Starting ‘Over’ Story

In my last post, you read about my very good news. Recently, I was informed of a company called Compass that is currently based in NY and DC that uses people’s personality and interests in order to help them find a place called Home. They have a series called Starter Stories where people have been sharing the journey of their starter home. I thought I’d share where I am in my journey as well.

In 2009, my husband and I started over by moving a thousand miles from home after a very challenging period in our lives. A few years after moving, we decided to put down roots and buy our home. I can definitely say that it was a bit of a nerve-racking experience. We looked at places for months. We put in offers, fell in love with other houses, until we got to the one that we live in now. When I walked in, it was completely empty. I  wasn’t very sure about the house yet and it wasn’t love at first sight for me. I walked through the living room, then the dining room, through the kitchen, and eventually ended up at a large empty room. When I saw it, I knew this was the house for us. Now, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, right now.

The other ‘start’ that is adding to the joy and love of our home is our sweet little baby that we tried for 4 1/2 years to conceive. With a baby due to arrive in 4 months, I’ve been nesting pretty hard. We’ve been setting up the nursery, painting walls, doing gardens, and purging. It’s funny how we are getting around to a lot of the things that we’ve always wanted to get around to. Knowing that we have a little one on the way has put a rush on a lot of the procrastination, so we’ve been doing amazingly with our timeline of organizing our home. There’s still so much to do but I think every homeowner realizes that once you change something, you’ll notice all the other things you want to change.

Our home has been a place filled with many new beginnings. We started a new life in a new city, adopted our sweet little dog Milo, and we are starting the journey of parenthood. We couldn’t have asked for better firsts.

You don’t have to be perfect to start. If you fail, don’t be afraid to start again. xoxo

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Getting Organized: Entryway

I have always been an ‘everything in its place or it will be on the floor’ type of person. I’ve also been pretty cheap in the past. If I found something I loved, I would typically purchase the next best thing because I didn’t want to spend the money. I am NOT this person anymore. After years of doing this, I realized that it doesn’t work to get the next best thing if you have the option of getting the best thing.

When it comes down to organizing, you have to ask yourself, “Self, is this efficient? Is this working for me?” Be prepared to be brutally honest. Disregard whether the methods or tools you use to organize is cheap or good enough or even expensive. The only way to measure if your money was well spent on whatever methods you used to organize is if you are now organized. Did it work? If you’ve set up a system for organizing and it still isn’t organized, it didn’t work.

Sooooo, I’ve been having to take stock of where my organization is failing and what is actually working for me. This is when I realized that I need more stuff. I need stuff to put more of my stuff in…hahaha…ridiculous.

One issue in many households is the entryway. A lot of things get lost in translation here. Before you know it, you have a pile of shoes, a pile of mail, and a pile of other crap you’ve unloaded either on your way in or out.

Here are a couple of pictures of my entry way prior to reorganizing it.

 

This was not working for us. The shoes were piling and looking crazy, and so was the tower of mail on the table. Thanks to our local Ikea (and by local, I mean 2 hours away), we were able to find a great solution to make our entryway transition more seamless by organizing that area with the Hemnes shoe cabinet.

Here are the progress pics. I had a long day so there is a cup of coffee on it. So what? Sue me. Seriously, don’t sue me.

It isn’t perfect as yet, but I know that this system is working because this area doesn’t really get messy anymore. The drawers on this unit is perfect for storing keys, dog leashes, or other small items that you typically carry in and out of your home. The other 2 larger sections beneath the top drawer holds 6 pairs of shoes per section, on average. If you have smaller feet or if you’re storing flip-flops, flats, or sandals, you can get away with a lot more.

The next task for this area is adding some color, more of our personality, and a section to hang things (we don’t have a coat closet of anything). I can’t wait to see what it will look like when it’s finished. Then again, I like changing things around so much, so is it every really finished? It will be a surprise to us all.

xoxo

Apartment Therapy January Cure 2014

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Last year, I signed up for this. I didn’t do any of it…smh. THIS time, I’m getting it done. The task for today was to make a list of things that I need to organize or spruce up in each room. I actually managed to get most of this done. I’m trying to decide what is most important for me to get done for now because there is a lot that I want to do with my humble abode. I don’t want to bite of more than I can chew so I tried to limit each area to 6-7 projects.

Here’s what I’m working on:

Living Area
-Change the slipcovers on the sofa
-De-clutter the right corner in the LR
-Add a bookcase
-Change the coffee table
-De-clutter media console drawers

Foyer
-Make a place for incoming/outgoing mail
-Make a place for keys
-Add a basket/bin for returns/things that need to leave the house

Dining Room
– New curtains
– Storage unit/dresser/buffet
– Find 6 different chairs for dining table

Kitchen
– Make better use of open shelves
– Store away excess plates/cups/etc.
– Organize cabinets
– Get rid of old/unused/broken items
– Clean the refrigerator

Hall Bathroom
– Utilize shelving on the wall
– Throw out old products
– Get drawer organizers
– Get over the door hooks

Studio Office
– Organize papers/filing/trash
– Organize business cards
– Get drawers for organizing makeup

Small Bedroom
– Change the paint color
– Remove bookcase and put it in the living room
– Purchase curtains

Master Bedroom
– Paint the walls Silver Sateen
– Purchase curtains
– Change the knobs of chest of drawers
– Clean out closet
– Purchase area rug
– Replace old/mismatched bedding

Master Bathroom
– Add organizing shelves
– Toss any old products
– Remove small hook on the door
– Add over the door hooks

I’ll be taking pictures of my progress along the way. I’m excited to go through this process and seeing the change.

If you want to get in on this organizational extravaganza, you can sign up here.

Vintage Beauty

I just HAD to share a photo of my friends room. Her room is so fresh and clean feeling, yet it has personality. You can see the purpose, the personal meaning, and the functionally in every item. LOVE!!!