Toy storage

As part of my house reorganization/redecorating/restructuring process that I've been in for, oh, about two and a half years or so, I decided to take back my dining room and organize all of Rosemary's toys. I wanted to make sure they were organized and accessible, but also cute. I also wanted them out of sight when I'm trying to eat dinner. And I thought it would be nice to actually have a table to eat dinner on (our table was replaced by her toys a few months ago when I decided our dining table made a better sewing table and we didn't really need a place to eat anyway.) I'm really happy with the result! All of her toys are now in her bedroom (minus her kitchen and easel and a few ride-on-toys that, alas, are in our living room- but at least all the toys with pieces parts are gone!).

Here's the view as you walk in.


The toy chest was mine when I was a kid- repainted and refurbished by my dad before Rosemary was born.
I had been looking for a place to store of Rosemary's fairy wings, princess dresses, and tutus. The clothesline idea was stolen from my classroom days. I used to display my student artwork on a clothesline. The wings and headpieces are so pretty and were getting crushed in the drawer where they were previously stored, I figured I may as well put them on display. She can also access them easier. Of course, when I was showing her how to get them off, it became a full day of playing with clothespins rather than her wings. I'm trying to decide how to pretty up the clothespins- paint them, hot glue something on them. I'm not sure yet. The flowers are the barrettes leftover from the favors for her birthday party. I thought they were cute enough to display and she can wear them whenever she wants! I also like the fact that she can look out the window while she plays fairy dress up. Kind of sets the magical-fairy tale mood- set in a forest wonderland (ok, it's actually a bed that has way too many overgrown ferns, but it kind of looks fairy-tale kingdomish).

Here's the best organizer in the world- the 9 cube storage unit by Closetmaid. One of my biggest needs was a place to store Rosemary's books. I had some on a bookshelf in our dining room (that I was able to completely remove thanks to this wonderful little unit!) and the rest in the basket on the nightstand and in the drawers of the nightstand in this picture. There were just way too many books! Now they're all neatly organized in her little reading nook.

Here's also where my analness came in handy. In the top drawer of the nightstand are delicate paperbacks and antique books that I don't want Rosemary to play with by herself but I want to access when we read together. In the bottom drawer are mini board books. In the top left cubby of the storage organizer are her books from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (awesome program- free books for all kids under age 5). In the top right cubby are her educational books- colors, shapes, numbers, etc. In the middle cubby are storybooks (fairy tales and classics) and animal books, separated by a Disney Princess board book set. In the bottom left cubby are her Dr. Seuss books and part of a set of Disney hardback books that belonged to Joe when he was a child. In the bottom right cubby are her bedtime stories. In the top pink cubby are her Barbie-type toys (mostly Disney princesses, but also her My Little Pony and Mr. Potato Head.) In the left green bin are her musical instrument toys. The right green bin has her fine motor skill toys (lacing beads, a peg and hammer set, etc). The bottom green bin has her Little People toys. On top of the cubbies are her puzzles, big books that wouldn't fit on the shelves (and thematic ones I put out- something I started doing as a teacher and now do for her. For the holidays I had Christmas books out. I'll probably put out some winter books next. What can I say- I was both a teacher and a librarian. I love books!), and stuffed animals that go along with some of her books. In the basket on the nighttable are electronic toys.
The only thing I need to find a good place for now are her dolls. Right now her cradle is replacing the big bunny in the above picture and her dolls are all around it, but it looks cluttered. So I'm rethinking that. But for now I'm really happy with the way all her toys are organized! Oh- and I found a drawer for the floor piano that is in front of her cubbies in the above picture so it isn't cluttering up the room any more and she can take it out when she wants to play with it. I think Joe and I play with it more than she does (seriously, Joe used to teach piano lessons so he can play some Bach on that thing. It amazes me!)

Slipcovered Chair

I couldn't find a before picture that showed the entire chair, but this at least gives you an idea of what it looked like before slipcovered. And I can't get over how tiny little Rosemary is in this picture! She must have been about 3 months old! (I'm not sure what happened to the picture that was here. It think it was eaten by the blogspot monster.)And here is the after! I hate that the print doesn't show up well in pictures. It's such a beautiful fabric!

Bedroom Redo

When we moved into the house, we didn't have a lot of time to get our master bedroom set up. We pretty much just threw the bed in, stuffed the closet full of clothes and shoes, and used the rest of the room as storage space for furniture and "stuff" that had no other place. I finally decided it was time to make it a more relaxing space where we could escape the chaos of the rest of the house which has been pretty much taken over by baby toys. When I asked Joe what he wanted when it came to redecorating the house he said "zen." I'm trying to accomplish this in the bedroom by adding as much feng shui as possible. We started by clearing out any clutter that didn't belong. I gave an old two-seater to my mother-in-law and was able to find homes for other miscellaneous "stuff" either under the bed or in the guest room (which I will have to tackle eventually because it's becoming the new storage space). Then we replaced the bright blue walls from the previous owners a relaxing gray. We got new bedding and nightstands from IKEA (thanks to my in-laws!). We were looking at beds and after much deliberation I decided to make a headboard instead of buying one. I love the upholstered headboards but didn't love the price. I also love anything that gives me a project or a way of personalizing my space and I thought making an upholstered headboard would be a lot of fun. Then I moved a bookshelf from our guest room into the bedroom and repainted it the same gray as the walls to give it a built-in look so it didn't distract from the rest of the room. My mom and I also created a sitting corner by slipcovering an old recliner using the same fabric as the headboard.

Here are some pics of the results thus far:
Before


After. This was a special project for my mom and me. We used a $5.99 piece of plywood from Lowe's. Layered it with foam (2 yards of 1/2 inch foam for $19.98 at Joann, but we had a coupon so it was about $12), batting (about $3 on sale at Joann), and after searching for hours at Joann for fabric I liked, I eventually found a sheet at Ross that spoke to me for $7.99! So the entire cost of the headboard (including the screws and hooks to hang it, which were about $10 total) was about $40! Our goal was $25, but I think we still did pretty good!

We slipcovered the chair in the same fabric (we searched at several Ross's before giving up and finally found the same sheets so we had enough to slipcover the chair!). I don't have pics of it, but hopefully I'll get some soon.


Here's a view of the back wall. The screen came from Hobby Lobby. My mom found it for about $50, which is a steal! It's hiding Rock Band instruments that have no other place to go. I think it adds a perfect zen, feng shui'd element to the room! The bookshelf on the other side of the wall is the one we painted. I'm thinking of getting a vase with some orange flowers for the top. The red curtain went with our former bedding set. I'm searching for black and white curtains to replace it with, but haven't seen any I like, so we're just going to live with it for a while. It's a blackout curtain, so at least it keeps the room dark! I wish I had a picture of my sitting corner!

Some things we still need to do in the bedroom:
-new curtain rods and curtains
-wall art
-dresser

Kitchen Window Seat

I was super lucky this week to have my parents in town to help me with some of my ideas for projects around the house. We accomplished a few huge things in the kitchen and bedroom!

My number one biggest complaint about our house is the lack of storage. I have utilized every inch of space- from under my bed to the attic- and still have trouble finding places to store my kitchen gadgets, platters, and miscellaneous "stuff." Every couple months I got through my kitchen cabinets and drawers and reorganize so that I can access the things I use most often- like the platters I've used when entertaining this summer- and put other things that don't get used as often- such as my Christmas serving trays- out of the way. About a week ago I decided that a storage bench under the windows in my kitchen would really help out. All I had to do was mention it and within minutes my dad had the measuring tape out and rough plans drawn up and the bench was started! Here is my kitchen before, with basically wasted space under the windows:


Here are some work in progress shots. I think Rosemary really likes it!













The first picture above shows my dad in the assembly phase. Don't worry, I didn't just stand there and take pictures. I helped. I got to apply the glue and even used the drill to add the lid and hinges! We put it under the windows before painting it to take some last measurements before adding the trims. Rosemary immediately lifted her arms and said "baby sit?" We put her up here and opened the blinds and she had a whole new view of the world! I think this is going to be her favorite spot!

Here is the masterpiece after a few coats of paint and trim added. The details aren't very clear in the picture, but it looks so good. There is a decorative trim added to the lid and the moulding around the bottom matches the baseboards in the kitchen. We also took this opportunity to strip and repaint most of the baseboard in the kitchen before making the bench a permanent built-in structure. I wish I took better before and after pictures (thanks to my dad who let me borrow his camera!) because this window bench makes the whole kitchen feel so much bigger! I was afraid it would have the opposite effect, but I absolutely love it! It's already full of things that were taking up space in other places and I was even able to clear a spot off the shelves in my bedroom closet that had been holding platters and gravy bowls!



Some work we have left to do in the kitchen:
-make cushions for the top of the box
-raise the curtains
-eventually repaint and redo the theme of the kitchen, but for now I'm enjoying my yellow whimsical rooster theme!