Emma's Room Update

The nursery really hasn't changed much in almost 7 years.  Everything is basically the same since we put it together before Abby was born.  I had gotten a little bored with the clutter so I decided to get another 9 cube storage unit to try to reduce the clutter and contain the amount of books we continue to accumulate.  Plus I know Emma will have more items, and extra space will be nice.  So here was the before:

That bookcase was from when I was in college and somehow has managed to hold up.  I wasn't thrilled with the circle table anymore really either.  So here is the after:

Less clutter, books are contained, lamp cord is behind the storage unit, and there are some girly colors in there.  Megan decided on the tote storage locations.  I usually keep a couple open for books that are too big/tall for the cubes but can lay flat.  I think 2 of the totes are empty so there is a lot of extra room in there to spare for now.  I'd like to think with our decluttering efforts we might not fill them soon, but I know better.  Right now Emma's shoes that fit, and the ones that are too big are in two of the totes, and then books are in the bottom two.  Thanks to the Imagination Library, Emma's book collection is growing quickly.

Sadly, that was my last thing to assemble and I'm not sure what my next task will be......but I think I might take another stab at the pantry since it's still kicking my butt on organizing it.

A weekend with only 1 kiddo...

So I actually got to have a weekend with just the baby and the house to myself so I was lucky enough to get a couple of projects done that had been on my list to do.  Since the baby still takes a couple naps a day I had a good chunk of time to work uninterrupted - which is almost unheard of these days.  It's amazing what you can get done when you only have to watch the child that makes the least amount of mess.   Most of the projects I had the supplies, just not the time.  You might remember this.....

This is my husbands pile of "important stuff".  Our lack of kitchen counter space drives me a little nuts when I am trying to make something so he gave me permission to organize it.

I'm a little addicted to these 12x12 boxes from Hobby Lobby as they are big enough for magazines and folders, cameras, and lots of mail!  I did get in trouble for recycling magazines that my husband will never read and have now been told to put his mail outside the box because he will never open it to read it.  The pile does not look as clean, but it's still an improvement.

Another project I was working on was a storage system for the kids school items.  Pictures, awards, etc.  I found an idea from my favorite organizing lady Jenn at iheartorganizing.blogspot.com.  She has 3 boys and similar challenges that the Schmidt house has, but with less pink and purple.  Jenn offered some free printables and I scoured the internet for the boxes and found them here. 

Here are my supplies:  File boxes, hanging folders, and file folders.

Printables for the file folders

All the labels applied to the folders X 3

The other printable was a photo for each school year that tells the school year, school, and teachers.  This is Abby's 1st preschool year, looks so young!  So there is one of these in each folder for each kid.

Then everything was nicely filed away.  I have all the folders spread out out for the photo but they collapse to about and inch or two so plenty of room to expand with all the paperwork that will come in the years I would like to save for the kids to someday have.

And they are neatly stored in my "craft room" closet.  I still need to put some names on them.  I bought some of those Martha Stewart chalkboard labels but I don't think I am going to use them.  Might get something else for the names........

I still need to download some other pictures from the spring break o fun with our projects.