Kett Files: Mowers Make a Home

In case you didn't know...I have a deep love of Pinterest. ;) I use it as a search engine, a vision board, an organizational tool, a planning space, and on collaboration projects. It's one of my online BFF's. 

After moving into our current house at the beginning of June, I wasn't too worried about decorating as we'd be gone most of the summer. I knew though that when I got back that I wanted to hit it hard and really get the place put together. This time though, I told myself that I didn't have to put things up on the wall just because we have them. I want to choose what will look best, what represents us the most, and what fits the style we like. 

And then I froze. 

What style do I like? What do I put up? What do I make? How do I do this without spending a fortune?! 

I just wasn't sure how to go forward. The place felt meh. Not bad, but not anything special or truly us. 

And then the other night I was scrolling through kitchens on Pinterest and found this picture: 

And suddenly the heavens parted and ideas started coming!


My kitchen won't look like this (being in a rental I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't go in and repaint everything they just remodeled, nor do we need to as it's all well done), but I can take aspects of it and integrate it in. Did you see our big crazy bed that got us through our one bedroom wonder this past year? We designed it so that we could take all the components apart and use it as regular furniture some day. Well, that day is just around the corner. We're getting a bed frame again, leaving the dresser in the room, and then moving the other pieces into the dining area as a hutch and the mudroom as shelves. And I get to paint them!! Guess what color?! No, not orange. I still can't figure out how to make it not so garish in decor. I'm going sage green with touches of copper and orange. It's perfect!

I've never painted furniture before, but I'm excited to give it a try! As I jump more into this adventure of decorating intentionally, I'll share more of the journey. I know there will be successes and Pinstrosities with it all. But that's part of it!

I was a little hesitant at first at the idea of sharing this part of my life. While I love our little single wide trailer rental, it's not glamorous. It's not something most people would aspire to live in. But, we are happy here. We are thankful for it. And really it's not about curb appeal or being fancy for guests. Building a home is all about building a haven for my family, a place where we can be together and feel safe, loved, and comfortable. And that is what I'm setting out to do! I hope you'll join in along the way as I try to figure this all out!

5 Tips to Save Money

At times I'll have searched out or happened upon an article about "10 Things You Can Do to Save Money" or "7 Things You Can Cut Out to Save Money". I excitedly opened them only to realize that I was already doing most of things suggested...but I still needed to find ways to save money.

We already don't have cable/satellite TV. We don't have credit cards to pay on. We own our car, and are a one car family. We shop at thrift stores. No gym membership. Small house. No coffee runs on the way to work. Cheaper phones and phone plans. 

But sometimes we still need to save a little more each month, and we've found a few small things that have helped us to save some extra pennies and dollars. 

1. Toilet Paper. 

I know, weird. But really! This is one we found out by accident while living in Silver City. I was making a very fast grocery run and knew we needed toilet paper, so I zipped down the tissue aisle, grabbed a 24 pack and raced on with my day. It wasn't until I was home and had put new rolls in the bathrooms that I realized I'd bought the 1 ply. And not just any one ply...the most one-plyest one ply. Maybe even a half-ply. But it was bought and opened, so we decided to just use it and get a new pack when it ran out.  

We didn't buy toilet paper again for 6 months!! That's how long it lasted! And we didn't skimp on usage. No 3-square rule here. We were using it liberally. At first it was weird...but we got used to it. And haven't switched back since then. We pay $2.22 for a 4 pack (1 ply, 1000 sheets a roll, Great Value Brand) and that lasts us a little over a month. That's only $26.64 a year!! 

A 4 pack of nice Charmin is twice as much and lasts half as long. Even the Angel Soft brand tissue, which is definitely cheaper than Charmin, ends up being about $5 a month with their 4 pack and it only lasts about 3 weeks.

2. Water

Our kitchen faucet puts out about 1/2 a gallon of cold water before the hot water reaches us. The bathtub puts out about a gallon of cold before the hot comes in. We started saving this water rather than having it go down the drain. We keep a gallon pitcher by the sink to catch the cool water and use that for our drinking water, water for food prep (when we need to boil water, add water in a recipe or give something a quick rinse), watering plants, and filling the washing machine. This drops our monthly water bill by $8-10. 

3. Clothesline Drying in Good Weather

If it's not raining, freezing, or dust storming, we dry our clothes on the line outside. According to this article, on average you can save almost $10 an hour by line drying rather than using the clothes dryer. I'm not quite as fast as she is, so we may only save $5 an hour, but still...that's pretty good!

4. Wear our clothes more than once per wash

This may gross some people out, but really we don't see a reason for washing clothes that really aren't dirty. So at the end of the day if the clothes we have worn aren't stinky, have food/dirt/smears on them, and don't look limp and dingy than we put them away to wear them again before washing. Generally Darrow's clothes get washed after one wearing...because toddlers are not clean. But Cameron and I can often get away with it with most things. Not always, and not every item, but many. This keeps colors from fading as fast, cuts down on the amount of laundry (which saves money and time, and time is money!), and is easier on the clothes. We don't wear the same shirt for 4 days before changing or washing, don't worry. 

5. Split Garbage Fees with the Neighbor

To get  a dumpster at the end of the driveway would be $25 a month. We don't generate enough trash to fill a dumpster. So once a week I'd haul all the garbage to the household use bin at the dump (the free one). It was free, but often I'd get dribbles in the car that I'd have to clean up. And that was gross.  Once a bag leaked on a blanket and I couldn't get the stain out. Our neighbors noticed and offered to let us share their dumpster, because they don't generate enough garbage to fill it either. 

If you have more of something than you need (space, garden produce, eggs from chickens, etc.), think about sharing the excess with your neighbor (either for free, or splitting the cost). It'll be cheaper for you and them, and it could turn out to be a blessing for you both! 

So none of these 5 things we do will make us millionaires in 3 years, but they help! That's money we can put in savings. That's money we can have a fun family day in town with. That's money that can go towards bills. Whatever we decide to do with it, it's nice to have a little bit of excess sometimes! 

The Kett Files: My Creative Space, Take 2!

Well, I did it. It took me the better part of a day, but I did it! If you read this morning's post...you're ready for this. If you didn't, go back and check that out (or read on...you'll get the drift).

After taking a good hard look at the Living Room, after seeing Emilee's deliciously inviting space, and after browsing through other Creative Space posts and pictures...I knew our space needed some work.

But, as I mentioned this morning I didn't know what to do until I wrote up that post. Funny how that works sometimes! 

Our Living Room, my Creative Work Space, wasn't inviting, motivating, or conducive to creativity. It was chaotic and inefficient. So I came up with steps to improve it. And these steps didn't take running to the store; there were things I could do right then and there. And I have to say I LOVE the results! 

Just a quick reminder, so you don't have to go back to the previous post...this is what it was like when I started:

 The Corner of Chaos

Empty picture frames on the wall and propped up on the shelf.

And this disaster. 

Along with projects strewn about, the all-catching puff quilt "rug", and the box shoved under the cedar chest because it fit. 

My plan for a room makeover in a day was to:

1. Combine the shelves, eliminating the tower of chaos in the corner and making the bookshelf wall not look like a bookstore exploded.

2.  Put SOMETHING in those blank pictures frames.

3. Put the puff quilts away. 

And, that's exactly what I did. 

The very first thing I did was to pull the puff quilts out of the room and throw them in the washer so I can fold them up and put them on the blanket shelf. That was an easy thing to get done and checked off the list. 

But then it was time to tackle the real problem at hand. I took a deep breath and dove in.

I first took the games on the top shelf of the bookshelf and moved them to the remaining open cubby in our bed (which we LOVE...I was nervous at first, but I love it more and more!). That cleared out half of the top shelf. I then went through and moved all the textbooks, books we don't read, most of the fiction books, and the not so pretty books and put them in the mostly empty cabinet of our bed. We hadn't decided what to put in there yet, so I decided today. There was just the perfect amount of space!

This cleared up a TON of space on the bookshelf wall, enough that I could then move everything off the Tower of Chaos and organize it onto the bookshelf. 

It still is quite full, but it doesn't look so crazy like it did before. 

The top shelf is reserved for photo albums and religious books. The 2nd shelf is the craft and movies shelf (we recently went through and put all our DVD's in a disk folder and threw the bulky cases away-saves so much space and it looks so much better than a ton of DVD cases!). The third shelf is the office supply box, the few fiction books we left out, Cameron's science books, and my piano music. 

The bottom two shelves are Darrow's. I recently found the plastic storage boxes at Walmart for $0.97 and bought 5 to work on organizing his toys and I love it. I think I'll go back and get a few more. He can't yet get the lids off, so he can't dump everything and run. And, the little pop up tent that was in the box under the cedar chest fit in a mesh laundry bag we weren't using and fits on the shelf...much better looking than the box poking out from under the chest! 

We put some of the books we didn't want handled much (we have a few over 100 years old that are some of our treasures) up on top of the shelf as decor, mixed with various odds and ends.

So...if I got everything off the Tower of Chaos and on the bookshelf wall, what does the computer side of the room look like now? I'll show you.

Ta da!! I'm over the moon with how it looks and feels now. The room feels bigger, brighter, and better. Of course there are things I could think of to buy to spruce it up still, but for doing this all today just staying home and rearranging what we already have, I'm pretty tickled. It feels more open, more organized, more aesthetically pleasing, and more conducive to creating, living, working, and playing in! And apparently it's quite conducive to taking naps in.

And, I think I'll be able to use the sewing desk to craft and create on a little now too! I love how much more open this looks and feels! We have a wood chair that matches the wood of the desk and table, but Cameron swears this plastic folding chair is more comfortable. So we have the less pretty plastic chair there instead of the pretty wood one. Function sometimes wins out over beauty!

The Tower of Chaos shelves unstacked, and I moved one outside to hold plants and yard decor under my kitchen window when it warms up a little, and the other one I spray painted gold to help lighten up the room some (I tried orange, but didn't have enough leftover orange spray paint in the can). This went right by the desk to help hold the speakers, hide cords, and to enable me to keep my Life Binders close at hand to be able to use them more efficiently (again, a whole post on those will come before too long!). And the one plant I have managed to not kill, through 2 winters and a move even! You couldn't see it back in the corner where it used to live, and it got forgotten a few times. Now I can enjoy it every day, remember the sweet friend who gave it to me more often, and even remember to water it more frequently.

And finally with all the organizing and moving things around done, it was time to hit the last item on the list...the empty picture frames. I've been wanting to get "my colors" (orange, of course, and sage green! I'm loving that combo right now!!) in the living room more, along with a picture of our family, so I decided to make my own "printables" here at home and print them out on cardstock for now. The photos didn't come out super high quality, but it put pictures in the frames and when we update our family pictures after March I can get real prints made. For now though, this works great!

You can't read them real well with the glare, but the top is our last name and year we were married, and the bottom says "Gratitude turns what we have into Enough" (which is a great reminder for us in this little house!).

And then I printed off one of my all time favorite photos of Cameron and I for the other blank photo frame.

I really really LOVE how today's project turned out. I feel so much better about the room. It feels good. It looks miles better. And now I just want to create, or curl up on the couch and read, or play more with Darrow. I don't feel like hiding!

Darrow cheered me on from the couch all day. Poor kid woke up sick. He's a good little sicky...he doesn't cry, doesn't fuss, and doesn't get too clingy...he just wants to snuggle up on the couch, listen to music, and watch whatever I'm doing.

The next step I'd like to take in the Living Room are curtains. But now I have to figure out just what I want! Eek!

It's amazing what a little organization can do towards a room "makeover"!

Anyone else have to double up their living space as their work space and creative space? What do you do to make it work? What's your decorating/organizational style with it? 

The Kett Files: My Creative Space

A while back WeWork (a coworking company that offers shared office space in cities all over the world. They also offer tons of benefits to their members, such as discounts on healthcare, travel, gym memberships, accounting services,web hosting, etc.) e-mailed us and asked us what our creative spaces were like and what about them inspire us. We loved the idea of sharing that with our readers! Both Emilee and I recently went through some major downsizing and are kind of trying a slightly more minimalist approach, so the prospect of having a  creative work space that also functions as a day-to-day space was intriguing, difficult and a good challenge for us. If you missed Emilee's post about her beautiful space, go check it out now!

Let me tell you, after seeing Emilee's amazing space, I want to go to town on our Living Room and get all the ideas I have for it going! I may have a bit of apartment envy going on right now. But, I do have to remind myself that there are things that I love with what we have going on in our space too. This isn't about comparison, it's about sharing ideas...and Em's space has got me thinking! 

Being asked to do this post on our Creative Work Spaces has really gotten me looking at the space I have, what I like about how we're using it, what the aesthetics are, and what I would realistically like to improve. It's gotten me thinking a lot about what I could reasonably do to make this better. 

Knowing how much stuff we had before we moved, I look at the room and think, "Man! We've really thinned this down to basics and have it pretty bare bones!" but I've been trying to look at it through as non-biased of eyes as I can lately and I realize that while this is minimalist compared to what we did before...it truly is a far cry away from anything even close to minimalist. 

So, I am scheming and looking at things and trying to decide what to get rid of next, tweak next, and move next so that we control our space and our space doesn't control us. 

The space we have works. Maybe not great, but it works. I can create, work, and live in this space. And most days I'm pretty happy in it. I do look forward to a little more space some day, but we're not miserable in this little house. 

My Creative Work Space is basically my Living Room, which we, well...have to Live in. So, let's get on to the "tour" of my current space and some of my ideas of what I'd like to do to it in the near future. 

Let me give you the quick real life tour of the Living Room, as seen when standing at the front door. The window with plastic over it to keep the winter drafts out...but which also sealed in the hastily put up spring load curtain rod that fell down after said plastic was already in place. The couch (I LOVE it, but Cameron thinks it's uncomfortable...but we both love the color, so that's happy!) which always has more on it than just pillows or throws...currently it has a crochet project in one corner. The puff quit that is working as a rug, but it's totally off color for everything else in the room. And then the box of toys slid as far under the cedar chest as it will go until I get the bag made to hold the contents so they fit nicely on Darrow's toy shelf but don't get strewn about each morning. And the graduation tassel hanging from the ceiling fan because it just got hung there randomly and we haven't bothered to take it down.

Pretty much we're just disguising our lair of awesomeness as a semi-put together home so that the evil minions don't discover our whereabouts. So far it works!

When I need crafting space, the Cedar Chest slides over and becomes my sewing table. It used to live there all the time, but we moved it to the wall to give Darrow more play room. But as I look at these pictures, I sure do like the look of it in front of the couch. Hmmmm.

And of course my work space wouldn't be complete without my two legged, 10 armed (or so it seems!) supervisor who checks up on everything I'm doing and makes sure I turn on the light and provide snacks at reasonable interludes.

And that's the pretty side of the room...

The other side is a bit of a mess, even when it's been cleaned and organized. It does hold what we need, but it's not pretty!

I would desperately love to have the sewing desk be mostly a sewing desk once again, but the greater need right now is for it to be a computer desk (our main computer is a laptop, but the screen color calibration is horrible at best, so we have the HD monitor that needs to be set up for me to be able to do my photo processing and editing on).

When I straighten it all up, it looks a little better, but still crowded. And dusty! ALWAYS! I can sweep and dust 4 times a day and still there'd be a layer of dust on everything by the time I went to bed.

And then there's the black shelf of chaos. It catches everything and sucks it in. This is one of the first things I want to change up and improve! For now it holds the three boxes, currently designated as the computer box (for cords, software, and various technological odds and ends), the office box (computer paper, envelopes, cardstock, the hole punch, etc.), and the craft box (the supplies I use frequently...or just used and was too lazy to go put it away in the storage room), along with the printer, sewing machine, my Life Binders (which organize my entire life...more on those in another post), my camera sometimes, and various odds and ends that find their way there.

And then there's the last wall you haven't seen yet...the wall that is a full built in bookshelf. It's wonderful, but it is packed to gills. It's not pretty or aesthetically pleasing at all. But that's where my music books, craft patterns and books, our games, all our reading books, our photo albums, and Darrow's toys all live. It holds a ton!

The room is functional, and it holds a lot of stuff, but I think it could be improved upon! It has such an odd feeling to it; with the tan walls and muted turquoise accents it wants to be calming and inviting, but then the chaos of the furniture and overstuffed edges just makes it feel on edge and anxious. It doesn't motivate me to work or create, it motivates me to climb into the internet and hide and hope that someday it gets better.

And I never really was able to put all that in words and concrete thoughts until just now! I'm seeing specific aspects that are problems and I'm seeing things that I like and want to maximize.

So, here's my plan for immediate help, and then other remedies will have to come into place slowly as the budget allows, piece by piece.

1. Combine the shelves.

If I can clear out space on the built in bookshelf as well as the shelf by the computer, I would love to get rid of the Shelf of Chaos there in the corner by the computer desk completely. I think that will help the room look a little less cluttered.

This could then open up space to move the side table that's there by the door to the left of the computer desk in it's place and, with a shelf or a rolling cart beneath, hold the printer, speakers, and the actual laptop so that all that has to be on the desk is the screen, mouse, and keyboard. Then these could be easily scootched aside to allow for work space. I think that could work!

2.  Put SOMETHING in those blank pictures frames that are waiting for pictures (one hanging on the wall by the computer shelf and one propped up on the top shelf of the computer shelf, hidden behind the stuff hastily stashed atop the shelf).

One is reserved for the updated family pictures once She gets here in March, so I haven't put anything in it. And then I want updated shots of Cameron and I for our 10th anniversary. And I've used those as excuses to leave blank photo frames up. It's so easy to switch photos and pictures out, I don't know why I wait so long. So...whether it's quick art work, a Walmart print of a photo off my computer, or whatever...those need life inside them.

3. Put the puff quilts away.

They catch SO MUCH DIRT on the floor, and Darrow is constantly hauling them all over scattering said dirt and they just end up being clutter on the floor. I hoped they would work as rugs, but we need real rugs. So even for now while we don't have rugs, I think those need to be put away.

And that's my plan for what can be done now. Today. I think maybe I'll go get on that immediately!

After that, I'll show you the results. See you back here in a few hours to show you if this plan worked at all or not!

The Em-Life: My Creative Space

Heyo!

A while back WeWork (a coworking company that offers shared office space in cities all over the world. They also offer tons of benefits to their members, such as discounts on healthcare, travel, gym memberships, accounting services,web hosting, etc.) e-mailed us a while back and asked us what our creative spaces were like and what about them inspire us. We loved the idea of sharing that with our readers! Both Marquette and I recently went through some major downsizing and are kind of trying a more minimalist approach, so the prospect of having a  creative work space that also functions as a day-to-day space was intriguing, difficult and a good challenge for us. Check it out!

When someone asks me what my creative space looks like, I laugh a little inside...

"What creative space?"

I, at one time or another in the last five years, have had a designated craft table, but nothing solid, usually just a card table I would pull out if the occasion required it.

Since we moved in July it's been interesting trying to figure out how to work the little furniture we have and or purchased when we moved, to fit it to our many needs.

We now live in a two bedroom apartment and have tried to be more minimalist than before meaning we have really tried to limit the amount of stuff we bring into the house, including furniture and supplies for hobbies.

I am a serial "meant-to-ist", I meant to make that purse so I bought all the stuff for it. I meant to make that lamp shade work for us and I have all the supplies I just haven't gotten to it yet, etc... I am the worst at that habit and I have really been trying to change my ways. I can say with confidence that since the move I have only slipped once! Now I have 5 yards of forest green fabric that won't get used because I ran out of time for that fun Halloween project. Oops! #stillaworkinprogress

What I can say is that I do have a few spots around the house that I gravitate towards when I am working on something, a few things I wish I had to make crafting easier, and some things that are really in my wildest crafting dreams.

Let's start with the basics, where I am now.

This is my dining room, study room, office, reading nook, and crafting table.

The small bar cart in the back is a office of sorts, we didn't really need a traditional computer table because we each either have a laptop or tablet, so a small space for the printer when we need it, which is in storage at the moment, but other various office supplies (pens, pencils, label maker, envelopes etc.) are on the cart. I LOVE this cart. I love the design of it, and the usefulness is just an added bonus.

I put a lot of time into the design of this room, I really wanted it to reflect my personality and aesthetic. I really love the way it turned out. Some of my favorite pieces are:

Architects Drafting Table: World Market (Closeout clearance!)

Bar Cart: Target (Splurge!)

Crying Bison Painting: Hobby Lobby (40% off coupon)

Bow Tie Deer: Deer- Hobby Lobby, Bow Tie-Thrift Store

Clear Acrylic Rolling Chairs; TJ Maxx & Marshalls

Hanging Orange Geometric Lamps: Ikea (Steal! $6 each!)

Cuddles the Cactus: Home Depot

I love this space because I can sit or stand, the chairs roll which is a nice feature and the outlet is right next to wall making it convenient for my favorite glue gun, an iron, or my sewing machine. When I get working on a  project I tend to spread out, this table is just the right amount of space to get stuff done but also to help me reign it in when I'm getting' a little crafty crazy. If I had my way I would have a whole room of table just to spread out on.

I really needed this space to inspire me, feel inviting and homey, but clean and strictly organized. I have the strange need for 50% chaos and 50% OCD organization. Having all the pictures on the wall, combined with all the stuff on the table is just enough of a distraction that I don't feel like the space is to clean to work in.

*Bonus Tid-Bit: Marquette painted that picture of us in the background!

You may be wondering where all my crafting supplies are? Because of the small space and my need for clean they are all kept in a Rubbermaid in the spare closet, that Rubbermaid looks like this as of present:

So much for organization huh? Hey, I never said the system was perfect, just that it works for me.

When it's time for a project I drag out the whole box and rummage until I find what I need. So far, it hasn't been too bad.

As for spaces I would really love to work in for days at a time, these are a few I have picked out over the years:

http://stylecaster.com/how-to-make-a-small-room-look-bigger/

I love the use of color, organization and print here, add a table and I'm golden.

http://www.brit.co/workspace-ideas/

This HUGE table and open storage is right up my alley. I love the juxtaposition of all the different prints and the solid black, classy and creative.

http://thedesignfiles.net/2012/06/melbourne-home-natalie-bloom-and-family-giveaway/

I really like the organized chaos here, the chaos is relegated to the wall space freeing up the mind and the table for happy creating.

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/-9811103/photo-4040731711

I really like the use of nature in this space, calming and perfect for conjuring creative juices. It just looks fresh doesn't it?! I also love the minimalism here.

What does your space look like? Is it organized chaos? Organized to a T? Does it look like a tornado hit it? Do you wish it were different? Why does it inspire you? We love hearing your feedback!

Happy Weekend Pinstrosipeeps!



1 Family in a 1 Bedroom House: Closet Makeover inspired by Hangers

My original plan for the 1 Family in a 1 Bedroom House series was to show what we've be able to do so far to maximize the space we live in room by room. 

But then I realized that'd be done in 3-4 posts and then it'd be over. Or I'd have to then do repeats of whole rooms later when we improved a space. So I wasn't really sure where to go with that. 

And then I had an idea. Actually, Cameron had an idea. I have to give credit where credit is due. He suggested that rather than try and show an entire room (and waiting to show a room until I felt like we'd done enough in it to merit a full post), to show spaces. 

Genius!

This way we can work on our house bite by bite, rather than trying to "makeover" one room all at once. So the series will take a shift, and I think it will be for the better. The original idea remains to share ideas on how we use our space, but now in smaller chunks I'm hoping it will motivate me to keep improving on our space usage and efficiency, and it definitely will create more blog content than just the 4 posts it originally would have spread over. 

So today you get installation #2 of the 1 Family in a 1 Bedroom House series! And I'm not taking you anywhere new...sorry. Back to our family bedroom! 

You saw a brief glimpse of our closet in the video showcasing the ginormous bed (which we LOVE!), and a quick picture...but that was it. It was enough though to show how packed it was and how chaotic it looked. 

A friend saw that post and decided for Christmas that we needed some help with it, and we're so grateful! Her sweet gift has made such a difference! 

I tackled the closet yesterday to use her gift and to reorganize it, and I'm so happy with the outcome. We still have a little work to do, but it is a million times better already. 

Here's how it looked when I went in to start. Eek. 

You've gotta love the chunky plastic hangers from Walmart that come in a huge pack for cheap. Cheap. That's why we had those! And because I really didn't realize how much of a difference good hangers make. I now know!

Our friend gave us a few sets of Joy Mangano's Huggable Hangers sets. These are amazing! And they make our closet look so much more grown up and nice! I started by switching out as many of our hanging clothes as we had Huggable Hangers for. That alone improved things some!

There was already more room just with that change, but I decided to take it further. I took our 2-3 t-shirts we each had and put those in our pants drawers. Neither of us are big t-shirt wearers (long torsos just look a little funny in most regular t-shirts), so we don't have many and figured they didn't need to hang. So that cleared up 7 hangers.

Next I went through and I pulled out all of my clothes that my baby belly doesn't fit in (or won't soon) right now and put those in my "when I'm not pregnant" box of clothes. Finally I went through and pulled out shirts neither of us had worn since we moved there and put them in a box to take to Savers this weekend. That cleared up A LOT more space!

And the plastic hanger carnage lay on the bed in a testament of the battle waged. Guess how many there are.

I guessed 40ish. Wrong! 105! That's absolutely ridiculous! Or as Darrow says, "Dico-wus!" Too many hangers, too many clothes. We're slowly getting closer to a basic wardrobe (capsule style-ish) that isn't more than we really need.

I love how sturdy these hangers are, and how the clothes stay on them so well! So many of my shirts would slip off the plastic hangers, but they stick really well to these new hangers! And I love the "Joy" logo printed into each hanger. I know that's the creator's name, but what a good reminder to see every single day! Make each day joyful!

And that's where it ended. For a few hours. But the closet kept gnawing at my mind. I was sure I could do even more. Along with 2 sets of the hangers were clips to add on that allow you to hang hangers from hangers, utilizing vertical space. With the way all the boxes were in the bottom of the closet at first I thought I wouldn't be able to use them, but I pulled everything out, rearranged, added the vertical hanging clips, and it all fits so much better now!

Once it gets closer to B-Day (Baby Day, Birth Day, etc), we'll pull the bassinet out of the storage room and then there will be room to put that Herhsey's box (full of my childhood journals) and the green crate of picture frames in the storage room. So until then it's still not as picturesque as we'd like, but it is so much better!

I'll need to order one more set of these hangers* for spring when the cold stuff gets packed in that blue crate and for when I can pull out my favorite dresses and shirts from the "when I'm not pregnant" box. But for now this is absolutely perfect! And, it gave us enough space that I could move the blue tote into the closet and free up space out in the room!

*If you're interested in these hangers you can find the exact ones here (not an affiliate link), or on Amazon there are similar Set of 50 Ultra Thin No Slip Velvet Suit Hangers here (that one is an affiliate link).  

I think the next step in the closet now will be to make or buy a big curtain to hang in there. We're hoping that will make the room look a little more tidy if you can't see everything crammed in there. But, that's another day and another post!