Tag Archives: home organizing

List-O-Mania

I don’t know about you, but I love making lists. In the Notes app on my iPhone. Especially when Tom & I are driving to work (we carpool; he drives), running errands, or in those moments when I can’t fall asleep because I have too many thoughts running through my head. During our 13 hour car ride back from Florida, I made a lot of lists. Tom gets carsick if he’s not driving, so he drove the ENTIRE 750 miles home. And I spent those miles reading the September issue of HGTV magazine, and coming up with countless ideas and projects for our house. The best way that I could think of to soothe my racing mind was to create room-by-room lists.

I am sharing these with you in an effort to help 1.) Turn some of these ideas into reality. Decorating is like dieting. If you tell people what your goals are, you’re more likely to follow through and stick to it. Right?? 2.) Have a back-up, just in case I lose my iPhone or accidentally hit delete!

Obviously, there are more rooms in our house than are listed here. But I’m starting with the ones that seem reasonable and realistic.

Family Room:

– Gallery wall above small bookshelf; maybe small wall of photos between TV and stairs (MUST make progress on this soon! I should probably give myself a deadline…)

– Add a basket/something to stash pillows and throws

– Buy a rug for the corner where the piano will go

– Have piano moved from my parent’s house

– Accent table needed between cream leather occasional chairs

– Paint! (this is on the books for early 2013!!)

– Crown molding

– Frame out windows or build cornice boxes

– Eventually… would love a pouf! And a new coffee table and end table

 

Kitchen:

– Add a tile backsplash

– Paint!! (also early 2013)

– Install under-cabinet lighting

– Crown molding

– Considering a fun, modern wall-paper on the wall underneath our island, that faces our family room

– Eventually… would love custom blown-glass pendant lights.

 

Master Bedroom:

– Dressing table and chair

– Armchair (and ottoman?)

– New bedding

– Art / photos for walls

– New lamps for our nightstands

– Crown molding?

– Custom closet system

 

Library/Office:

– Built-in shelving and window seat

– Window seat cushion and pillows

– Frame out window

– Crown molding

– New desk & desk chair

– Hang art

– Feature wall for quilts (my mom is a quilter; she’s made me some cute, sentimental and “inside joke” quilts over the years and I need a way to display them!)


Now, the fun part will be seeing how many of these we can actually accomplish! Is it silly to admit that I’m nervous?!!?

 

Mail Call

I think it’s safe to assume that pretty much everybody struggles with mail cluttering up their kitchen/office/home. In our old home, our kitchen had a counter-height bar, which was conveniently located just inside the front door. And it soon became a haven for our daily mail. Piles would develop quickly, and practically take root for days (ahem, or weeks).

The same thing has started happening on the kitchen island in our new home. And I’m determined not to let it take over! So, I turned to two of my favorite sources for creative organizing inspiration – IHeartOrganizing and Pinterest.

These two ideas immediately caught my eye, both for the filing but also for their style! I’m definitely one of those people who demands that function also be stylish.

With these in mind, I headed to Target to hunt for file folders and a bin/basket. Then, I turned to IHeartOrganizing to get ideas for categories and sorting. Jen is amazingly organized. I wish she could come to my house and put me through an Organizing Bootcamp! (Remember how her tips helped whip my linen closet into shape?)

I decided what we needed based on the type of mail we receive and the items that easily get lost, like stamps or restaurant coupons, labeled the folders…

and voila! A kitchen countertop mail system!

The canvas tote (similar one here) and file folders are from Target. The pencil holder is blown glass and was made by my cousin, Laurel (visit her website here).

So far, it seems to be working out pretty well for us. What’s your solution for countertop clutter?