Facelift: Month 10

Give a Man a Week...and he will help me update my castle.  We've slowly been trying to update our kitchen and there are still a couple of things to finish but it is so much better.

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

Notice that the ugly scalloped trim is gone above the window?
New pendant light too.

Just noticed that the paper towels were empty. Oops.

It's been easier to keep junk from piling up on the counters because I actually like to look at them now.  Blake also put some fancy cool under cabinet lighting in after the pictures were taken.  I must say that after 13 years of being married, doing projects like this keep the marriage interesting and exciting.  If it doesn't kill Blake, it definitely makes him stronger (or he promises to never do it again).

Facelift: Month 6, Part I

Squelch [skwelch] -verb
1. to strike or press with crushing force; crush down; squash.
2. to put down, suppress, or silence.

That is how I feel in my office/craft room.  I walk in, retrieve item, walk out quickly before something falls over or I trip over something.  So this is what I want to focus on for my "facelift" this month.  Check out the before pictures...

There is almost anything you can think of in this room.  Beads, buttons, and baubles.  Family Home Evening lessons.  Books, bags, and baskets. Frames, fabric, a full closet.  It's stressful to say the least.  The only reason I can sit at the computer is because my back is to the mess and I can pretend that it's not there.  I'm good at pretending.

So this leads me to the squelching of my creativity.  I envision a room that has a place for everything and everything has it's place.  A room where I can sit down at that lovely antique table and accomplish bills, crafts, thoughts, etc. without having to move a pile or two (who are we kidding? I would really be 3 big piles to move).  I want a room that inspires me to take time to create. A room where Blake feels comfortable to visit with me occasionally (without wanting to scream or turn his back so he doesn't have to look at it).  Is this too much to ask? You'll just have to wait to find out.

Facelift: Month 5

Blake and I have been wanting to make some home improvements and one of the big ones is our kitchen.  We didn't want to spent a ton of money (which I could do very easily if it wasn't my money) so we tried the rustoleum kitchen counter product where you resurface your countertops.

Here's the before: We discovered that the plastic drop cloths were VeRy iMpOrTaNt!!!

 During: You use a "fertilize spreader" tool to shoot the colored chips everywhere.  

And I mean eVeRyWhErE!

 I still find little chips in little places.  It's like a special confetti surprise.

 Another important tool that came in really handy...SHoP VaC!

Thank you Gibbies for the use of yours. Why we don't have one yet, I have no idea. They. Are. Handy. 

BTW, I think I was a horrible friend and forgot to empty it out before I returned it.  Oops.

 And finally the after! 

This is the cleanest my counters have been since we moved in.  One year ago.

The piles were just relocated and are building new piles of their own as we speak.

How beautiful they seem to us.  It's not fancy granite but Blake and I made a memory of doing it ourselves. Whether it's a good memory or bad one- I guess it depends on who you ask.  The hardest part was keeping our paws off of it for a couple of days. Who are we kidding...The hardest part was doing it ourselves. But well worth the savings. 

Hope you enjoyed this facelift for the month of May but posted in June.

uP nExT: Tile backsplash. We are waiting for our friends to do theirs first so we can learn from their mistakes.  (Am I giving you too much of a picture of how uneven my friendships are?)

Facelift: Month 3

I'm thinking that expecting myself to organize one thing a week was shooting a little high for me.  So, I'll be happy if it's 1 thing a month.

Here are the slave chore charts that I'm loving.  I just finished them so the kids don't even know about them yet.  But I think once they see the dollar signs next to some of it they will be on board for "family service" (aka chores).  This is all light hearted for me.  I really do appreciate all my kids do around the house and I try very hard to let them know how wonderful they are.  I'm not one who thinks kids need to be paid for everything.  I think being a part of a family just means there are things you should do without complaining and "just because I said so".  I feed you, I clothe you, I hug and kiss you and tell you how awesome you are, now go clean up your room. Having said that, my kids are reaching an age where a little extra money is fun for them and their skill level is fun for me (i.e. they can do some of the chores I HATE- dusting, toilets, finding their clothes and then sorting them, etc.)  Win-Win situation.

I just used frames that I had laying around, collecting dust (because remember I hate dusting).  I put vinyl lettering flipped on the inside of the glass and backed it with white cardstock.  I used a dry erase marker to write their chores on the front, that way I can change it out whenever I want and switch things up.  The chores on the individual frames are things I expect them to do "just because".  The things on the "extra" frame are things they can do for money.  They are a little harder and up for grabs for whoever wants to do them.  Then I thought I could keep a running tab on their ind. frames of how much I owe them for the week and also keep track of their daily chores and maybe rewarding them if they do it everyday for the whole week.

I think this will be a great solution for us.  I've tried many charts and I like the flexibility of this and that I can just add something as it pops into my mind.  This is so flexible that I can even put words of encouragement and jokes for them.  It's just one more way for Blake and I to let them know that we are a team.  And a pretty awesome one at that. 

Facelift: Month 2

Last week my spices looked something like this:

(this is even after I purged some of it)

Tipping over, spilling out and not quite sure what we had in there.

Now it looks like this:

 50+ spices=Momma Spice

A beautiful list and little turn-y tables to help find it.

I love knowing what we have on hand so when Blake gets all "Mr. Creative Cook", he even knows what he has to work with.  It's nothing too super fancy... but a little more happiness entered my world. :)

uP nExT: Week 3- Organize my children. Wish me luck.  Plus a really great chore chart.

Facelift My Life

As I was talking to a friend earlier this month, we were thinking of things we could possibly do to become more perfect (I know it's a short list).  Easily 20 things or more popped into our minds.  Which then lead to her coining the phrase, "Facelift my life" (M. Stewart, pg. 2,893,451, Quotes by Riss).  (She always comes up with some doozies that I felt I should give her credit.)  Many years I have neither the willpower nor the desire to fix what's not working for me,  but this year seems different. I seem to have a little bit of both, amazingly at the same time.  My focus this year in one word is ORGANIZED.  I read somewhere that one person set their New Year's Resolutions around one word.  For example, one year they focus on become HAPPIER, or GRATEFUL and throughout the whole year that is what they worked on, focused on, and reflected on.  I have spend 2010 feeling a little frazzled...like I'm running on a treadmill that Jillian from The Biggest Loser has cranked up to 8 mph with a 10% incline and I'm seconds from my face meeting rubber.  I figure that it is because I haven't been my usual self: ORGANIZED.
This goal of organization very well may turn into the resolution word of the decade.  Of all the words, I really choose a mammoth of a word.  Having said that, each week I'm going to try to choose one thing to organize.  Last week I choose to organize the door space off the basement that we always come in.  I can't really call it a "mud room" because it really is only a space to take off shoes and coats instead of dragging it all along the basement carpet and piling it all by the front door.

It's nothing fancy and we already had everything laying around somewhere being unorganized.  So I just combined it to become organized.  Completing this task made me silly with happiness.  So if happiness is a small side effect of becoming more organized, then this will be a great year.

Up This Week: Organizing my Spice Cabinet. Wait until you see the spices you've never heard of.  Secret Code Name: Momma Spice.