Not Done

Not done, or maybe I should title this post "I've Started", "Working On It" or something along that line.  At the moment, the title is more appropriate to how I feel about the state of Sam's room.

 

This is pretty much how Sam's room has looked since Christmas.  Sam is the only grandchild on both my and my husband's side and the only child under 18 for the rest of the family, so you can imagine the problem.  To be fair, my husband and I have not been totally faultless. We have reformed our ways though and have found that less is definitely more when it comes to the amount of toys our son should have.  I am still working on how to get the rest of the family to co-operate.
 

One of the first things I tackled was the contents of the art drawers in this cabinet. It had been awhile since I had gone through all of Sam's drawings, so there was quite a bit to sort.  What to keep and what to toss? Generally, I try to be quick and keep those that show progression.

The things I decided to keep went back in the drawer along with the Sam's completed school workbooks (which had been dispersed through out his room).  My thought is for us to review them at the end of the year so Sam can see his progress and then (to secretly) toss them.



The rest went into the recycle bin.

Next up was a purge of the drawer holding all the pencils, markers, scissors etc .

I know that it won't stay like this, but maybe something close.  Besides, it was good to go through it all and throw out the broken rulers, dried markers, and the like.

This picture is all I have to show for the major purge I did of his toys, books, and games.  I had a wonderfully huge (and to me depressing) pile of stuff in the basement all ready to be carted off to our local charity shop.  That pile stood there for a few weeks waiting for me to take a picture of it.  I am pretty sure it yelled, "Cheese!" every time I walked by it, but I never managed to take that wow shot for this post.  Then last week, in a fit, I schlepped it all to the car and brought it to the shop.

 

I know that there is improvement, but I still suspect that there is probably too much stuff.  If I consider the bags that I carted off, the room should be devoid of toys.  There will probably be another toy purge in my near future, but I first want to see how it goes with what is left. 

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

- William Morris

Please visit Jules at Pancakes and French Fries for more William Morris inspiration.

More of Less - The Entry Closet

The entry closet should have been an easy (and quick) project for my next William Morris post.   Turns out it took me a little longer than I anticipated and I ended up spending the last few weeks in a sort of photo and memorabilia haze. 

Here is the culprit.  Looks innocent enough, right? 

Even with the doors open it isn't too bad, but kind of frustrating  because last January I posted about that top drawer.  It was kind of the beginning of my quest to a more organized home.  Here is the proof that I am still struggling with it a year later.

No use lamenting though, so back to the task at hand.  I followed usual purging protocol and started pulling everything out,  Yes, those are three lint rollers.  One for each of us? I also dug out three umbrellas, quite an assortment of mints, gum, tissues, charging cables etc.   The decision of what to do with this stuff came pretty easy.   Trash, relocate, keep here and I was done in under 30 minutes.

The real work started on the other side and it was all hidden in those photo boxes and art files you see on the shelves.  Instead of just pulling them out and putting them back when I was done (like I have been doing), I opened them to purge the contents. Pictures and keepsakes covering a span of over twenty-five years all "organized" into boxes.

 I sorted and then I sorted some more.  With each pass I became more ruthless.  No pictures were safe, not even wedding pictures.

I didn't like them, didn't care to keep them;  they ended up in the recycling container.  Thank goodness for the digital age is all I have to say.

 At first glance, the difference isn't huge.

But look at the empty hangers!  Now guests can actually hang up their coats instead throwing them on the stairs.  I also know that things are looking better in those boxes and drawers.

I had this container in another part of the house and think it will be good for the umbrellas.  It is also housing the lint rollers for now.  I will definitely weed down to one and may end up getting rid of that too.  During my purge I found a clothes brush that I brought from my grandmother's house (you can see it in the top right of this picture).  If it works well, the rollers are history.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

- William Morris

The List

Week two of the William Morris Project and it is time for a plan.  Time to put all those things to be done on one list  - The List.  I have partial written lists all over the place (that is me, all over the place) and lots of items I would like to complete, but never dared to put on paper or just don't have the money for.  Jules wrote out her list by room and I have to admit that I had a bit of a "Ah Ha" moment when I read it.  A list by room, how totally elementary and yet it never entered my mind to do so.  I did a walk through of our house and property and here is what I came up with.  Feel free to skip to the picture of the roses my mom brought me from her garden last week (as in January).

Entry

• Find the perfect round mirror and hang by door
• Hang exit sign
• Organize and purge closet

Powder Room

• Sew ribbon on towels  (couldn't resist)
• Replace trash bin (I dream of this)

Living/ Dining Room 

• Purge books
• Replace IKEA Bookshelves with custom built-ins
• Purge CDs and DVDs
• Finally decide on window treatments, buy and install them (yup, three years of living here and not a single window treatment is up)
• Install that missing piece of floor moulding
• Buy a new TV cabinet
• Minimize all those cables
• Move outlet by couch
• Paint that stool
• Artwork (I need something big by the couch)
• Replace IKEA unit with a proper buffet
• Replace crap knock-off Eames DSW with real ones (maybe one at a time)
• New floor (yes we have only lived here 3 years, but ours drives me crazy)

Kitchen

• Purge and organize front bottom drawer
• Hang knifes
• Hang utensil rod
• Re-organize flatware drawer
• Get rid of bread box and find a different place for bread
• Buy kitchen clock (dreaming of this)
• Re-organize lazy susan cabinets
• Move outlet by coffee machine
• Repair or replace built-in waste receptacle
• Clean under, behind and top of refrigerator

Upstairs Hallway 

• Re-hang picture wall

Sam's Room

• Purge & organize toys
• Purge books
• Purge & organize IKEA cabinet
• Purge & organize closet
• Decide on window treatments, buy and install
• Remove the circle appliques 
• Hang map

Bedroom

• New mattress
• Decide on window treatments, buy and install
• New chairs for balcony
• Paint silent waiter
• Figure out what to do with my Grandmother's mirror
• Clean, buff etc. Eames (?) ottoman
• Purge handbags
• Replace bedside cabinets with ??
• Replace bedside lighting with wall mounted fixtures

Master Bath

• Finally buy lighting fixture for above mirror
• Wallpaper  side & back wall

Office

• Purge cabinet
• Hang pictures
• Decide on window treatments, buy and install

Extra Room

• Sell or give away bookshelves

2nd Bath 

• Have tiling finished (it is actually "done", but I decided to add some more. I think)
• Have bathroom fixtures hung
• Buy wall mounted cabinet (something like this)
• Decide on lighting fixtures, hang
• Buy shower rod & curtain, hang

Basement

• Desk back to my Aunt
• Sell or give away bookshelf
• Purge shelves
• Rod/Shelf system for diving equipment 
• Wood to garage
• Re-paint floor

Pantry

• Cabinet for refrigerator
• Purge & organize shelves
• Re-paint floor 

Garden 

• Plant white rose (maybe Claire Austin)
• Plant hydrangeas along garage
• Plan/build water feature
• Re-design herb/kitchen garden
• Expand plant bed by magnolia
• Add plant bed by pergola
• Hang wrack system for garden tools in shed
• Paint garage back door
• Paint garden shed doors
• Install threshold to front entry of garden shed 
• Buy/Install Deck Parasol

No particular room

• Finish Sam's baby album (I am such a loser)
• Remove all of those finger prints off of the walls
• Replace thermometers (if I win the Lotto it will be these) 

Next week one of these items will have a line through it and I hope to find an exciting way to write about it.  At the moment I am thinking of tackling the entry closet.  Exciting stuff for sure.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

- William Morris

More of Less

Is thinking about posting the same as actually posting?  Maybe "More of Less" also applies to blogging? This blog in particular.  Excuses I know, but somewhat valid sounding.

Well, I have been busy with stuff. Literally.

I took this picture the eve before our big Sperrmüll pick up a few weeks ago.  This pile of stuff equals the weight I felt lifted from my shoulders when I came home the next day to find it gone.

A long overdue closet purge is another item that I can finally strike through on my to do list.  The fruits of my labor consisted of 5 bags of clothes to donate and a bag destined for the trash.  Among the items I let go was a top that I wore the day my grandmother died.  Every time I looked at it, wore it (yes I did), or washed it I was transported to that horrid day.  I should have donated it a long time ago, but it is gone now and I suppose it is all part of the process of mourning.

I realize that I have been heavy on the topic of organizing and purging, but it is what has been on my mind.  Hopefully you will bear with me, because I am not quite done.   Besides all of the purging I did bring something "new" into our home.  A post on that later this week.

More of Less

You might remember the painting from my post about it in March or you might remember the More or Less post I did back in April about the contents of the top drawer of this cabinet.

 

However,  I forgot neglected  did not want to show you what is behind the doors of the cabinet.  Here we go.

 

It could be worse, but it could be a lot better.  So, I pulled everything out to survey the situation.  This is always the point that I want to quit and run away. Far away.

Sheets and duvets that I will never use again, old pillows, a curtain from our apartment (love the fabric), gift wrap supplies and a small stash of children's gifts.  It might seem over the top to have a gift stash (and I had been beginning to think so), but I have actually gone into the stash twice in the last 4 weeks. So, for now it is a keeper.

I dropped off the extra linens, along with 6 bags of clothes, purses, and miscellaneous accessories at an Oxfam store this morning.  After this Christmas I should be down to one roll of gift wrap (brown packing paper) and then all of the gift related stuff can fit on one shelf.  Who knows maybe I will get all crazy and keep one shelf (hold on to your seat belts) empty.  Sometime down the line I need to oil the cabinet and do something about the old and dingy contact paper.  I am just going to simmer down for now though.

After all, this is much better.

More of Less

I have been obsessed with interested in organizing for a long time. Especially if other people are doing the organizing and I am watching the process on TV or on my computer screen.  Oh, I have dabbled in the process in the past (see my very neglected More of Less column).  In fact,  I am pretty sure that one of my very first purchases ever at IKEA included storage boxes.  I got rid of those boxes in January and wrote about it in my first post titled  More of Less.  Over the course of my "column" I lost sight of the title or maybe I just wasn't ready for what it really meant or not fully committed.  Who knows.

I am still not there, but I am closer.  For the longest time I thought being organized only involved putting things in pretty boxes or containers. It does not, that is merely a quick fix.  A few weeks ago I read this.

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
–William Morris.

Now this is the house that I want to live in and those should be the words repeated before something is organized into a box. Jules at Pancakes & French Fries is on her best way with her October series titled "31 Days of William Morris" and her blog is where I first read the quote.  It is also the place I have found countless hours of blog reading excellence.  Really.  Go have a look.

So what does this mean?  It means that I am taking no prisoners and  have ordered a special trash pick-up for large bulky items (called Sperrmüll in Germany).  Everything has to be out on the curb on the morning of October 25th.   I mean business.

I am also back in my shelves, containers and cabinets. Here is a photo of the after of a bathroom drawer,  unfortunately there is no before picture.

It was one of those organizing projects that came about spontaneously.  As in, I opened the drawer and went into a fit.  It was a productive fit.  I threw out a lot of stuff (mainly lipgloss).  You know the half used, can't remember when I bought it kind.  Most importantly I found a use for the dividers that  came with the pullout drawers from the IKEA PAX closet.  I hope they will help keep mayhem at bay. This post is all about purging, but sometimes it pays to keep (see the useful part of the quote).  I even had to partake in some saw action so that the slats would fit. Yes, I am talking real big time blogger stuff and I only have this picture to show for it.

More of Less

It has been very rainy here in Germany, so I had to regroup my to-do list and am now working on some projects I had thought to do in the Fall and Winter.  Last November I started to organize my spice cabinet.  Notice the word November (wet and grey).  It is now July (also wet and grey).  OK, I am now moving on. I still have a five tickets for the outdoor pool.  Moving on. At the BBQ we had this weekend guests huddled around the grills. Really moving on. Now. 

First thing I did was buy more jars during my trip to IKEA.  I had originally thought to buy the DROPPAR jars, but when I saw the ones from the 365+ IHÄRDIG series it was container love at first sight.  After a little rethinking about which spices would go in what jars I got out my glass marker  and got to work. Labeling was a step that I skipped last go around and I came to find it is really hard to tell the difference between curcuma, curry and masala once they are in the jars.

 

Much better.

I got rid of the box the salt comes in and am now storing it in this canning jar.  The opening was the perfect size to use during cooking.   Then I just added an unnecessary label and I was happy.

More of Less

And I am back down in the basement.  We have had a lot of rain in the past few days, so I tried to put my time to good use with some organizing projects.  A quick trip to IKEA and I was able dig in.

As sad as it is, the above picture is a good representation of what our basement looks like.  You might remember this post from last year and it is even sadder to say that there hasn't been much lasting progress.  "Lasting" is the key word here.  I am starting to think that cleaning the basement is like going on a diet.  You loose a few pounds, but you gain it all back plus you add a few.  Until I am sure though I will continue to buy stuff to make the stuff I have look nicer.

On that note, while at IKEA I picked up two (should have gotten three) SORTERA flip top boxes,  so I could rid of the plastic bag storage for the bottle recycling.  A definite improvement in the aesthetic department and I hope it is equally functional.

More of Less

So last week wasn't a very productive blog week for me.  I did do a lot of blog reading and I also spent more time at Pinterest than I care to reveal, but posting not so much.  Are you pinning yet? When I first read about it I knew that it would be dangerous, so I resisted.  A while back Tesca did a post about it and I have been hooked ever since.  It is a huge time suck and very dangerous territory, but lots of fun.   If you want to join let me know and I can send you an invite.  Don't say I didn't warn you though. :)

So now back to business.  It is Tuesday, the day for "More of Less" and we are back in the kitchen.  This drawer clearly needs help.

 

It is really suppose to be a baking drawer, but over the last two years other items have found there way in.  The popsicle molds are moving on out (glad that they caught my eye though because, duh, it is Summer now) and the Christmas cookie cutters don't really need to take up valuable real estate in the kitchen either.

They have been moved into the cookie tins and stored in the basement pantry (a site of future More of Less posts).  By the way, the heart laying next to the tin is one of my favorite cookie cutters.  The little notch on the side is to hang the finished cookie on the side of a coffee cup or glass of milk.

The drawer looks so much better now and I was even able to add a few items:  handheld mixer, mixing bowl, a Pyrex baking dish and a quiche dish.
Check or rather ☑.

(Mini) More of Less

Hold on this is going to be an exciting post. ;) I am still working on organizing the storage shed and this week I did something small, but effective. When we started our garden we needed different types of shovels.   Instead of borrowing the ones we only needed for a few projects, we my husband went out and bought these.

 

We really only need one now, but I can't convince my husband to get rid of the extra ones.  You know how it goes - can't part with your stuff, then you need to find new ways of storing it so that it looks like you have less.

Mission accomplished.

More of Less

This is more of a case of moving my stuff around and buying something awesome to put it in, but I don't care because I love my new ÃTRAN.

I love that it is red and looks like the letter "C" (letter & number fanatic here).   My name is Monica with a "c" and since I grew up in Germany it was always something that I had to emphasize (it is generally spelled with a "k" here).

 

After taking the temporary cabinet out of our bathroom I needed a place to store the cough syrup, Tylenol etc.  I wanted to store them someplace else since a bathroom is not the ideal place for medicine storage because of the heat and moisture.  Since we don't need constant access I decided to put the new cabinet in the basement stairway.   This freed up some space in a kitchen drawer as well and I love the way the cabinet looks here.  Can you tell I like it?  The ÃTRAN would be great as a landing strip/catch all by a front door too.

P.S.
This post was made possible with the help of my husband and his drill.  Thanks Honey!
 

More of Less

Or should I say "More of Late"?  Not too long after I committed to organizing our storage shed and hit the "Publish Post" I seriously regretted it.  That moment came after I went back in to take stock of stare at the mess.  Honestly, I spent the rest of the week avoiding the project.  Seemed like a good week to clean the windows to me.  However, yesterday blogger guilt got the better of me and I got started.

Like I said, I got started.  In my eyes the space has a long way to go.    There is still a lot of stuff in there that we really don't need:  a folding wheelbarrow (no idea why I thought we needed it), planters from our apartment that we haven't used since, a bent up pitchfork etc.   You might have noticed it already, but in case you haven't I forgot to put Sam's bike and Kettcar back in before I took the pictures.  I didn't realize it until I got back inside and downloaded the pictures.  Thought it looked to good to be true.

Unfortunately we still have this stuff.

 

Have I mentioned before that Hot Wheels toys are ugly and that at times I don't care for my brother?  Consider it said.

We need to re-work how/where the garden tools are hung and the placement of some of the miscellaneous stuff on the shelves.  One day I plan on getting matching storage containers. Maybe I will do an accent wall. :)

More of Less

Should I just ignore that today is Thursday and this should have been posted on Tuesday?  I think that may be the best tactic.

Over the weekend  I tried to find a package seeds in our storage shed.

I think that you may realize my dilemma.  In case you don't, it is a !!?$*@#! mess.  I don't have any after photos yet because I haven't actually started on the project.  At least not physically,  but I have spent many horrified minutes starting at it.   This task will have to be tackled in stages.  Stage one to follow next week.

More of Less

As promised last week, for this week's edition of More of Less a look at the new cabinet  in our master bathroom.  Took us two years to realize it, but it was worth the wait.   Thinking back I don't believe that I would have ever come up with this design back when we planning everything else for the house.  My mind was so full of other stuff and I definitely think that it is a good idea to live in a house a while before finishing everything.

The cabinet and shelves above are veneered in Walnut to match unit that holds the sink.  The square door that you see is for the laundry chute that goes to the utility room.  In all of the excitement of the having the cabinet installed I totally forgot to take a before picture.  It was basically just a little corner with a badly installed ugly metal door.

The new cabinet only has a fraction of the storage capabilities of our old cabinet, but like I said last week we really didn't need that much in the bathroom anyway.  Another plus point for the small cabinet (depth) is that I can actually see what I have in there with one glance.  No, more fishing at the back of the cabinet with one arm for this chick.

The best part of the cabinet is the storage for the magazines and the toilet paper.  The stacks of magazines always bugged me and who wants to find that there is no toilet paper when, ehhh, it is too late.  I took a few measurements of the magazines that we frequent and of a roll of toilet paper and the bottom part of the unit was planned.  The rest of the unit is the magic of our carpenter

More of Less

I may not have called it More of Less Mondays or Monday's More of Less, but the plan was to have  More of Less post every Monday.  Turns out that just doesn't work for my schedule .  So, I am moving them to Tuesday (for now).  

Two weeks ago our carpenter delivered and installed a custom (mini) cabinet for our bathroom.  Which meant I needed to clear out the "temporary" cabinet we had been using for the past two years.

 

I will never cease to be amazed on how much stuff can be crammed into a cabinet.  There was lots of stuff and most of it we really did not need: duplicates, half empty bottles of products that did not live up to the marketing promise, expired products and so on.

 

 

You can see it was not really pretty on the outside and worse inside.  As always, when something new is brought in it brings about changes (work) in another part of the house.

 

 

I decided to move the cabinet into our utility room to store cleaning supplies.  They use to be in containers on the floor.  For some reason I forgot to take before pictures.  My guess is that it was probably something deep within me that did not want to share what it looked like.

In the next few months I plan on adding a print and more importantly hiding those cables. I would love to do something like this, but we have a lot of mechanical equipment (for solar water heating and rain cistern, meters, etc.) in this room so I think that keeping this side as simple as possible it the best way to go.  It will never be pretty, but anything should be an improvement.  Maybe I will even begin to like doing laundry, not likely though.

As you can see I have a seemingly lifetime supply of cleaning rags.  First off, my husband bought a lot of them from a bulk supplier on e-bay and then I am sucker from trying new stuff.  Doesn't really fit the More of Less theme, but I am still in the process of getting there.

Next week I will show you our new cabinet in the bathroom.  Yes, this is a cliffhanger ending.  :)