The Garage Mud Room

 We haven't disappeared from our attempts to organize our house - I'm just a little bit off on posting the progress.  So finally (Memorial Day Weekend) we finished our garage room project.  I had a dream.....a dream of a bench that would cost under $30 and be some crazy colors the girls picked out.  So after a trip to Menard's for lumber and paint we clipped some coupons and headed to JoAnn Fabrics for some foam and fabric selection.  Polyurethane foam is not cheap!  Thank goodness for coupons or it would have killed my project budget.  So you have the beginning of the project with Tim measuring the wood to cut it to my lovely detailed drawings.

After some debating and discussion the end project looked like this.  We had to use some wood putty to fill some of the gaps and the girls "patiently" waited for it to dry.

As this was no Crayola paint the girls were smocked up (compliments of Ikea and Grandma Papke) to get ready to paint.  If you couldn't tell the girls picked out the color of the bench.

 And yes, they were very excited to finally get to paint - and threatened with their lives by their father if they got paint on the driveway.

 It was a team effort...

 Working hard...

 Everyone did their part.

 Even Emma - she was our cheerleader.

 After some stretching to get the fabric around my foam piece the finally L brackets were screwed in.

 Lots of help still.

 And the final product!  I am extremely happy with how this turned out.  We have gotten a lot of compliments on it and have been asked where we bought it. :).  The girls spent the rest of the day sitting on it because they liked it so much.

 Just another view of the painting skills of Abby and Megan.

The final product.  The shoe basket previously held toys in our basement (and that is Megan's basket with all the shoes - she organized quickly).  There is a shoe tray under there now for Tim's boots which works out great for concrete pour days.  The overhead shelf/hooks hold backpacks and coats.  Each bin currently holds the girls winter gloves/hats - not sure how that will evolve but it's the plan for now.  The unmatching hopscotch rug was a bad idea for the girls room that is almost perfect in dimensions for the mud room area.  It gives a comfortable space to walk in socks or barefoot after you have taken off your shoes.
Best part yet - none of these shoes, backpacks, or boots are in my kitchen or living room!  Less clutter and dirt in the house - successful project in my book!

Apple Trees

This past weekend we made some small improvements to the farm - that we might get to enjoy in the next 2-5 years.  Yes, apple trees take that long before they are mature to pick from.

We planted 3 down by our lagoon - which will hopefully be somewhere in our backyard eventually if we ever build a house.  They are dwarf apple trees so they will be a decent size for the kids to pick apples, and for the deer to get to them as well as I was reminded by Tim.

Tim likes any excuse to drive the tractor and of course we needed  the bucket there.

And with the tractor comes my turn to drive it with my girls.  Emma got her first tractor ride Sunday night and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Having all 3 of them up in there with me brought a lot of memories back of me and my brothers in there with my grandpa.  Megan is all ready to "drive", she can tell you all about the turtle/rabbit gear.

Not sure what they like better - the tractor rides or the 4-wheeler.  They might be country girls just yet...

So that has been our major progress out on the farm.  I have a project going on in the garage and making my "mud room".  There was some assembling done yesterday as well so I need to work on that when there is time as well.  That requires moving things in the garage and Tim will not be happy if I do that without his blessing as that is "his room".
More to come...

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.

Almost Kitchen Completeness!

First note:  We did finally get back one of our bids - and it was lower than what we were estimating!  Then we noticed it was missing a few things, so back to the drawing board for them.  But we did have a "Holy Crap" moment where we realized we might actually be able to afford this whole dream.
Then we started to look into storage units....the fun never ends here. 
We need storage for:

Several boxes from the kitchen ready to go somewhere....we're not sure if we want to get the garage sale stuff out of the house and just bring it back before the sale or what.  Tim still has to address our basement storage as there is a lot of items that can go.  And we actually do have a lot of basement closet storage to utilize so we'll see....something to ponder for the future if needed.

So where did all of these boxes get filled from??? May I present the before and after show:

We have a lot of glasses.  Ones that we never use, but have accumulated from beer festivals, Hard Rock Cafe's, sorority formals, college organizations, brewery tours, etc.  Tim is the only one that drinks coffee, very rarely at home and I drink hot chocolate during the winter - so apparently we needed 20+ coffee cups and random travel mugs as well.

So the cabinet was emptied, sorted, and refilled with this:

How about that!  There are still some pint glasses in there and our favorite mugs made the cut.  Wine glasses will probably take up the top right portion since they are in with our dishes currently.  Not everything went to the garage sale pile.  The "keeper" glasses are in a box - that will some day get opened when we have a bar in the basement.  Or give up and donate them to someones lake house or garage sale.  Maybe the shouse will be a "Man Cave" with "Ann & Tim GBS Formal" mugs in there.  The options are endless, but we couldn't part with all of them.

This cabinet is for baby/kids cups and dog medicine (top left - Gracie is 13 years old (91 in people years) so there are some vitamins and such to keep her going) baby food/bottles.

Made a little progress a couple weeks back.  I decided that sippy cups from 5 years ago needed to be trashed.  Emma would get the pleasure of new ones when it's time and it gets rid of the excuse for the girls to use them randomly.  A couple of Megan's favorite stayed just in case but everything else went to the trash.

This is what we are going with for now.  Dog items were gone through and consolidated to their own tote and take up a lot less space.  Still holding on to some fish items....but that could change if I get a whim.  So it's definitely better, but not great, but it's the stage of life we are in.  Some day, when we are bottle/sippy cup/baby food free we'll have 2 open shelves.....and we have about 3 more years until that will happen, at least with the Sippy cups.

This is the top of our refridgerator.  Craft items, Playdoh, candy bowl, grill set.  Enough said.

And here is the after.  Craft items went to the Baker's Rack (more organizing needed there).  Made a candy jar since I really wanted that bowl back as it's one of my larges plastic ones, and everything else (other than the fire extinguisher) found it's rightful home.  And there are cabinets back there!  Which have been cleaned out as well and the one on the right is empty.....for now.

Jar from Wal-Mart and some stickers I had since I'm all about the labeling now.  The jar top jingles though when you shut the fridge so I am going to have to do something about that before Tim throws it away from being annoyed with it.  Any advice would be welcomed on tips there - it's glass on glass now with a small lip on the top keeping it in place.

I did not take a before picture of this cabinet because I didn't think we would really do much with it.  I took out all the saucers and coffee cups that match our dishes (because we have 16 of those in addition to all of the other ones that we barely use).  They are marked for storage and someday might come out but for now were taking up space and accumulating dust with no potential use in the future.  So the Magic Bullet moved to the top, and the kids plates/bowls aren't stacked on saucers anymore.  The big girls use real plates now so those are just sitting around for Emma to use in the next couple of months and when friends kids visit.  Then someday we'll have more space...in 4 years or so.  Tim is trying to fit our new 14 cup food processor on the top shelf....not gonna happen.  So the top will remain empty for now.  The gravy boat, butter dish, and dip bowl will just hang out up there unless things get moved around.

So that pretty much wraps up the kitchen other than the pots/pans cabinet which is an ongoing "discussion" on what we need and don't need so that will happen later.  The pantry is a work in progress, still.  Everything else has been addressed.  Unfortunately that included the towl/washcloth drawer, and our storage container cabinet which I did not take before/after photos of - but they look fabulous!  Although the counters aren't much less cluttered and all of the progress is behind doors there is still a sense of more organization.

AND - Tim has given me permission to tackle this:

I "had" a pile, he still has a pile.  I am allowed to address this as long as it's not to girlie.  "None of that paisley crap, camo if you can find it or black."  So my search for coupons and good ideas/deals is on.

I have a goal of working on my closet and bathroom drawers for next weekend....but plans change.

The Accessory Cabinet

I'm really not too sure what to call this cabinet.  It's the one to the right of the microwave.  It holds a variety of things from coffee, measuring items, wine accessories, candles for cakes, cupcake items, and sprinkles.  So I went with the Accessory Cabinet - and let me tell you when I unloaded all of it there was a lot of other things in there.  3 year old hot chocolate mix anyone??  It's amazing what that 3rd shelf can hide in the back...

So without further ado, the before photo:

Overall you can kind of see some organization to chaos.  Measuring stuff on the bottom within easy reach.  Coffee/recipes on the second level because they are less used, and slightly used items on the top.

The majority of this organization involved throwing things away and into the garage sale pile.  We had a ton of wine accessories!  Apparently we used to drink a lot of wine??  Or maybe not - maybe it was too much wine and I can't remember.  Either way, we don't need 6 wine openers and 8 wine corks, along with who knows how many shot glasses......ahh the college days.

So once the items were gone through, reminisced and trashed I was left with this:

Sadly it doesn't look like that much of an improvement but I can tell you there are a lot less things in there now and that makes me happy.  I had a white tub from Wal-Mart (3 for $1.97) that I put the kitchen scale, grater, and pastry knife along with some spices we haven't used yet.  The little blue tub (3 for $1) has all the food coloring/sprinkles in it.  Toothpicks still in the top.  Plus that shelf doesn't have anything hiding in the back anymore, big accomplishment.  Middle shelf is pretty much the same other than the recipes are actually in the recipe box and the birthday candles/cupcake items migrated up there in the back since they are rarely used.  The bottom shelf has the most progress.  Snagged some of these metal buckets the girls have gotten over the years for Easter and one now holds all the measuring spoons and can opener, and the other one has all the wine accessories (still kept some of the good ones).  Then measuring cups are sitting all nice and pretty.  There is so much more space on that shelf now I don't know what to do with it!

And look out - I got a label maker and have been labeling a few things here and there and enjoying it a little too much :).  Abigail helped organize her hair accessory drawer which I will have to get photos of.  There are no before, just the work she did.  I'm so proud of her!

House Update and the "Ann Pile"

We have made a little bit of progress with our house plans.  We have met and discussed plans with our 3 prospective contractors, filled out spec sheets, and explained why we don't want to change certain things, yes we have thought about that, but no, this is how we want it type discussions.  All three are crunching numbers and we should have bids in 1-2 weeks at the latest.  We're ready to move forward and make this dream a reality - that is until we talk to the bank.  A little nervous about that but I'm sure it will go fine.  I'm just a stingy/cheap person so spending more money at home time than we ever have before makes me nervous.

And yes, people have been telling us how much money we can safe if we GC the house ourselves, but Tim and I both no we don't have the time to do this and it would only put a whole lot of stress on our already busy lives, and the house wouldn't get done until 2014.  We might try to save some costs with painting and small stuff (painting party anyone?) but I don't see much in our horizon other than picking things out.

So that is where we are, waiting on the bids.  We have $$ amounts in our head as what it will cost, and hopefully the bids will be lower.  May the best man win.

So on to yet another corner of the kitchen organizing progress.  The "Ann Pile" or dump zone as I like to call it.  We do not have a mud/utility room, we walk smack right into our kitchen and I dump everything on my counter, and I mean everything.  Piles are made, bills are buried, and just random chaos occurs.  Now don't think it's just all my fault - my husband has his own pile or dump zone, but that is for another day.  My pile also includes all things kids as well.

So here is the before:

Not one of my most proudest moments, but it is what it was.  There are school pictures from 1 year ago, old chargers for phones we don't have, and TONS of stuff to be recycled, filed, or put in a baby book.

I didn't get to crank this out in one night - took about 3 nights as I would just tackle one pile at a time after dinner or when I could find 15 minutes of time to myself as my helpers want to keep more than I want to, I secretly have to go through things a second time.  So once I recycled a large amount of paper, shredded a lot, and put things back to where they should go or their new home in the trash can here is what I was left with............

Isn't it lovely?  And guess what - there was a counter under there after all!!  I found these 12x12 boxes at Hobby Lobby at 40% off so I think they were about $4.20/each and then that top box was from the Dollar General for $3.50.  I still need to put labels on them.  The bottom box is for my Baby Book items.  I am horrible at putting baby books together and documenting all the important dates.  In my piles there was a lot of accumulation of previous doctor visits height/weight info and such.  So, all those items plus photos and memorabilia can find a home there and I can take the whole box downstairs with me to add them to baby books when I have time.  The second box is where my stuff is - items to read, Groupons, school info etc. so easy to access and address/file/trash when done.  There are actual file folders in there - Items of Interest, File, etc.  The top box is where the chargers are hiding.  Usually I just have them plugged in, not too pretty.  I saw this box and had to have it, it has plenty of space for extra items if necessary.  So when I need them I'll get them out and put them back when done, then this leaves extra space if needed (and outlets) for a bread machine, crock pot, or whatever else.

I will admit, once I stepped backed and looked at it - I think I almost found inner peace, for a minute.  Less clutter = Happy Ann.  I am loving it!  It may only be coming together one drawer/section at a time but every little bit is making life a little less cluttered and small improvements are making big impacts - and those are what are keeping me motivated.