Laundry: Moving & Organizing Shelves {Settled In September}

September 16, 2013 by Jules Leave a Comment

Yes. I’m going THERE.

The room we would all like to shut the door to and act like doesn’t exist. The place we air all our dirty laundry, literally. The Laundry Room.

I’ve always hated laundry rooms stuck between the kitchen and garage but since the majority of houses now have the layout set up this way, I kinda had to get over it. I’m sure there are a huge number of you with this same scenario. With this room basically a hallway between the garage and kitchen, I wanted it to function really well, have simple ways for me to keep it clean, as well as be slightly attractive.

I needed to be able to do laundry nightly, have adequate storage, as well as this not be terribly ugly to guest who come home with us via the garage. You know, no undies laying around, piles of sorting, or baby stained…whatever for them to sneak past acting as if they didn’t see it.

In order to accomplish this I had to enlist my hubs. But not for his normal assistance. This one had to be nearly ALL him. We have a long, decent sized laundry room which already had amazing, big, heavy shelving units hung on the wall. I chose to ask my hubs to move them…

Okay, you may be thinking the same things as my poor hubs and all his pals – she be crazy. “Move those up, that down, build what, and another huh?” Yeah, maybe a little nutty…but “moving the shelves” made my life TONS easier and this space a gazillion times more functional.

Here are the "in progress" pictures. These shelves were at a terrible height. They weren’t high enough to be for long term storage but they weren’t low enough to be used practically for daily storage items.

I’ve mentioned before, the world is not made for short people and at just 5’2” these shelves weren’t gonna cut it for my nightly laundry routine. I ask begged my husband to move the 1^st set of shelves lower to I could easily access the lowest shelf where I wanted to store my detergents and stuff.

I ended up having him also more the second set as high as they could go, eliminating the useless space above them and the unnatural space below them.

Now for the details of this shelf moving business. I decided to leave off the big heavy doors and go for open shelving. For me, open shelves MAKES me at least try and keep things organized and neat since everyone can see...everything. I also thought those hefty pieces of wood could better be used as shelving in the garage in the long run. Painting them white {simple simi-gloss, not tinted, can of random we already had} made the room look brighter, cleaner, and larger as well.

Temporary clean basket storage and "mud room"Well, that the huge progress we made just by moving and painting the shelves!

Here is the cleaning supply shelf; the one I had Matt lower:

Lowest Shelf: detergent, color catchers, fabric softener, drier sheets, pic, fuzz-buster, and other random cleaning tools in a basket
Middle Shelf: sprays for stains, tub of air fresheners, tub of window & floor cleaner, swiffer pads, tub of other cleaners
Top Shelf: bin of fabric scraps, sewing box, bin of other sewing things, ribbon organizer, basket of loose toilet paper
Above Shelf: basket of "mending" to be done, sewing machine, basket of paper towels

Here is the longer term storage shelving I had Matt raise:

Bottom Shelf: giant trash bags, iron, tissue, shelf liner, brown paper bags, party napkins, wet ones, everyday napkins
Middle Shelf: Sewing Machine, iron {don't ask...we don't even iron}, toilet paper
Top Shelf: big boxes/bottles of cleaners, hubs random protein powders, poly-fil

In the next few days, I'll share the other project that came about in the overall "vision" for this space to make it function to its fullest potential:

Laundry Basket Shelf
Mud Room

Hope to see ya for the rest of the home tour!

Filed Under: Cleaning, Decorating, Home Tour, Homemaker, Organizing, Projects, Settled In September, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Eating Spaces: Kitchen Décor {Settled In September}

September 13, 2013 by Jules 2 Comments

I'm a pretty practical girls. I mean, I like the things I use daily to be cutesy but they Have to be practical {other than my obsession with pictures everywhere}.

In the way of decorations, my kitchen is possibly the most simply decorated. Since I need my counter space as clear as possible to prepare {most of the time} 3 meals a day as well as constant drinks and then afternoon snacks, I don't like there to be a lot of cute just sitting around. I'm not one of those who hides away all my small appliances. If I use it more than twice a week, its gonna stay on the counter. The only exception right now is the crockpot. I haven't learned how to use it to its full extent, don't have a large space to store it easily, and plan to do more meals in it this fall/winter.

Here is a tour around my "decorations" in the kitchen:

The plate holder. I found this at Hobby Lobby {one of my FAVS} when their "metals" were on sale. It was the last one they had and it was slightly bent at the top. I did something I've never done before and was slightly embraced to ask buuuuut, when I went to check it out I showed them the bend and explained it was the last one and ask if I could get a discount because it was "damaged". After calling over a manager, she agreed to give me an additional 15% off the already 50% and it was a steal!

I'm a slacker. YEP! I bought it intending on painting it since it was an odd off-white color. I liked the idea of orange since I don't use it often but apparently the spray paint I already had was not glossy. It looks odd or cheap with the flat paint AND I'm not in love with the orange. I am now planning to paint it red or black before hanging it. Then I think I'll put some of the cutesy serving platters on it; cute but easy, practical access.

This is my awesome under counter radio/cd player, stack of cute serving platters, and my painted pottery I did with my mom:

This is the window above the sink. For a long time I didn't have anything up here because I loved the clean, clear look. BUT I also love this ministry {Forgotten Song} as well as this tray I found with a bestie while garage selling, and the {fake} fresh lemons.

Here is the corner of the kitchen cabinets: paper towels, can opener, toaster, and another piece of pottery painted with my sweet youth group girlies.

Next to this above corner is the part of counter next to the oven. This is where I like to keep my other appliances out that I use often and want near the oven and fridge.

Above the shelving is a nice open storage space. Now, I HAVE having anything decorative that I have to dust just for fun so I try to only store party items I don't use often but still have a purpose. This is a giant bowl and cool vase Matt and I received for a wedding gifts. The vase is full of fall items I hadn't cleaned up from last year {don't judge- its almost fall again 😉 }. Also, the bowl wouldn't prop up high enough to see over the lip of the shelf so I used one of our 'rice socks' to prop is up. lol

The next set of shelves are all connected but kind of divided by where each new set of cabinets start. This was a little frustrating but at the same time gave simple divisions for decorations. These vases I have collected over the years...which is surprising since I don't have fresh flowers often. I use some as empty decorations or fill them with random stuff during different seasons. The next set is a sentimental set of decorative spices that a friends dad gave me as a wedding gift. The awesome hot pink chevron casserole carrier was an awesome birthday gift from my mother-in-love.

I also put these items in the corner because there's the most counter space under them. Sounds sill, I know. BUT I tend to climb on the counter to get things up high since I'm only 5'2" and add being prego to that, I needed the safest place to store the items I would be getting up and down more often 😉

Above Shelving Decor The last part of our decorations above the cabinets are my Fiestaware pitchers and another awesome garage sale find, the green pottery-looking vase. Next to those is the goodwill find- plate/platter holder and the cake stands I made for a besties baby shower.

Hope you enjoyed my sad lil tour of my "decor". We are finishing up the "mantel" above the buffet and I'll give ya a separate post about the hard work my hubs did!

Filed Under: Decorating, Home Tour, Organizing, Parties, Settled In September, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Settling In September Post Series

September 12, 2013 by Jules Leave a Comment

This is the tentative editorial calendar for the Settled In September month long series.

{links will go live on the day each post is published}

September

1st Intro to the series
before pics

Week 1: Living room

2^rd           collage wall
3^th           homemade mantel
4th          big Betsy
5^th           big Betsy/end tables/coffee table
6th          organization

Week 2: Eating spaces

Dining room
9^th Layout, art display frame & picture walls

Kitchen
10^th        Organizing Cabinets
11^th        Organizing the Pantry & Shelf Tutorial
12^th        Organizing Fridge
13^th        Mantel {and other décor} {DELAYED bc we haven't finished hanging it 😉 }

Week 3: Laundry room & School Room

Laundry
16^th        Moving and organizing shelves
17^th        Basket shelves
18^th        Cleaning tool hanger and Mudroom/bench {DELAYED bc of craziness}
School Room
19^th        School Corner and Supply Organization {possibly a day late bc of travel}
20^th        Toys and Organization

Week 4: Bedrooms

Jamin’s {and soon to be Ellie's} room
23^rd Dresser/changing table/Shelving {both sets}/Cityscape/brick wall

Girls’ room
24^th Glitter walls/Castle/shelves/letters

Guest room/Office
25th bed makeover/consignment organization/desk/office stuff

Master bedroom
26^th Stripes/quote/lamps/pictures/Painted furniture

Bathrooms
27^th cabinets, tub toys, in shower, towels

Week 5: Garage sale/Consigning

30th FREE Printables from the entire month!

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking, Cleaning, Decorating, Hand-Dandies, Homemaker, Organizing, Projects, Settled In September, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Eating Spaces: Organizing Kitchen Cabinets {Settled In September}

September 10, 2013 by Jules 2 Comments

Today, I wanna show you around our kitchen. This was possibly The first room we had set up and organized. The kitchen is most often the center of the home. It keeps the family fed, energized, and running. Its also the forerunner in hospitality. Wither that's serving a simple drink, a snack, a full fledged meal, or simple conversation over clean-up- the kitchen, although overlooked in the organizational department, can function with so much more ease if de-cluttered and organized.

Here is a simple layout of our kitchen. Its not huge but its definitely not tiny. I love the basic layout and it has plenty of storage for everything we could possibly need. I've labeled all the cabinets and drawers and then I'll have pictures of the insides of each of those below. This layout is so you can visualize where each cabinet/drawer is in relation to the staples of the kitchen: sink/dishwasher, oven/microwave, and refrigerator. I've also tried to give you an idea of where things are located in relation to other rooms so you can understand my logic in its placement.

Starting on the top row of cabinets, working left to right:

Medicine Cabinet {click for this image withOut labels}

Glassware Cabinet

Serving Dishes Cabinet

Storage Container Cabinet {click here for this image withOut labels}

Baking Cabinet {click here for this image withOut labels}

Cookbook Cabinet {click for this image withOut labels}

Plastic Serving Dishes Cabinet

Starting with the drawers from left to right:

Silverware & Empty for Baby Items Drawers{click here for this image withOut labels}

Cleaning Towel Drawer

Hand Towel Drawer

Knife & Often Used Utensil Drawer {click here this image withOut labeles}

Less Used Utensils

Starting with the lower cabeinets, working left to right and ending with the bottom 2 {of 3} drawers between the oven and fridge

Plates, Bowls, and Cups Cabinet {click here for this image withOut labels}

Pitcher Cabinet

Cleaning Supplies Cabinet

Paper Goods Cabinet {click here for this image withOut labels}

Pan Cabinet {click here for this image withOut labels}

{Frying} Pans and Lids Drawer

Pots Drawer

Moving to the other side of the kitchen past the laundry door and pantry is the "buffet".

Starting with the drawers, left to right:

Baking Tools Drawers {click here for this image withOut labels}

Random Drawers

Starting with the lower cabinets, left to right:

Snack Cabinet

My "Monica's Closet" Cabinet {click here for this terribly nasty image withOut the labeled excuses}

That's our kitchen...I didn't give much description of these images but I'd love to answer any questions you have about them. I didn't want to bore those who just wanted to see. Thanks for coming by!

find other post in this series HERE

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking, Cleaning, Decorating, Home Tour, Homemaker, Organizing, Projects, Settled In September, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Living Room: Organization {Settled In September}

September 6, 2013 by Jules 2 Comments

Wednesday, we talked about “Big Betsy” and that fun process. One of my favorites thus far by the way.

Today I wanna talk about the seemingly eternal process of organization… I love organization but I hate the “it gets worse before it gets better” truth!

Organization Gets Always Gets Worse Before it Gets Better Today I'm going to share the four general areas of organization in our living room that keep it functional and uncluttered while storing sooooo much!

1. Blankets

After getting rid of our giant coffee tables, I was very aware of just how many throws we have. Don’t get me wrong, we prefer to keep our house cool year-round and not all of guests are cool with that so it’s convenient to have lots of choice for our frigded friends. I chose to get rid of several, store some in the newly emptied guest closet, one on the back of the couch and others folded and stacked under our up-cycled end tables.

2. Movies/Entertainment Center

Our awesome entertainment center, the only piece we bought when we got married we haven’t gotten rid of, has crazy amounts of storage. The only reason I haven’t replaced it. It has these really cool drawer door things that slide out with shelves upon shelves for movies. They are large enough for VHS or DVDs. We have gotten rid of all our VHS but have tons of movies and TV series because we don’t have TV in our house.
One drawer is full of nothing but grown-up movies organized by rating. The more grown-up rating the higher the shelf. The opposite door it full of our TV series.
The 2 bottom drawers are full of kids appropriate movies {which are taking over and may likely needed on of the larger drawers after Christmas this year}. We placed them down low for easy kid access.
We removed the top part of the TV console door so we could keep our DVD player open to the remote as well as open to replacing movies easily without having to open and close the glass doors all the time.
The glass door storage are just full of more decorative items like picture frames {imagine that} and scrapbooks.

3. Games

This hall linen closet works great for our stockpile of games. Having everyone’s extra bedding in the room it goes with as well as only enough towels that would neatly store under the cabinets in the each bathroom saved us this closet for just such storage.
We organized these similar to our moives. The more mature the game the higher the shelf. I also stacked them for easy access otherwise no one would want to play a game much less put it back wehre they go it.
Things like cards or card games went into a big ben on the floor. Theres not way those jokers were going to stay on the slotted wire shelving.
We also have an upcycled wipe container for “Missing Pieces” because, let’s be honest, there are always random dice, cards, or figures/paws for random games. When you get that game out next time, you’ll know exactly where to look for that missing piece.

4. Craft Supplies
This was the biggest organization undertaking in the living room.
"My name is Julie and I am a craft crap hoarder." I know its illogical but you never know when you’re going to need 10+ round cardboard pieces from frozen pizzas for making…something. If it helps any, this was at Least 8 years of collecting that was unorganized so I had no real count on the amount of craftiness I had stocked up- hence the nearly 30 glue sticks. {blush}
You can see the pictures above of how I ended up breaking down and sorting our craft tools and supplies.