Operation Organization! Zone 1

Operation Organization Zone 1:  In Process!

Because I'm also doing the 52 Weeks, zone one wasn't as difficult, because I had already done the 'big' clean of the pantry and kitchen... but as you can see, the counter's haven't stayed clean!

So... I'm re-vamping my effort!

LET'S CLEAN!

Zone One Before Video:





Zone One "After Pictures"


*In Process*

Week 3: Pantry

1. All the Alcohol :) 

2. Paper Plates/cups/ napkins (for party type things)

3. Dog rawhide retriever rolls

4. Baby Stuff (food/formula/cereal)

5. Pasta

6. Ramen noodles 

7. Season Packets

8. Boxed Goods

9. Cereal

10. Weekly meal ingredients (separated by day)

1. Paper Goods (paper towels, toilet paper, napkins)

2.  Stuff to drink (tea, hot coco, juice mix)

3. Canned goods- The ones on the right are my staples, cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, chicken broth)

4. Sweets Basket (snacks and sweet treats, like marshmallows)

5. Sugar, Flower, Brown Sugar, and Powdered Sugar

6. Formula- I'm short, and can't easily reach it on the top shelf, so there is always 2 canisters down low, easy for me to grab.

7.  Muffin/Cookie/Bread package mixes

8. Oil, Pam, Baking Powder/Soda, Salt, Vinegar, etc.

9. "Baking Basket"- Things used specifically in baking, (coconut flakes, nuts, almond bark, cocoa)

Week 2: Kitchen Drawers and Cabinets

This week was fairly easy for me, because my cabinets are mostly organized.  The one that really needed help got addressed last week when I cleaned off the counters.  I organized all the medicines we had and put them into buckets.  One for the baby's meds, and one for our meds.

These are the two different baskets for our medicine.  Taped to the door is the dosing chart I got from our doctor for he over the counter ones that change with his weight.

Even my 'junk' drawer isn't so junky

PS- I hate this drawer of the stove. It's so necessary to hold things, but it's a pain to get in and out!

We installed some 1/4 inch thick cork on the cabinet just to the right of the stove.  We subscribe to a weekly meal planning site, and this is where I post the weekly plan (with recipes).  It makes it so easy, because it's right there where I can read it while standing by the stove.

Look... even my counters still look great!

Week 1: Kitchen Counters

Our kitchen counters are a CATCH ALL!!!  Having a baby adds to the extra stuff on the counter (like baby food processor, bottle holder, formula can)

This week I cleaned off our kitchen counters.  The biggest change was moving our big toaster oven.  We don't use it every day, or even every week.  However, we do use it.  We are blessed to not only have the kitchen cabinets, but also a walk in pantry, and another closet just outside the kitchen (on the other side of the refrigerator).  I was able to move it in there, so it's still accessible when we need it, but hidden away (like my kitchenaid mixer).

Once I moved that, I was able to 'un-crowed' the area to the right of the sink.  That was one of my biggest frustrations.  It just seemed so cluttered.

(ok, they aren't always this bad! I had already started cleaning when I took this picture, didn't think about it until then!)

To the right of the sink, all finished

To the left of the sink, before

And this side, done too!

It feels so much better... now to just keep it that way! 

52 Days to an organized home

I've taken this challenge... I've signed up for the email list to send me my 'task' every week.... 

Let's see how this year turns out!!

Dresser

When we adopted Isaac, we had no furniture.  Like none.

Well, a pack and play, but that's not really furniture.

About 8 months earlier, I found a dresser on Craigslist that was maple.  It was gorgeous, and would work for a boy or a girl (depending on the finish).  I emailed the listing, and told my husband that if it was available... I was buying it. 

I don't think he believed me until he came home and saw it sitting in the garage.  And it sat there... for months

I was looking around for inspiration, and found Kim's version, at To Much Time On My Hands, and the amazing dresser she had done.

Now that I had my inspiration, my Mom and I got started!  (she came into town when we got back from Kentucky with our son).

We could have sanded it, but decided in the interest of time, we would just strip.

This was the set up in our garage (the towel hanging down was to block the sun on the drawers that were being stripped)

I should note that we did this on one of the hottest days of the year (literally, it was like 108*!)

We had looked for several days online and at thrift stores for a bookcase to match that my Mom could get for his room, but couldn't find one that was solid wood.  We went to an furniture store that had all 'raw' furniture, that still needed to be finished, and got him a 6' bookcase to stain at the same time.

We matched the stain as close as we could to his crib set (that will turn into a toddler and full bed eventually too)

I couldn't convince my husband that the rope pulls were awesome, so we painted the existing knobs black after we sanded them down really well.

I hung them upside down so that I could spray paint them on all sides.  I used some old (cheep) spray paint,  because I figured that the if the knobs wore, it would fit in well.

(sorry for the crappy photos)

I love the way it turned out!

Woodsy Hanger

Since outfitting our son's room on a budget is the name of the game, I've been doing and making what with the smallest cost possible   We needed something behind his door, and so I started thinking.  Since his room is mostly woodlands, I searched under that and found these:

 

http://www.shft.com/shopping/timber-tree-hooks

Awesome, but still cost money, and I figured that I could find something in my favorite spot ever.... the woods on the backside of our subdivision.

So, I popped my son in the stroller, grabbed my big tree cutter's and ventured to the far side of the neighborhood.

I cut a whole bunch of random sticks, mostly "Y" shaped ones, that could have a 'hook' like part, as well as two straight ones.  I tried to pick wood that had fallen, and already dried out, so I wouldn't be working with green wood.

I didn't know how bad the saw would tear up the bark, so I put masking tape around it, the same way I've done in the past when I cut through my counter tops.

This is what they looked like when I was done, pretty smooth cut!

They were all cut, and lined up, ready to go! 

My husband was worried about them having bugs in them, so I put them in a 1:1 bleach bath... and then laid them out in the sun to dry... and then came out 15 minuets later to white sticks!  Oops!  We mixed different shades of brown paint with water to thin it down, and 'painted' various colors back onto the bark.

Once the paint was dry, we used some poly to seal the hooks, (and to keep any bugs that survived the bleach bath IN).  We put the coats on thick and heavy with big bristled brushes.

I love that she wanted to help make something for her little brothers room, she's the best big sister!

Once the poly was mostly dried (I only waited a few hours), I laid the two long sticks out, and arranged the shorter hooks on top of them.

I drilled pilot holes where each hook would go.

Drilled the screws in part way for all of the hooks to get them started.

I'm so proud of how it came out (because in all honesty, I had NO idea how it would turn out... but I figured it didn't cost anything, just used some supplies I had on hand, so if it was horrible, I could just pitch it!)

 We hung it once we found the studs, and haven't had any problems yet!