Making our Bedroom a Haven

When we got married I had these instructions about our bedroom: green and burgundy, and no flowers. We put up dark green mini-blinds. Our bedding was green and burgundy, pretty much solids, except for the green and burgundy plaid king size blanket our close friends gave us. This actually serves as our comforter most of the year. I love plaid, and we even had green and burgundy plaid vests for our groomsmen. (In fact the blanket is from one of them, hmm...)

Our walls were neutral, and had several existing nails. I hung "stuff" we got for wedding gifts or happen to have. There wasn't a lot of intentionality in this. We had an entire house to ourselves for more than eight years, we didn't need a single room as a haven.

Now that we share our home with little people, our bedroom's purpose has really changed. It is no longer just necessary for sleeping and storing our clothes. It is our personal space, but not very personal. I have wanted to paint. But since we have this huge heavy bed that would be a major production. Making new nail holes also tends to cause controversy. We tend to argue about whether hanging things at eye-level applies to the person who is 5' 8" or the person who is 6' 6". So I just never figured there was anything I could do but try to keep it tidy.

I was needing to make a slight change, though. My girls had a tall heavy dresser in their room. They don't need it in there, and I have been living in fear that my almost 2 year old climber would be pulling it down on herself. When she was messing with the lower drawer on Monday I knew I had to take action. So I decided to move the cedar chest squeezed between my side of the bed and the wall to the living room, and put the dresser in it's place.

So, when I saw this post about sprucing up the master bedroom on the blog Raising Arrows, I was suddenly inspired. These were the 2 lines that really clicked w/ me:

• "What is the first thing your eye is attracted to in this room?"
• "Does this room reflect you and/or your husband in any way?"

The first thing you would see in our room is this:




Only picture a lot more blank space as the cedar chest was where the dresser is. That picture has been hanging there since we married. It looks like this:
It was a gift from a lovely couple. And the sentiments are lovely as well. But really my favorite part of it was the burgundy mat. After 13 years it finally occurred to me that I didn't have to keep it.



So I began to think on that other question: What reflected us? I came up with 3 specific things. The pictures of our family that sat on the cedar chest, the picture of the lighthouse I grew up a few miles from out east, and the Terry Redlin print of deer watching a combine that I bought as a gift for my husband for our 10th anniversary. The farm, our family, and "my" lighthouse; those things really reflect roots of who we are. So now when you walk into our room you see this:


I know it isn't perfectly proportioned. And the black doesn't really go w/ the green, burgundy, and natural wood color scheme. But it makes me smile, and be thankful. The picture on the wall has a great snapshot of my hubby and I from our best friends' wedding last year. It was such a happy day filled with love. The bottom photo is an adorable shot of our girls for Valentine's day. We are all in black and red so the pics look perfect together. The pictures on the dresser are baby pictures of the girls. The picture in the corner is hand calligraphy with our names, wedding date and Bible verses. A dear family friend made it for our wedding gift. It used to hang on blank part of wall on the other side of the windows, looking totally out of place all by itself in our burgundy/green room surrounded by blank wall. But the black mat coordinates well with my black frames, and it now "fits"

And lastly there was the now blanker space on the other side of the window and there was that frame with burgundy mat I like so much. I thought of something that reflects us. Here it is:

That is us, in the combine. Technically we are all there, though little lamb is "still in my tummy." Harvest is our favorite time of year. It is a lot of work, but riding in the combine is a special kind of peaceful. It is not a perfect photo. But it makes me smile. And hooray for digital photos and home photo printers, it took me all of 15 minutes to put together. The dark colors fill the blank space much better than the lighter calligraphy. But most of all it evokes joy and thankfulness.

I spent $0 on this spruce up. I had everything on hand. I did use up some ink and photo paper. The changes were small but so significant. When I see them they evoke the peace, joy, and thankfulness that now makes our room a haven.

I am linking up to the Spring Spruce Up. Check out all the other ideas!

30 boxes, 30 days Final Count!

I realize I never updated my April decluttering challenge. My final total was 54 boxes!

That total does not include the dresser, crib, and changing table I got rid of as well. I still have the old TV, and an old printer to get rid of. I know where to take those it is just a matter of arranging it.

I never did quite finish the back room. Though I got a lot out of it. The end of tax season kind of got in the way.

And, we are ready to redo the guestroom for the girls now, as soon as planting is over. I even have the before pics taken already!

Now its a room you can view!

I love to just go and sit in there and soak it in. I have my spare room back...ahhhh... It still serves as guest room/office/baby's room. But it is no longer the "junk"room!!!

Here are some before and afters:

The corner:

The bed:



The closet:

• This room has always been a particular difficulty. We do have a store room, but it is in a very basementy part of the basement. So, anything "nice" would get shoved in the guest room. Besides that, its multiple purposes make it difficult to keep it up. I have cleaned this room up before. Usually that meant filling the closet and drawers with all the extra stuff. Which meant digging through closets and drawers when I needed to find something, causing a big mess. This clean out has made a big difference. Note there is actually some open space in the closet. It used to be like playing tetris to get everything in there just right. Also, what you can't see is even better. There is actual space in the drawers and the cabinet. There is even 1 completely empty drawer!!!

• I am so glad to get this cleaned out. We have big plans for this room. This summer I want to make it the girls room. Everything but the tall dresser, and some of the stuff in the closet will be moving to a much smaller room. Now it is all ready to go.

• I am up to 46 boxes now. I have finished every room in the house except for the "back room" that very basementy place I referred to earlier. It is such a big job I broke it into 6 sections. I have been wanting to clean it out for years now. That will be a huge accomplishment. I was going to give myself the day off today. But the thought of getting the back room cleaned out is so exciting I am sure I'll be in there digging out. But a completely decluttered home would be a fabulous birthday gift!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Boxes # 14 through.....

32!!!!

After 9 days of my decluttering challenge I have dug out 32 boxes of stuff to get rid of. (I guess I should have started with a bigger box) I would double my goal to 60, but I know I still have 2 of my worst areas to go, so I think I will just keep counting and see if I can get to 100! That sounds daunting. But really I am a third of the way there in less than a third of the month.

It is amazing once you get started how you want to keep on going. The lightness I feel after getting rid of stuff is great motivation. And I have been learning and growing through this too. I have been jotting down some of my spiritual reflections as I go along. I think I will take time during May to develop some of those thoughts more deeply.

But this past week I have heard two messages that hit home more because of my decluttering challenge. First our pastor preached a great message on idolatry on Sunday. It really made me think about what my "stuff" represented. As I sorted through a lot of my nostalgia, I thought the each item I was holding onto. Was it tangible story to pass on to the next generation? Or was it my own personal little shrine to my past? The tangible stories can stay, the shrines need to go.

Second, the devotional speaker at my mom's group spoke about making time for an intimate relationship with God. (She was really good, and just happens to be my wonderful real life mom.) As I was cleaning out my hall closet I thought about all the time I waste, moving stuff around, searching for stuff, cleaning out stuff just because I have too much stuff. God is a jealous God. I think He wants that time back, for me to spend with Him and use for Him.

So now for some before and afters:

Here we have the girl's/guest's linen closets:

I had 7 sets of sheets for my guest room!! The only people who have used it in the last year are me and the screaming baby, and my sister-in-law. I plan to use the empty space for kids games when I unearth them in the family room. I pared down my scrapbooking supplies to one long tub. That is in my closet. Hopefully the sewing stuff will move there too. Then I can use that space for the heavy blankets I'll need to put away as the weather warms up.

And the hallway coat closet:

Yes we have a lot of coats. That happens to farmers. Since I promised myself I would not declutter anything personally belonging to the farmer, we still have a lot of coats, but not quite so many. The best thing was relocating those 3 drawer organizers. Now I frequently drool over these at the store. And here I had 2 on the top shelf of my coat closet. OK, why would someone put 3 drawer organizers on a top shelf. Well, we're tall, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. So I moved one down to a useful level. And I put things on the top shelf that I could reach and move easily without standing on a chair. The other 3 drawer organizer is sitting empty waiting for me to find the perfect spot. I think my closet is calling it's name.

Boxes 7-13

Spaces are deceptive. You really can't tell how much stuff they can hold until you start to clean it out. As I finished off the master bedroom I didn't think I would fill another box. But I decided to be thorough and clean out the small spaces that were left. I was amazed as I easily filled a box plus some. I think my husband might have a heart attack when he sees how much I have to go to the garbage. I really wouldn't have thought that we had that much to throw away.

We baked some cookies the other day, so I was staying in the kitchen as they went in and out of the oven. I decided to clean out a kitchen cabinet and do some needed reorganizing. I notice a simple solution to some kitchen issues that I have had. First I have mostly switched to glass storage containers. They have lovely navy blue or white lids that even coordinate with my kitchen. However the lids were constantly disappearing in a deep cabinet. Second little lamb has recently discovered that cabinets are fun, and the glass within reach seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. Third our plastic children's dishes were being stored in a shallow high cabinet, completely out of reach for babydoll to get her dishes out or put her clean dishes away. Such an easy solution. I put all the kids dishes in a tub and put them in the deep lower cabinet. I put the glass dishes in the upper cabinet w/ the lids all in one container. Now I have a "plastic" cabinet for little lamb, and babydoll has a new responsibility. Plus, I love being able to find my storage dishes and lids w/ ease. Here is the before (well mid-clean out) and after:





I mentioned spaces are deceptive. We have 2 narrow linen closets. I cleaned out the smallest one. I took out 4 boxes worth of stuff!!! I love my clean looking linen closet. In years past I would have looked at all the empty space and thought I should fill it up with other storage. But I am beginning to appreciate the peaceful calmness of empty space. Here is the before and after:

I can't wait until garbage day. I will feel so much lighter when much of the stuff is gone completely. My guestroom is starting to fill up w/ stuff for our momcycle day. I don't wish it was sooner though, because I still have plenty more stuff to clean out. I am looking forward to April 30th though. It will be so freeing!

Clothes Clean-out

That is my closet before.

This is the stuff I got rid of:


I am calling this 3 boxes. Though it might actually be more like 4 or 5. But getting to 6 boxes by day 2 seems like a good start. This isn't all from the closet. I have a few clothes in drawers as well. I cleaned out all those to. I now have some empty drawer space.


Bonus: I think I found a good place to store maternity clothes. We have a long deep cupboard in the bottom of our headboard. It isn't very accessible for regular use. But would be perfect for my maternity clothes stash. And that would free up a big tub, that is currently "pretending" it is a nightstand in my guestroom.

This time cleaning through my closet was a rewarding experience, because everything "fit"! By fit, I mean that I could get everything zippered, buttoned, snapped etc... Not that I would necessarily wear it that snug in public. But I am at my lowest weight in 3 yrs and still slowly losing.

I also have been wanting to put together a dress up box for the girls. I found lots of hats, a way too short for me -but pretty dress, a lab coat, and a pair of shoes to get a good start on the dress up box.

This is my closet after:




It still needs a little help. I don't really like those bins on top. I like being able to get to my clothes that way, but the bins are too tall, so either I combine my short and long stuff, or there is a lot of wasted space.

I have started a list of things I would like to buy. Since it is my birthday this month I usually get some birthday money. I can never decide what to spend it on. This clean-out is helping me to really think about what I want that would actually be useful.

Box #3

I needed something to do while the girls were playing in the backyard. So I pulled out my boxes of old pictures. Now I really enjoy scrapbooking. I have scrap books from 1992-July 2006. Then we switched to our digital camera, had children etc... I have now switched to digital scrapbooking (I'll go on about how wonderful it is some other time) I am working my way backwards now, I am up to date for 2010, and am almost done with 2009.

However throughout the years I got free double prints. Even though I have my lovely srapbooks of these memories, I saved all the doubles. I had 4 plastic shoe boxes filled with pictures. Now I have one.

Here is the shoeboxes and the box of pics to throw away:

Here is what I have left to save:

As a bonus, I now have 3 plastic shoeboxes to use for other storage needs.

30 Boxes, 30 Days - Decluttering Challenge

I have been busy! Of course 2 little ones keeps you hopping. But the past several months I have been working on becoming more organized.

The idea that I would enjoy becoming organized may be a shock to my friends and family. One word that describes me well is "random". I like to say I have a tendency toward entropy. But I have made great strides and changes in the past 6 months. I have discovered a lot of tips and techniques to make my journey toward organization easier. And I really enjoy the added serenity in my home. I discovered that the first and most important thing is to cut the clutter!

April is a special month in our home. Not only do we have Easter, and 3 birthdays (including mine), we also have the end of tax season!!! As a bonus my mom's group is having "momcycle" on April 30th. Its basically a big free garage sale, where I can unload a lot of stuff. So it is a great time for a decluttering challenge. I want to get rid of 30 boxes of stuff in 30 days. Now this idea really isn't original to me. I need to acknowledge this blog, and thank her for the inspiration. I am even using some of her method. I made a calendar and divided my home into 25 areas. (I am giving myself Sundays and the Saturday after tax day off.) I assigned an area to each day taking into account busy days. Here is my calendar

I know it is hard to see, but today I assigned our bathroom. I thought it might be hard to fill a box. Our storage space in there is very limited. Boy was I surprised. I easily filled the box to almost overflowing. I amazed at the amount of junk I had under the sink. Now it looks so nice and neat. No before and after pics of the bathroom though. It is so tiny I could hardly take one. Besides who needs to see my organized toiletries. But here is Box # 1:

Seeing all those expired medicines etc... made me wonder what was lurking in the other bathroom. So I jumped ahead and did the guest/girl's bathroom too. Here is box # 2:

Tomorrow is going to be a major clothes clean out for me. A bit of an extra challenge since I am between sizes. I did this almost 2 years ago. It needs it again. But, hopefully it will be easier this time.

I'll let you know...