Creating spaces

I spend a lot of time in my home.

I have a job and a business out of my home. I homeschool 2 boys. And Darin keeps me home a lot since this is the space he functions best in.

So I need this space to bring me peace and joy.

And I love making things beautiful. Building and decorating are my art outlet.

And home projects, unlike raising children, have a beginning and an end. That’s nice!

My biggest project so far has been to transform my kitchen and den area.

When we bought this house, the kitchen was builder grade stuff from the 1980’s. I hated the cabinets, so I immediately removed the cabinet doors so I didn’t have to see them.

The kitchen had weird things like this desk area (above) with a useless mini cabinet to the left.

Brown walls

And a window seat that was a little too high for anyone to sit on, so it collected junk.

Window seat

Replaced with shelves

And ugly lighting that was mismatched.

Over the sink

Mid-kitchen coordinated with over the sink

Along with white tile floor, white Formica and an outdated narrow bar behind the sink.

This kitchen is an amazing size. It’s pretty much why we bought the house, added to by the adjoining den that gives us 2 living rooms.

When people come over, it’s the central gathering spot.

But it needed to be improved.

This project started in July when I thought I had lots of time.

And then all my time disappeared when we learned about a work audit in mid-August that I needed to prep for.

So I’ve been working on it about 8 weeks.

I’m so glad to finally complete it along with some upgrade to the adjacent den.

Removed the tile floor and Formica counters. Replaced floor with vinyl plank and counters with butcher block.

Add 2 lower cabinets to replace the useless desk/mini cabinet

Build a soffit above all the cabinet to enclose the open space

Move the cabinet above the refrigerator forward so I can reach it.

Build a box for the fridge to hold upper cabinet

Cut down cabinet and install apron under mount sink

Add beadboard as wainscot & backsplash

Cut down raise bar and replace with counter height peninsula

Add bead board to cabinets ends and learn to coordinate moulding

Turn a cabinet into a trash & recycling drawer

Improve the window shelves with moulding

Paint walls in kitchen & den to match

The only thing I didn’t do myself was paint the cabinets. I didn’t want to wrestle with that much oil-based paint.

I’m so pleased with the outcome!

A house full of people!

One thing that feels like a failure about my last “season” of life, the one between Basilica & now, was that we had a lonely house. Our neighborhood lacked kids, we never discovered which church friends would come over all the time, and honestly I hated my house.

I really noticed the absence of opportunities to practice hospitality!

I hoped & prayed it would be different as we changed seasons.

I am so happy that in the 2.5 days in my home, while it was in shambles, I’ve already had lots of visitors, kids running up & down the stairs, new friends for Darin, and laughter!

Thank you, Lord!

Simplifying laundry

When I was growing up, our formal living room couch was overrun by laundry – for company to come over, we had to find another place (usually a bed) to stash the clean clothes.
As I started managing my own house, I encountered the same situation – laundry overrunning some area of our apartment or house.

By the time I was managing the laundry of 5 people, I had to come up with a solution.

Here’s my laundry system:

The system works to organize space and time.

• Space: The baskets above the washer/dryer provide a location to store laundry that does not need to be used for anything else – unlike the couch or the bed.
• Time: This is the KEY! If laundry wasn’t such a time-commitment, then it wouldn’t pile up anyway. Here’s how my system manages itself:
  1. Each morning, I put on a load of laundry in the washer, and unload a load from dryer…
     • Unloading dryer involves sorting clothes into the baskets – a shirt & pants basket for each of the boys, a hangup & fold basket for myself & Arabella, Joel’s all thrown up in top 2 baskets, socks in a crate, towels in a basket on floor… probably takes 1 min total.
     • Loading washer takes less than 1 min.
  2. Each afternoon, I put away 1 category of clothing (towels, Arabella, Holden, Darin, Joel or Heather)… 5-10 min. (or this is the part I did before I had help at home from Jessica

*The BEST PART is that if you never make time to do the afternoon stuff, everyone’s clothes are “put away” in their pre-sorted baskets… easy to find, easy to wear.*

Note: The detergent in this picture is the best price/load around – it from Sears, comes in different “flavors” and is only $13 for 125 loads!