Let's Organize our HS rooms!

[Forgiven]

So, when organizing art supplies, how do you store construction paper so it's easy to access? Mine is currently on a book shelf in a magazine file, but its too heavy for my little ones to lift. I'm thinking of getting something like this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Kaisercraft-Beyond-Scrapbooking-Paper-Storage/dp/B004BPWFD0/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1374023919&sr=8-9&keywords=Scrapbook+paper+storage

 

 

Any other ideas?

 

I don't have a link, but I found a neat way to store construction paper last night while I was browsing other people's pinterest boards. Someone took one of those file folder pocket wall hangers and put construction paper in it, by color, so each slot had a different color in it. I love this idea and plan to do it myself.

 

Here's a link for Lakeshore Learning's File Folder Pocket thing:

 

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C893%2C728&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1374070445230

[MrsMe]

We just use a portable file box with a handle, that way gravity keeps the kids from making a paper mess every time they grab a sheet.  They drag it around to wherever the crafting is going on, sometimes it's a stage for Barbies or a picnic table, etc.  

 

FileColors.jpg

You mean the purple isn't in the purple file and red not in red........

 

:scared:

 

LOL

[Flux]

You mean the purple isn't in the purple file and red not in red........

 

:scared:

 

LOL

 

Ha! :lol:  

Don't think that didn't cross my mind!

[JenninMN]

We don't have a dedicated schoolroom.  We have bookcases in our living room and kitchen.  We do our work on the couch and at the kitchen table.

[twoxcell]

I'm down for organizing, but I don't have a school room. Our dining room doubles as our school room. So far I have gone through and organized our school supplies. I wrote a list of things we need. I also organized our book shelves and got rid of a bunch of books a few weeks ago. Need to go through some more stuff though.

[BlsdMama]

So I'm really just organizing my homeschool HOUSE.

 

Moved the sofas into the basement last night to turn the upstairs living room into a dining room and functional area.  We never SIT on the sofas except maybe on the weekends after we carry up the television to watch it.  Now we have the sofas downstairs WITH the television.  It makes more sense but it still feels weird to me that I don't have a functional living room upstairs.

 

Trying to figure out how to make it work exactly.

 

Switched out a short bookcase for a tall one and put them like this:

 

 

Packed away tons of books in the last couple of weeks so that what is ON these shelves is stuff planned for this year.  And some favorite things to read aloud and read and re-read. :)  But I packed away almost everything I could order from the library and that wasn't a resource for ancients.

 

Hung the ROUTINE (NOT schedule) board here:

 

 

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the play area.  Working on it, but I woke up to four sick kids, one with vomit.  Today might not be very productive.

[TraceyS/FL]

Do you have a close up of your routine board??? I really really need one of those.....

I haven't had a couch in awhile - you adapt!!! :D

[Ravin]

I'd like to see the routine board, too. Last year I just put our assignment schedule up on a dry erase board. This year I'm doing a printed planner and to do list for DD. Putting routines up on the board instead sounds brilliant!

[MtnTeaching]

Yes, I am currently working on my schoolroom...which is why I am procrastinating by reading about all of you cleaning your schoolrooms.  :001_smile:

 

I have learned a few things over the past two days of organization (otherwise known as "excavation"):

 

1.  Do NOT use the same room for sorting mail and bill paying.  It took over and I could not find a thing (including the registration card for our pickup truck.)

2.  Do NOT use the same room for menu planning (my nemesis)

3.  High School books take up about 500% more room than elementary picture books.

4.  I found things I did not even know I had lost.

 

[StaceyE]

Drawers are emptied and ready to be gone through. I need to make lists of what supplies are low and I have organization stuff I want to add to the room before we start up again. Horizontal surfaces have accumulated non-homeschooling junk over the summer and need to be cleaned. I switched to a bigger bookcase and need to find a new home for the old one that has been sitting in the foyer for more then a few weeks now. Dh has a few things to hang on the walls that we didn't get around to putting up last year. All in all, it isn't too bad. I do need to finish up because if dh comes home from work with my curriculum planning stuff spread across the kitchen counter one more time, he may come undone. He has been understanding about late dinners with the ridiculous amount of time I've put into planning out this year instead of tending to our family, but his patience might be waning. Time to get the room cleaned up and the lesson plans finished. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BlsdMama]

It's similar to the MOTH idea with a few exceptions.

 

The first?  No times.  :) I can drive myself crazy if I'm AWARE I'm off schedule.  To BE off schedule is fine.  But I don't want to have little things that come up (a dirty diaper, longer explaining math, fun time discussing history) push me back from INVESTING time.   This keeps me aware that there are things to be done and we should keep moving forward, but without feeling minor or major irritations at things that consume time.  Does that make sense?  Living on a schedule makes me a cranky person.  Living on a routine does the opposite.

 

For the big kids who are in charge of their own routine -  they GET their tabs.  Then they pop them on the board as they finish things.  It's like a To Do list - but more visual?  They can see what they have left to do from the tabs in front of them and then what is done at the end of the day by filling in the slots.

 

The graph is made using graphing tape from Staples - thin black graphing tape.

The tabs are cardstock, printed off in everyone's color with things they ought to accomplish throughout the day or week.  Then I laminated them, cut them apart and stuck magnets on the back.  You can buy sheets of magnets that are able to be cut at Staples as well.

The board is a magnetic whiteboard ($19.99 at Costco I believe.)

 

 

 

The gap to the left is SUPPOSED to have the week's menu attached but it hasn't happened yet. 

 

I have made routines before that are set off by particular times.  For example on my written routines  I have inserted a wake up time, Bible time (the beginning of school for us),  noon for lunch and one o'clock for nap, just to add punctuation to my day. :) 

 

[MrsMe]

We don't have a dedicated schoolroom.  We have bookcases in our living room and kitchen.  We do our work on the couch and at the kitchen table.

PICT0130__1374083915_66.41.133.237.jpgPICT0131__1374083973_66.41.133.237.jpg

I have those exact two desk units times 4...just not the one in the middle! LOL

[awisha.]

I had DH put a rail across two legs of the cutting table (I sew) he made me so I could store the roll of newsprint I have...

 

 

 

 

 

I store our coloured construction paper in a cardboard tray organiser thingy...

 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Spam in post 127 reported.

[Meriwether]

Has everyone made good progress this week?  I've worked on making booklets this week, but I have been very scattered.  I've been waiting for biopsy results since Monday, and I've been having trouble focusing.  Apparently, I need focus to plan for school.  I've also been spending more time playing Candyland.  I'm actually expecting either good or, at least, not horrible results, but life is short, yk?

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Has everyone made good progress this week?  I've worked on making booklets this week, but I have been very scattered.  I've been waiting for biopsy results since Monday, and I've been having trouble focusing.  Apparently, I need focus to plan for school.  I've also been spending more time playing Candyland.  I'm actually expecting either good or, at least, not horrible results, but life is short, yk?

 

:grouphug:  Nothing like sweating out the wait for medical news.  :grouphug:

[8filltheheart]

I am completely inept, apparently.   I tried to load a few pictures and I couldn't make it work in a single post.   I have no idea what I am doing.  :p   Anyway, in a few posts I'll post a few pictures of our areas.   (Not posting a picture of the kitchen table.   It is just a booth table with storage in the benches where the kids can put notebooks and pencil boxes and it is in a bay area with lots of natural light.   We also have a bench seat under a window in the kitchen with cabinet type storage.   That is where they keep their books that are used daily.)

 

Here is a picture of the bar area in the kitchen that opens to the living room.   The living room has a large storage cabinet (I'm posting a picture of it with doors closed and opened b/c there is a lot of stuff stored in that cabinet.   ;)  All of the books that we are not using this yr organized by category (science on one shelf, math on another, etc), all TC lectures, and my file boxes which contain my homeschool records are in this cabinet.    The living room Ls back to the left.   There is a comfy sofa and a large chair in there that aren't pictured any where.  Plants and religious artwork are the only decorations.  Plus the game table that can be seen.

 

ETA:   I couldn't get it let me add all three.  So here it is only with the doors closed.   I was going to post the doors open so you could see how much stuff is inside, but realized that the bar area wasn't in that picture at all and I 'm too lazy to take another picture. 

On the wall at the end of the bar is this storage cube organizer except laid on its side to be 3x2 instead of 2X3.  http://www.samsclub.com/sams/six-cube-organizer/prod5780014.ip   It is where all the art supplies, pre-school puzzles/blocks, coloring books, etc are.    Also, printing paper/ink, hole punches, staplers, etc.

[8filltheheart]

Well, it wouldn't let me add all three pictures I was going to, so here the only other one I can post which is the family room with all our bookshelves.   There is a bookshelf on the right hand wall that you can't see. 

[plath]

I don't have a link, but I found a neat way to store construction paper last night while I was browsing other people's pinterest boards. Someone took one of those file folder pocket wall hangers and put construction paper in it, by color, so each slot had a different color in it. I love this idea and plan to do it myself.

 

Here's a link for Lakeshore Learning's File Folder Pocket thing:

 

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C893%2C728&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1374070445230

 

This is what we do, except I keep all the art paper in ours, so don't divide by color.  I ordered my pocket chart from amazon.  It's hanging on the wall next to our calendar, which is right by our dining room table (where the kids do their art projects).

[Runningmom80]

Sorry if this posts twice, I'm not seeing my original. I just wanted to share this little home office inspiration, she has 6 kids. http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/home-office/makeover-home-office-00000000040873/index.html

[meggie]

http://andwiththemorn.blogspot.com/2013/07/blog-post.html

For the life of me, I can't figure out how to attach pictures here.  I'm a bit sleep deprived and brain dead, so this is the best I can do.  I posted the pictures of our school spaces on my blog, linked above.

The first picture is our bookshelf and school table.  That school table is a source of frustration.  It used to be where our cabinets are, then I decided the cabinets were more important so I bought those and told DH we could sell the school table.  Now that it's been several months, he seems to have forgotten that we were going to sell it and wants to keep it.  To me, it's just big and bulky, there's no room for it anymore and we could work just fine at the kitchen table.

Anyway, book shelf needs to be organized, especially the top.  All that clutter needs to be not there.  Laundry in the rocking chair ought to be folded and taken care of and all :blushing:

The second picture is of my new cabinets.  I love them but do not love that the littles can get into them and wreak havoc in there.  I just caught Digby yesterday trying to use our brand new dry erase markers on paper.  Also, Pigby is obsessed with the math blocks and whenever he loses them, he'll go get more from the cabinet.  So we have very few tens blocks in there now. 

That overflowing basket of library books is just ridiculous.  We don't have anywhere else to store them though.

 

Third picture is our filing cabinets and game shelf.  Oh the stress these cause.  The bottom drawers do no lock, so the littles are always getting into the paints and craft supplies.  Last week my house was a disaster of cut paper and tape.  I really need to organize all the drawers as Digby has created another disaster in the tot school drawer.  I think he dumped his sensory bin out.  Plus the littles think it's fun to stick popsicle sticks into the cracks of all the drawers.  The top of the cabinet needs to be organized as well.  The globe and the clock are the only things that should be on there.  I have no idea where to keep the AAS board so the littles don't touch it.  I'm sure pieces are being lost all the time.  Plus the other clutter needs to be dealt with.

The game shelf needs to be organized.  It's just a heap of chaos right now.  Driving me bonkers.

Oh, I forgot to take a picture of our Desk Apprentice.  All of that needs to be taken care of as well.  Clean folders put in and nicely labeled, papers from last year put into their binders and then put in storage.

I still need to print off all the Confessions of a Homeschooler papers for preschool and put them in the filing cabinet.  There's a lot to do and it's difficult with three children who follow behind me and undo all the work I've done!

[JenC3]

I am getting ready to paint our 4th hsing room! I'm about to try and carve out a space...AGAIN. We have 5 bedrooms plus a den, but school always ends up in the kitchen and my stuff is spread. out. everywhere. Since I have 3 this year and a baby I have to get serious about everything organized and in it's place, um in ONE place!

[TraceyS/FL]

I am getting ready to paint our 4th hsing room! I'm about to try and carve out a space...AGAIN. We have 5 bedrooms plus a den, but school always ends up in the kitchen and my stuff is spread. out. everywhere. Since I have 3 this year and a baby I have to get serious about everything organized and in it's place, um in ONE place!

Good luck!!!

 

SInce you know you always end up there - I would probably attack it from the approach that it is more of your office/storage space, maybe with a quiet workspace. Then store stuff that you use daily in something that can easily move to another room... and then BACK to the spot!

 

Oh but, what color are you painting??? Dang, I want to come paint with you... i love to paint!!! :D

 

 

I hear that the living room is getting dealt with today. It's been a crazy week....

[swellmomma]

Pictures to be posted later.  I finished the livingroom last night (well minus the baseboards and thresholds).  This is where the littles play while the bigs work at the kitchen table, where we do read alouds/assigned reading, and where the big discussions take place.  It has been a year long work in progress but it is finally a cozy, inviting room.  I have to run to the store for batteries for my camera before I post pics but they are coming.

Today I will be finishing with the kitchen space.  Not nearly as comfy/cozy/pretty as the livingroom.  It needs to be redecorated, but for now the focus is on the school shelves.  It is very hard to go from my 4x4 expedit, that had books in double rows on each shelf, down to a 3x3 little unit from the walmart, that is like the size of a 2x2 expedit.  I have piles and piles of books in my backroom and office to figure out what I am going to do with them until I need them since I can't store them with the rest but they are needed for this year.  Just later down the line.  The kitchen looks WAY bigger though with the big shelf out.  I can actually pull the table out from the wall and have space for all the chairs in there again (I was storing some out of the room and only bringing them in as needed).  Hopefully it will be done by the time I am taking livingroom pictures so I can post them all at the same time.

[birchbark]

Okay, let's see if I can get some pics attached.

 

 

Here are the filing cabinets next to the couch that I mentioned in a previous post.

 

 

My pride and joy: the bookshelves we put in last winter. Everything has been recently culled and organized so no work to do there!

 

 

Here's the coat closet I just emptied. Any ideas on how to make this organized and storage-friendly for school? I'm thinking about modular drawers and a wall-mount dispenser for big rolls of paper. It's not very big, about 50" wide and 19" deep.

 

 

The dining room where we do school. I posted about the corner above the pellet stove some time ago. I decided to hang these super cute alphabet cards from eeboo. Not sure if I like them there or not, but I don't have a lot of other places to hang them. :)

 

 

The whole room from the other side. It works great for homeschooling. My only gripe is that it faces north.

 

(Sorry these pics are so big. Does anyone else use Picasa web albums and can give some pointers? :p)

 

 

[Sobeknofret]

We've made some progress too. Darth's little table and chairs are going to be taken out to the garage today, and the bookshelf behind it cleared out for more storage for his books and reference materials. I'm also trashing the battered bins that his loose crayons, markers and such are in and reorganizing a shelf of the bookcase to store paper, markers, colored pencils and construction paper. I think I might try to get office trays to organize the papers and cups for pencils and markers. I need to clear clutter before anything else though, and that's the most important part. I'm really not the most clutter-free person on the planet :svengo:

[Arcadia]

The whole room from the other side. It works great for homeschooling. My only gripe is that it faces north.

Your baby is adorable :)

My coat closet came with a shelf and a bar for coats hanging. We did not add more shelves and just use it as a store room.

[TraceyS/FL]

My kids decided to clean THEIR room today. We have had some arguments (my middle child doesn't have great impulse control when she is sick - and it is showing today), but they appear to be back working. Which doesn't bode well for what *I* need to get done today.... but that really really needs to be done back there too.

 

I also have a closet to figure out what is happening with it now that it is empty - and shelves to move and such. 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I have all the stuff cleared and put away, but now I have to begin the overwhelming task of culling books and curricula out of my main shelf. I have such a hard time with this part! Oh, and I still need to vacuum :D

[Arcadia]

I have been de-cluttering and hubby has been vacuuming twice a day because of all the dust bunnies.

How do you minimise dust collection? Our dining room is the less dusty but that window is permanently closed because of older's allergy to "dust" from the dryer vent just next to the window. I wipe the window ledges once a week as it gets a layer of dust. Any suggestions?

[TraceyS/FL]

That map is cute! I have some wall pops white sheets I bought on clearance at Lowes YEARS ago... I just saw a new one in a box. The other I bent up taking it down because I was sick of looking at it on the door! :p

I'm going to cut my own vinyl for a wall.... i think. It will depend on how cheap I find the vinyl. It might just be easier to buy it with a backing, neither option is happening for a few months at least!

The kids are still mucking out their room - sooooo..... not much happened in my area today. Except I went and bought dish soap :D

[Halcyon]

So I ordered a rug today from target! Praying it is a good one and hope it transforms the hs room into something a little cozier. Looking for pillows too.

[stoverdavid30]

If your children are old enough, let them be involved in the process.  It will teach them a valuable lesson.  I didn't learn it until I was in college.  One of my prof's had a system and his mantra was, "Learn to file so you don't pile!"

[BlsdMama]

You mean the purple isn't in the purple file and red not in red........

 

:scared:

 

LOL

I'm starting to realize I might be OCD... I wouldn't have added the LOL after my shocked expression. :P ;)

[TraceyS/FL]

Well, my kids are still cleaning their room (by choice).... they found my Judy Clock in there!! :p

 

(its one of the small personal sized ones)

 

 

[Runningmom80]

I'm currently trying to fit a new desk for ds into our house and budget. :laugh:

[BlsdMama]

birchbark, I love your space and I think the letters look great!

[Pen]

...  To do a real purge and reorganize you need peace and quiet and focus.  None of those things are accomplished with the kids underfoot.  I think of it like spring cleaning.  YOu teach your kids how to do the cleaning chores, and they pitch in all year long, but spring cleaning time, you just want the young people out of the way so you can get the nooks and crannies and purge to your hearts content.

 

The kind of organization being done this time of year does not benefit having kids under foot.  You are deciding if you are actually done with an old curric and can sell it or if you want to box it up for future kids.  THen you have to organize all the new stuff.  THis time of year I organize and reorganize all of the items a few times before they are just right.  There is nothing to have a child help with doing that because I myself do not know how I want things to be.  This is not a mere sorting of a certain magazine or putting book spines out.  This is clear the shelves, wipe them down then reshelve the books based on grade, topic, and height (oh wait is that just me? ) It is no different than the school teacher that goes into the school 2 weeks before school begins and scrubs and cleans and organizes the classroom to kick of the year with a bang.  While they may teach the children the required classroom helper roles through out the year those 2 weeks are very much needed to be done before the school year starts or the year gets off to a chaotic start.  Us moms whether we school in a dedicated room, the kitchen table or the front porch need to be sure we can do the same for the same reasons.  Not every little thing we do needs to include the children.  Not every single thing needs to be a teachable moment imo.  Sometimes what the kid is best to learn is that sometimes mom needs to focus on a task without kids around and how to entertain themselves if they would like to live to see dinner that night :p

 

I think precisely because it is a different level of skill is why it is also important for the child to learn it.  Not to just know how to turn a spine out or sorting of a certain magazine (though what a child could do would depend on age), but how to actually organize, thoroughly clean, and set something up.   

 

To me it seems like the difference between learning to put the napkins out on the table versus actually learning how to prepare a meal and cook it.  

 

Mine may be older than yours--I can see that for toddlers it could be necessary to get them out of the way even for safety.

[Sobeknofret]

My kid's best friend just came back from vacation and invited Darth over for a playdate! I can declutter and organize tomorrow with no one to interrupt me! I got the bookcase cleared out and the toddler table and chairs moved today, some books on the shelf, and some supplies put into a new place.

[JudoMom]

I finally have all the books off the floor and my desk and at least onto a shelf.  You know it's out of control when your clutter-bug 9 year old suggests you might want to do something about the stacks.  The boys' binders are ready for papers for the new year, and I made the new covers for their new assignment books.  I also hung up a hook for the bug-swatter.  I sorted all the colored pencils and markers into the bins to hang on the IKEA bar that dh needs to hang for me.  I need to vacuum and clean up the boys' desks, and then I'll be all set for planning & printing next week.

[Lucy the Valiant]

This thread makes me chuckle because all of your spaces feel so cozy and nice - I recognize the books on the floor and the small piles of books and the comfy couches - we all have the same books!

 

Birchbark, I love your home - looks so inviting and calming and classy.

 

I don't have a dedicated room, but we have little "stations" all over the house - been cleaning and decluttering and planning for next year, all at once. :) I love this time of year.

[threeturn]

Where was this thread and photos a month ago when I really needed it?! 

 

I just finished our space this past week and ended up pretty happy with how it looks so far. The entire downstairs will be painted (hopefully soon) and that horrible orange color will be gone, but for now I am loving the changes.

 

You can see the before here.

 

And the after here.

 

My biggest step was a purge. If we weren't using it, didn't love it, or it no longer matches the philosophy then it is gone. I managed to get everything in that Expedit and three small cabinets in the living room next door. The art supplies have their own cabinet upstairs and that will have to be OK. The big challenge will be keeping everything pared to this amount.

 

Someone asked about integrating the school space into the living space -- this is right in the middle of ours. The first thing I did was embrace the school space. Once I did that and stopped working so hard to minimize it (i.e. have a few things in the dining room) I think it actually looks better. Of course I was lucky because DH is fine with however it looks, and we have another place for us all to eat.

 

Of course right after I took all of these photos I moved all of my partial projects back to the table top. Once we begin next week my goal will be to have a clean table each evening, but I admit that it has not been that way during planning.

[dakarimom5]

Has everyone made good progress this week? I've worked on making booklets this week, but I have been very scattered. I've been waiting for biopsy results since Monday, and I've been having trouble focusing. Apparently, I need focus to plan for school. I've also been spending more time playing Candyland. I'm actually expecting either good or, at least, not horrible results, but life is short, yk?

I found four different colored crates at Target and was all set to fill them, when 27 lbs of math was delivered!! But hopefully tomorrow will be better.

[TraceyS/FL]

Where was this thread and photos a month ago when I really needed it?!

 

I just finished our space this past week and ended up pretty happy with how it looks so far. The entire downstairs will be painted (hopefully soon) and that horrible orange color will be gone, but for now I am loving the changes.

 

You can see the before here.

 

And the after here.

 

My biggest step was a purge. If we weren't using it, didn't love it, or it no longer matches the philosophy then it is gone. I managed to get everything in that Expedit and three small cabinets in the living room next door. The art supplies have their own cabinet upstairs and that will have to be OK. The big challenge will be keeping everything pared to this amount.

 

Someone asked about integrating the school space into the living space -- this is right in the middle of ours. The first thing I did was embrace the school space. Once I did that and stopped working so hard to minimize it (i.e. have a few things in the dining room) I think it actually looks better. Of course I was lucky because DH is fine with however it looks, and we have another place for us all to eat.

 

Of course right after I took all of these photos I moved all of my partial projects back to the table top. Once we begin next week my goal will be to have a clean table each evening, but I admit that it has not been that way during planning.

Love it!

 

Try putting the grippy shelf liner between your tops and bottoms. It it working very well here, o well I'm calling it permanent!

[Runningmom80]

Where was this thread and photos a month ago when I really needed it?!

 

I just finished our space this past week and ended up pretty happy with how it looks so far. The entire downstairs will be painted (hopefully soon) and that horrible orange color will be gone, but for now I am loving the changes.

 

You can see the before here.

 

And the after here.

 

My biggest step was a purge. If we weren't using it, didn't love it, or it no longer matches the philosophy then it is gone. I managed to get everything in that Expedit and three small cabinets in the living room next door. The art supplies have their own cabinet upstairs and that will have to be OK. The big challenge will be keeping everything pared to this amount.

 

Someone asked about integrating the school space into the living space -- this is right in the middle of ours. The first thing I did was embrace the school space. Once I did that and stopped working so hard to minimize it (i.e. have a few things in the dining room) I think it actually looks better. Of course I was lucky because DH is fine with however it looks, and we have another place for us all to eat.

 

Of course right after I took all of these photos I moved all of my partial projects back to the table top. Once we begin next week my goal will be to have a clean table each evening, but I admit that it has not been that way during planning.

 

Your room looks amazing! I actually love the orange, but I understand wanting to tone it down a bit. Great job!

[Chels~]

Where was this thread and photos a month ago when I really needed it?! 

 

I just finished our space this past week and ended up pretty happy with how it looks so far. The entire downstairs will be painted (hopefully soon) and that horrible orange color will be gone, but for now I am loving the changes.

 

You can see the before here.

 

And the after here.

 

My biggest step was a purge. If we weren't using it, didn't love it, or it no longer matches the philosophy then it is gone. I managed to get everything in that Expedit and three small cabinets in the living room next door. The art supplies have their own cabinet upstairs and that will have to be OK. The big challenge will be keeping everything pared to this amount.

 

Someone asked about integrating the school space into the living space -- this is right in the middle of ours. The first thing I did was embrace the school space. Once I did that and stopped working so hard to minimize it (i.e. have a few things in the dining room) I think it actually looks better. Of course I was lucky because DH is fine with however it looks, and we have another place for us all to eat.

 

Of course right after I took all of these photos I moved all of my partial projects back to the table top. Once we begin next week my goal will be to have a clean table each evening, but I admit that it has not been that way during planning.

 

What a dream room you have! Love what you did. Gorgeous but very functional.

 

[rutamattatt]

Where was this thread and photos a month ago when I really needed it?! 

 

I just finished our space this past week and ended up pretty happy with how it looks so far. The entire downstairs will be painted (hopefully soon) and that horrible orange color will be gone, but for now I am loving the changes.

 

You can see the before here.

 

And the after here.

 

My biggest step was a purge. If we weren't using it, didn't love it, or it no longer matches the philosophy then it is gone. I managed to get everything in that Expedit and three small cabinets in the living room next door. The art supplies have their own cabinet upstairs and that will have to be OK. The big challenge will be keeping everything pared to this amount.

 

Someone asked about integrating the school space into the living space -- this is right in the middle of ours. The first thing I did was embrace the school space. Once I did that and stopped working so hard to minimize it (i.e. have a few things in the dining room) I think it actually looks better. Of course I was lucky because DH is fine with however it looks, and we have another place for us all to eat.

 

Of course right after I took all of these photos I moved all of my partial projects back to the table top. Once we begin next week my goal will be to have a clean table each evening, but I admit that it has not been that way during planning.

 

 

I am love with this room!  

[threeturn]

Try putting the grippy shelf liner between your tops and bottoms. It it working very well here, o well I'm calling it permanent!

 

 

Oooo what an excellent idea. I bet I have some of that around here too. Can you tell I'm a packrat?  :laugh:  Thank  you!

 

Your room looks amazing! I actually love the orange, but I understand wanting to tone it down a bit. Great job!

 

 

 

The orange isn't as bad as the fact there is little light in this space. There is an awning over the back windows and we have tons of trees. Worse still they painted the kids' rooms dark brown. Not sure who picked out these colors. So anxious to be rid of them, but it is going to take massive amounts of primer I am afraid.

 

Thank you so much everyone. My goal was to get a place that would make me happy on a daily basis. Pretty makes me happy. Function makes me happy. I did some serious soul-searching and asking hard questions of myself to make it how I wanted it. I am sure it will morph a bit as we use it.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

Oooo what an excellent idea. I bet I have some of that around here too. Can you tell I'm a packrat?  :laugh:  Thank  you!

I went and stole mine from somewhere after dealing with them sliding for a week. 

 

My boyfriend suggest velcro, but I didn't like that idea so much. The shelf stuff works great!

 

Oh, and I like the orange too - reminds me of my laundry room! :p

[aufan]

 

I went and stole mine from somewhere after dealing with them sliding for a week. 

 

My boyfriend suggest velcro, but I didn't like that idea so much. The shelf stuff works great!

 

Oh, and I like the orange too - reminds me of my laundry room! :p

 

Another option is Command Picture Hanging strips. Works like velcro but then can come off clean. I am using it to hold a table top to and old sewing table that had a hole it in and it works great. Just have to be careful when you put it down that it is straight!