The Organized Home

Besides looking good, a well-designed home should be organized. This requires a plan for how the space is going to be used. I LOVE to organize! It's fun and I definitely love getting new ideas for how to do it better. There are so many places in my home where I feel I could be more organized, more streamlined.

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Yesterday I attended a free class at Pottery Barn on "The Organized Home". The fabulous instructor, Chelsea, covered the gamut of home organization. She discussed storage solutions for basements/attics, closets, kitchens, offices, and kids' spaces. She relayed personal stories about growing up with an uber-organized mom. And she managed to organize her thoughts well enough that she addressed the individual organizing needs of all of the attendees (for me, this was most impressive).

"How to Get Organized: Storage Solutions for Every Room" is the informational booklet that all of the attendees received. The staff at Pottery Barn put it in a bag with the schedule for upcoming classes, the brochure for the Fall Decorating class, and a Benjamin Moore summer paint swatch packet. It was very cute and fun!

While I don't think I can do justice to the thoroughness of the class, a few of my favorite tips are highlighted below. I should point out that these are my interpretations of what was said, and not a Pottery Barn-approved message (and they certainly did not sponsor this post--darn it!).

1. A little time spent figuring out how you are going to use the space (pre-planning) will save you lots of time, money, and frustration in the long run.

2. Determine what kind of storage you need before you go shopping. 

3. Buying lots of baskets (even pricey cute Pottery Barn baskets) does not equal organizing.

4. Take measurements of the space (drawer, closet shelf, etc.) so you can buy the right size basket, bin, whatever.

5. Choose a monochromatic color scheme if you want your "display" (clothing, towels, sheets) to look catalog-perfect. 

6. Make a diagram or take photos of holiday displays you really like so they can be re-created year after year. 

7. Label your stuff. Whether you use a professional label maker or just a note stuck to a Rubbermaid bin with masking tape, it will help you figure out later what is inside all those boxes in your basement. 

Note: Chelsea's mom (I have a feeling I am going to be using that expression A LOT) actually has inventoried lists of what is inside all of her basement boxes. Which reminds me of the episode of Will & Grace where the gang travels to Will's childhood home, and get stuck in his mom's attic. Played by the incomparably lovely Blythe Danner, Will's mom had the most organized storage I have ever seen. Every box was the same size, shape, and color, and they were ALL labeled. It was heaven! 


Anyway, I went into yesterday's class hoping to get some new ideas for organizing paperwork. This area of our kitchen is designated as the home office. The land line (I am so old school!) is here; the pencils; phone books; and our bulletin board. Craft supplies for the kids are in one side of the cabinet below.

As you can see, it can also be a bit of a dumping ground. (This photo is titled "eyesore" in my online folder, just so you know). Getting it under control is important for my peace of mind: I can see this mess from the sofa when I'm trying to relax. It's also on the edge of the kitchen nearest our dining area, and can be used as a serving area if we entertain.

And with school starting in three weeks, the heat is on! Just buying the classroom supplies for my first- and fourth-graders this weekend required focus and concentration.

Recently I bought these four keepsake boxes from Michaels. I love the designs and they were in the clearance bin for less than $2 apiece. I bought two starfish boxes and two octopus boxes. I didn't have a good plan for where to use them, but figured the size, look, and price were good enough to justify the purchase.

Voila! The solution to our paper problem is to stack these four boxes on the corner of the cabinet. They can be labeled with each of our names. The boxes are catchalls for the papers and other items that get jumbled into a messy pile.

As an aside, as much as I adore organizing, I don't think I ever want to sort LEGOs by color. Do you?? God bless IHeart Organizing and all the moms like her. I honestly felt like I was being a good mom by not vacuuming up stray LEGO pieces. The parenting/organizing bar has been raised...  :)

 Source: IHeart Organizing

Happy birthday, Martha!

Today is Martha Stewart's birthday. She is 71 years old. Can you believe it?? She looks amazing!

The latest issue of Martha Stewart Living (September 2012) is one of the best in a long time, in my humble opinion. Besides the adorable photo of her and granddaughter Jude in the fun playroom on the cover, there are articles on using bold color to transform any room, mini-makeovers for lots of different spaces, and a feature on Detroit's own Corktown!

Griffin's Turn

I couldn't very well do a room for Bela and not do something for Griffin, now could I?? :)

There's something about bunk beds that just screams "boy" to me. In fact, part of the reason for wanting to give Bela a new bed is that I want to reunite her bed with Griffin's; they are part of a bunk bed set.

I like how the bunks in this inspiration photo have book racks and reading lamps by each. That's a great solution to not having a nightstand, especially for a boy like Griffin who enjoys reading before bed.

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In anticipation of the bunk bed reunion, I've moved Griffin's bed to the one available long wall. I gave him a more grown up looking blanket on his bed that coordinates better with the rest of the colors in his room. The blanket was actually the one I had on my dorm bunk bed during my freshman year of college.

The display shelf was already on the wall and to it, I added some of Griffin's favorite books. I also hung some other things above and below the shelf to take up more of the wall space and create a focal point that is the right scale for the size of the wall. When there are bunk beds there we won't need as much stuff on the wall but for now the amount of wall from bed to ceiling is pretty huge.

This display works from a design standpoint because there are an odd number of pieces (five): calendar, pennant, shelf, self-drawing, and Harry Potter wall-hanging. Less obvious from this photo is the way the colors pull your eye across the entire vignette. So the blue of the pennant on the top is replicated in the HP wall hanging below and across; the bright colors of the calendar appear in the book cover for Eric Carle's Mister Seahorse on the shelf.

Griffin has a few very special pieces in his room, all with a special connection to his grandpa (my dad). The first is his castle bookcase, built for him when he was a toddler.

It's pretty large so it gets its own wall between the bedroom door and the closet. I added a Zelda shield that Griffin bought with birthday money a few years ago to the top. To me, it recalls the Knights of Camelot. To Griffin, it will mean something else entirely. ;)  

I filled the shelves with his books, trading cards, action figures, and other knickknacks, including a globe. 

The color scheme for the room is inspired by the globe and maps on his wall. Since most of the furniture is gray with touches of green, this works pretty well.

Griffin's Lego table (built by grandpa as a Christmas gift a few years ago) was moved to the area by his windows. When the blinds are open, he has a gorgeous view of our backyard. It will be nice for him to be able to play and look out at nature.

This photo looks pretty boring to me. In the future, I want to add some drapes to these windows. Right now, I imagine them to be dark blue (to coordinate with the color I want to paint the walls) and have rugby stripes. I also would like to paint the base of the Lego table gray to coordinate with the bookcase and desk.

The top of the desk was built by my dad. It lifts off and the bases can be moved. Pottery Barn has sold this style of desk in its stores and catalogs, but my bases are hand-me-downs.  The drawer pulls are from Pottery Barn, though. I bought them for a kitchen many houses ago. When they didn't work there, I added them to this gem and I love how it turned out.

So what do you think?? Will it suit a nine year old boy?

Working With What You Have

 

 Some of you may remember this post from last summer. When I thought about the idea of "working with what you have" for the Emily A. Clark link party, this is the one that came to mind. It was one of the first ones on this blog, so things have evolved since then, and will evolve even more. But I think it is a great example of how little changes can make a big difference; most importantly to our attitude.

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There's a saying I try to live by, "The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they make the best of what they have." I think it pretty well sums up my decorating philosophy, too. So after writing about my ideas for Bela's bedroom the other day, I was motivated to go in and make some changes.

1. Moved her bed in front of the window. To make it look more like a daybed, I lined up her large stuffed animals (all dressed by her :) against the window.

2. Created a reading nook in the corner. Instead of purchasing a pouf, I used a large jack o' lantern pillow that I bought at an after-Halloween sale a few years ago. It's plush, round, and orange. My kids love it so it has never stayed in storage.

3. Placed a small bookcase that was already in the room in the area where I would be placing a desk. I filled it with books that had migrated throughout the house. Bonus: I put a few favorites on top to replicate the idea of the wall shelves. 

Another thing that I did was to put all of Bela's Barbie dolls in an old suitcase that she likes to play with. I placed it next to the bookcase and propped it open. In the old design, she would play with toys right by her door, which meant that there were always toys on the path to her bed. I wanted to find a way to get her to play more inside her room, rather than on the periphery. It worked and an unexpected benefit is that Bela actually put the Barbies back in the suitcase when she was done playing with them yesterday. WOW!

I also cleaned everything really well. The big guy helped me fix some things and hang a shelf for tiaras in a new spot underneath Bela's mirror. My amazing family sent me links to less expensive pieces and offered the talents of my dad (a carpenter) to try to replicate some of my ideas. And a friend from way back sent me an email to tell me how I could make my own flower hooks for much less. :)

Overall, I may not have been able to give Bela exactly the room I envisioned but the encouragement from all of you and the awareness that what I did made Bela feel special and loved is more than enough!