Round 1

So round one of organizing went fairly well. I concentrated mostly on storage areas such as the linen closet in the hallway and the under the sink storage. I bought these cute baskets at Deal$. They look like this:


The best part is that they were $1. I love the dollar store. The amount of things I can buy for $1 is almost a little overwhelming.

I used these baskets first to clean up my mess of a linen closet. I am not exaggerating here. ***Disclaimer- I am messy.
Before:




After:





I put things that we don't use as much such as light bulbs and bug spray up higher so it isn't taking room up that would be put to better use. I tried to group like items together so I know where things basically are, such as my bars for my Scentsy, toiletries, dog things, etc. It's worked out great so far. I love the feeling that everything has it's place. Now it's just about keeping it there.

A little organization...

I've decided to start to organize my house one room at a time. Baby steps. One thing that this house lacks is storage space! Tiny closets, no pantry, etc...pictures to come. So, I've decided to start one room (space) at a time. So in essence, this will be a series of blogs. There are a TON of free printable websites out there, which I hope will help me to become more organized. I consider myself one of the most disorganized, organized people I know. I know where things are, but could anyone else find the thing if I wasn't present, probably not, definitely not. I decided to start small by going with the hall closet. We keep our linens and bathroom things in there, as well as things such as the dogs heart guard and frontline and whatever else he has in there. So, I will post some before and after pictures in the coming weeks, along with where I find my materials. Hope you enjoy!
Until then,
Kirstie

First I will start by saying I SUCK. I'm not very good at keeping this updated. Honestly, I haven't really done much as far as projects recently, but I did a couple of projects about a month ago at a craft day I had with some friends. If you go back to this post about my upcoming projects, I did do the one where you put lyrics on a painted canvas, spray paint it, and the lyrics show through. Now, I had ALOT of problems trying to come up with lyrics for this project. I bought two packs of vinyl letters (purchased from Michael's), which I clearly thought was enough. Turns out there are A LOT of E's and I's within the words of the English language, so I had to come up with something pretty basic.If someone would want to try this, I would recommend measuring the spacing BEFORE adhering the lettering to the canvas. If you're like me and slightly OCD it WILL drive you crazy that the letters aren't evenly spaced. This is what it looked like before spray paint:


And this is what it looked like after spray paint:


I'm still not exactly sure where I would like to put it in the house, so it's sitting in the unfinished office area (which will hopefully be finished soon).

I also made the soup which I referred to in this blog post.
It turned out well, but unfortunately I did not like it much after it was frozen. The pasta was kind of soggy and blah and in hindsight I would have used more chicken. But if you need a big pot of soup for something, and most of it will be eaten or can be refrigerated for just a couple of days, I'd recommend this one. Here is a picture of the finished product:

And this is the website where I originally found he recipe, which has very detailed instructions. Disclaimer: If you make this, you do need to buy a small chicken (which looks like a chicken), and take its' insides out! Yuck!

This isn't just about the house anymore...

So in effort to stop eating out so much, I am going to make larger quantities of meals to guarantee leftovers. I've never been one to brown bag it so to speak so this will be interesting. It would be much easier if I were not so picky tasteful. So I'm going to make lasagna tomorrow night, but since I am done for the day at 3:15 (which is the only day of the week I'm done before 7) I am also going to attack this soup to freeze for lunches. It seems like there are many parts but I like to chop veggies so what the heck. In other news, this weekend is craft weekend. So I'm excited to see what projects I end up finishing. To see projects I plan to do/like check out this link. So hopefully, tomorrow I will have some soup pictures for all of my millions, I mean 3 readers out there. Enjoy.

PS I've made a new pact with myself that I am going to post one post per week (minimum). Now since I only have myself to keep myself accountable, we will see what happens.

Upcoming Projects

So, I have many ideas running around in my head for things I'd like to do. I have a very lonely wall in my living room in which I would like to decorate. My idea for this is find (for super cheap), 3 16x20 picture frames. Matching or not, doesn't matter since I want to spray them a light blue color. Then I would like to put silhouettes of birds inside the frames (in black) on a white matting. I don't have an exact idea of what I want to do, but I think it's played out pretty well in my head. Executing however, different story. I need to set aside some time to plan and do this because if I don't it will never get done.

Also, a friend of mine showed me this, which is also linking you to my pinterest account which means you should follow me because that website is AWESOME! Anyway, that was off topic. I think this is a really cute idea, I just don't know what lyrics, or phrase I would do yet.

My next focus will be our bedroom, because as of now to be honest it's quite boring. I get really excited about one thing, and then it takes me awhile to get started on another. I think I want to do some candle sconces on the wall, and I like this one with the mirror because it will make the room seem bigger, and that is definitely what we need.

It's been forever I know! I have finished one of the guest rooms, the Parisian inspired room. At least finished for now. I'd like to get an armoire for that room, or a nice piece of furniture. I'll know when I see it. Now I'd like to start focusing on the other two bedrooms, the master and second guest room. I like the idea of putting many mirrors in a room to create a larger space, like this... For the second guest room I want to do a mural on the wall, or rather have my aunt do a mural on the wall, I've been coming up with a few ideas, I like the idea of doing almost a window into a landscape like the second picture on this website. Let me know what you guys think, I definitely am up for suggestions. I will put more pictures up soon. I have yet to find a adapter for my computer to use with my camera. I may be able to put some more pictures up on Wednesday, but for now any suggestions are appreciated!

More Pictures

I have some more pictures! Here is a picture of a painting I bought at Poor Man's Art Gallery in St. Charles. They had a good selection of painting, and I got this large painting for only $96 with their 40% discount. I struggled to find something I really liked and jumped on the opportunity to buy this abstract. It was a good size and I really liked the colors used in the painting.


I also have nearly finished the guest room. I definitely have enough art in there. The only thing I would really like to find an inexpensive piece of furniture for that room and refinish it to go with the room. I'll be referring to Craigslist for that. But here are some pictures of what I've done so far.




I also purchased the 3 smaller paintings at Poor Man's Art Gallery. The prices made them irresistible, even though I had enough art for that room anyway!

My friend Kristin and I put together a rack to hang pots and pans tonight. What a task! I thought it was going to be really easy, but it was definitely not as easy as I was assuming it would be. I can say I am becoming quite proficient with a drill within the last week. Here is a picture of the rack for the pots and pans, not very exciting, but I am patting Kristin and I on the back for the accomplishment.