Organizing Baby Room and Pantry

As I said before, I have been following Simple Mom in her Project Simplify 2012 project.  I was too busy to upload my photos from last weeks project-"Kids Stuff", even though I did it!  (Actually finished early and have kept in clean for 3 weeks now!!)  This weeks project has been "The Pantry".  I thought I would share before and after photos for both!

KIDS ROOM:
Decor

Before

After

Although this is not complete... I want to still add stuff, I did get some of it done.  In the works are a owl mobile, "Hagen" painted on tiles for above his crib, and a large painted owl for above the changing table.  I'm working on too many projects, so they will have to come with time!

Crib
                            Before                                                                           After

So this one is obvious what got done!  I can actually put a baby in his crib! Being that it wasn't used for sleeping in, it became a storage catch all-but so full that I couldn't find anything!  Big change to take everything out and organize it!  I would love to hear your opinions on when we should start putting Hagen in his crib at night.  When did you transition from in the bedroom with you to in their own crib?  Well whenever we decide, his crib is now a crib!

Changing table

                                  Before                                                                          Before

 Before

                      After

                                   After

I showed a couple before shots to show a couple stages it went through.  I love that we had 3 matching clementine boxes.  Great way to have cheap storage!  And it comes in handy for wipes, burp cloths, and extra diaper inserts!  My water bowl is missing from the table, and a friend gave us a humidifier that now sits on the table as well!  I still have some labeling to do, but that will be an ongoing process as things change out quickly!  (PS... our changing table is a kitchen island that we bought for our old house but had no space in the kitchen here for it, so it became our changing table.  I did this BEFORE seeing it on pinterest and got really excited when I saw someone suggest it!  I thought of it without the help of pinterest!!) 

Storage

                       Before                                                      After

 

Since we don't have storage space, we dedicated part of the nursery for storage.  Our totes are piled up behind curtains.  New curtains, and more plastic tubs helped us re-organize this space.  Didn't get a shot of the finished insides, but I promise I can actually find stuff now!

Closet

                                                                             Before

                       After                                                                                               After

                                     

Wedding dress is now in a storage tub, clothes are organized my like minded items, tools are neatly organized, photos and other archival boxes are organized.  Although the closet has about 800 purposes which is hard to make look "pretty", it is now organized which makes it really easy to keep clean.  If the hammer has a home, when I'm done using it I know where it goes, so returning it is easier.... plus, when it's gone, its home is empty and it looks unorganized, therefore I'm more inclined to put the hammer back.  

Bookshelf

                                  Before                                                                  After

 

Here is where the 40 bags in 40 days came into play.  I got rid of 4 massive bags of books.  Books that I would love to absorb their contents, but that more realistically would rather spend time doing other activities.  When I have time, I decided THEN I can check them out at a library.  Moving boxes and boxes of books, that at this moment in my life I don't touch, is annoying!

See bags of books being filled up!  Last Sunday we took 7 bags + 3 boxes of stuff to Goodwill.  

And just to show some additional items in the room.... Thanks Uncle J for the sweet calendar!! 

 Although this isn't in Hagen's room at the moment, I did finish this Pinterest project, and I love using it daily!!

THE PANTRY:

                                 Before                                                                 Before

 

Major improvements, lots of hard work... but HUGE results that were so worth it!!  Chalkboard paint allows me to use many different types of jars together but still have a cohesive feeling. The jars are a combination of store bought and re-used bottles from our used food.  Buying 2 more shelves allowed  me to customize sizes and allow for more storage.  Fabric covered boxes gives me easier access to canned goods.  Fabric covered lids ties it all together and just makes it prettier to look at!!  What a difference this makes to have our food organized!  And yes, our pantry is a bookshelf we added since we had no room before!!

Getting this organized spurred me on to organize cupboard space in the kitchen.  Although I didn't get before pictures, I will post after and just prove I am getting a lot done despite having an infant in the house!!

Again, now that everything has a functional/organized home it is much easier to stay on top of every day messes.  Can't wait for our whole house to be mostly organized so we can spend our weekends and evenings enjoying each other and exploring God's beautiful creation!!  I would love to hear your progress.  I didn't share my struggles this time around because I wanted to celebrate the strides we have been making.  But know, the struggle is there, but keep going because the end result is SOOO worth it!! 

Happy Weekend!!

-Bekki