One Room Down...

Unfortunately no, this mess has not been staged.

The kids toy room was completely out of hand, without proper storage areas it would quickly change from clean to disaster in less than a day.

After wanting to put shelves in the closet for months now, I finally got around to doing it.

{All by myself!}

The metal rack that is shown to the right of the closet used to serve as the toy storage area, but it was unstable and couldn't fit all of the toys on it.  So, it has been disassembled and most toys are now stored inside the closet.  The rest of the room has been rearranged.

I hung a really long shelf on the wall in front of the art table.

I have been searching my head for ideas on how to display the kids art work in a cool inexpensive way.

As I was purchasing supplies for hanging the shelf, it came to me.

I'll use the individual sides of the metal rack, hang them from the shelf, 

and make a display wall.

So, that's what I did.

Now it looks like a real art space instead of a random table shoved in the corner.

I also put a small shelf above the kids kitchen that I made a few years ago, and I'll eventually put some hooks underneath to hang the cooking utensils.

The space is nice and clean for now.

We got rid of 5 boxes worth of stuff{toys and trash.

It has survived for 2 whole days without disaster or mess.

Now that everything has a place, hopefully cleanup will be much easier.

We'll see :)

I still want to repaint the room.

I want to paint the entire room in chalkboard paint, but hubby says no.

I know I'll atleast have different sections of the wall designated for that purpose.

So, one room down, the rest of the house to go.

The past few weeks, I have been going through the house trying to organize, throwing things away, and simplifying.

Notice I didn't say cleaning...hah, yeah, I need to do that too.

Bow'quet

KennaKat's bows and headbands were 

out of control

In need of a special place to call home.

A place where they wouldn't get lost 

in a jumble of clutter on her dresser,

& could possibly look as cute as a decoration, 

as they do adorning the top of her head.

**Meet Bow'quet**

I must admit that I love her.

She keeps things orderly and adorable 

on top of the currently cleared off dresser top.

{That wont last long because the dresser top generally houses all of the out-grown clothes that will be passed on to cousin Lani, that have not yet made it to the large bags in the closet}

The creation of this little cutie was free

If you'd like to make one for yourself, 

this is how to do it:

Supplies:

Oatmeal container

Mod Podge or glue

2 sheets of Pretty Paper 

{I used that of the scrapbooking origin}

Sticks

Container stuffer

Cute bows and Headbands

• Coat oatmeal container with Mod Podge
• Place paper around container
• Smooth out air bubbles (I'm not so great at that) 
• Coat top of paper & remaining container with Mod Podge
• Cover with 2nd sheet of paper
• Smooth out air bubbles
• Apply another coat of Mod Podge
• Allow to dry
• Gather sticks while getting pounced on by eager puppy hopeful of playing fetch
• Clip bows onto tips of sticks
• Arrange sticks in container
• If sticks are too low, stuff the bottom of the container with paper, or better yet, foam

Enjoy!