Still here..

Well, howdy, it’s been a while I know.  We took a much needed break from big house projects and just did some quiet living for the last few months.  I’d say that we were hibernating for the winter, but we didn’t really have winter here this year.  Randy is diligently working on a top secret project in his workshop and I have to admit I’m glad his creative side kicked back in. 

I’ve been perusing Pinterest for ideas on everything related to home.  I like things organized and efficient.  I want like things together, all the baking, coffee, tea, storage, etc. should be together it saves time because you aren’t looking all over the kitchen for something.  We did a little mini project that involved some inexpensive hobby wood and some adhesive from Lowes.  Custom drawer dividers and let me tell you, it’s made me all kinds of happy.  No more stuff sliding into the darkness of the back of the drawer and no more cramped little spaces for the forks and knives.  As I took everything out of the drawers I also sorted it out and tossed a ton of stuff into the give away pile.

We’ve done several other drawers in the kitchen but you get the idea!

I’ve been on the ‘urge to purge’ road the last several weeks.  I hate clutter, I mean like seriously, I can’t stand piles around me, I can’t stand knowing that my closet is a disaster hidden behind a door. It stresses me out!!  We’ve got this closet in the laundry room that ends up as a catch all for everything and typically it looks like this and you can’t even see the floor!

I pulled everything out of it and started going through it.  I ended up with some stuff to give away and some stuff that just need to be better organized.

So I already had one of these Iris containers for my wild bird food that can’t go in the garage.  I got two more, one for the dog treats and one for the cat litter.  The little wooden box I had and it holds trash bags perfectly!

I’m still working but it’s getting better!  I’ve labeled the stuff that is in there now so that you can put your hand on what you are looking for without digging.

I’ve got bigger projects on my radar, a redo of the laundry room, an upgrade of the kitchen and a makeover for the closet (shudders!) in the foyer. For now, I’ve got plenty of sorting and boxing up to give away to work on. 

 

Of course I’ve also got my high energy boys to keep me on my toes!

 

Have a great day!

The 40 bag Challenge!

If you know me, maybe even just a little, you know that I hate clutter.  Being disorganized makes my skin crawl I can’t help it.  The other side to that is also that I hate feeling like I have too much ‘stuff’, which happens often.  I’m always trying to downsize, purge and pass on stuff.  So whilst I am not Catholic, I am all for giving up things that I no longer need or use and the 40 bags in 40 days challenge (which coincides with Lent) is one I’m happy to take part in!
I don’t know the history behind this challenge, I just found out about it today from White House Black Shutters but in a nutshell, you clean up 40 different spaces or rooms and produce a bag of some size (or a piece of furniture) that you are going to get rid of.  For me that’s easy enough and I started today with magazines.  I’ve kept soo many magazines but funny enough I almost never refer to them, as I tend to go to the internet first.  So out they go!
To be honest I added them to my already growing pile of purge that I started last week when I cleaned out the craft room and the guest bathroom closet.

Have no fear though, there is plenty more to do!  So are YOU up for the challenge?  What do you have to lose besides some clutter???

The Workshop Revamp

I am a fan of getting rid of stuff, I don’t like clutter and I don’t like feeling like my ‘stuff’ is taking over.  Randy on the other hand, well let’s just say we are Yin and Yang when it comes to cleaning! 
This is the workshop, where not much work has been done lately!
While I could be wrong I think sometimes when you walk into a room that is just so overwhelmed with stuff it can do a number on your desire to be creative.  Ok, who am I kidding, I know it can!  See that scroll saw sitting there to the left, that’s mine but you know what, I don’t want to spend anytime down here.  Besides the fact that the ‘stuff’ all around drives me nuts, it’s usually cold as a barn in here!  Hmm, maybe he does that on purpose!


As you can see there is stuff everywhere, wood, tools, storage and big tools.  Randy has been talking for a long time about a major over haul of his workshop.  He’s talked about it a lot, finally the process is getting underway.  I know it doesn’t look like much now but the reason I know that progress is going to be made..

He finally bought new cabinets that he’s been talking about for a long, long time!
Stay tuned!

Where Did It Go?

It was just summer yesterday right?  Wow, talk about time flying when you’re having fun or at least working in the gardens!  Let’s see, what’s new here..hmmm

Randy and I took a vacation back to PSV and spent seven days there.  I love the fact that the hardest decision we have to make while there is what bathing suit to wear.



Here in the house though we’re doing a big clean up and out.  It was just time to clean out the attic, basement and all the cabinets and closets.  We called Donation Nation to come and take it all away and find new homes for it.  I love the fact that they actually make sure it’s donated and not dumped in the local landfill.  I hate going to the dump and seeing all the stuff that could’ve been reused or repurposed just being tossed.  I guess I just don’t like that so many see life as disposable.
I’ll have tons of pictures to share soon, bees, photo galleries, the rearranged rooms and who knows what else!
See you soon!

Garage After…

Well it’s mostly done!  There are some odds and ends to be taken care of but the garage has been cleaned out, cabinets put in and things organized and put away!
Take a look!

Not much change here right?  Wait are those cabinets in the corner over there?? 

How about this one, something’s missing. Oh yeah those 2 junk collection tables, er.. workbenches are long gone.  We had planned to remove one and move one but upon actually getting to them we found out the were missing back legs!  I guess when my father in law installed them he felt hacking them off to stand on the knee wall was a good idea.  They went to the dump!

Gone are the ventilated shelves that I couldn’t reach.  Removed (by me I might add) are those warped, and useless shelves that were at the far end.  Replaced by a floor cabinet that holds most of my garden supplies and a wall cabinet that holds gloves and plenty of space for MORE gardening supplies.  A 6’ workbench that you can actually access now stands in place of all the junk that was along this wall.  The final cabinet holds all of our hot tub supplies and has ample space to move some of the car washing stuff into the garage and out of the laundry room!

This hodge podge of stuff came out of the organizer that is now empty.  There are a few things I’m keeping but for the most part this is all junk.  The impending hurricane Irene stopped me from my sorting on Saturday.

We reused some of the ventilated shelves for our camping stuff, chairs and some coolers.

This wood is going to eventually be put on the back of the shed.  However in the meantime, Randy is getting a wood rack to get it all up off the floor. 
It was a process that took an entire weekend, most of last week for me and then part of Saturday to get to this point.  I still need a few hooks to hang my 3 tools and cart on, I just don’t want that stuff in the shed. I’m really happy with how all this turned out, I can find things now and getting rid of those workbenches even made the garage smell better!
Imagine that!

Garage Part 1

It’s late August and my gardens have been so ravaged by deer, drought and weeds that I’ve thrown up a white flag.  I’ve never ever seen it this bad and it has me puzzled as to what I can do to keep at least two parts of it from happening again next year that being the deer and the weeds, the lack of rain is out of my control. 
So with my focused shifted from outside I’ve gotten the garage clean up, clean out and organize bug pretty badly.  So today I’m sharing the before pictures of the garage, hopefully by Sunday I’ll have some awesome after’s or at least middles!

This is looking into the garage from the laundry room, doesn’t look too bad right?

Two workbenches that are totally and completely useless thanks to big blue there.  I want one or both benches moved to a location where they can actually be used.  Maybe one on either side of the garage, his and hers perhaps?  We need some sturdy shelves over head for coolers and other items.  I also want some cabinets for storing all his random cans and bottles of whatever he has down there.

This area, yeah that ALL of my gardening stuff shoved into one small corner.  The upper shelves I can’t even reach are useless for me.  I need a good cabinet for my deer repellents and I would like a metal cabinet for bird food storage.  I think this wall is going to get some cabinets as well as some hanging storage for my garden tools.  I really hope that those benches could be narrow enough to use over here.  If not, perhaps we can build me one.

This one is looking back over towards that laundry room door.  See that shelf, that’s got to go, I would like all the hot tub supplies in a cabinet and I’d love to put all the car washing supplies in one too!

That’s all over head!  I want to use some of that for finishing the paneling on the wall were the workbenches are now.
 
These walls I’d LOVE to insulate and then finish off with plywood.  The other workbench could go over here, I think???  Randy said he wanted to take the top of that tool box off and swap it for the piece that’s on the floor on the other side of the garage.  I’m thinking if he does that, I want that top for my stuff!
So there you have it!  Let’s hope by Sunday night I’ve got something wonderful to share, or at least an improvement!!!!