonal decorator.  In the Fall she might find a remnant of fabric on sale and recover the toss cushions on the couch.  I remember a crocheted heart banner at Valentine's.  Living room rug down for winter, up for summer.  Springtime meant pussy willows and marsh marigolds placed around the house.

I love seasonal decor.  With all my stuff in storage, I've had to scale it down quite a bit but here are 3 quick, easy, cheap ideas.

ONE
Switch out blankets to move from cozy to airy.  I turned the pillow on my bed over to take it from the warm plaid look to Springy floral.

TWO
This subway art was a gift from my friend Colleen.  It is fun to change it up for every holiday.  The little jujubes are faux, but it would be just as easy to sprinkle real ones around.  I switch up the colours to match the holiday.


THREE
We all know how much flowers brighten a room.  It is easy to forget though and miss out on the daffodil and tulip season.  These guys were only $1.99 and are lasting beautifully.


HAPPY SPRING!!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Mrs. Meyer's

For the past many months, every trip to the States would include a run in to Walmart to stock up on my favourite hand soap.  

I am thrilled to announce you can now purchase Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day here in Canada at Canadian Tire.

I think the labels are adorable.  The products are also environmentally friendly.


You can also get spray cleaner.


And dish soap.


I bet you can guess which colour is my favourite. 


So far these are the only products and scents I've seen here but you can check out their website for a whole load of other great stuff and for details about how earth friendly they are.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

And the Winner Is...

Thank you to my very lovely voters!  

And if you've been wondering, the winner is...

Benjamin Moore's Colour of the Year
Wythe Blue

House of Turquoise via Cottage &Vine via Houzz


And the winning comment goes to, "Why use a colour at all that is not your favourite?".  
Yes.  
So true.  
Good advice Leanne.

And now, to choose the carpet...


GAH!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

My New Bust

One of my sisters is getting laser eye surgery, and I was feeling a bit left out of the whole "new look" scene.  
So I figured, what the heck?  And now I just cannot resist showing you my new bust.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE

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




Is she not fab?  She was actually a gift from Darla.  I saw her in Envy and could not stop talking about her so Darla very kindly got her for me.  Perhaps Darla hoped owning her would shut me up a bit, but if so, that plan has backfired a smidge.  

Her name is Marin. 
 (after a character in one of my favourite movies)

She's pretty fun.  Right now she is living in my bathroom,  




but she'd make a lovely addition to any space.



However I would advise you not to leave your bust unattended in the kitchen.



Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pretty Organized Pantry

There is a time in every pantry's life when it needs to get an overhaul.  The day to day use by multiple family members is bound to cause even the best organized area to get a little unruly after a while.  
The other day, Darla's pantry got a Pretty Organized makeover.  




When I do a confined space like this, I like to start from the top and work down.  I also like to sort the job into one food category at a time.
Top shelf was home to cereal, games and puzzles as well as the treat box.



The deep shelves are great, but the cereal boxes in the back row were hard to reach.



I decided that these baskets would work well on the top shelf since they take up the full depth but can be pulled down easily.  



I pulled everything out of the baskets and sorted it into categories.



I filled two baskets with baking supplies and filled the top shelf.  Then cereal went down to eye level and while it still has a row in the back, it is now easy for anyone to access those boxes.  A section of breakfast items also moved to the cereal shelf.



The games and puzzles that are least used are in the corner, and favourites are more reachable.  The treat box is filling the full depth of the shelf and is up out of reach.
I stacked cans in categories but left lots of room for more to be added.



 Next I emptied all coffee, tea and cold drink mixes from the pantry and sorted them.



I wanted these to be easy to grab without having to search for a specific kind of tea for example.
On the next shelf down - pasta.



Another basket holds oils, one for spices, and a bin for lunch making supplies that is easy for the kids to grab and use.  Items that are not often used can hide in the back row.



The goal for the floor was to leave space for 3 school bags and 3 lunch kits to be stored.
I put a bin for the lunch kits so that they can be pulled out all at once when it's time to fill them up.  School bags can stand in the space left.



The finished product.  



Don't let a job like this overwhelm.  Do one shelf each day if you need to break it into chunks.  Keep food categories in mind that make sense to you and to your family's needs.  Use bins to store items that you use often and choose containers that are easy to grab.  Dollarama is a great source of inexpensive storage.
And remember, if you haven't used it for awhile...maybe you never will.  Keep that garbage can close by!