Organize my home

We relocated the diaper-changing station to the bathroom in hopes that it will make his transition to being diaper-free easier. The old tv stand that we were using for said station is now on the front porch awaiting a cleaning; I’ll be offering it on our local Freecycle. I then moved his crib over to the empty corner, and I also removed the barstool that was holding up a lamp and his diaper wipes. That, with the other I’d taken out a month ago, should also go the way of Freecycle, assuming none of our friends want them.

The next step will be to move his dresser under the north window (where the crib was) so that we can move his dome tent of stuffed animals to that west window and leave a clear walkway from the door into his room (who am I kidding? he’ll have that space strewn ankle deep in toys every day). Eventually, I want to find some sort of shelving unit that will (in theory, obviously) keep his crates of toys accessible without taking up too much floor space. I’ll shop craigslist and the consignment stores first; if I can’t find anything within a few months, I’ll see what Nasco has to offer.

Then, we’ll take his gated play area out of the living room, which will be nice to have back. I imagine that I can use the playyard out by the greenhouse so that I can keep his range manageable while I’m out in the garden. Our yard has a ways to go before it is unsupervised-kid friendly.

As far as decorating goes, I’m still waiting for DH to mount the rod holders I’d bought back in August so that we can finally use the blue curtains from our last house (they have stars that glow in the dark, I figured the cool factor would have motivated him by now). The curtains that my MIL had promised us before son was born have not come about (they were DH’s boyhood ones, so it isn’t as if she’s flaking on a from-scratch project). DH also wants to lay green wood flooring, paint grass around the baseboards, paint or paper the walls blue with clouds, and create a night sky on the ceiling.

If our efforts to get pregnant pay off anytime soon, my days in here will be numbered. Right now, I have a plan to relocate most of my bookshelves out of the room and spread them through the house. 5 shelving units will go to the dining room, 3 to the living room, and 2 to the hallway. That will leave 3 strays that I’ll either replace or rework (one is actually a shelf/brick structure, I might try to get DH to mount brackets to use the shelving, possibly in the office/bedroom or son’s room).

The filing cabinets will go next to the white desk that’s in the dining room now, and I’ll try to get my planks and glass blocks onto those, so I can still have a place for all my paper trays. With all that gone, we will probably move the futon into the bedroom, and my reading chair will make its home in the living room with the recliner (and without even trying, we manage to match colors). After all that, I’ll just have a few crates and a rolling cart and my altar to deal with.

I admit to being pretty lost when it will come time to clean out one of the closets. I suppose the off-season and festival clothes storage will have to be binned and stacked into the master bedroom closet, and by the time I absolutely have to be out of Theoretical New Baby’s room, S will have bought a windowed shed, wired it for phone, electric, and internet, and built a fenced/covered play area for Anthony. Then I’ll figure out how best to incorporate a craft area. Will look into those pre-built cabins we’ve seen on Hwy 281 on the way to San Antonio-at least one of those should come in 2-room models.

The cabin is suppposed to be a temporary fix-there’s talk of an addition to be contracted, but that is so far down the line (I’m putting my money on 8-10 years), I’d be wise to make my new space as comfortable as I want, and not hold off on quality bookshelves, a comfy chair, and a mini-fridge “because I won’t be in it long.”

The space itself is currently my husband’s office (he’s been working from home since June of last year). He’ll be starting his new job in the middle of next month, and will have a week and two weekends off to (hopefully) finish his new office (the old garage shop) and move in. Once that happens, I hope to implement the following:

Rip up the carpet—one less room to worry about when we can finally afford to put the tile down in that room and the two adjoining. Husband may object to this.

Move the dining table and chairs back in from the side porch, also move several items from porch to storage shed.

Move son’s highchair and feeding supplies cart in, freeing up a corner of the kitchen.

Wean ourselves off the second refrigerator in the kitchen, move it to the garage for storing extra beverages and eggs for sale.

Invest in 2 of these:
Pantry Caddy
This will free up cabinet space in the kitchen, and clear out the few cooking implements still stuck in the dining room

I can also get rid of the microwave cart, and that should make room for one of these for the household filing:
File Console

I’ll be moving some bookshelves into the dining room, and that will help me by putting my books where they’ll be best used.

Mom and I spent a few hours on Saturday at the IKEA up north, and I managed to find the dressers I can live with for a while. They’re in the MALM collection, each has 6 drawers, and I’ll probably get the medium brown, even though that will clash horribly with the rest of the bedroom decor [who am I kidding,we have 2 sets of things-the headboard and dh’s dresser, and the nightstands-that match each other and nothing else].

In getting these, I’ll get more drawer space for the buck, and I’ll be able to move out of my husband’s dresser, AND we can finally get rid of his old one with the derailed drawers.

I also found a bathtub there for DS, and I will probably hang it next to my vanity (over the dirty towel pile) when we aren’t using it.

I’m really glad that our “local” IKEA is over an hour away from here.

Stopped by one of the Big Boxes to find some home organization supplies. Brought home a remote control rack, some cable labels, a doorknob “essentials” keeper [these three items were for DH], and three wire shoe shelves.

After I purged my shoes (2 to trash, 2 for giveaway), I set up the new shelves, then placed the old rack on top, and proceeded to take my t-shirts off hangers. I rolled those up and found that I still had room for my sarongs. This gave me a little more breathing space in the dresser I’m sharing with my husband—now I have space for everything once I’ve done all my laundry. I also took down about 5 blouses for giving away.