The GIRLS room!

First let me start by saying I wish I could put trim 3-4 feet up and paint the top pink and the bottom pink and purple stripes! BUT this isnt our forever home and the house will be sold or rented out one day, so in an effort to make that easier when the time comes we have chosen to leave all the walls their original color.
So just picture their walls painted in these pictures, because it would look SO MUCH cuter!!

DRAPES:
I wanted their room to have tie back drapes. I bought the purple drapes 3+ years ago from Wal-Mart. They are the Eclipse Energy Efficiet ones that I have to say really do work! Here in Idaho in the summer it stays light til 10pm! These drapes really help with keeping the sun out when they go to bed while it's still up. We were in a rental house before we built this one and that house had old windows where a lot of cold air seeped in. These drapes also helped to keep that cold out. All in all I love them!

I customized them!

I added three rows of ribbon to the top to tie them in more to their Happy Flower bedding. I love how they turned out!



I love natural sunlight! So I wanted to able to pull their drapes back during the day to let in some light. I just added little hooks and used ribbon to tie them. There are lots of ways to make tie backs, but this was definitely the easiest! I'm all about what's easy that will still looks pretty!

ORGANIZATION: Labeled Canvas Totes
I LOVE organized stuff! I have found that their room stays cleaner and the girls enjoy having a place for everything!
These are just canvas totes with printed labels that have been laminated and stuck on with Velcro.

Close up of one: I've had these totes for at least 3 years, they are a little roughed up, but still work perfectly! All the 'my little pony' toys belong in this tote ONLY and so on for the other ones.

 

 

ORGANIZATION: Plastic tubs

This is also one of my favorite ways to organize toys! My kids know what belongs where making clean up a breeze! They stack nicely, look clean and are very sturdy! 

I like to print the actual picture or logo for the toy that is inside the tub. It gives a pretty visual look than just plan writing. And for the little ones they can usually identify the logo or picture of what belongs where before they can actually ready it.

These tubs work perfect for under the bed storage:

 

ORGANZATION: Closet
With out building 'built in closet' organization, which I love and will def do for our next house! For less than 10 bucks you can buy an additional closet rod that hangs down from the top one. This worked perfect. Haylee's shirts are on the top and Audrey's shirts are on the bottom on one side of the closet. Then the other side their dresses are hung since they hang longer.




And each of my girls have a shoe organizer.
Much nicer than a pile of shoes in the closet!

WALL DECOR:
Found the Butterfly Canvas at Gordmans and bought the mesh butterflies from Target.

Close Up:

These mesh flowers are from Target also. This wall still looks pretty 'blah' with out being painted pretty so I added the green fabric to the back of the flower to make them stand out a little more.

Close Up:

These pictures were both found at Gordmans also. I bought the first one then a year later they had the other one that matched perfect! I was so excited!

 

This wall is also very bare still, just haven't figured out what to put around the white board yet. I want to get a beautiful quote in vinyl I think... not sure, so it's staying bare for now! lol



BEDDING: Circo Happy Flower
I fell in love with this bedding years ago! I love the colors and the fabrics! It's been so easy to match décor to it!

 

 

DECOR: other stuff I love in their room

 

I picked this up at a thrift store. Its really cute! I put it on their desk and they keep lip gloss and little make-up items in it.

FLOWERS! I seriously love flowers! One day I will add A LOT more flowers to their room! I want to do a garden box thing with flowers in front of their window and I also want to make felt flowers and fabric flowers to decorate with also!

Circo Happy Flower also has a bathroom line so I picked these up from it. The tooth brush holder is used as a pencil holder. And I also bought the lotion pump and tissue box. I haven't been able to find the matching trash can, but Im still looking for one so I can place it under their desk for them.

 

Magnets for the Magnet Board are from shower curtain hooks! I broke off the hook and glued magnets to the back so they match also!




And of course hooks for their jackets!

I have a lot more little projects I want to do for their room, but I wanted to share what Ive already done so far. I also really need to update pictures in their room! I have so many adorable pictures of the girls that I need to print and put in their room! One day... for now I am happy with it and the girls LOVE it too!!

Laundry Day

We ALL dislike this 'day'... right? I mean, if you actually enjoy it I'd argue that you might be crazy!

So, how do we make doing laundry less hectic and easier?

 

We had our house built and one of the options was to have mudroom cabinets in a little nook area next to the laundry room. I chose to not have those installed because this was the spot I wanted to build my laundry sorter. You HAVE to have some kind of laundry sorter! Organization is key to making this task less stressful. I got my inspiration from Pinterest. You do not have to build something, you can buy one from anywhere: target, walmart or this one from bed bath and beyond. It can be anything, just needs to have a minimum of 3 compartments, preferably 4 and they must detach for easy carrying to the washer.

 

This is the one I built. :)

 

 

I went to Home Depot bought everything I needed, measured it out on the wall, made my marks, put in dry wall anchors and fastened the brackets. Then I made signs, laminated them, put a hole in the corners and attached them with some little zip ties. So easy! I LOVE IT!



right next to my laundry room



You want to avoid having piles, heaping piles of laundry everywhere! You know what Im talking about! Where you dump your overflowing basket of dirty clothes on the floor and then proceed to pick through them separating the darks, the whites, the colors and the towels or blankets... not fun and some what gross!! Having a laundry sorter will eliminate this! Your laundry will already be sorted, just close your eyes and think about how much nicer doing laundry will be!

Personally, I dont have a laundry 'day.'  I wash a load when I have a full load. If you have a sorter you will be able to see when it is time to do a load. If the color basket is full, just grab it and wash it. If theres not enough to do a decent size load of whites or blacks yet, then don't. Thats one of the things I love, I dont have to waste time doing small loads of whites because I never have as many whites as colors. On average I do 2 color loads a week, 1 white and 1 dark.

I know some people like to just get all their laundry done and out of the way in one day, and thats great! Do what works best for you! But if you end up with a heaping pile of clean clothes in the middle of your floor, on your bed, the couch or where ever your designated dumb spot is then you need to stop trying to take it all on in one day! Only wash when you have a full load. You might think it's more work to wash laundry multiple times a week, but I promise, handling less clothes at once is a lot easier!

I still do the whole 'take the clean clothes out of the dryer and dumb them in your designated spot' thing because my laundry room is small, otherwise I would do this straight from the dryer to avoid this. Immediately after I have a load clean I grab 3 smaller baskets, (i'd love to have them each a different a color, but i didnt think about that til later) one for the boys room, the girls room and one for mom and dads's room. I separate them by room, I do not fold the clothes in the family room. Once the clothes are in the baskets of whose room they belong in, they are taken to that room and put away, folded and hung up in there.

My kids put their own clothes away. So if there is a basket with clean clothes in their room they need to put it away before playing. Remember, we are dealing with 1 load at a time so there isnt a lot to put away, they usually finish with in 5 minutes. I start this around 3 years old, depending on the child, I think when they learn to dress themselves thats a great time to involve them. When they are little I will help them separate and fold their pants, shorts, socks and underwear, we hang shirts. Then they will put the pants in the pants drawer and so forth until everything is where it belongs. Even at 3 they can slide a hanger in a shirt, or at least attempt until they figure it out, and then I will fix it and hang it up. The happiness and joy in their eyes when they've done something to help Mommy is priceless at this age!!        
  

And thats it! No messes, no hassle! 



***I am new to blogging! Please feel free to leave your advice, good or bad.
Stay posted, more cleaning tips and advice will come soon! Thanks! :)***