Weekend Project-Organizing our Office

When we moved in our new home over a year ago, I was so excited to have my own office space. After several months we finally found a desk we liked and I also added some curtains and eventually bought a bookshelf as well. However, that is where my room organization ended. The room eventually ended up super cluttered and unfinished. With baby #3 on the way, my nesting instinct has definitely kicked into high gear and this was one of the many projects I wanted to tackle. So instead of my weekly "52 Weeks to an Organized Home" challenges I've been doing through Home-Storage-Solutions-101, I figured I better get to work on a more pressing area of my home!

Believe it or not, it was actually worse than this at first. My husband had several boxes from work and other work related items on the floor. Once we got those out we had more room to move around.

I used my cell phone for the photos so I apologize that some may be fuzzy! Here are the before pictures. BEWARE!

After an entire day's worth of work, here are the afters:

We aren't 100% finished with this room, as you can see the walls are still mostly blank. I have a corkboard and dry erase calendar for the wall space above the desk. I also would like to get a lamp and red chair to go by the window. For the wall next to the desk I want to hang photos of the children. On the other walls we plan to hang our college diplomas.

My husband has a different idea and thinks it needs to be more like a "traditional" office with a black leather chair, more traditional wall hangings etc. But I told him since it will be mostly my space (He has his own upstairs) doing our businesses' accounting work and blogging, home bill paying etc I want it to be a fun and functional room that I like to spend time in. I want to add some color so I thought maybe a red or blue chair by the window would be perfect. A cozy one for reading or for my kids to sit in and chat with me if they want while I'm working. I also thought rather than spending money on wall art, I can frame some of the zillion pictures I have and make it a fun wall of photos, maybe kids art projects etc.

It's still a work in progress and I hope to post more pictures soon of it when it is all complete. This week I'm going to start on decluttering our spare room that will be the nursery for baby #3! I have 10 weeks to go and I am feeling a little anxious to get everything done!!!

52 Weeks to an Organized Home-Week 3

Last week the challenge for the week was to organize kitchen drawers and cabinets. This task has taken me longer to complete with other things we have going on but I plan to finish it this weekend. In the meantime, I moved on to Week 3 so as not to get far behind.

Week 3 Challenge is Kitchen: Organize Pantry, Spices and Food Storage Areas. I am happy to say I have already completed this one!! I worked on it for a couple hours yesterday and am very happy with the results. Now to be honest, I know there is still some room for improvement. I would like to get some cute baskets or something functional to help corral things like the kids snacks, chip bags, etc... But at least this is a start right??

Here are the before photos:

And a side view

Here is the After

Other Side

I probably threw away 6 or so boxes, well recycled of course, that were either expired or had one item left in it. I found lots of extra space this way so I could properly organize things AND actually be able to see what is in there. I grouped all my spices together by like items. For example, all the Italian type seasonings, Oregano, Basil etc together and then the spicier stuff like Cumin, Paprika, Chili powder and then the sweet and/or baking spices together like Cinnamon, Powdered sugar & All Spice together. This will hopefully keep me from buying duplicate spices and also being able to tell quickly what I need to replace.


I also realized I have a gazillion different types of oatmeal in there. I think we will be eating oatmeal a lot more often for a while!

Since I made more room on the shelves, I was able to put things on the bottom shelf that had been on the floor, like the potatoes and onions. My plan is to get a hanging hook for these so they can hang underneath the bottom shelf and not take up much space.

Overall I have found it very refreshing to open up the door and be able to clearly look at my food items and not have to dig for anything!

If you feel like you need to get some organizing done, head over to Home Storage Solutions 101 to get started on the weekly challenges!!

52 Weeks to an Organized Home-I'm Participating!!!

This week Home Storage Solutions 101 has begun their series called "52 Weeks to an Organized Home". I'm very excited to participate in this challenge!! I have several areas of my home that really need attention, may it be just general straightening or some serious over-hauling!!!

She has done a lot of work planning ahead and listing out each week what the focus area will be. We can follow along in the order listed or skip around and focus on what needs to be done in our own homes. You can click on the link for that week to get more details and ideas on getting this area clean and organized. The first week challenge is:

Week 1:Kitchen Organization- Countertops and Sink

I really needed this motivation to get me going. With 2 kids and another on the way, it's easy for me to get overwhelmed by all of the household tasks needing attention.

For even further help & inspiration, you can visit the "hall of fame" on her site and show/share your before and after pictures of what you've accomplished. I will share my own personal completed challenges here as well :) I can't wait to have a more organized home!!

Won't you join me!?

Cleaning out Clutter & Packing!!

I've been following a long over at Money Saving Mom with the Clear out the Clutter Challenge. I'm sure we all have clutter that we need to get rid of from time to time. Me especially, since we are packing to move next week! I haven't been able to follow on the same schedule as her. However I did work on one of the girl's bedrooms today. I only have a picture of the closet, which is bad enough, but you don't even want to see the room since it is being torn apart and packed up! Here it is before I started:

I don't have an after because it is still not finished! And most of it will be in boxes for storage with the exception of what is going to grandma's for two months til our house is ready! We did get one LARGE box of items to donate, a trash bag full of old, worn out items and several boxes for storage. I have a feeling I will be doing even more "Clutter Clearing" when we move in. With Keira in the room with me, it's very challenging to get her to let go of things. And I admit, I am a sucker at times!  With that said, I leave you with the most adorable photo below. She has a thing for stuffed animals. She didn't want to get rid of any or send any to storage. I had her choose a couple favorites and the rest went into a box. All on her own she hugged each one, told them good bye and that she would miss them and placed them gently in the box. Awww!!!! My sweet girl!