Home and Decorating

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Nursery Tales: The Starting Gate

Now that we know to expect a little girl, hubby and I are turning our attention to one of the big projects of pregnancy: furnishing and decorating the nursery.  I’ll get into our general plans and our to-do list in a moment, but first, the horrifying “before” picture:

Eeks.  That’s truly frightening, no?  We’ve got a room with the potential to be very, very cute, but which is still housing bookshelves, a cello and two violins… and which has also become a dumping ground for piles of hand-me-downs I got from a generous friend who’s done having kids.  And it all needs to move OUT (although many of those hand-me-downs will be moving back IN once they have designated stash spaces), and then we’ve got to fill this room with cute baby furniture and decor.  Whew, this is going to be a big job.

Here’s what we’re currently thinking in terms of priorities:

1) Safety first – obviously.  We’re in the process of researching the safest, coziest cribs and other baby accoutrements so that we can feel completely secure about stashing the baby in there and letting her sleep without hovering over her constantly.

2) Lots of storage.  The little miss is already spoiled with toys and clothes, and there’s no sign of the spoiling slowing down anytime soon (especially when she arrives and instantly melts her daddy’s heart – we all know that’s coming).  I’m planning to install a closet system to keep all those teeny dresses and adorable little sweaters and rompers organized.  And instead of a changing table, we’re going for a regular dresser with a changing pad bolted to the top – both for additional storage space and so that she can use it into her toddler years and beyond (sans changing pad, obvi).  And on a related note…

3) Books in full view.  Since kiddie books are thin, instead of displaying them spine-out, I’m planning to install photo ledges as shelves and prop the books up with their covers facing out so the little miss can enjoy the pictures.  And we will also work some decor elements in there – like maybe wooden letters that spell out her name?  (Which – sorry – won’t end up in our nursery reveal post before she’s born, both because we’re not certain we’ll have a final name choice by then anyway and because we’ve decided to keep our decision to ourselves so that we can introduce her to everyone when she arrives in the world.)

4) Easy access to toys.  I’m not sure how I’ll accomplish this yet – a cube shelving system?  Canvas bins?  Baskets?  I’ve got my eyes open for toy storage that works with whatever decor we settle on and keeps the peanut’s toys neat and orderly, but lets her see her stuff and get to it easily at playtime.  (That’s more for when she’s older, but I don’t want to be constantly re-shuffling her room and messing up her mojo once she arrives.)

As for decor decisions… I don’t know how we’re going to decorate the nursery just yet, aside from those practical points above.  Before we learned that the peanut is a girl, I had my eye on some adorable gender-neutral bedding that I thought would work perfectly in a blue and yellow nursery, and that I could reuse down the road if I ended up with a second peanut of a different variety.  I think if we were having a boy this time around, I’d still be inclined to go this route, and the practical side of me is even now.  But there’s a little voice in my head saying things like “A lavender nursery with floaty white curtains would be so PURTY!”  I’m trying to beat that little voice back, but it’s a challenge.  (She’s persistent.)  So we’re still on the fence about whether this room will be a haven for babies of all stripes, or a girly paradise.

Now, without further babbling, here’s the appallingly long nursery to-do list:

  • Research, purchase and assemble crib and dresser.
  • Decide on color scheme.
  • Move blue chair upstairs or buy glider to match alternate color scheme.
  • Paint walls (and maybe ceiling?).
  • Purchase and hang window treatments.
  • Install closet system.
  • Figure out lighting and install as necessary.
  • Install photo ledges (and fill with books!).
  • Nail down toy storage plans.
  • Acquire bedding and decor elements.
  • Unpack and put away baby’s toys and clothes.
  • Clean everything thoroughly.
  • Insert baby.

Whew!  Am I missing anything?  I hope not, because that’s a daunting enough list as it is – and with less than 17 weeks to go, there’s no time to lose.  Now I need a nap.  Stay tuned for progress updates!

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But Where Will the Books Go?

When you’re as nutty for books as I am, you tend to accumulate them without even realizing it.  My collection grew from one tall bookshelf in my childhood bedroom to three tall bookshelves… and spilling over… today.  For years I’ve been perfectly content to live amongst heaps of books – books stacked double on my shelves – books on my nightstand and under my bed – books coming out of every odd place imaginable.

Over the past two years, hubby and I have implemented a temporary solution to the book creep.  This is the room that we have been fondly calling “the bookroom” up until now.

(In my head I picture the room from The Little Bookroom, one of my favorite kids’ books – and source of many of the bedtime stories that made me the most popular babysitter in my neighborhood when I was 16 – and although the reality is both less romantic and less dusty than the book, it’s still a fun place to hang out.  With less sneezing – bonus.)

But all that has to change.  In a few short months, “the bookroom” will be dismantled, on its way to becoming “the nursery.”

Cue panic.  Anyone remember the episode of “Friends” where Monica and Chandler are discussing their efforts to have a baby?  Monica starts “reassuring” Chandler by telling him that when the baby arrives, there will be so much they can’t control, like: “What if the baby gets into the ribbon drawer?  Messes up all the ribbons?!  What if there’s no room for a ribbon drawer, because the baby’s stuff takes up all the space!? Where will all the ribbons go!?!”

Imagine the same level of panic in my voice as I realize that we have to clear out the bookroom.  WHERE WILL ALL THE BOOKS GO?!?!?!

Go ahead and laugh, but this is a problem of some magnitude.  My book collection is pretty ridiculous; the three bookshelves I have right now are practically buckling under its weight as it is.  (And that’s not counting hubby’s book collection, which takes up two of his own shelves in our den.)  And the bookshelves I have don’t really match any of my other furniture.  I know, who cares, right?  But I’ve actually spent money and effort in trying to make sure that my house looks like adults live in it – in contrast to my first apartment, which looked like hobos… or frat boys… or hobo frat boys… were squatting there.  So it’s my strong preference to not destroy that hard work by moving shelves into a room where they clearly don’t belong or look good.

Here are a couple of the less-than-perfect solutions I’ve come up with:

1) Move the bookshelves into my second guest bedroom as a temporary solution.  Eventually install built-in shelves and use the second guest room as permanent book storage.

(Problem with this: Out of sight, out of mind.  The odds of me actually installing built-in shelves in a rarely used room, sometime within the next ten years, are pretty slim.  Meanwhile, the shelves really won’t look good in there.  So I’ll have an unfortunate-looking room that won’t really get any better for a long time, which I will proceed to actively hate on but do nothing to improve.  Plus, if we have another kid sometime down the road, the second guestroom will have to make way for that kid.  And then the books will be homeless again.)

2) Move one shelf into my main guestroom and put the other two in the basement.  Edit down my collection severely and put the rest of the books in storage.

(Problem with this: The main guestroom only will fit one shelf as it’s currently configured; it’s a big room but that’s just the way it’s laid out – there’s not much wall space that doesn’t involve a picture window or a large closet, and it’s all in use already.  And editing down my collection is not a good option.  I’ve only got about two-thirds of my total book collection out as it is.)

3) Reconfigure the furniture arrangement in the main guest bedroom.  Specifically, I could move the TV out of the main guest bedroom and set up the bookshelves where the TV was.  Nobody watches the TV in there, because I lost the remote years ago.  (Sorry to all of my houseguests.)  The shelves aren’t a perfect match in that room, but they would look better there than anywhere else and be a not-horrible temporary solution.

(Problem with this: I don’t know where the TV would go.  I store all of my unused stuff – which isn’t much stuff; I’m a minimalist in everything except books and perfume – in the basement.  But I’m a little weirded out by the idea of electronics going in the basement, especially if we have another flood.  Still, this might be the best solution, if I can find an acceptable place to store the TV.)

4) Buy a couple of new bookshelves that will complement my bedroom furniture and move as many of the books as possible in there, then pack away the rest.

(Problem with this: ‘Spensive.  I have cribs and strollers to buy, and daycare to pay for.  Plus I’ll still have to whittle the collection down a little bit.  And having my books in my bedroom… well, my motivation to actually visit other rooms will shoot way down if that ever happens.  It’s already a little too comfy in there.)

Long-term, what I’d really love to do is install built-in shelves in the living room.  I love, love, LOVE the way built-ins look, and I think they’d be a perfect backdrop for my piano, which I’m hoping to move down from New York before baby’s appearance.  (Not to mention a temptingly convenient place for my books to live.)  But installing built-ins is a long way off.  As much as I’d love to, I don’t think either hubby or I is confident enough to take on a task of that magnitude, and paying someone for a big project like that – a project which isn’t strictly necessary – isn’t really in the baby-on-board budget.

Bottom line, the books need somewhere to go, and I really don’t want that somewhere to be “in storage.”  Especially not when I have space to spare in the house.  I want the baby to grow up surrounded by books, like hubby and I did.  In the meantime, I’m still trying to figure out where I can put these displaced books so that they’re out of baby’s way, but still easily accessible to me.

Any ideas for me?

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Winter Wonderland

Did I not promise that I would step up my game for Christmas decorating?  Christmas is my favorite holiday, so I do get excited about decking the halls and all that jolly goodness.  My mom was a teacher, so when I was growing up we always had multitudes of decorations that came to us in the form of teacher gifts – including a whole section of teacher ornaments on the tree.  I don’t have those kind of suppliers, but I’ve pulled together some nice decorations for my house.  In addition to the tree, I did another seasonal mantle using greenery from my yard.  I have holly bushes along my front walk, so I snipped a few branches and laid them across the mantle.  On either side I put some seasonal flair…

I kept out the hurricane vase I bought from Target this fall, but swapped out the golden yellow candle for a simple white one.  I retired the river rocks to their home in my candle cabinet – they’ll be back after the holidays – and surrounded the candle with jingle bells that I bought at Target this weekend.  Next to the hurricane, on one side I have an already-owned candlestick (a wedding gift) and an already-owned candle.  On the other side, a vintage glass vase from my grandmama’s old house, which I filled with red berries from a bush in my backyard.

On the other side of the mantle is my Nativity.  I bought this last year after several years of looking for a Nativity but being unable to find just the right one.  I wanted something modern, but still whimsical.  Finally I found the Willow Tree Nativity and it fit the bill perfectly.  I bought the metal star backdrop at the same time as I acquired the Nativity – I liked it better than a creche.  This Nativity includes a shepherd, but I preferred it with just Mary, Joseph, and the baby.  But I included two Willow Tree angels – the Angel of Winter, holding the wreath, and the Angel of Hope, holding the lantern (which I imagine contains the Christmas star).  So it’s a bit non-traditional, but hey, so am I.

The dining room got a visit from the decorating fairy too!  On the table… April Cornell placemats (a gift last year), Lenox Federal Platinum dinner and salad plates (wedding gift), Target mercury glass votive holders (bought this year) and Crate & Barrel red glass votive holders (a gift several years ago).

And if you’re wondering about the snowman hot cocoa mugs, they’re from Williams-Sonoma and were a present from my mother-in-law.  The hats are lids to keep the cocoa warm until you’re ready to drink it!  Does that cuteness not just slay you?

Remember I said I had plans for the buffet?  These are the plans: my Christmas village!  When I was a kid, I thought that the ultimate mark of an adult at Christmas was that she had her own Department 56 Christmas village.  My mom collected the Dickens Village and my grandmama had Christmas in the City.  Obviously as soon as I was married and had my own place I started my own collection.  My choice…

New England Village!  Want to see my favorites?

Here’s the Lakeshore Holiday House, the 2011 limited edition building, which I just got, with the Salt Bay Lifesaving Station, a gift I received a few Christmases ago.

Sawyer Family Tree Farm, an earlier limited edition

And my all-time favorite, Wheaton Christmas Bakery!  This is one of the limited editions, I think maybe from 2009?  I obviously love the bakery most of all… the yellow bricks, the adorable miniature pastries in the window, and the baker kneeling outside with a tray of goodies for the local kids – too cute! 

How do you decorate for Christmas?

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Ornamentation

I love checking out the ornaments on other people’s trees!  Ornaments can tell you so much about the family that has chosen to display them every year.  I think we all have our favorites, ornaments that are particularly meaningful to us.  Here are some of mine.

 Hubby and I bought this little guy on a trip back to our alma mater.  We have a little bit of a snowman theme going on with our tree – unintentional, but I just seem to accumulate them – and he fits right in.  Plus we love hockey, we love Cornell, and we love Cornell hockey.  It seemed only right to celebrate the Big Red on our tree!

This is the South Light on Block Island, RI.  My brother lives there, and this was a gift from him two years ago.  It’s a beautiful ornament and it reminds me of one of my favorite guys.

I don’t know if this is really an ornament, but it’s been on my tree for two years now.  I bought this rooster from a traditional Provencal pottery in Gigondas in 2010.  This year instead of packing it away, I’m leaving it out and planning to incorporate it into my year-round decor.  But it’ll always be on my tree, too.

This is another piece of Provencal pottery from that shop in Gigondas.  The rooster is quintessentially French, but this rose is even closer to my heart.  I love how it’s modern and traditional at the same time – just like me.

This is one of two sets of four “Snowman Chefs” that I got from Williams-Sonoma.  I love them and their cheerful reminders to enjoy the treats of the season!

This is a violin ornament that I’ve had since I was a little girl.  I played the violin for years and picked up the cello more recently.  It’s one of those childhood ornaments that just has to be on the tree!

Do you have any favorite Christmas ornaments?  Do share!

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In Which I Attempt To Decorate My House For Fall

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right?  Okay, well, when it comes to seasonal decorating, I admit it: I have a problem.  I don’t have the same problem that most ladies seem to have, I have the opposite problem.  I’m a minimalist.  I have a complicated psychological explanation for my minimalism.  (Seriously, I do.  Email me if you want it.)  Being a minimalist is good in some respects (less stuff to dust! and I save money!) but when it comes to decorating for the holidays, it’s just sad.

For example: here’s how I decorated my dining room for fall.

Oh, did you not see the two partially used pumpkin candles from five years ago?  My bad.

Pathet… that’s Sanskrit for “really cool way to live.”

Oh, and that’s my mantle.  TWO candles.  A little busy, no?  It’s not that I don’t WANT to decorate my house for the seasons.  I’m always drooling over the new seasonal items at Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma.  But I just can’t seem to pull the trigger.  I’m a little better at Christmas – my mom loves the holiday and she always goes all-out decorating for it, so I’ve picked up my game a bit post-Thanksgiving.  By which I mean, I have a tree, a wreath, stockings, and a Christmas village.  Last year I got a Nativity scene after literally years of wanting one but being unable to decide what I liked.

I think that qualifies as an improvement, yes?  Here’s what I did, in a nutshell: first, I thought about what theme I wanted the mantle to reflect.  I’m a girl who loves the outdoors and nature, so I went for some natural elements – the river rocks around the pillar candle and under the wheat (which coordinate with a candle holder my mom gave me that involves river rocks – keep reading), the wheat, the branches from my backyard and the acorn-shaped candle holder.  I also wanted to keep it relatively sleek and modern with a muted color palette.  So I stuck to creams, yellows and reds to call to mind the changing leaves.  Finally, I pulled a few items from around the house that went with my color palette – some red books from my bookshelf, which I turned around to show their cream-colored pages, a pale yellow glassybaby votive from the dining room, and my Angel of Autumn, which normally lives in the guest bedroom.  She’s holding a sheaf of wheat, so I plopped her next to the wheat “bouquet.”  I tried to create a sense of balance by placing taller elements on the outside and gradually shorter elements toward the center of my display, while keeping it interesting and modern by including different items on each side.

From left to right…

Hurricane candle holder – Smith & Hawken for Target
Honeysuckle scented pillar candle – Smith & Hawken for Target
River Rocks vase filler – Target
Acorn candle holder – Crate & Barrel (several years ago)
Natural branches – messy backyard
Books – messy bookshelves
Votive – glassybaby
Angel of Autumn – Willow Tree
Tall vase – Michael’s
Natural dried wheat – Michael’s
Gratitude Garland – Homemade for the Pinterest Challenge II

 

My mom gave me this candleholder years ago – she has an identical one in her house.  I love it and it’s always out on my coffee table in the family room.  To spruce it up for fall I swapped out the old white pillar candles for some golden yellow ones – the same golden yellow as the pillar in the hurricane on the left-hand side of the mantle.

I gave the dining room a little spruce as well – moved the two tall candles over to the dining table and set them in between my partially-burnt pumpkin candles from several seasons ago.  I’m all about using what I have.

And for some fun, I brought out the Cider House and Farm Stand from my Department 56 village (New England, if anyone’s curious) and set them up on my buffet, flanked by some more glassybaby votives.  This is just a taste of things to come, by the way.  I have big plans for this buffet come Christmas.  Stay tuned…

How are you decorating your house for fall?

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The Pinterest Challenge II: Gratitude Garland

I had such fun making my button monogram for the first-ever Pinterest Challenge, that when Sherry from Young House Love and Katie from Bower Power announced another challenge, I knew immediately that I was in.  I cruised on over to Pinterest and spent an hour or so checking out fall decorations – since up until now I’ve been woefully deficient in the seasonal decorating area.  Clearly, the second Pinterest Challenge was a sign that it was time to step up my game.

Fun fact: pre-blog (in 2007), I threw hubby a surprise 30th birthday party.  It’s common knowledge among anyone who has planned a surprise party that you need something for the guests to do while they wait for the guest of honor to arrive.  I chose to make a garland to serve as party decor and conversation piece.  I begged my hubby’s parents for copies of pictures of him – at least one for each year of his life.  Then I made a garland featuring hubby’s pictures from babyhood through age 29.  It made for a fun decoration, a great conversation starter, and a wonderful keepsake – because of course we hung onto it. 

For this challenge I decided I wanted to revisit my garland-making ways with a Thanksgiving edition.  I pinned this guy and this guy and started thinking about how I wanted to approach my seasonal garland.  Introducing…

The Gratitude Garland

The concept is simple.  The front of the garland spells out the word THANKFUL.  (But you could go with GRATEFUL, GRATITUDE, THANKSGIVING or any other seasonal word that speaks to you.)  On the back of the garland, hubby and I took turns writing out things we are thankful for.  (Our lists are at the end of this post if you want to skip past the instructions and just go straight to finding out what warms hubby’s and my hearts.)

Want to make your own Gratitude Garland?  It’s incredibly easy – quite literally the work of minutes.  Here’s what you need:

  • 4 sheets scrapbooking paper in coordinating colors/patterns
  • Round item to use as stencil (i.e. a cereal bowl or large glass)
  • Scissors
  • Hole punch (1/16 inch size)
  • Kitchen twine
  • Darning needle
  • Stick-on letters
  • Pen
  • Tape (Scotch and painter’s)

Step 1: Cut out eight identical circles from your scrapbooking paper.  (Or nine, or however many circles you need to spell out the word you’ve chosen – one circle per letter.)

Step 2: Punch holes in the “top” of each circle.  If possible, hold all of your circles together when you punch the holes.  That’ll guarantee that every hole is identically placed.  Me = anal retentive.

Step 3: Arrange the circles in your chosen order and thread the kitchen twine through each circle using the darning needle.

Step 4: Apply the stick-on letters to spell out your word of choice.

Step 5: Write what you are thankful for on the back of each circle.  I did mine first and then hubby did his without looking at mine.  Then we read our “thanks” to each other.

Step 6: Space out the circles along the length of twine.  Using Scotch tape, secure the circles to the twine so that they face forward.  Hang garland in your chosen location (i.e. the mantle) and secure with painter’s tape.  Hide painter’s tape with other decorative items if necessary.

(By the way, drop by on Friday to see my mantle decorations all broken down.)  So there it is – your very own Gratitude Garland!  A perfect Thanksgiving season decoration, especially if you can’t look at a Cornucopia after reading The Hunger Games.  And now, if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably curious as to what hubby and I are thankful for.  Here are our lists…

Messy

  • Our beautiful home
  • Being married to my best friend
  • The chance to travel the world
  • BOOKS and TEA

Hubs

  • Jaclyn (Nota Baker: Awwwww! Ain’t he sweet?)
  • The Buffalo Sabres
  • Weekends
  • Beer

Updated: Want to see the four challengers’ projects?  Here ya go:

Sherry @ Young House Love: 38 Ornaments
Katie @ Bower Power: Antiqued Window
Ana @ Ana White Homemaker: Princess Pocket Bookshelf
Erin @ House of Earnest: Metallic Gold-Lined Lamp

What are you thankful for this season?

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The Dining Room, Before and After-ish

There were no Labor Day picnics or barbeques in this household this year.  No, we decided that the best way to celebrate Labor Day weekend was with some good, old-fashioned hard labor.  Isn’t that right, Comrades?  (Just kidding… about the Comrades thing, anyway.  I took enough college economics classes to know what doesn’t work.)  But, unfortunately, we’re not kidding about the hard labor thing.  We designated Labor Day weekend for some badly-needed house maintenance, including assembling a bookshelf (hubby) and a wine rack (hubby) and painting the dining room (together).  The dining room is just about done now – all that’s left to do is replace the chandelier, although we might wait until 2012 for that one, since the house has been pretty spoiled lately.

Here she is, all taped up and ready to go:

And mid-paint job:

And here are the after-ish pictures (feel free to ignore the chandelier, and imagine something like this in its place instead).  The actual color is more subdued and muted, with faint grey undertones, than the yippee-skippee-sky blue that it reads on the screen.  So if you’re questioning my sanity, please know that it’s a lot less bright in person!  It’s actually closest to the area next to the window in the pic above.

Next up to get the blues: the living room!

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Weekend Project: Bedroom Seating Alcove

This weekend I’ve been hard at work making some updates to the bedroom, to make it look more like a room where grown-ups live and less like a racquetball court.  Top of my agenda was filling up the alcove by the window and making it into a cozy nook for hubby and I to sit, read, and relax.  Just by way of reminder, here’s the big old empty space I started with:

Eeks.  Having this alcove with nothing in it was no fun at all.  But I’m a Libra, so it took me a looooooooong time to decide on furniture.  I knew I wanted something that would go with my planned purple walls (which are on the agenda for late this fall, or possibly January).  Here’s what I decided on:

In case you’re curious, we’ve got:

  • Couch: Henry Sofa from West Elm (color: Dove Grey performance velvet)
  • Throw pillows: Pottery Barn
  • Coffee table: Ethan Allen (Tango collection; color: Graphite)
  • Nesting end tables: Ethan Allen (Tango collection; Color: Graphite)
  • Lamp: Ikea
  • Bookshelf: Ballard Designs (Librarie Bookshelf, black)

Decorative elements (always subject to change at a whim):

  • Teapot and teacups: Pottery Barn (Emma classic dinnerware, color: white)
  • Vases (on coffee table): Pearl Grant Richman’s (boutique in my hometown – these were a wedding gift)
  • Dried flowers: lavender bouquets from L’Occitaine en Provence
  • Books (on coffee table): LOUVRE and MARIAGE FRERES FRENCH TEA, both available on Amazon and at bookstores
  • Vase (on bookshelf, pictured in earlier shot): vintage wine bottle I swiped from my grandmother’s attic
  • Lantern (on bookshelf, pictured in earlier shot): Ikea
  • Books (on bookshelf, pictured in earlier shot): Modern Library Classics series, available on Amazon and at bookstores
  • Art (above couch): wedding photos by Denis Nally in Pottery Barn frames
  • Art (above bookshelf): oil paintings by Lane Palmisano, a local northern Virginia artist, in custom frames

Not too bad, I’d say!  I’m very happy with the way that the alcove is turning out.  It’s not done yet.  Still left to do: paint the walls (some shade of purple – I’m still deciding); hang curtains (filmy white ones, from oil-rubbed bronze curtain rods); find something to go in the corner between the bookshelf and the window (maybe an antique birdcage or large lantern?); hang frame gallery over couch (the wedding photos are a stand-in – they’re destined to go elsewhere in the house, probably the living room – I’ve got a few Etsy purchases waiting to go up along with some of my own travel photos and possibly some typographic art).  And of course I’ll continue revising the bookshelf and table styling whenever I get the urge.  I’ll keep you posted as it comes together!

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Like a Hurricane Hit It

That’s what my house looks like.  And for good reason.  That dratted Irene went and flooded my basement!  I have a word for her, but I can’t repeat it in polite company.  As damage was concerned, we actually got fairly lucky – although the basement floor was thoroughly doused, the water level didn’t reach the insulation, we were able to have it extracted fairly quickly, and insurance is covering it.  Hurray for AllState!  But Sunday morning was one of the more unpleasant experiences of my life… wading around with hubby in ankle-deep water in a near-pitch black basement, on no caffeine, frantically trying to rescue our wine from the ravages of water and “also leaves and gook and stuff.”  (Name that TV show.)

So in the interests of keeping it real around here, this is what my house looks like at the moment…

Wine bottles on the floor, saved from Irene’s wrath and a flooded basement.

More basement detritus, hauled upstairs after an extremely damp impromptu cleaning session in ankle-deep water.  (This is just the stuff that wasn’t touched by water.  The rest of it is heaped curbside, waiting for trash pickup.)

Why is the dining table in the foyer and the chairs in the living room?  Okay, this one I can’t blame on Irene (although the candles being out of place, that is her fault – we were without power for 22 hours).  We’re in the process of preparing to paint the dining room.  Having lived in these before pictures for several days, I cannot wait to show you the afters.

Same with the china.  We took it all out of the buffet to prepare for moving the buffet away from the wall so we could paint.  This is the most time I’ve spent with my china since the wedding.  Yes, I am super fancy.

The dining room itself is in a state of barely-controlled chaos.  We have ladders (two of them), blue tape, and a buffet in the middle of the room as part of the painting process.  The dining room table leaves were rescued from our basement lake (they’re fine – no damage – thank goodness).  Really, really cannot wait to get everything back in its proper place.  Despite the name of this blog, I am actually rather a neat freak and this mess is eating my brain.  But it’s all for good reason… the painting part, that is, anyway.  The other stuff… well, between earthquakes and hurricanes, it’s been quite the week.  I’m ready for life to go back to being boring again.

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Organizing the Junk Drawer

Ah, the dreaded junk drawer.  We all have one.  (At least, I think we all do.  If you’ve managed to de-junkify your life… please teach me.)  Mine was getting out of hand – even more so than junk drawers usually are – so I decided to do something about it.

Here’s the scary before:

Eek!  I can’t believe I actually put that picture on the internet.  Anywho, this is clearly a desperate situation, so I did what I always do in desperate situations.  I went to Target.  Here’s my white knight, the savior of the junk drawer:

That would be a set of interlocking trays from the Room Essentials brand.  So, who’s ready to clean out a junk drawer? 

Step one: empty everything out and sort it into piles by category.  Including a throw-away pile.  This is not the time to get precious about your nametag and lanyard from your most recent legal conference, trust me.

Step two: assign categories to each of the little compartments, then fill them up.  (This is the fun part.)

Step three: Put everything back in your newly organized junk drawer.  Get mad when you realize your organizer doesn’t totally fit.  Admire your work and start looking for other stuff to organize.

All in a day’s work.