Bathroom Renovations

I would assume the 70's were great... but just not in my house.... in 2015. 

Welcome to our master & hall bath:

The hall bath functions as the kid bathroom, as well as guests. (we have a guest bath downstairs off of the guest room for out overnight company, but this one is on the main floor!)

My desire is for the master bath to be, like our bedroom, an oasis. A kid free, relaxing retreat.

Neither of these photos scream "Welcome to our home!" or "Day at the spa!"

We tackled the hall bath first, laying the "peel and stick" flooring over the old linoleum, we chipped off all the old tiles from the counter top and back splash, painted the walls & cabinets and hung a new light fixture. 

We did the same basic thing in the master bath, only with a different color! 

I love both spaces. If you have been keeping up at all with the process, you remember that the house served as a child care center, so you can imagine (similarly to carpet in the dining room) how the main bath faired with multiple little boys.... 

Now both spaces are clean, functional and pleasing to the eye. 

Welcome to our new master bath!

And the Hall Bath!

I think the most difficult process we encountered was the tiling process. They turned out great, but it's not a job for the faint of heart! haha. 

I think the most influential change was the lighting. Holy moley was the 70's chain lighting HORRENDOUS! 

I think my favorite piece from the renos is the corner shelving in our master bath. It adds nice storage, and we can display a few things (who knew q-tips could be so cute?!) 

As a re-cap lets check out a few comparison shots!

There you have it! 

Stay tuned for the 7 week organizational challenge post regarding how I organized the cabinets! :)

~paige

Organized Home

It is interesting to me, that the most space I have to organize, the more cluttered our home seems to be.

When we lived in ND, we lived in a tiny, 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment. It had FABULOUS closet space and ample kitchen storage, but it all reality MOST of out "not every day" things lived in the storage unit across town.

Did I care? No!

I had everything at my fingertips that I needed daily.

Then we moved to WY. At our last house (we lived here for about 6 months) I knew it was somewhat temporary, but there was no definite timeline on when I would have to pack up again. That being said, I unpacked alot, and I decorated. It felt like home. But I never gave into any sort of organizational system since tubs, baskets and time are NOT free!

Now, here we are, the beginning of a new year, in a new home that is the most permanent home I have lived in since moving out of my parents home nearly 5 years ago!

we have been here for exactly one month. I am so thankful for all of the helping hands that moved everything out of our old house and into this one, but lets face it, no one puts your things exactly where you would personally, and as you live in a house, you realize how it flows and what systems will work best for your space.

You Following? Good!

So I am challenging you to embark on a 7 Week* Organizational Challenge!

I have broken the house into different spaces for each week.

They *tentatively* look something like this:

Week 1: January 11-17 Master Bedroom

Week 2: January 18-24 Kitchen

Week 3: January 25-31 Pantry

Week 4: February 1-7 Entryway / Foyer

Week 5: February 8-14 Bathrooms / Laundry

Week 6: February 15-21 Kid's Bedrooms

Week 7: February 22-28 Dining and Living Area

I know this week is half over, and If you are anything like me, the master bedroom is a disaster zone. my plan is to (personally) get two yes, kitchen and master bedroom DONE in the next 4 days so that I can share photos of the successes and failures I encounter during the process!

So what do you need to do?

#1 - Print off the two calendars below

#2 - Gather 6 boxes, totes, bins.. (or tarps in the yard to throw stuff on if you've got as much clutter as we do...... lol!) I kid.

#3 - turn on some tunes and GET BUSY!!

"Why 6 boxes??"

WELL this is where the process comes in, you will need five boxes, for your five organizations "zones"

The process by which we are going to get this done is simple, but I promise it will get worse before it gets better, hang in there!

You are going to EMPTY the space. Thats right EMPTY it. as you clear it out, you will place each item in one of the following zones:

Zone 1: Put away (this is for all the things that end up in you bedroom, kitchen or bathroom, that belong in the kids room, playroom or basement!)

Zone 2: Throw Away (Trash)

Zone 3: Donate (Things you no longer want or use, but that someone else will find as a treasure at your local thrift store or food pantry!)

Zone 4: "A" items (Things you use every day: toothbrush, ipad, spatula)

Zone 5: "B" items (Things you use monthly: pedicure set, exercise clothes (HAHAHA!), baking supplies)

Zone 6: "C" Items (things you use rarely: Sewing machine, cake decorating supplies, foot massager)

It looks difficult, but once you get the system down, it's much nicer that a bunch of piles on your bed/counter/ floor that overflow onto each other and then you have to RE sort!

OK! that being said, here are the calendars, and some printables to help the process! GO! Don't forget to take before and after photos and share them with me on the Mama Manifesto Facebook Page!

Master Bed & Bath Game Plan

January 2015 Organization Calendar

February 2015 Organization Calendar

Big Boy Bedroom!

I have thought long and hard about what I wanted James' "Big Boy Room" to be.

I wanted it to be coordinated.

I wanted it to be functional.

I wanted it to be organized.

Toddler rooms are difficult. And while these photos are a bit staged, the fact the the top shelf of his closet clearly is just storage is true and it is what it is! I cannot afford to hide everything that is "ugly" in baskets. I wish! 

All in all the room is coordinated, grays and navy blue throughout.

It is functional (the bed rail in collapsed for the photos), I can get to all the necessities, James can get to his toys and the room is SAFE!

And the organization is coming along, we still have a LARGE box of toys out in the garage that need to come in and be gone though, so when that happens, I may update this post, but for now; welcome to James' Big Boy Room!

Barnabas is James' bear, he goes everywhere with us because I (mom) take him. James really only has one tiny attachment to an object and that is his Thomas blankie!

The quilt at the end of his bed is his new quilt from his nana (my mother-in-law!) He doesn't use it on a nightly basis as I would still rather keep his room warmer and have less blankets in his bed. When I go into his room to help him get back to sleep, however, it is my go to!!

We keep books in this crate, James chooses a few each night before bed, they are easy to get to and easy yo pick up. I love the vintage look of the crate and think it adds some character to his room, Bonus! He has had this in his room from day one, it used to hold diapers.

Go! Go! Wheels racetrack ... Santa was good to our boy!

We found this dresser in the basement. It's old. It's metal. It's pretty awesome if you ask me!

I was shocked at the price of children's furniture... so his old rocking chair and and old side table work PERFECT for puzzle putting together!

I put these hooks at little man's level so he could hang his own coats and capes! 

We removed the closet doors in both kids room for better use of the space, I love the stage the book shelves provide and that they are James level. His clothes are so short that the bottom of the closet was just too much wasted space for me to handle!

One of my favorite things about his room is the same thing I love about our master bedroom, nothing was purchased new and together for the room as a whole. I am sure you can recognize the items from other locations in our home...

The closet book case used to be a sofa table in our living room, the dresser was found in the basement, the rocking chair was from a yard sale, the table from Jimmy's "College Furniture", the fish tank stand was in his nursery and the bed we found at a local thrift store for $25!!!

Everything comes together with a coat of paint and some fixing up :) 

I think that's about it! I love his room and I hope that it can grow with him. There are still jobs to be done, but for now, its perfect! 

High Altitude [Banana Bread]

After moving to western Wyoming, there were a few things that really highlighted just how much higher we are in altitude than where we lived in ND.

1. the feeling (which i assure you was DEATH) that I felt when I attended my first Zumba class. I was in shape, had been at the gym daily and when we moved I seriously thought "oh my gosh I need a lung transplant because clearly mine are NOT doing their job!!"

2. the sudden jolting awake in the middle of the night gasping for air. yeah, talk about freaky. This happened to me (and my dear husband) for the better part of two months before we confessed to each other and decided it was our lack of oxygen and recent move.

3. the glob of "banana bread" that slimed through my cooling rack half an hour before I was supposed to bring treats to church... yeah. "Hi, I'm Paige, and I can't bake!"

While the first two were bothersome, the last one just would not fly. My family loves banana bread, so I needed to figure out a fix ASAP! 

My old recipe still lingers in my cook book, but I have found a new recipe that has yet to fail me at 6900 feet!

I enlisted the help of the cutest kitchen assistant on the planet, of course!

    

I totally spaced taking pictures of the finished muffins and bread.

Here is the recipe, for all my friends in high altitude places:

High Altitude Banana Bread

4 TBS Butter

2 Eggs

2-3 Ripe Bananas

2/3 C. Sugar

1 1/3 C. Flour

3/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

Optional:

Splash of vanilla extract

Chocolate Chips

Nuts 

be sure to grease your pan of choice and pop it in at 350 degrees for around 50 minutes.

IMPORTANT:

The bake time is very ballpark. I don't think I have ever actually left it (muffins, mini muffins OR loaf) in for the full time. Once I hit 30 minutes, I usually poke it with a knife or toothpick and use my judgement for how much longer to bake!

I usually double, if not triple the recipe and it turns out great!

I also just dump everything in my mixer. I don't separate dry/wet ingredients.

Happy Baking!

~Paige