The Big Reveal!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to reorganise my school room - well those of you who are on facebook have probably already seen the pics but I thought I would blog about it too.

I am going to share before, during and after pics - now believe me I am NOT pround of the before pictures, unfortunately over the last year our school room has become a "dumping" room, you know the kind - you have to do a quick tidy of the living room so you "dump" all things into another ready to sort another day, except I never seemed to have time another day!

Also I had never managed to completely finish the school room, ever since my wonderful hubby and Dad did it for me I have had piles that needed sorting and a home finding for - and I find that if you don't start off right then it seems easier for the room to get out of control!

So, now you've seen my shame and probably the reason it has taken me so long to get round to it - come on, admit it if you looked at that room you'd quickly shut the door on it too instead of tackling it right?

I also wanted to get some new storage for my living room and decided on these

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/SpecialOffer/fromProduct/6108913/promotionIdentifier/E7664.htm

as we were storing school work in some trofast drawers in the living room, and books in the schoolroom it all kinda became one job - sorting both the school room and the living room!

I had a bookcase in the living room which I kindly donated to my hubby's garage and the one in the school room I took upstairs to our bedroom - so we could move a lot of our books (ones that I don't use regularly but can't face getting rid of) out of the livingroom and school room!

After a morning's work my school room looked like this

A clear floor - bliss, I could actually walk into the room now lol!

I got rid of the computer (that has never been plugged in and working) and put some of our sewing supplies to encourage my daughter (and myself)

Such neat shelves!! 

Once I got stuck in (and I was thankful and fortunate that on the first day my lovely Mum looked after all my children for the majority of the day) it didn't take long to make a real difference!

But - this is what happened to my living room!!!

That was a little depressing I have to admit, but I continued working hard, chucking out rubbish and putting a lot in boxes for the car boot - I tried to remember if it's not beautiful or useful then we don't need it and also if we don't have a home for it then we can't keep it!

By the first evening I had all the furniture in the school room and just had to work on putting all the "stuff" away somewhere

The next day I concentrated mainly on the living room, getting ready for the new furniture and going through all the boxes and by the end of the day my school room was finished!!!

and just in case you've forgotten what the before pic wash - here is a before and after pic

We have been enjoying and using the "new" school room for the last week and it is so nice to have the extra space - the children can use the laptop without Abigail climbing on them! Also they can colour and play games easily!

I will do another post shortly to show you our new living room furniture!

I hope that by sharing I have inspired or encouraged you to be organised (if you're not already) it does make such a difference, knowing where everything is without having to search!

Watch this space - organising mission coming up

I've decided that it is time to completely revamp our "school room" as it has been more of a junk/store room for most of the time we've had it and I've never fully sorted it so the plan is to empty it - entirely!!! Then put things back in exact places that I want them and well organised, getting rid of excess and rubbish and things we really don't really need in the process!

 It also involves some new furniture for the living room so some sorting in there too! It is gonna be a massive task but so worth it - I've been planning for a while but illness and pregnancy has kinda postponed it so now it's on schedule for this week.

I will take some before and after pics and share our "organising" journey here with you - be prepared for the before pics though we have serious clutter lol!

Of course if you've been reading for a while you will know that what I really need/want is a new house (especially now) so the organising is partly for that too - I'm thinking that if everything is organised and sorted out it will be a lot easier when we do finally find the right house!

Watch this space.....................

Top Tips Tuesday - Storage

This is an area I am constantly learning in. With 5 children in a 2 bedroom house it is a challenge almost everyday.

I am fast becoming a big believer in DECLUTTERING - now I didn't say I was good at it, just that I believe in it! If you DECLUTTER you don't have as much stuff to store heehee. The main room I have worked on (and it takes me a while) is the childrens bedroom - we have 3 children sharing (we turned half a room downstairs into a bedroom for my eldest daughter and baby still sleeps in our bedroom) so we have a bunk bed with a double bed at the bottom - not sure I really recommend this as it can make bedtime a bit of a problem! My Mum also kindly gave us some drawers and a wardrobe which made a BIG difference - so much easier to store clothes in drawers - and it gave me somewhere to keep all the swimming gear and hats scarves etc.

The other thing I invested in was Ikea Trofast Drawers (from ebay) - I have fallen in love with the Trofast Stroage system - you can get so much in! So 2 of the children have drawers for their toys and when they are full I expect them to choose what to get rid of if they want more!

I would like to say that the bedroom still looks like this but ahem I have "discovered" that tidying and putting things away really needs working on in this house!

The other thing that has made a big difference in our small house is a unit/dresser that was donated to us by a good friend who had no room for it when she moved - up until we got it I had a table in the corner of the room which just had piles all round it - amazing how much better having it all in a unit can make the place look and feel!

It holds our printer, some books I like to refer to regularly, a basket for odds and ends and some papers for school work - probably needs more decluttering but I'lm learning - I also have to admit that I need to learn how to keep things this clean and orderly - it truly is a constant challenge for me!

Well there's a few tips - but here's a blog I found recently from a family who are SO much further on in the decluttering/organised storage journey!

I linked up with The Joyful Keeper for this post!