Progress on the Living/ Dining and Kitchen Picture Molding

Well, we have finished the picture molding in the living room and painted out the trim around the windows and I just LOVE it! See the yucky color on the right? That is the nasty "off-white" color of the trim. It looks so much more crisp as a white trim piece.

Because we have such an open floor plan I have a living room, dining room and kitchen all in one HUGE open space. With this layout I have one very long wall with 3 sets of HUGE windows. (68 inches wide).

This entire wall has been painted the same color since I first decided on colors and I repainted the chocolate wall to the Oat Bran color from Valspar to tie the two back together. You can see that transformation HERE.

The picture above is the living room and part of the dining room wall. I have the piano moved away from the wall on the left to paint. You can see how much of a mess it looked on New Year's Day (of all days).

I have also painted to the left of the plant where the dog crates are as well. To the left of that is our back door to the deck. I will post more pictures as I finish up. I currently have the chair rail up in the dining room and am getting ready to paint the back door and behind my grandmother's antique desk in the kitchen. Then a piece of chair rail will go up behind that and then the picture molding!

Organizing: Day 5 Under The Kitchen Sink

I will be completely honest. I almost didn't do this one. I am so tired and sore from our workout last night that I thought it's alright if I skip a day. Well, no it isn't! I am not giving up on this one. I WILL do all 21 days even if my body yells OUCH every time I lean down.

I guess I can count this as an extra workout since I'm already screaming in pain. Right? Maybe not.

I pulled out all the strange stuff underneath like a disgusting pink bowl I use to put water in to hand mop the floor as well as the end cap piece to our counter top we installed. Maybe I will actually get that piece installed.

I pulled out our two small recycling bins that we NEVER use (we do recycle just the big blue ones in our "trash" closet not under the sink). And of course the random vase? I have no idea how that got down there.

I wiped everything down and put the cleaning supplies back (only until our Shaklee items come: I will tell all about that very soon Thanks Toni!)

And then it is organized. I am still debating as to what to do with the gray bins which is why they are still under the sink. Since they are clean and have never been used for their actual purpose I might use them to hold something else in our pantry on a shelf (maybe).

I swear that is not dirt on the left of the gray bins. My kitchen has horrible lighting and that is just a shadow under the sink. I do need to get some wire wall baskets like Toni at A Bowl Full of Lemons. I think I may just go out and pick some up tomorrow evening after work.

Organizing: Day 4 The Linen Closet

Well this one was completely scary! I am participating in the 21 Days to Getting Organized Challenge over at A Bowl Full of Lemons and today's challenge was the linen closet.

The bottom of our linen closet is clean as it holds our board games all organized. The rest of it?

Well, let's just say it fell out into a mountain on the floor when I tried to pull ONE thing from the shelf.

After picking it up and organizing, we folded everything and put it where it belongs. The blankets, sheets and pillowcases are on the bottom shelf with more blankets on the top shelf. I also store extra bathroom toiletries that I have been able to purchase for very cheap or FREE thanks to couponing. It is organized with lotion, shampoo and body wash in their own places.

Organizing: Day 3 The Dreaded Tupperware Cabinet

Well, here it is. Not much to see at the moment. I have been pre-making some meals and snacks since we are trying to eat healthier so most of my Tupperware items are in the refrigerator or freezer.

What is left is usually shoved in there by my husband who is the main person that empties our dish washer.

We stack the smaller items into the larger items and put the lids on the bottom or to the side. Since I am the one who usually uses the Tupperware the method works for me.

I clean out my cabinets at least twice a year and donate good condition items to Goodwill and trash the rest. Most of what I have cannot be recycled so it must end up in the land fill. For this reason, we use Bento boxes or divided containers for our lunches so we have minimal to no waste.

Organizing: Day 2 The Computer Desk

Today's challenge from  A Bowl Full of Lemons is the computer desk. The top only :o)

Well, my computer desk/ entire bedroom becomes the catch all of the house. We are currently working on projects in the living room and kitchen and when that happens that means everything gets dumped in my room.

My husband and I are also teachers so we do a lot of work on the computer plus of course printing out my coupons. Here is a horrible before picture of our computer desk.

After removing a Christmas gift of the girls and moving my husband's school books and Eryn's Tag Reader books it wasn't that bad. A good scrubbing and it was as good as new.

Pardon the poptropica up. My oldest Emma decided it was her turn on the computer.

Glee Gum Kit Giveaway at Our Frugal Future

Click HERE to go to Our Frugal Future (my money saving blog) and enter to win a Make Your Own Kit from Glee Gum. You can choose the kit you win from: Make your own Chocolate, Make your own Gum, or Make your own Gummies.

The giveaway ends January 23rd at 11:59 p.m.

The "Winter" Mantle.... HELP! Plus a little Christmas Clearance Love

Alright well the Christmas mantle came down and I'm working on a mantle decor that I can keep up from January through maybe March.  You know...a SNOW theme. Well, here is what I've got going so far. I've thrown all this together and no most of it doesn't look good. If I had found a mirror for the wall it would help me visualize but I'm still on the search.

So what do you think? The baskets yes or no? I love the glass look but I did already take down the cloche so I could move around some other things. The girls just love the lights with the white over it and I like the Wish saying as we always WISH for snow in this house. We're both teachers remember.

The "Wish" was found on clearance at Kohl's for less than $6 and look at my new tree! We are keeping this baby up all year and just decorating it a little extra for each holiday. It was $32 at Marshall's. Now I NEVER spend that much money on anything but finding this it just screamed at me. I'm SO glad I bought it. My husband likes it and the girls are just nuts over the idea of having a lighted tree up all year.

Am I crazy for doing it? It is only about 4 feet tall and in that adorable little stand. It isn't Christmasy with a kind of lime green theme so I'm hoping to pass it off all year.