Getting closer . . .

There were just three more items that I needed before I felt our downstairs would be complete.  Last week I purchased (the cheapest out of the three) one of the items from IKEA.  I needed a new TV stand since the last one I was using was a desk.

However, we have a bit of an issue with that space.  Most TV center's are over 46" (most being 47 1/2").  We have barely 44". Add that to the fact that I didn't want to spend over $150 and I was stuck searching Target, Walmart, etc. websites.  And really, nothing. The best bet was to get something smaller - about 36". Well that may fit our lovely 1992 TV set now but one of the last two items on the list is a larger, more 21st century television.  So I think, "IKEA, the place for small items."  I check out their website. Guess what, apparently most of the small apartments in Sweden have room for a  47 1/2" TV center.  But then I find it! They have one item that is 43 1/4".  It's a darker wood then what we have in the house (the only other option was a tan which would have been worse) but I'll take it.

Now it makes the 1992 TV set look really pitiful but I love it - and it only took me about 3  hours to put together - oh and the price, $149.  How's that for budgeting?

So now you know that a TV set is one of the last two items so what's the last one?  A sectional couch - a girl can dream!!

What Lurks Under the Stairs . . .

. . . in our case that would be a home office. In a small house you need to utilize every little bit of space you have and under our staircase is about 18 square feet!  For a very long time we only had a bookshelf in the space. It's all we needed there.  But after the birth of our 2nd child and the loss of an office we needed this space.

I initially used the small desk I had and then added other features (work area and small shelves on the walls).  However, the mismatch of stuff never made it feel comfortable.

The desk stuck out farther than the wall. The books on the shelf covered the pictures and the filing cabinets were turned inward so I definitely found them difficult to use.

I finally decided to make a change; starting with outward facing filing cabinet and moving computer to other side. And while looking through other furniture items in the house, I strangely enough found I had a shelf (that the TV sat on) that had been painted the same color as the other desk items AND fit perfectly in the space.  After sending a load of crap to the recycling (such as 20 year old graduate school acceptance letters), I have a cute (note kid's artwork), functional (notice the baskets acquired at Hobby Lobby for half price), decluttered (no more books covering artwork) space.

I truly love the baskets. I have one filled with stuff Rob needs to go through but is now hidden. A repaint job of the walls will make this complete.

PS: If you are wondering about the oddly placed carpet, our dog Chammy has difficulty with the hardwood floors.

I Have Too Many Coats for A California Girl

Ok, well I haven't been a California girl in about 20 years so the accumulation of coats have come over the past 20 years living in frigid places like Syracuse and Boston. Colorado is, yes, colder than California and with so many sunny (but chilly) days here and an active lifestyle, it leads to a need for a large variety of coats.

So why have I started this tangent. Well, the hall closet was, needless to say, not functional. It was just a holder of some of my 25 coats.

You actually can't see the numerous coats stuffed in the back.

This is what I started out with. I thought I was pretty organized. All the coats hung (my husband owns 2 of those and my daughters maybe 2 each) and a nice set up for scarves, mittens and hats.  Then I would just stuff things in the back (like my sewing machine and scrapbooking material I never use now that I've gone digital).

Well I thinned out (and gave away) some of the coats and got rid of some of the junk (like the mini wet vac we got for our wedding and used once).  Put some new shelving in and I was able to bring down all my wrapping paper/gift bag stuff (from Maya's closet), vacuum cleaner (from Maya's closet), knitting stuff (sitting in a pile in my room) and some sewing stuff (from Hayden's closet).

The new closet

The new shelving system (PS: one of those plastic boxes is empty)

 I can actually start working on the girl's closets now that so much stuff is out of them.

It's Small But It's Home

I decided to start this blog to help me see the transformation of my little house from an organization nightmare to an organization dream. (At least I hope that's the case.)

So a little about myself, my family and my house. I live with my husband, Rob and my two little girls, Hayden (6) and Maya (4) in a very cozy mountain home; all 1494 square feet of it, although I've been told it "feels" so much larger.

Three years ago we decided to put it on the market hoping that we could get a little more room - the kids' toys were beginning to engulf us.  Needless to say, after a year on the market, no takers.  The "plan" is to sell again at some point when the market is better but I have to live in it NOW. And after the experience of a house on the market with two little  one's I'm not up for it again anytime soon. Plus, what if it doesn't sell. My husband calls me a pessimist; I say I'm an realist. I want to live in organization. If it doesn't sell, then I live in a house I love, if it does then all my hard work probably helped get it sold (and hopefully for a higher price).

This is the beauty we bought back in Sept 2003.

In the 8 1/2 years we've lived here we've done a lot to this home.  My plan is to document some of the past things while showing some of the current changes and dreams for the future.