How to Clean a Room

This is what Middle and Little Sisters' room has looked like for the past month.  Or more.  I've completely lost track of when it was cleaned up last.  Every time I look in there thinking I will clean it up I get this sinking feeling and head back down the stairs and put it out of my mind.

Can you believe I'm really sharing these photos with you?  I've lost my mind I tell ya.

First you make the bed so you have a clear space to put the piles of 'stuff'.

Photographing the marker marks on the bedspread is optional.  The girls say they had a little help from a certain little friend of theirs!

After about an hour you have some clear spaces, a huge pile of trash, a pile of dirty laundry, and piles of sorted stuff.

The other side of the room still looks like this.

And this.  The stuff was piled so deep over here I needed a backhoe.

This tub used to hold all their American Girl stuff.  Now it is in the trash can.

I decided getting the backhoe up the stairs was more work than it was worth so I pitched and piled my way through.

By lunch time I had it looking like this...

With this pile of American girl stuff...

...and this large box full of American Girl stuff.

And this closet still needing cleaned out.

After lunch, a break, some school work, an orthodontist appointment for The Teenager, and a trip to the library, I cleaned out that closet.  With The Teenager's help we switched out her dresser and the one from this room.  Middle Sister and Little Sister helped with the organizing, and putting away of all the mess in the closet.  The photo above is what their room looked like when they went to bed. 

American Girl stuff found homes in some of these tubs.  The Polly's and some of the Playmobile were shipped to the cellar.

New curtain is a must.  Also a longer cord on the chandi. 

This is inside the closet.  I have plans for this space to make it more user friendly but for now it works.

I have BIG plans for the whole room.  There is marker, crayon, pen, pencil, stars, stickers, you name it all over the walls.  We moved The Teenager into this room from our bedroom when she was 18 months old.  She is now 13.  She shared this room with Middle Sister and then they all 3 shared this room for awhile till we got the 3rd bedroom finished.  Now this room is in dire need of a fresh coat of paint, new curtain, and hardwood.  My but it is hard to move furniture around on carpet!  Reason #3587 why I love my hardwood!!

A big thank you for today goes to my Mom.  She has agreed to come over once a week to oversee the school day while I concentrate on something else.  I never would have even started this room cleaning today if it hadn't been for that.  Thanks Mom, you are the best!!

Helping a Friend

I love decorating my house.  And I especially love decorating for Christmas! 

This year I had the privilege of helping a friend dec out her home.  ( I actually had the privilege of helping more than one friend but I only got pics of this one)

The first thing we decided was that the wall above her fireplace needed a new paint color.

She was the one who mentioned painting it.  I just encouraged her to do it:)

The insiration for the color was this cute little end table.  She painted this for her photography studio so she had the paint.  Why not add a pop of color?!  It's only paint and a very small wall.  It can be repainted when she gets tired of it:)

So while she spent about 10 minutes painting the wall I worked in her basement.

This table you see as you walk down the steps. 

Basement sideboard.

Shelf in the basement kitchen.

And the finished mantle.  She added lights later since I had used all the working ones in the basement.  It looks darling all lit up now!

Centerpiece for dining room table. I just love this!  Might have something to do with the fact that it' white?!  She had made the paper ornaments.  I just love them:)

Cupboard in living room.

She had made this banner too and I thought we had to use it somewhere.  I really like it here.

Another cupboard in the living room.

(excuse the poor photos.  still no new camera.  add that to the list santa.)

Beautiful Nativity

Inside of Cupboard

This was one of my favorite spots!  So fun.

I adore Willow Tree Nativities. 

Cupboard in the kitchen.  Wish I'd have got some close-ups of some of the stuff inside.  It is really cute.  See the adorable puppy on the top shelf?  That's my kind of animal - no mess, no fuss!:)

And another paper ornament that she had made.  We added the cute vintage ornament to it with hot glue.  We set the large pear in her kitchen bay window.  It looks fabulous:)

It's fun to work with other peoples stuff and make their house look festive!

Weekend Project Pictures

here are the things I painted Saturday.
Trash can for new bathroom. T made this for me out of scraps of beaded board from the walls. Isn't he just the handiest man! I love it.

T also made this stool so we would have a place to lay towels and/or clothes when using the new bathroom to shower.

I really need to dig back through old photos to see if I can find a before picture of this chair. I had already painted it and put a fabric cover on the seat but I was never very happy with it. I didn't just Love it! So I was suddenly struck with the inspiration that I could redo it again! I had this fabric that I knew I loved and I also knew I really liked the brown paint I've used for a few other pieces. So now I have a chair that I really like! The fabric is Anna Maria Horner and if you've never seen her fabric you really need to check it out. It is the most beautiful stuff around!

This picture hung in the bathroom before we remodeled it and I hadn't ever hung it back yet. I painted the frame brown and put the old song sheet behind the picture. The picture is painted on the back side of the glass. (I painted it in high school as an art project!)
I have a couple more projects to post but I'll wait till tomorrow, or Thursday, or...

Have a great night!