WERE DID 2 YEARS GO  part 2

So rewind 2 years ago, tomorrow we were moving in to our "new to us" house. Going from 720sq feet to just about 1000sq feet, most people would think that is not that much different but to us it was the flow of the house that we loved. It was my brothers house and he was moving to the city for a new job so why not take it off his hands. It has 3 bedrooms up and a bathroom and then a "developed" basement, with 3 bedrooms, a tv room and a bathroom. Because I just love before and afters I have to put some pictures up for guys. caution long post but lots of pictures

 

these are the pictures my brother use to list the house.

 

then my crew too over

It always gets worse before it gets better right

 

master bedroom

all the toys they want and they play with my mats



back door landing



trying to find a layout that worked



one word CHAOS!!

having a nap between unpacking boxes
we lived with one chair for 2 week  till the new couches came
 

The house is always got a project going on but the house had really made huge changes in the last year for really no money. We had more important things to get like a new furnace and hot water tank yaya home ownership.

The best place in my house. My free dresser makeover. This dresser hold lots of secrets that it closes off at the end of the day. You can see how I keep it organised here

Not in love with this red on the walls but I think when we redo the horrible tile we will change it.

 

As you can see Green is my favorite color This apple green is also in the laundry room

Mistint $5.00 for a gallon  

The dark black hole got a massive paint job. This was one of the first places to get paint.

 



I have to do laundry everyday so you might as well make it nice place to be in.

 

Finally was able to put our bed my dad made up. the old house was to small. He is so talented.

red is so happy to have her own room

 

I love this bathroom. Another $5.00 mis-tint.

No more orange wall but more green :)

 

 

 

Well that is all for a little before and after. As my husband says I have a harder time committing to a design in the house more then I did saying yes to marrying him. So the house changes with our ever growing needs.

 

I hope you liked reading my blog as much as like sharing with of you all.

 

Till later be crazy and think out side the box.  

WERE  DID 2 YEARS GO part 1

 We were blessed 10 years ago to be able to purchase our first house at the VERY young age of 19 and 20. It was such a great investment for us. That house served us very well for almost 8 years. It was a whopping 720sq feet 2 bedroom 1.5 baths. It did have a basement thankfully with another bedroom.
When red came it was great. We had my brother-in-law living with us at the time. Best part was it was a cheep mortgage so I was able to stay home with red.
Well very quickly the house started to become smaller and smaller like the wall were squeezing us in to this tiny house. It was overwhelming and crazy. Then entered the Internet oh boy I did not realise I was not the only one with this over welling problem. We were out growing our house, But financially it was not great to buy a new house so I purged and surfed the web and purged some more. In my journey from over welled to organised we got pregnant with MM. Now I had to shove 2 kids into the smallest bedroom in the world,8x10 room was not going to cut it. I really wanted to stay home with my kids so moving was not a option. So instead we made the house work for us.  Why do we, as parents need the master bed room hummm we only sleep and read books in our room . so one afternoon my hubby and I moved the rooms around. Family thought we were nuts but it was going to be way better for the kids.
So in the chaos I was able to take some pics. We lived with celery green walls for a few weeks but we loved it.

 

with 18" of room  around our bed we had to be smart about EVERYTHING that came into the room.

A old dresser came to the rescue and it was FREE!!!!

We LOVED it so much.

The kids need a kiddy room. Don't know about anyone else but my kids HATED the crib so as soon as mm was 6 months old he was in a twin bed it was great he stayed in bed he never rolled out and I could nurse him and not have to move him.

so for space we opted to invest in to 2 captains beds. BEST things we have ever bought no need for dresser in the kids room. The room also had to serve and a play room as well.

 

Sadly this is the only pic I have left after our computer crash last year. As you can see there is room to play and mm had a book shelve on the other wall behind the door.

 

We loved out house and made it work well for our family.

here is another pic I have dug out of archive's

 

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My most favorite blogs to follow are:

iheartorganizing

 

clutterbug.me

 

these ladies have helped me become the proud and confident house wife I am today thanks ladies

 

Well that is it for this post.

 

Sometime big is not always better.

 

 

 

Hello again,
I am in full Christmas gift "buying" mode. Years ago when we lived in the smallest house in the world (650 square feet) with 2 kids Christmas was a little tricky. Our family was always so generous to the kids but with a small house and no toy room we had to think about everything that came into our house. so I came up with the idea, with the Internets help. To go for a clutter free Christmas. The first year my parent's got red dance lessons, she was only 3 at the time. For my husband and I they got us last year  Costco subscription, hoping to get that again this year.
Now that we have teachers in the last few years its been tricky to stay with that theme. I don't know about anyone else but the poor teachers probably have a storage locker full of the worlds best teacher mugs. With this in mind I have made a small list of clutter free teacher gifts ideas.

1. Movie night. 2 ways you can do this. Gift card for a theatre or the kids favourite is a movie night at home. so we fill up one of those popcorn in a bowl thing but I cant find them in a few years so last year we went and got a  box of popcorn for I think under $5.00, a cheap plastic bowl from the dollar store. the kids picked out goodies and I put two bottles 500ml pops in and a gifts card to Wal-Mart. $10-$15 is good I think. Some people have put in a cheap movie they got in the 5.00 bin.  The kids LOVE making them for the teachers.
2. A gift card to a restaurant in town. get the kid to make a cute card for the gift card to go into.
3. Really I love just a box of chocolates the only problem is if the teacher in allergic. We have had that one year.
4. Red this year really want to do a manicure set. anyone who know red totally can see her wanting to get this. I have to say I like it to I have old Jam jars kicking around and really the only thing is the jar that may become Clutter.  

manicure in a jar

 



some more GREAT ideas

 

 

 

 

 Well for the kids its harder at least my kids want toys. So Santa is only asked for one gift. My husband and I don't give a lot, just clothes and maybe a toy but really they don't get a lot. I think this year with red being almost 8 I think a spa date might be so fun. Get our hair done and our toes or something like that.

Last year My brother and his husband got the kids both bedding sets. The Kids LOVED them and still a year later they still use them.  

When we were kids we got the BEST Christmas gift EVER!!! we lived just outside of Calgary and our great aunt and uncle got our family year passes to the Zoo. To this day my brother and I have so many great memories of just hanging out at the zoo for an hour or all day. We got that gift for over 10 yrs and it was our highlight of our Christmas morning.

 

Last year a family friend gave the kids a gift card to our local theatre they thought that was so cool.

The key I feel is to keep Christmas simple and to make memories not messes and stress over a house full of toys they don't play with. 

Last Year we went tobogganing well the turkey cooked and Red asked me a few days ago can we just go tobogganing Christmas day again. Made my heart so happy that it was not the " lack" of gifts  she remembers its the family fun time.

 

So lets all keep in mind not to clutter up other peoples house with stuff that will just add gilt and stress. 

Please comment and let me know what you have done to give more with less?

 



Winter decorating on a budget

So winter is here, full tilt. I don't buy or do anything Christmas related till nov 12, in honor of Remembrance day. So by midnight on the 12th I am usually itching to get started. This is my Favourite season. Don't like the snow and cold, But when my house smells  like cookies and looks so magical it makes me super happy.

So I started some small decorating yesterday, with some super cheap decorations. I was at Wal-Mart and wanted a nice fun wreath this year, but my budget for decorations is always $20.00 a year that's it. I like doing that way so I don't end up having to find storage for all the stuff for 10 months of the year. Last year I got a huge box of balls from the thrift shop for $3.oo. I use them to fill my vases around the house. It is the easiest way to decorate and CHEAP!!!!
     

 

My Brother in law gave me the vase a few years ago for Christmas and I think it is my favourite thing in my house. I love that it changes seasons and colors with me. the candle holders he also gave me. They are filled with sand and shells 10 months of the year but for winter I put that sand in a bag and toss in some Epson salts, peppermint oil and some glitter from the dolor store. The kid always ask how I make the snow not melt.

 

Next I made 2 wreaths 

 

This one the kids helped me to make with a bunch of plastic balls. I got a wire coat hanger and bent it into a circle, slid the balls on and then I connected the wire back together. Tied a ribbon on to hang from the door and tossed on a big ribbon from my last year stash of bows. I have a thing with teal and olive green I LOVE IT!!! the dollar store had a 3 pk of birds in my colors for a $1.00 each pk. yaya I just LOVE a good deal. The only problem I had with this one was my screen door got in the way so I have to find a different spot for it.

With that one not fitting in between the doors I had to go to plan B. so out came another wire coat hanger and some décor mesh from the dollar store, some more birds and BAM!!!

  A wreath that cost all of $3.00

I really like this one. You can really see it from the street its a brighter green then in the picture.

 

Well that is all for today but the day is not over I just might think of some CRAZY idea before bed.

 

What cheap decorating ideas do you all have? have you ever tried not to buy more decorations and just use the old ones in a new way?  Look around your house and see what you got before adding more clutter and things.

 

Happy decorating

 

 

 

 

 

The black hole of the front door

So after moving in the new to us house we had to find a place for everything. We have a front entry that had some problems. For some reason they never have a door on the closets in the house. Even our old house didn't. It is kind of annoying. It becomes a the first thing that people see when they enter our house.

first attempt at getting a system

Then it  got worse

 

and then a bomb went off.

 

Then I gave up I had lost all hope of ever have a wonderful entry. 

 

Getting ready for the Christmas I was cleaning out the playroom and found that the kids were not using there toy box very well so it found a new home in the entry.

 

 

 sorry dog toy in the pic lol that is life.

 

I went in to my basket stash and found a bunch of shoe boxes so all seasons are stored here all in one spot. I LOVE IT!!!!

 

 

I labelled the inside of the lid so that kids and hubby know were everything goes.

 

I also took all back packs and paper out of the area and put it all in the dinning room. they dump it there anyways.

 

PEG BOARD to the rescue

 

I love it when everything has a home .

what do you all do with your stuff that comes into the home everyday?