Everything about Elfa



This past weekend I learned everything about Elfa (maybe not everything but a lot)! This is an example Elfa is The Container Stores closet solution, it is a modular shelving and drawer system that can improve a variety of spaces- not just a clothing closet. There are solutions for office/study workspaces, entertainment centers and of course great things for the garage. I saw that our local store has information sessions about Elfa, so I attended with a friend last weekend. It was very informative and gave me some great ideas about how you can use this (or something similar). I recommend checking it out if you are interested in using a modular system.

Love is in the details

When you take the time to organize a space, take a few extra minutes for the details. Add fun and creative labels to your containers. They will make it more fun, inviting and easy to keep things in their place whenever you or your family go to use them.

Martha Stewart Home Office labels (available at Staples)



Loved these labels attached with ribbon (as seen at inmyownstyle.com)




 Or these Pottery Barn Kids chalkboard labels.

Tonight I had 5 minutes to spare after making the kids their dinner...what did I do? I cleaned out the kitchen "junk" drawer. Now I don't really consider it a "junk" drawer, it does have very specific contents, but it tends to collect a few things that don't belong. So all is back in it's place now. What would you organize in a spare 5 minutes?

Now that's a good point...

Keeping a clean, well organized pantry can save you money at the grocery store. When the pantry is in good order, it is easy to take stock of what you have so you don't purchase duplicates. Also, cleaning it out regularly will remind you to use ingredients before they expire and end up in the trash.

Now, we all know that I love to organize but I also love to clean. I enjoy reading books with techniques for the proper way to keep house. I've always been a fan of the Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day products, so when I saw this book I just had to check it out.  It is an easy to read and follow manual for keeping a clean house. The chapters are broken up into rooms of the house with tips and techniques for keeping things clean and of course, organized.  Mixed in are fun stories (and some parenting tips) about the actual Mrs. Meyers and her family of 9 kids!

Happy to be back!

I took a hiatus to have our second child- but I just couldn't stay away any longer! Friends and family have inspired me to get back to work.  I'm seeing and hearing about potential projects that I have to get my hands on. So, stay tuned for organizing tips, project updates and other information for your "nest".

Time for vacation

This coming Tuesday we are off for our annual family vacation. Our trip takes us to Michigan every summer to visit my husband's family. We get to spend some good time visiting and relaxing. I've been busy all week packing and getting ready. I've not only been organizing the things we need to pack but also things home business things- like bills and what not. I've kept myself organized by using a little notebook with lists for each family member and lists for things to do tomorrow and the morning of our departure. I think we are in good shape!

Share your toys...

I mean sharing baby toys (equipment, toys, books, etc.) that is. Today we had a play date with a Dear Friend and her Dear Daughter. While we were there we borrowed her baby food processor and planned the return of a previously borrowed exersaucer and a swing. Then, ironically, when we pulled into our driveway later this afternoon, a neighbor, who is the Grandma of a 2 year old, handed down a baby activity walker to share with our Baby Boy.

Why buy anything these days for baby or toddlers when they use the supplies for such a short time? Once you have a network of friends with similar age kids and a good supply of stuff- start sharing your toys. There are so many benefits to this, it saves money, allows you to try out products you might otherwise not have purchased, and keeps used baby things out of our land fills.

This is not a new idea by any means but today really reinforced it. So keep your toys in good condition (we all know we can't help some wear) and pass them along to another family.

Happy Sharing!

Baby on the Way

A dear friend of mine is expecting her first baby in October and two of us went to visit her in LA this past weekend. In addition to girl time, we helped her and her husband with their Baby Registry. First we worked on their registry at Babies R Us. Then the next day we headed to Pottery Barn Kids for the textiles and room decor. Having a baby and a Pre-schooler, it is easy to forget how over whelming all of the baby stuff is when you are planning for your first baby. The rest of the weekend we would point our gear that Moms and Dads we saw were using. I think we were all beat but they had a good introduction to baby stuff by the time we got done!

A couple of our favorite things we were sure to tell them about were:

Aden + Anais Blankets
My Breastfriend Nursing Pillows
The Container Store's wooden children's hangers

That's a good idea...

We had some friends over to watch the Kentucky Derby. I had a long menu planned with a lot of recipes to follow. I had the idea to take photo copies of the recipes I needed instead of having to clutter up the precious counter space with cookbooks. It made following the recipes easier, kept me organized, and allowed me to make notes on the recipes without writing in my cookbooks. This would work great during Holiday entertaining.

Our Baby Boy (at 3+ months now) still likes to have his multiple midnight snacks....this means that we just can't move him in with our Dear Daughter yet. So, the latest plan is to move the crib in our room.

I get a little obsessed with projects and research. Last night I was looking on line for some toddler beds to see my options. My Dear Daughter L-O-V-E-S the Disney Princesses (and Fairies) just as much as the next Preschooler. I came across some over the top beds.



Those are not really my style- even though my Dear Daughter would loose her mind to find one waiting for her. I think we'll stick with something more along these lines.



I'd really rather graduate her to a real big kid bed, but her room is small and we'd like to leave some space for when Baby Boy is ready to move in with her.

For now though, the 3 year old will be the only one sleeping peacefully in a quiet room.

A project update...

Picked up about 200 photos on Sunday and I did not just toss them in the storage box. They are in their albums! And in the process I came across a stack of photos just waiting to get organized too so they got put in the albums also.

I am still working on moving our Baby Boy in with our Daughter. I am hung up on paint and nursery bedding. I went to a "real" paint store. I've never been in one before. I do have to say while the selection is great it can be a little over-whelming compared to Home Depot! I did find a green and the color green paint that I like. This paint brand, little Yolo, had sample squares that you can tape up to the wall. We'll see if I go with it. I like the idea of a not so toxic substance in the babies' room too.

Playing catch up

Growing up I LOVED photo albums. I spent hours in my college sorority crafting fancy photo collages in albums to capture every single event we had. What happened as I got older? Somehow I lost that drive to keep up on my photo albums. I guess with the digital photo age it got easy to just load the photos on the computer and think of that as your album.

Well, I've decided to play catch up and update our family album. I am behind...I mean really behind. Aside from a couple of photo purchases for gifts, I have not had photos printed in a long time. Yesterday, I sat down for an hour and picked out pictures to order. I had no idea where to start..so I randomly just chose to start with pictures starting with my daughters 2nd birthday (she's 3 now). I ordered 208 pictures yesterday!

I am not even going to put them away in the photo box....they are going straight into the albums. I also purchased some extras to send to the Grandmas for Mother's Day. The other project is that I want to do some in frames (I like the Pottery Barn Gallery Frames) for the house because I realized the only framed photos we have in are a couple from our wedding and one of our cat!

Bye, Bye Bassinet

We are saying good bye to our baby boy's bassinet. He has never seemed to be comfortable in it so we are switching to the good ol' pack and play. Then once we move our girl into her big girl bed, baby boy can have the crib.

Now what to do with this extra piece of baby furniture? It is not going to take up space in our garage. I'm taking it over to a local kid's consignment shop. I can sell if for a small profit and use that money for the baby boy's new crib bedding!

Paint Samples

In keeping with my room swap/babies room project, today we (babies in tow) went to the Home Depot and got samples of paint. I maybe a little behind the ball on this new way of choosing paint but I love that you can buy samples to try out. They are so worth the couple of dollars! We came home and my assistant (who happens to be 3 years old) helped me "try out" 5 colors. So far, Martha Stewart's Ballet Slipper Pink is in the lead for one room.

Bunking Together

Our move has been postponed but that doesn't stop our new little one from growing. Our baby boy is ready to move onto the crib which is currently occupied by his big sister. And the plan was that they would each have their own room in a new house by the time this took place. But it looks like we are going to have to get creative here in our little house and the siblings are going to be bunking together. Boy, do I have another big project on my hands. This possibly means switching around rooms and then putting my organizing and decorating skills to the test.

I have some layout ideas but I am starting with decorating and thinking of bedding for the two of them. Something that works together but isn't matchy. So far, I love the "Preppy Turtle" from Baby Gap. Then I was going to use the green in that to go with something for my daughter. Land of Nod has some cute mix/match bedding that has a similar green. Off to the drawing board!

Baby Boy by pw94mks on Polyvore.com

Check it off the list!

I love lists (as you can imagine) and nothing is like getting to check off completed tasks. Well, we have made great head way on our post Christmas list. We can check off items 1 and 2- Christmas is packed away. And we finished getting ready for baby #2 (who will be here any day now).

Item #3 on our list, packing (and getting ready) to sell our house for our big move across country is well underway too. This last weekend we were able to begin to stage our house. Our agent, gave us a list of things to do before we begin to show it. Things from rearranging furniture to putting in new carpet on the stairs. We easily got done cleaning out the book shelves (she suggested cutting the number of books in half). Next up, is clearing off those kitchen counters. A while ago I had written a post with an organizers trick of making yourself look more organized by clearing off the kitchen counters. I love it and have to say our counters are pretty clear, except for my beloved KitchenAid mixer. It's going to need a home under the counter...I guess not everyone finds a KitchenAid mixer as visually appealing as me! So the kitchen is our next tasks. While finding a home for KitchenAid, I will be packing kitchen accessories that I am not going to need while we remain here in our home.

Anyway, we are going to work hard to finish up the large and small projects. Thank goodness for the nesting instinct....because it is real and has given me a world of energy to get things done!

Where to start....

We have a busy 2010 ahead of us. First, coming up this month I am due with our second baby. Then later in the Spring, we are moving...not down the street but across the country! So I have got my hands full with organizing projects around my house.

With the end of the Holiday Season, I thought it would be a great time to do multiple projects at once. A scary thought, but if you can plan it right, it can be a real time saver.

Things I need to do over the next couple of weeks:
1) Take down Christmas decorations. Pack them to move, not just to store.
2) Make room for baby (especially in this small house).
3) Begin to pack and ready our house to sell.

Today is start day. We are going to take down our decorations and pack them up. At the same time, I will be cleaning out the kitchen cabinets of any holiday kitchen wares and packing them to move. We rented a storage spot to clear out our house so that we can make sure things are straightened up for when it is time to hold open house. We'll be making a few trips over there the rest of the weekend to move out Christmas!

Once I get this done, I am on to finishing up getting ready for baby.

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2010! I hope everyone had a wonderful and warm Holiday Season.

With our new year, we will have many chances to become organized to make our lives more productive and efficient.
I look forward to sharing new ideas with you to get and stay organized.

Happy New Year!

Kids Toy Closet

After two years of having toys running around our living room, I decided to clean out a coat closet and turn it into a toy closet for our daughter. Now we don't have a large house with a lot of closets, but I was tired of having our space always having toys so I made the sacrafice. It was hard work to clean the closet out but was a very good excuse to clean out the clutter. And now, uur daughter knows she can go in there any time and also knows that is where things get put away. This project was totally worth it!