A couple of weeks ago I was checking my email when I stumbled upon an email from a writer at Ohdeedoh. It was an email, addressed to me, wanting to feature Makena’s room on their site. What? Stop the press. Me? Little old me from Austin, Texas? I was speechless. Honored. Humbled. Appreciative. I think I even did a little shimmy shake dance around the living room. The kids joined in. The dogs ran circles around us. And we all passed out in a blogland stupor.

Her room was featured today on Ohdeedoh and I can’t begin to tell you how exciting this is for me!! Go on, have a look!

So if you are new here by way of Ohdeedoh… welcome, bonjour, hola, ciao! Good to see you. Thanks for stopping by!

Baby steps to design school. Baby steps.

I had a dream the other day. Actually it was a daydream, but for storytelling purposes lets go with the dream. In this dream we packed up and moved to Europe so that I could attend design school. Yes, you read that correctly. I packed up the family and we flew across the pond so that I could go to design school. In say… Sweden. How cool would that be!?!

As a child I was always moving my furniture around, changing the art on my walls and also helping my mom with her interior decorating. I would move a sofa so fast you wouldn’t know what hit you. I’d have the hammer and nails out in a flash to hang new art. Actually it was more like Kirk Cameron and Corey Haim posters from Bop magazine but who’s counting. My idea of a good time was shopping for new furniture for my room. And I was only in elementary school.

Had I only known then that you could make a living doing that I would have followed that yellow brick road. Instead, as life has it, I was led into sports where I eventually went to college on a basketball scholarship. And I went to school in a very tiny Texas town that was all about agriculture and the rodeo. Needless to say I don’t think design was a choice as a major. What’s a girl to do… major in communcations that’s what. You can do anything with a comm. degree. So they said.

So now that I’m into my thirties and have lived my first life as a teacher, I long and thirst for something more. I oogle over design books, blogs and flickr pictures. The stark white design of Sweden is such a long way from where we are here in Austin, Texas. But oh how I love it. The simplicity of it all.

Since I can’t pack up and move to Europe to pursue my dreams I have a tendency to put my mind at work around our house. Pictures, furniture and children are moved on a regular basis. Just until I get it just right, only to find a new idea and move things all over again. Having gotten Makena’s room all done I was ready to move on to Keegan’s room. Since he’s almost two and got a new big boy bed it was the perfect opportunity to turn his nursery into a toddler room. The first thing I did was take all of the pictures off of his wall and everything off of the shelves. I needed to start with a blank slate. Then I got down on the floor, at his level, and layed there for a while. Thinking about what this space should be.

Here is a little tour for you of his space.

The bed we found at Ikea. I know, go ahead and say it ‘it looks like a girls bed,’ but I was immediately drawn to it because it looked like an antique bed. I couldn’t resist. The art above his bed are pages framed from Where the Wild Things Are. On top of his toy chest are his first pair of cowboy boots. This is Texas after all. The quilt was made by my great-grandmother and handed down to us. I think Keegan’s bed is the perfect place for it. Lovingly handmade in the early 1900’s. I’m getting sappy just thinking about it.

His shelves are full of things that I love, but he just can’t play with yet. I’ve collected some of the vintage toys at garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores. Some of the other things like the dala horse and Pinnochio duo were mine. My husband brought the Kremlin model back from Russia when he visited as a kid.

I created a corner for him to play and relax. I put together a basket full of books. Since he’s a book tosser, I can’t have a bookshelf in his room just yet.

Above his play corner is all of his art. His own little art gallery that I can add to as he gets older and creates some of his own art. Yes, that is a stuffed animal buffalo head on his wall. The rocket was painted by a friend. Another friend created his name art on the wall. Inside the letters are all of the details of his first year of life. The other framed items are from vintage books.

Here is his view to the rest of the world. The dresser was used in his nursery as a changing table, but since he now weighs more than his three year old sister there is no more lifting him up there. I’m really happy with the way his room turned out. As he walked into it this evening, his face lit up. He immediately climbed into and out of his bed. Then made his way over to the book basket and picked out his favorite dinosaur book. As he sat in that corner and snuggled the puppy dog with his book, I knew he liked it. And that’s really all that matters after all.

How on earth am I supposed to get my life in order with a barrel of monkeys running the place? Helloooo… I’m trying to Expose Myself here… act like you weren’t raised by a pack of wolves.

I attempted to organize Makena’s closet. Fortunately for me, the closet fairies arrived just in time to help. Ha.

The mess was moved to the bedroom. And yes that is a hammer and nails on the bed. I’m the queen of moving things around, especially pictures.

Then nicely organized in the closet. Everything has a place. It’s the virgo in me that forces me to use all white hangers. Has to match or it will drive me bonkers.

Not sure how long they’ll let me keep it like this but it’s worth a shot. I have cleaned out lots of toys so that all of her toys fit on this one shelf. With the exception of a couple of baskets for her baby dolls. New rule: If a new toy comes in the house, an old toy must leave. I just picked up this Melissa and Doug chore chart to encourage Makena to help around the house. I’m sure I could have made one on the computer but this was way easier. Makena and I have been having a battle of wills lately. I’m getting a lot of “no mommy, you do it.” Does she know who she’s talking to like that? Oh I know, it’s only going to get worse.

If you want to join in on the Exposing Myself fun, leave me a comment and I’ll add you to the list of fabulous ladies…

Adrienne

Anne

April

Courtney

Erika

Jenn

Katie

Kelsey

Ruth

Stitching Surgeon

Susan

I do think it’s important to set a deadline. This process could go on forever. There has to be an end in sight. My deadline is July 10th. We’ve got the garage sale on the 12th so that gives me a couple of days to breathe before I have to face my junk again. Until next time, happy sorting!

Today marks the second day that I will be Exposing Myself. Fortunately, I’m in good company as we attempt to declutter and get organized. I haven’t exactly set a time frame that we need to complete this process. It’s really up to you and your schedule. Honestly I’m working as fast as possible to get it all done. I’m just over it. The mess that is. We have a garage sale scheduled for July 12th so it all has to be done by then.

A few friends have decided to join me in this venture. If you are feeling the urge to at least tackle one zone in your house, join us! Here is the list of groovy gals that are cleaning out. Check out their sites, they are going to post their progress and tips along the way as well.

Adrienne

Stitching Surgeon

Courtney

Ruth

Erika

Kelsey

Susan

Katie

You all know that I’ve been doing the kid room tango. Moving them into each others rooms, moving them out, furniture in, furniture out. A little back story for you… We went to Disney world and the kids shared a room. Since Makena’s finger incident we’ve had difficulties with her sleeping in her own room. Almost every night, around midnight, she would sneak into our bed. Maybe it was the crack they handed out at Disney but she slept in her own bed, for seven nights. So we got home and decided that the kids should share a room. Maybe she doesn’t like to be alone. Moved her into Keegan’s room. Furniture and all.

About a week later Keegan began crawling falling out of his crib. For fear for his safety, we needed to move him to a toddler bed. Makena sleeps in her great-grandmother’s full size bed. After a trip to Ikea, the kids room reminded me of the Princess and the Pea. Here is Makena all propped up on this huge bed and little Keegan in his toddler bed. I know they don’t know or care, but it made me sad. Plus the other issue that Makena had become ‘the boss’ when I wasn’t in the room with him. She was laying the smack down on Keegan on a regular basis. Keegan was destroying all of the books on the bookshelf. Makena was getting upset and yelling. A lot of yelling. My solution: move Makena back into her own space. This type of sibling angst should be reserved for the later years. Right?!?

Amongst all of the room rearranging I was able to get new ideas for decorating and organizing. My first problem is that the kids had too much stuff. I cleaned out six bags of toys to throw into the garage sale. After the sale, they can each go and buy one toy. Probably at a garage sale. Zero impact on the environment and zero on my pocketbook. You see, my love for garage sales and thrifting can get me into trouble if I’m not careful. It’s easy to buy too much, just because it is cheap. Then you end up with a house full a clutter. The trick at garage sales is to know what you are looking for. My eyes are always peeled for vintage toys, little people, dolls, trucks, books.

I wanted to show you Makena’s new space.

A place for her princess dresses. Before they were scattered on her closet floor. Now she knows where they go. Organized.

Another picture from my Faux-Toes friend Kristen that hangs above the bed. It’s a picture of Makena and her two girlfriends. Very sweet.

I’ve been wanting to get Chinese lantern’s to hang in her room for quite some time now. I always put a handful in my cart at Ikea and then end up putting them back because my brain can’t figure out how to hang them. Problem solved when I went to Kristen’s house to pick up the kid’s pictures. She had hung the exact lanterns in her daughters room. Aha! Inspiration! I am new to the American Girl scene. I picked up the doll in the high chair at a garage sale for .50 not knowing what she was. I thought she was a beautiful Native American doll. Come to find out, she’s worth $90. Tempting to sell…

Last weekend we picked up this Raggedy Ann doll at a garage sale. I think she’s a great replacement to the tons of other plastic dolls. I was able to bring her in and clean out about ten.

Makena’s bookshelf is now nicely organized and the good books are out of Keegan’s pesky reach. They even have their own piggy bank guard dog.

Speaking of books, if you have books you are looking to sell check out this site. You simply enter the ISBN number and it automatically tells you if they will buy your book and for how much. I have a huge stack of books ready to garage sale. Although they only bought four, and I paid significantly more for them at the bookstore (lesson learned), I was able to make a few extra bucks. My new rule is to either go to the library, garage sales or thrift stores for books.

Overall I think it’s important to simply clean out. I’ve managed to clean out about 3/4 of the kids stuff. Without the guilt involved. When there is too much stuff they don’t play in their rooms. Their spaces are now more manageable… for all of us.

Let me know if you want to join us in our quest for organization and I’ll add you to the list! Happy clutter clearing!