Bye Bye Nursery....

...Hello big boy room! My youngest is 5, and the poor guy was still sleeping in a crib converted to toddler bed, so yeah, it was time. We had so much fun putting this space together. He loves fish, and anything having to do with ocean life, so when I saw this quilt set on Zulily, I knew it would be perfect for him.

 

This little guy has been thoroughly enjoying his big bed! It's so cute to see him in it, it makes him look so little. I found the vintage tube style bed on craigslist, and spray painted it a pretty aqua blue color. Oh my goodness, I just love it! It just makes the whole room.

 



 

We hung 3 vintage skateboards, that we got from various places, over his bed.

The Roll -n- Surf one is my absolute favorite. Love that gorgeous color!

 

I just gotta tell you, if you need good storage, this little storage unit is $37 at Walmart and you would not believe how big the cubed bins are, we've got tons of stuff in there! And it makes a perfect little nightstand. I was also thrilled to find the lamp, in the exact same color as the bed, at T.J. Maxx.

 

 

He has really become interested in drawing lately, so we hung a vintage chalkboard down low on the wall so he could have a drawing space. He has really been enjoying that. And it always makes me smile when I go in there and see his latest piece of art. I asked him to draw a picture on it before I took pictures for this post. He says, Sure! And then he proceeded to write a huge HO on there. He said it's an O and an H! I'm like yeah, but in that order I'm afraid it's not super appropriate for a blog post... LOL!

The big whale on the wall, the W, and the whale frame were all from Hobby Lobby, on sale or with a coupon, of course!

 

 

So that's it - a whale of a big boy room! It's always kinda sad when you put away all the sweet nursery things, but it's also fun to watch them grow up, too.

 

 

 

 



Craigslist comes through again!

There are a lot of perks to living in a 100+ year old house. But closet space is NOT one of them. Can I get an Amen? Don't judge, but I was storing sheets under the bed. And it wasn't working very well. 

Then I found this little number on craigslist, for cheap cheap cheap, and instantly I thought "Linen Closet!!!" I loved all the square doors, too - it looks quite cottagey. 

But of course, I couldn't just leave it alone, it had to get a makeover first. Cuz that's just how it's done around here. 

I got some cute metal knobs from Hobby Lobby, and painted the whole cabinet Extra White from Sherwin Williams.

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be able to store all of our sheets, pillow cases, etc, in the same place! Soooo handy. And I think it turned out super cute, too! Craigslist scores again! 

The Locker Room

I'm just gonna be brutally honest here, and tell ya - I have no idea why I'm posting this photo, other than these guys actually cleaned up their room, you can actually see the floor, and I felt the need to document that. That is all. 

Now if they'll just leave it this way for more than 15 seconds, that'd be great. For once, putting their laundry away doesn't require steel toes and a hard hat.

 Boys. Gotta love 'em.

New Beginnings and Decluttering

A new year has begun and with that many of us have started thinking about our "resolutions"; things we'd like to see happen for 2016, whether it's physical goals, spiritual goals, family goals, business goals, home goals, etc. I read that only 8% of these are actually met. Why? Because we don't come up with a plan. It's easy to SAY what we'd like to have happen, but it's a whole other ball game to actually DO it.

 

I have a whole page of things I've jotted down for this year and yes, I'll probably be in that 8% on some of them. However, I thought we could do some brain storming on here with something my house desperately needs:

 

ATTENTION

 

I have had it. Done. Ka-put. Finished.

 

It always happens this time of year. Stuff seems to mass produce and it is everywhere. The busyness of the holiday months finally settles down and you look around and wonder why your house looks like a bomb went off. What? You're saying this only happens to me?

 

So, I've slowly taken to decluttering this joint.

 

I purge my house every single year for a yard sale and it somehow still happens. I have seen many bloggers recommend this book,

so I got it with some Christmas money. I have barely started the thing (did I mention I was moving slow), so I can't give you my review, but others say it works.

*ETA-I was advised that there are some religion ideas in the book that I don't agree with, but that she has some good practical advice, as well. Please read at your own risk and don't go running around saying Jenny worships idols.

Another review has come in. Many Religious reviews that we do not believe to be truth. Sorry, guys. 

 

Plan of Attack:

~Book ordered...check.

~Take book upstairs...check.

~First 3 pages read...check.

 

Seriously, I decided to take it one thing at a time and I started with my bathroom linen closet. We never did paint it because when the door's shut, who knows?! Yeah, that's how we roll.

  Ideally, all the "extra" bottles were supposed to stay lined up in a row, toys in basket, sheets somewhat in order as I have yet to master folding them, etc. 

Reality. Close door. Out of sight, out of mind.

I can't stand that!

 I am always admiring organized pantries, closets, scrapbook nooks, etc. that have matchy-matchy storage totes. So, for Christmas I requested some new towels. It was time. I was using ones I took to college. HA! I then unloaded the whole thing and we gave it a fresh coat of paint. We already had the gray color, so I went with it.

So much better! I went through everything and pitched stuff that wasn't used or added it to a garage sale tote. The gray storage bins are from Target. They have decorative collapsible baskets for their cube storage now. The other baskets I had on hand. The towels are from Walmart.

So, how do you keep your home under control? We'd love to hear your advice in the comments.