Rating the Areas in My Home To Create a Structure for Gradually Making it Beautiful

[ejchase]

Hi All,


I've noticed over the years that what often allows me to overcome a challenge in my life (e.g. compulsive overeating, living beyond my means financially) is finding some kind of system or structure that helps me see clearly my destructive patterns and gradually learn to let go of them (e.g. tracking my earning and spending for years with "no shame, no blame" really helped me learn to spend less than I earn).

Perhaps the most pressing weakness of mine in my day-to-day life at the moment is the fact that the house I live in embarasses me. I am a bit of a hoarder, so there's a clutter issue, but there's also the issue of our newish blended family not having worked out our cleaning routines and responsibilities. Also, we moved into this house a month before I became a first-time mom, and the baby is now 2, so part of the problem is we've never taken the time to really "decorate" (for lack of a better word) the upstairs or much of the downstairs.

I really want to deal with this part of my life, as much as for myself and for my family. I think one reason I don't spend more time on the house is that I see it as "frivolous" or something, but consciously, I'm clear that living in a home you feel proud of and, more importantly, good inside of, is a really important way to take care of yourself and your family.

So I've been slowly coming up with a rating system for each space in my house as a way to give myself a method to see clearly where I am and to see clearly when I'm progressing and to see clearly when I'm not taking care of myself in this way. I made up a ten-point scale with which to "rate" every space in my house (e.g. a 1 is "can't walk in it" to 6 - "space is usable but not comfortable or pleasing due to clutter or mess" - 9 "a comfortable space, perhaps with a few slight improvements that could be made") and I rated all the important spaces in our house. I've decided to keep rating them at the end of every month as I way to have a "reality check" in much the same way totaling my earning and spending monthly gave me that reality check, and am I vowing to stick by Joe Dominguez' "no shame, no blame" mantra.

Here are my current ratings:


Mine and My SO's Bedroom 5
Kid 1's Bedroom 5
Kid 2's Bedroom 4
The Upstairs Hallway 4
The Upstairs Bathroom 6
The Living Room 5
The Dining Room 5
The Downstairs Bathroom 6
The Laundry Room 6
The Downstairs Closet 2
The Backyard - 6
The Front Yard and Front Steps -6


I'd be happy if I could just get every space in my space somewhere above a 6 or 7 eventually. I have no illusions I will ever be living in a house of all 10's!


Anybody out there want to try this system with me?

[Tussiemussies]

Hi ejchase,

I know what you may feel like, we've moved a few months go and the place became an automatic construction site with my DH doing over the whole kitchen, so since my back and knee bother me I cannot lift so a lot of boxes are just sitting here until my DH can help me. It feels really messy but the bad part is that I'm almost used to seeing it this way!!!

I think your system is great and I'm glad for you that you found a way to live below your means. I cannot do the system right now, but wish you luck with it. Have a feeling you will be at 95% not too long off...:) christine

[fidgiegirl]

Hi ejchase,

I love this system. What a great way to break down a complex situation. We did the same when we were buying our house - had a numerical rating system and it helped us to see which were the houses that really had what we wanted.

One question, now that you rated, where do you think you might start? Which area is calling to you? The worst, to resolve some of the anxiety around it, or one of the better spaces, to make it a functional and beautiful in short order? In paying off debt, it's often encouraged to hit a small debt first - a quick win can build momentum!!

One book that might be helpful is Apartment Therapy. It was recommended to me once here on the boards, so thanks to whoever made that recommendation. It has a lot of concrete tips for how to make your house a lot more functional and enjoyable.

One last question, you have the toddler + two teen children, correct? When you list Kid #1 room and Kid #2 room, whose are those? And in the case of the older children (if their room/rooms are on the list), I wonder if their space might be an area that could be handled differently than the other rooms or even let go completely for the sake of this project.

I will follow your project with interest, but will have to think hard about if I can participate at this time. I need to do some health and fitness work and one thing I've learned about myself is that if I spread my mental focus too thin, I accomplish nothing. Please keep posting!! Will love to see the progress!

[Bootsie]

I like this approach. I like systematic approaches to projects and plan to steal this idea from you. :)

[ejchase]

Bootsie, Feel free to rate your rooms here if you want. I'd love to get a little support group going!

Fidgiegirl: The two kids' rooms belong to my SO's teenaged boy and teenaged girl. They live with us 1/3 of the time and each have more or less resisted any attempts I've made to help them "decorate" their rooms. I've offered to buy posters, bedspreads, rugs, etc., but only the girl has taken me up on buying her a bedspread and rug. Both of them have bare walls in their rooms, which bugs me, but considering how much work there is to be done in the house as a whole, I can let that go if that's what they want. I can't say I didn't try!

Also, in seven months, the boy is probably leaving us for college, at which point his room will become our two-year-old's room, so I will be able to decorate that room to my heart's content at that point.

In terms of other priorities, I think the upstairs hallway is probably the top of the list since my Dad is coming to visit in a month, and it's just too embarassing to let him see the piles of clutter I have there. And in terms of self-care, mine and my SO's bedroom is high on the list too, though getting that room in shape is going to take a lot of decluttering, as well as shopping for new curtains, a new bedside table on my side (the drawer is broken), and in general solving several other organizational conumdrums. It's clear, though, that taking the time to make that room nice will be very worth it as waking up in and going to bed in I space I love will be a really wonderful "pay off"!

Thanks for the book recommendation. I will check it out!

[rosarugosa]

Hi EJ: I think that's a great idea. I have used a similar strategy where I review a room and pick the thing that really displeases me the most, then see whether it's something I have the resources to rectify. Often it's been something I can accomplish with labor alone or labor and minimal materials. By using a triage strategy to fix the things that bothered me the most, I gained maximum value for the time/money invested.

[fidgiegirl]

mine and my SO's bedroom is high on the list too

Apartment Therapy dedicates a lot of info to the bedroom. I work hard to keep ours nice, too - sometimes crap piles up, but I do my best!!! :)

Looking forward to your progress.

[lhamo]

I'll play! DH and kids are out of the house for a few more days, so this is a good time to get some inspiration to tackle our clutter issues, which aren't too bad but that could always use a bit of attention:

Entryway: 7 (need to declutter the bookself we have next to the door for shoes, etc, then it will be an 8 or 9)

Entry closet: 3 (hasn't been cleaned out in about two years. Full of stuff we don't really use. I moved some coats out a couple of weeks ago which put it from a 2 to a 3)

Dining room: 8 (a bit of miscellaneous clutter that needs cleaning up, otherwise not too bad)

Kitchen: 8 or 9. This is the room I am probably happiest about in the house. A well-designed, well utilized space that makes me happy to be in it. Do need to fight tendency to accumulate clutter on the island and in my "stuff drawer." Will address those tonight.

Living Room: 8 or 9. I decluttered/organized this one while watching TV yesterday. Now just need to keep it this way.

Playroom: 4 or 5. Stuff looks fairly organized on the surface, but toy bins all probably need resorting (haven't done it for about a year). I just try to ignore this room as much as I can, as it stresses me out every time I think about tackling it (turns into a multi-hour project...)

Office: 2 or 3. I wanted to tackle this this weekend, especially the stack of miscellaneous art/school work that has been building up for going on 2-3 years, but DH gave me orders to wait until he gets home. I need to do my part of the filing, put the art in a box, and that will hopefully take it to a 3 or 4. The rest awaits DH's return. This room makes me insane, but as it is primarily DH's office there isn't a lot I can do with it. Ugh.

Hallway bookshelf: 6 or 7. Need to resort books that the helper just piles up randomly. Will check with DD to see if I can get rid of board books to free up space.

Laundry room: 5 or 6. I did a major decluttering/reorganizing a couple of weeks ago, but it still needs more work. DH has a bunch of work-related stuff that he has promised to get rid of, once that is gone I'll reshuffle things and try to improve it.

Guest bath: 7 or 8. Decluttered the bathtub and sink area a couple of weeks ago. Need to tackle under the sink.

DD bedroom: 7 or 8. Mostly pretty organized. We need to get rid of the old crib we have that is just a storage bin now. And there is probably stuff in the closets I can declutter. But there is space for everythign we have and it is more or less organized.

DS bedroom: 6 or 7. Needs some attention/decluttering. Need to check with DS to see if there are toys he has outgrown that we can get rid of.

Master bedroom: 8 or 9. This room is the most uncluttered and relaxing in the house, as it should be.

Master bedroom closet: 4 or 5. Bedroom is uncluttered because we have a huge master closet where everythign goes to hide/die. It is not a disaster, but definitely could use improvement.

Master bath: 8 or 9. I try to stay on top of this as a clutter bathroom makes me feel very stressed.

[Zoebird]

That is super-awesome! :D

Bedroom is a 9. The only problem that I have with it is DH's pile on the top of our dresser. I move that pile down to what I call his "pile chair" -- which is a very design-y chair that I bought because I wanted a place for DH's book pile. It looks very cool on that chair, so I am happy with it when he puts his *$&(_$%& pile on it. LOL

Lounge -- currently an 9, but destined for a reorg because DS wants his own room (even though he only wants to play/hang out in there. He's cute.

Kitchen -- 8 -- definitely needs shelves to hold produce, dishes, and stuff. Having everything out on open shelves makes DH's life easier in a lot of ways and decreases mouse activity in the other shelves (and makes it easier to sweep evidence of mouse activity). The plan is to have basically a clean, simple to use kitchen with those shelves. Frees up counter space, too. Also, I'd like different chairs for the kitchen table to step up the design.

Bathroom -- it's a 10. That is, best it can be -- which is clean, basically functional -- but is really a -4 because it was designed by an old man. They do funny things. But, it's functional.

Closet room -- this one is a 10 right now as a closet, but DS says it's a -73. He wants his own bedroom, so we're going to reorganize. I have some ideas that I'd like to exercise a bit, so we shall see what crops up. But, I do know that the designs/processes will be simple and possibly "industrial" looking. It's a look that I like and it's easy to execute. I might get fancy and paint DS's pegboard, but I doubt it. LOL

Outdoors -- front garden: 6; side garden: 4; back garden: 4.

For the front garden, I need 1-2 more lavender plants plus a good prune of the ones that I have plus some form of weed matting because I am loosing my MIND over those weeds. I'll likely use newspaper in several layers around the base, and then fit with some white rock or some such. This will probably cost about. . . $50.

Then, the side garden needs some sprucy-ducy. I used it as our veg garden last year to no avail. I think we got 3 small tomatoes. Plan? I'm debating continuing the lavender up the side there as well, or possibly doing hydrangea which is my favorite. that being said, hydrangea costs a fortune per plant ($40 per) whereas good old lavender costs $10 per and I could do well with about 8 of them, whereas I'd need about 5 hydrangea. So, cost in the balance: lavender.

Finally, the back garden -- what fun! Last year we set up the 'hardscaping' and that's been great for making it cleaner and much easier to use. We have the laundry drying space (need to expand), and then the space for recycling/trash. It needs to be weeded, and the greenhouse cleared of "DS had way too much fun with recycling boxes in this area" debris. We plan to hang some washing lines in here (materials in hand already) to expand that drying space!

I was going to do some relatively intensive composting in this back area, but I found instead that the city council provides composting services for restaurants. With 6 other neighbors who are interested, this pick-up bin system will be much better and less expensive than setting up a composting system in our back yard. And, it will be more compact, which means we'll have more space back there for . . .weeding.

[Miss Cellane]

I'll second fidgiegirl's suggestion of the Apartment Therapy book. Make sure you get the one that is sub-titled "The Eight Week Home Cure." They have two other books out, but they are more about decorating, with lots of pretty pictures, rather than getting your home to where you want it to be, in terms of the level of neatness, cleanliness and decorativeness.

I noticed you didn't rate the kitchen. Is that because it isn't an issue or it's too big an issue to deal with?

Several years ago, my entire apartment was probably 3-4 on your scale. I started small, with the bathroom, and decluttered and organized. It's been a long haul (and I don't have a small child to slow me down, either), but today all the rooms are probably at 7-8, except for the kitchen and bath, which are at 9.

I have found that I can't do a whole room all at once. I declutter. And then I let things sit (sometimes things actually sit in boxes for a while) while I figure out the best storage/organization for the room. Then I get everything organized. And then, much later, I'll work on making things look nice. Just to say, expect some plateaus here and there as you work. And don't be afraid of taking time to think about what you really want in the room. And then taking more time to find exactly what you want.

One thing I have found helpful is to list every single thing you want/need/expect to do in a given room. Then you can see whether you have the support system for all those activities in place, and what you need to get rid of and what you need to acquire.

For example, in your living room you might want to:

Read
Visit and chat with friends
Have a cup of tea/snacks/drinks
Entertain
Watch TV
Watch DVDs
Play video games
Do yoga
Play board games
Eat meals on occasion
Let the baby play there
Knit

So you need something to sit on, lamps to provide good reading/knitting light, tables for board games and drinks and food, a TV and a stand for the assorted "boxes" that go with it, storage for books and DVDs and video games and knitting and board games and baby toys and a yoga mat (on the principle that you store things close to where you use them).

[Kat]

Oh, I love this idea, ejchase! My house has totally gotten out of control, too, but now that I am working less (again!), I really want it to look nice. I have come to realize that though this isn't my "dream house," we will be here for the long haul, so I might as well do what I can to make it work for us. We have virtually no storage, and I feel so overwhelmed with all the STUFF that comes with kids--strollers, car seats, clothes in a million sizes, toys, toys, and more toys (from relatives, not us!). I, too, am embarrassed by the way things look right now. I think rating each space will really help me focus on what needs to be done. I will post my ratings a little later when I have more time. Thanks for the idea.

Where will you be starting?

[ejchase]

Wow! Thanks to everybody for your suggestions, and it was great to hear ratings from others.

Rosarugosa, I really like your idea of starting with the thing in a room that bugs me the most. That will be a great strategy for tackling our master bedroom since there is so much to be done there. And Miss Cellane, I like your suggestion to think about what activities I want to be able to do in a room.

I do expect many plateaus - just as there were in working through my food and money issues. I actually see this as a process which will probably take several years, and in one sense, I know, it will be a lifelong process. But I'm really ready to work on it.

[ejchase]

Where will you be starting?


I think I'm going to start with the hallway since it is the most out-of-hand and embarassing right now, but I'll probably "rotate" a bit - get one room maybe up to a 6 or a 7, then work on another one for a while, depending on what's motivating me the most.

And I *did* forget to rate the kitchen! I think that was just total denial. The kitchen is a 4!

[Kat]

I think the hallway is a good place to start, ejchase. :-)

Here are my ratings. 1 is "awful," 5 is "liveable," and 10 is "awesomesauce." haha! I am rating my spaces based on a number of things--functionality, beauty, organization, etc.

Front porch/entry area--1. This looks awful. Old, rusty mailbox. Weeds, weeds, and more weeds. Stairs that need to be repaired and stained. A dead plant from last summer, a welcome mat and door that needs to be cleaned. Front flower bed has two large plants that are overwhelming and need to be replanted. Not much I can do about this right now as there is snow on the ground right now, and we can't afford to do a complete overhaul with landscaping and new stairs and everything. But when it gets nicer outside, I could at least clean it and add a nice basket of flowers or something.

Yard--5. Not how I'd like it. I do have a beautiful deck with nice furniture. My garage is dilapidated, though, and the lawn is mostly weeds with big ruts from construction dumpsters. Not absolutely horrendous, but not nearly as nice as it could be. Short-term goal is to clean up the deck and maybe plant a few flowers back there.

Entryway--4. Really small area. Attempts at organization have been made, but it's not working. Too many coats and shoes and hats and carseats and strollers...but with no coat closet or separate mudroom, there is nowhere else to store it. Need to figure something out.

Sunroom--5. The room is old and needs to be redone. It doesn't look very nice, but we enjoy the view. :-)

Living Room--8. Looks pretty nice. Really just needs to be tidied and decorated a bit.

Dining Room/Home Office--5. Shame on me! This could be a 10! This is a beautiful room, but it has become a catch-all for sewing stuff, work stuff, bill-paying stuff, and art supplies.

Kitchen--7. Very nice room. Not as functional as is could be, though. Needs more organization and some decluttering.

Basement landing--1. Can barely even walk through. Kind of like one big junk drawer--all sorts of weird, odd-ball stuff in there. Light bulbs, cleaning supplies, batteries, candles, aprons, etc. There is an opportunity for a small amount of storage here. Need to make the most of it!

Laundry room--Not too bad, but always a huge mess. My fault; need to clean it up.

Storage area in basement--8 Pretty tidy, actually. I should probably go through and declutter, though, and put a few things away.

Workout room in basement--9 This is DH's space and not bad at all. Needs a good cleaning.

Upstairs landing--5. Could use some shelves in this area along with a rug or two. New curtains would also be nice. The walls are in rough shape due to construction overlap.

Upstairs hallway--5. Needs to be de-junked and cleaned well. Kitty litter box needs to be moved somewhere else as I am always tripping over it.

Playroom--8. Super cute room. Just needs to be tidied and decluttered a bit.

Bathroom--5. Needs to be re-done badly--crumbling plaster, etc. Not the prettiest room, but the main parts (tub, sink, and stool) all work. Organizational nightmare (again, nowhere to put anything)

DD's Room--9. Super cute. Needs to be tidied just a bit.

Nursery--1. This room is awful. It was our only place for storage, but we are in the midst of cleaning it out to prepare for baby #2's arrival. Can't even get around in there right now. There is nowhere to put stuff like extra linens and coats (no linen or coat closet), and the room is very old and needing an overhaul besides.

Master bedroom--3. Has become the dumping ground for random stuff that has no home. Can barely walk through it right now or open the dresser drawers. Too much stuff! It is a very small room, but it shouldn't be this bad. It is nice when it is clean, and I just put in a new closet organizer that is fabulous. So if I can just find a place for the stuff that migrated from the soon-to-be nursery, I should be okay.

Garage--1. Absolutely horrible. Can't even get in the door, and it really just needs to be torn down.

So the main issue with my house is that there is no storage. We have no coat closet, no linen closet, no pantry, etc. All bedroom closets are teeny tiny. We do not own an excessive amount of stuff, but we can't seem to find a place for even basics like our winter coats or extra blankets. All rooms are small, too, with a window or door in almost every wall. This makes it nearly impossible to use armoires, or other free-standing furniture for storage. The basement is unfinished and gets a lot of water in it, so we have to be careful about storing stuff down there because it just gets ruined. Same with the garage--not water proof. So it's been a real organizational challenge. Will have to sit down with DH and see what we can come up with. I see more decluttering in our future, too!

I think I will start first with the nursery and our bedroom since those rooms are rendering the upstairs practically unliveable.

[fidgiegirl]

I am loving this thread, all.

Kat - ever heard of Ana White? Tons of free furniture plans on her site. Very inexpensive and lots of ideas. Perhaps there will be some inspiration there. http://ana-white.com/

[Zoebird]

I love ana-white. Her stuff is great. Unfortunately, I can't build a thing. :)

DH and I are looking at how to best create a grow-with-him bedroom. We have to clear the room first, finding homes for those things that need homes. So here is our process.

Step 1. get some kitchen shelves to move everything into the kitchen.

I'll price out what I want this weekend. I wanted to do the ana-white floating shelves, but it's just beyond my ability. I know the plans are simple, but I decided to go with element system (http://element-system.com/en.html) for shelving. We'll buy the tracks and brackets, and then have thick, long plywood or planks cut to the right size for us. This is the most affordable -- coming in around $250. the brackets come in white and silver, and I'll probably get silver and dark-stain the plywood to match the bottom cabinets. The walls are a sort of creamy color; I don't plan on painting at this point. I just want it to look nice-ish and also be functional for us.

Step 2. Declutter stuff --

I have two trunks which store things useful, and they look nice enough to put out, so I'm not concerned about them.

I was thinking I would put up more hooks in the entry hallway for our coats -- since we really need about 10 hooks -- so two rows of 5 should do nicely for in season coats and leave some empties for guests. I have some found materials that I can use, and the hooks that I like are about $3 each, which isn't a bad price, really.

From there, I"ll need some kind of wardrobe to house sporting equipment, suitcases, business stuff, and random stuff (I say random because I haven't decluttered it all yet!). This way, messy things will be behind closed doors. The hardest part will be where shoes go -- we take them off when we come inside. . . i don't want to trip over them in the hallway, but. . . yeah.

Then I need to add a third hook on our bedroom door so that DH has a place for his 5 hangers (shirts/suit). Then we should be finished. Nice, right? whew.

Stage 3. Set up DS's room.

[Kat]

fidgie--I love Ana White! I have lots of her ideas saved for when our kids our out of cribs and into twin sized beds. I have been perusing her site lately, too, to see if I can't find some inspiration for our tiny entryway. That is one area that has stumped me since we moved in. It is so small and has both a door and a window in it. We managed before kids, but now that we have three (soon to be four) people's stuff, it is getting out of hand!

I got moving on the master bedroom yesterday and hauled out a bunch of junk--some donate and quite a lot of trash. :|( My FIL is going to build us a custom storage piece to go in the place of our existing bookshelf in the upstairs hallway. It is one of the few areas we have that could accommodate such a piece. The new storage piece will be a linen closet/book shelf. Finally--a place for extra blankets and sheets! DH and I will have to significantly reduce the number of books we own, though. I have already let go of most of mine, but DH will have some serious work to do in that area! He collects comics, so his books take up a lot of space. As for coats, I am thinking maybe under our bed? I used to keep my lingerie and heavy sweaters under the bed (my mom is a knitter), but the new closet system allowed us to find a place for those things in the closet and in our dresser. So...now that space should be free for coats. Not the most convenient, I suppose, but it'll do.

[Miss Cellane]

If you are using the coats every day, then they need to be more accessible than under your bed.

Can you put hooks on the wall in the entry way--one per person for the most frequently used coat? Then store the rest of the coats in the closet of the person they belong to.

If that won't work, what does the entryway open into? A hallway? The living room? Is there space for a coat tree, or wall hooks, or a small armoire there? Do you have a dining room near the entry you use the most? There's usually space for a storage piece or two in a dining room. Could you fit an armoire there? Or a freestanding coat rack, that you could hide with a screen or curtain if you wanted?

It's just that I know, for me, that storage has to be easy. If I had to carry my coat through the house, into the bedroom, pull out a bin from under the bed, put the coat in the bin, and push the bin back under the bed . . . . Well, my coat would never get put away. It'd be on the back of a dining room chair, or on the living room couch, or hanging from a doorknob somewhere, but it wouldn't be neatly put away.

If I had a choice between storing the coats under the bed, or the sweaters and lingerie, I'd pick the lingerie and sweaters. If you go by the rule of storing things where you use them, the lingerie and sweaters get "used" or put on, in the bedroom. The coats get "used" or put on, by the outside door.

[Kat]

Thanks for the great suggestions, Miss Cellane! You are right--putting a coat worn everyday back under the bed after each use is not practical. I'd never keep that habit up! ;-)

The under-the-bed storage would be for out-of-season coats. We live in an area with four distinct seasons, so even though we don't own a ton of coats, we do have coats of varying weights and purposes that we do legitimately use. We have a halltree in the corner of our entryway to hang coats that are currently being used. Right now, that is heavy winter coats along with DH's big work coat. Our spring/fall coats, though, and our dress coats (for weddings, funerals, dates, etc.) are waiting to find a home as there is not room for them on the halltree. I wish I had a coat closet (even a small one) or that we could hang them in the closets of the people they belong to, but the closets in this house are teeny tiny and there simply is not room. The sweaters under the bed are heavy and not worn very often as I always seem to be pregnant these days. :-) But my mother knitted them for me, and I do wear them when I am smaller, so I'd like to keep them. I am moving those to the top shelf in the closet, and the lingerie is moving to our old sock drawer in the dresser (since socks now fit in a drawer in the new closet system). Not to sound too racy, but since I use the nightgowns and such more than the out of season coats, it makes more sense to put them in the more accessible place. Dragging out the coats and switching them out will be a pain, but I will only have to do it 2-3 times a year. :-)

[ejchase]

Hi All,

I decided today to add my car and my purse to my rating system because the organization level of both of these "places" really affects my stress level and sense of well-being. Both are down as 4's for now.

Thanks for all the great responses. They are very motivating and helpful.

Elizabeth

[ejchase]

... and today I decided I should also rate the storage shed in the backyard, which desperately needs to be decluttered. It's a 4.

I'm not going to update my ratings until the end of March or beginning of April since I want to give myself the minimum of a full month between ratings. But I *am* making progress on the upstairs hallway. This week, I returned a bunch of online purchases that I'd decided I didn't want but had left in their boxes in the hall. And today, I'm taking four boxes of summer clothes that have been sitting there (yes, since, like October) out to our storage space.

It still looks bad, since there's a layer of paper clutter over everything, but I'm taking it one day at a time.

[fidgiegirl]

... I'm taking it one day at a time.

Baby steps, baby. :) They get the job done. Congrats on the progress.

[Kat]

Just wondering how everyone is coming along with this challenge? I haven't been doing great, to be honest, but I did manage to declutter the kitchen and move some things around to increase function. I got rid of a lid rack that wasn't working and stuck all the lids for my pots and pans in a plastic basket instead. Got rid of some mugs and used that cabinet space for sippy cups; the sippy cup drawer is now my drawer for leftover containers, and the old leftover container drawer now houses spices. The old spice cabinet (which is above the stove and unreachable for me) now houses a couple of lesser-used-but-still-needed-occasionally-kitchen items.

I also moved our medicine from the bathroom to the kitchen and put all of DH's daily use stuff in the medicine cabinet so that the upper cabinet shelf that was his (but so high it was barely accessible) could house less-frequently used things.

Next, I moved DD's arts and crafts supplies from the toy room to the downstairs since that is where we use them. This has freed up some space in the toy room, but I haven't been able to find a permanent solution for the art stuff yet. I did organize it into containers I had sitting around--one lidded bin for art stuff, one for crafts, and an old magazine holder for her paper and color books--but just don't know where it is all going to live yet.

What else? I ordered new bedding for the master bedroom, and DH promised he would paint it for me after the new baby is here and sleeping through the night. Which is awesome, because I hate the color of my bedroom and have already been looking at it for 8 years.

We are working on the baby's room (which has actually made the house even more of a mess since everything that was in there is now spread all over), and I found some great plastic baskets at the dollar store that I can use to organize the changing table.

The most exciting thing is that I found some new furniture that I think will make our entryway much more functional and nice-looking. With no coat closet, it is always a mess, and the coat rack we have is not big enough for our growing family. So I found a nice bench with cubbies underneath and a free-standing armoire that should fit and hold our coats and shoes. The armoire will actually block part of a window, which bums me out, but I have come to terms with the fact that a bigger family in a small house with windows and doors in literally wall, I am just not always going to have things look the way that I want. So I am at peace with it and hope to order the furniture soon!

Anyone else have any updates?

[ejchase]

Hi Kat! It sounds like you are making amazing progress! Mine has been rather limited - I started a new thread on this topic for April (see rating our spaces - April) where I posted my update!