Clear Corner.

The corner where we are trying to set

up a mini gym on Monday ~ purge day.

And the same corner, ready for the rest

of our mini gym, on Thursday. All done!

~ Chy

Clear Island.

The top of the island in the art studio

on Monday when I started the purge.

The top of the island on Thursday when

I completed the purge! So beautiful!!

~ Chy

Weekend "To Do" List.

Our weekends are pretty full now that we're in the last

few weeks of packing up & moving. Time to sell the

house! We have a few things to finish up before we

can list. The list is long but manageable. Want to see?

*pull out the storage unit from the laundry room

*rip up the old vinyl floor from the laundry room

*fill holes, scrape, then the walls in the laundry room

*scrape out the last little bits of thin set on the tiles

*grout then wash all the new tiles in the kitchen

*finish painting the last coat on the kitchen cabinets

*shop for then install the new drawer & cabinet knobs

*put down the new vinyl floors in the 1/2 bath, laundry

room & at the front door to give a fresh look

*finish up the last bits of baseboard & door trim

*paint said baseboards & trim & do touch ups

Packing & purging has gone well. Today, I'm packing

up our china cabinet then I'll tackle the last bits in my

art studio. On Monday, I hope to finish up the 4th

bedroom as we'll tackle the renos on the weekend.

Soon, soon, all this work will be done!!

I'm Going In ~ Wish Me Luck!!

Hi everyone!

The time has come. (Cue dramatic music). We have two rooms in our house that have suddenly, with all our renovating, sorting, purging and packing, become the place to "put" things that need to be out of the way. All of us have contributed to the clutter and yesterday, it got to me! We've not lived with stuff out of place to this degree. It actually totally embarrasses me to even think of taking a picture and posting the mess. But after reading someone else's blog, where they posted a spot in their home that had become cluttered, and then she posted a week later with the incredible progress, I became inspired to do the same. Because if I post, I have to purge it, right? You, my faithful blog readers will be my coaching team. I can hear you all now, shouting to the rooftops "Go Chy Go!!"

This room used to be our youngest son's room. Hence the "sports" wall paper border. After he moved out, we kept it pretty empty for a while. At that time, all our kids had moved on, except for our youngest daughter, so it was really a wasted space for a while. Then we were gifted the huge dollhouse peeking out on the left. A few months later, we bought the purple couch for $100 ~ brand new and still had the tag on but the family was transferred and had to sell it quick. It was a $1400 couch! So we put in the metal shelves for books and dollhouse reno tools and it became the "dollhouses studio." Now it has become a spot for boxes for packing (empty), piles of "stuff" to sort to donate or sell. A few items from renovating as well, including four boxes of flooring we still need to lay, paint for the walls and the blinds that need to be hung up. Good thing we're still here!

Same room, expanded view. 

Scary, isn't it?

Here's the second room that has caused me so much stress lately. It was our "nursery" and then my art studio for the last few years. But again, with all our sorting and purging, it has become a different studio of sorts. Maybe more like a "packing warehouse!" I'm happy we can see the floor but so stressed by the stuff we need to pack. The rest of the house is so neat and orderly, and then you come up the stairs and here's what you see. Ugh! I can't wait for it all to be gone. 

A secondary view.

So my dear blog buddies, will you encourage me to get this finished? Yesterday, I cleared out a lovely section in the art studio, with items meant to go back to work (why are they in my house?), items for donation now tucked away into my car for drop off at the charity shop and items for packing that are now in the intended box or sitting on the table to be wrapped. It's a start and I'm tired and sore today, so I know I made a good dent. I will post pictures as soon as it's all done. We have a strict time limit as our oldest son is coming home for Christmas and he'll be sleeping, snug as a bug, in the "sports" themed room on the purple couch. His arrival is set for early on December 21st. Can't wait!

Do you have a spot in your house that you avoid?

A place where things pile up and the door is shut?

Re~Purposing an old Crib!

Hi everyone!

We are in the midst of getting rid of the things we don't need to move to the new house. Things that have been sitting in our storage room. Things that are no longer used. Taking up room, taking up the air. We're far from being hoarders but we still have accumulated a few extra items over the years. 

Two items that are crowding our storage room are the two cribs we've been storing. Our first crib was a Jenny Lind that we scrimped and saved for. However, our little one preferred her cradle and our arms and this beautiful crib became a great place to store folded laundry! In time, the new laws made the crib, never used by our children, not safe, so we took it apart and stored it away. A few children later and it was time to buy a new crib when we started our dayhome. Our littles would sometimes sleep in the new crib for a nap here and there, although they, like their older sister, preferred the cradle and arms, and eventually, a big, warm, cozy, family~filled bed. The dayhome babies loved it and it became well used but still sturdy and well made, so we hung on to it after we closed up shop. Now we have two incredible, wood cribs and no use for them at the moment. We can put them both out on the curb for the large item pick up in a few weeks. Or chop them up and use the wood for the fire pit. Or give them away ~ except you're not supposed to do that do to the new regulations. 

That is, until I found some Pinterest ideas tonight! Here's what I've decided now. For the Jenny Lind crib, with the beautiful turned spindles, we'll paint it a lovely shade of light pink and set it up in the guest bedroom. More for decoration than for use, it will give the feeling of comfort and serenity. The walls will be a light shade of sage green, with pink accents. 

The second crib also has turned spindles but it has a bit more of a clean, new look. We'd love to turn it into the porch swing shown below for our front veranda:

There, decisions made! We'll keep both cribs, bring them out of storage and re~purpose them both for new uses. No throwing them into the landfill or storing them again. New uses for old stuff!

Have you ever re~purposed old furniture?