Making it home

Christmas has come and gone and it is a new year.  We just got all of the Christmas decorations put away.  They were so beautiful and I truly enjoyed them this year.  It has been nice for the house to return to normal though.  I suspect that I will be vacuuming up glitter for the next 3 months.

Our family has experienced many ups and downs and certainly many major life adjustments.  This June we moved into a new home!  We quickly unpacked and set everything up.  Now that we have been here for six months, it is time to start adding those personal little touches that make it home.

I have been on pintrest for the last several weeks trying to come up with ideas on how to get more organized and make our space work better for us, while at the same time making it look good too.  My first project came this morning.  Our coat closet was a mess and the hooks for the back packs were in a terrible location and not working for us at all.  So I attacked that first.  I forgot to take a before picture, but the closet was a wreck and the entry way was empty after we took the tree out.

I hope I can keep it like this, but I doubt it.  I hung the coats in order from shortest person to tallest person.  The shoe shelf was already in there.  I just straightened them.  I also took a ton of stuff out for basement storage.  The brown basket at the top is for hats, gloves, and mittens.  Sam installed a hook on the left side for my diaper bag.  This project cost me nothing.  

The entry way.  I was hesitant to put the book bags here, but this is where we come into the house from the basement/garage.  This project so far has also cost me nothing.  I dug an old night stand/cabinet that we are not using out of the basement, moved the hooks for the book bags, took a basket that was not being used out of the boys' bathroom, and hung a wreath.   I usually hang that wreath on the outside of the front door, but I figured since no one will be out there this winter, it would be nice for us to be able to enjoy it from the inside.  This is still a work in progress.  I am going to be looking for a small lamp for the night stand/cabinet and I'm also still brainstorming about what to hang on the wall over it.

My next project is this drab empty wall and pantry door. The pantry door will be receiving a few coats of chalk board paint and the wall will serve as our family command and chore chart center.

This will be the before picture.

These are the pins that have inspired my ideas for this area.

I have also been busy in the school room.  I cleaned out some toys and freed up a bin, so I moved it into the school room to house the preschool toys, puzzles, lacing beads, and other activities.  We ordered some preschool curriculum and I have started researching "tot trays" to keep Anna busy on the mornings that she is home with us. Screen time is a little out of control right now.

Sam really wanted the kids to have some sort of cubies for their workbooks and such.  For now we are using these plastic drawers.  I am going to dress them up with some pretty paper and my Aunt Dean is making name labels for them.

 

I have a big dream for the school room that would include several of the Trofast storage combinations from Ikea.  This is an expensive project so it will have to wait.

For the kids with January birthdays, we are planning to work on a few projects instead of gifts.  Here is one of the ideas we plan to create in our home soon.




And another one.



These are all little and very inexpensive projects that I know will make this house a little more of a home for our family.