Don't Judge!

Perfect timing!  I was feeling guilty for getting home from vacation almost 3 days ago and still living out of my suitcase AND for being off for almost 27 days out of the last 31 (Christmas Break and Snow Day Week) and still having parts of my house in an embarrassing mess...UNTIL...I found lots of  long, lost sisters in the same boat over at Decor Chick's Linky Party.


{Mom, turn your head}


Dirty Little Secret #1:  The Office

What had happened was...Even though I have these great built-ins for storage, Rusty and I spent a day filling them and organizing them with the contents of the closet and making all of those piles to file, box up, go through, etc.  They are still sitting there.
Dirty Little Secret #2:  The Laundry Room

No wonder I have used my garden tub as a dirty clothes basket and found 9 dryer sheets in the pile of clothes below.

Such a Slacker!

Who wants to do laundry in such an unorganized laundry room!?  Thankfully, I am 1/2 through with a little laundry room makeover that I can't wait to finish and share.


{Warning: Only the strong of heart should proceed.  Even then, say a quick prayer}


Here's the deal.  My final space is not IN my house.  It is an extension of my home.  I spend more time with it than I do my home, so I'm counting it.  If you know me, you know this is my nemesis, a formidable and usually victorious opponent...


Dirty Little Secret (Read as: Obvious Problem) #3:  The Cavalier (this time...it has also been The Buick, The Escort and The Monte Carlo)

No matter what, I only keep it clean for about 2 weeks.  I literally get in and throw stuff into the back seat.  Things go there to die.  On a positive note, I can probably outfit myself for about a week without coming home.  Let's just say, I don't have a Mary Poppins' bag; I have a Mary Poppins' car.


Am I stressed?  Nope.  I still fill my time up with things more important.  For instance, last night I left the dishes in the sink, threw the cushions off of the couch and cuddled up under my favorite E.I. quilt with the hubs for a 2 1/2 hour movie!  Tonight?  Well, it's Biggest Loser and a bowl of ice cream.


In all seriousness, Decor Chick's Linky Party is a big eye opener.  For all of us. We must remind ourselves that on the blogs we stalk, those beautiful pictures are very well thought out and possibly even Photoshoped.  Tip the camera down or around a few degrees, we are likely to see the actual photos we are all posting.  Some are extreme cases that give us a few laughs, but most are just the daily lived in look that proves how rich our lives are with activities, friends and loved ones who distract us from being too consumed with perfection.


What's your dirty little (clean) secret?!

Guilt Free Office

It's no secret.  There is no bun in my oven.  My oven is not even on pre-heat.  Let's get real.  Not only have Rusty and I not even been to the store, we haven't even made the shopping list!


The good news?  Our 3rd bedroom is a GUILT FREE office.


Back in June, Rusty and I commissioned Black Mountain Furniture to design our custom built-ins.  We desperately needed them.  Between the two of us, we had enough books to fill up the bed of Toyota Tacoma.  It quickly became an issue when we got them all in one room.

http://www.davidrobertbooks.com/books.jpg

Since Black Mountain Furniture is local, they came out to our house to measure and draw out plans.  After asking us a few questions, they had a complete vision and got to work.  After about three weeks, they were calling to set up an installation date.  Thankfully, Rusty and I had gone through our books and pared them down.  We forced ourselves to only keep one or two copies of Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm and Atlas Shrugged, and I finally talked Rusty into only keeping his favorite Dean Koontz books instead of every one he ever read.


Here are some pictures of the built-in bookshelves and free standing desk:

Since the owners of BMF just happen to be our good friends, Craig and Reginia, they stayed over for dinner and Reginia staged them really quickly to get some pictures for her website. 


*Note - these would be about 1/4th of the books we kept.  What did we do with the rest of them?  Well, we boxed up the manuals, textbooks and other resources and stored them in the basement.  We donated about 2 boxes to a book drive at our school.  The BEST thing we did was list them on Paperback Swap and earned credits for new books we were dying to read.

We absolutely love the built-ins.  The detached desk is a great feature because it allows us to be flexible where we want the piece to go, and it allows for us to open the room up as a make-shift guest bedroom.


Do you have a space that you think would benefit from built-ins or special storage? What ideas do you have in mind for them?