Faith, Marriage, Motherhood, Homeschooling, Essential oils, Herbs, and Holistic Living
This minimizing experience has truly been life changing! Although it's been a much larger project then I initially expected it to be, and taken longer as well (I thought it would take a week and it's taking a month), our lives are running incredibly smoother then they were before! I find that every time I think I am done with a room, over the course of the next few days I'll find more that we just don't use or really need. I've always been big on decluttering and organizing. I had to be, read more here, so when I realized after a couple weeks into the minimizing experience that I had downsized to the point of creating a whole new room, I was shocked! Here's what went down.... Once I was done minimizing the kitchen and dining room, I found that so much of what was left in the dining room would now fit in the kitchen, leaving me with a lot of unused space in the dining room (it's a decent sized room-15x16). Then I had a big huge decision to make. Our school room wasn't working out as I had initially expected it too. For one, kids would gravitate to the dining room and living room with their school every day. I think it might have had something to do with that fact that there were kind of too many of us to fit in the school room. But there was also a big HUGE problem that we kept running into with the schoolroom too. It never, ever looked like it did on day one (above). This is because the kids had a bad habit of going in there after school or on weekends, starting art projects (daily) and not cleaning up after themselves (ever). When you have 5 artists, and some of them making multiple projects every evening, two of them being ages 5 and 2, you are talking about a very, very, very large mess that takes a very long time to clean up. No matter what I tried, for months this was a problem. Not to mention the two younger ones would consistently rummage through spaces that were mine (the teachers) and do things like leave the caps off the years supply of glue...etc..... Since I would be in the other room either making dinner or working I would never find out until later. One Saturday, after spending 5 hours cleaning it out, only to have it destroyed before school even started again on Monday, I was at wits end. I wasn't sure what to do at first, we worked so hard to make this beautiful space for learning! But because it was tucked away in a corner of the house, it was just.not.working by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it was doing the opposite of what it was supposed to be doing (it was costing time and causing immense frustration). I think if it had been open to the rest of the rooms where I could keep a better eye on the kids when they were in there, it could have been different....but it wasn't. There was also another situation that was becoming increasingly problematic. My office was in a central place in the house, in the dining room, see pic). Since I was using a corner, it was crammed and an eye sore. I always get up early to work, but I also work on both my businesses and John's business on Saturdays and sometimes in the evenings, and I was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate with my space being literally four feet from the TV and in the center of the house (have I ever mentioned that boys are loud.... and I have three of them?)! Another thing about it is that in addition to it never working very well because I was trying to cram so much in to such a small corner, there as also the problem that no matter how much I tried to "pretty it up", it always looked out of place and messy, plus it was at the front door. So after about five days of debating in my mind, chatting with my husband about it, and talking with my aunt Pam, whom I love to talk this kind of stuff over with, I decided to let go of the school room and turn it into a study room/office. At first I was so reluctant. I wasn't even sure if it would work. But oh my goodness. It turned into the best decision. In this room, I was able to bring out the boho farmhouse look that I love with some industrial touches! I went with black and white (because it's probably my favorite color combination), walnut wood (because we had that on hand), and metallic accents-cuz they are trendy right now and rightly so-I mean, isn't it about time :-D ! Life is unbelievably different since we created this room! Instead of having just a corner for me, both John and I now have enough space to work! So far this room has brought the following perks...a couple of them were unexpected;
Both John and I are LOVING this space! The best part of all, we did this on a MAJOR budget (like we do most things :-D )! The desk top (below) is a repurposed top from what used to be the dining room table. I asked for the edge to be kept rustic (I love mixing a little boho rusticness into our home). John made his first industrial shelving, we've been meaning to do that for awhile because we've been wanting to offer it at JP Custom Woodwork. In line with minimalism, this shelf pretty much has just the bare necessities. Top shelf; photography folio (necessary to show clients at proofings), Jesus art by my son (because no matter how minimalist you are there are some things that you never want to let go), photography CD display (to show clients). Middle shelf, camera bag, plant (because every boho farmhouse must have plants! Bottom shelf, my portfolio, and letter board used in advertising, plus our business cards). And here's the best part, since moving the school room to the dining room, where we were naturally gravitating anyways, we are finding school days drastically smoother by having that area in the central location! But I'll save that for the next minimalist post.
I never would have guessed becoming a hard core minimalist would give us a room. And one that would bring so much peace and more productivity to our home! Stay tuned for the next post featuring the dining room/school room! Also upcoming; a post on the bedrooms because there's some great changes brought to us by minimalism there too! Be sure to check out my other minimalism posts; 7 Signs It's Time to Declutter and 7 Tips To Get It Done Taming The Toy Monster Would you like to know more about our business's and what we offer? Check out; JP Furniture & Cabinetry Shayla P. {Camera Artist} Essential Wellness with Shayla
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Minimalist March Challenge for Mothers-7 Signs it's Time to Declutter, 7 Tips for Getting it Done3/1/2018 Most my friends that know me well know that I'm BIG on organization, and decluttering. For more then 12 years we lived in very small spaces, both homes we lived in were less then 1000 square feet, so I had to learn to be a minimalist. Within the last two years we have been blessed to be able to add on to our home, going from less then 1000sq ft of space for our family of 7 to over 1400 square ft, and then last year to 1800 square ft. I know 1800sq ft still sounds like a cracker box to some people but after what we've been through it feels like the Taj Mahl! Living for so long in such a small space taught me many ways to maximize space, and live simply. I still use what I learned too keep our home feeling spacious. I always know it's time to declutter because there's a series of things that start happening that let me know "enough is too much". Here's how I know;
I wanted to share with you 7 ways I use to tame the clutter and get my life back when things are getting a little out of hand.
The Challenge..... Over the last month, all the above signs that it's time to deep clean/declutter have started happening. So I've decided to challenge myself to get the spring cleaning, and decluttering done, but to take an extra aggressive step forwards towards relentless decluttering. My goal is to see exactly how much we have that we don't use and need, and pitch it.
I would love for you to join me in this Minimalist March, let's take back peace in our homes and our time! If you would like to join me stay tuned, next week I'll be posting Taming the Toy Monster! Drop a comment below and tell me what you think! We were not planning on remodeling the kitchen this year. But we recently found some serious issues in one of the main walls and it looks like an impromptu remodel is in store for us this year. It's kind of a bummer and blessing at the same time! A bummer because we were planning the funds for our first family vacation in years. But it will be a blessing because if we can get it done it will eliminate some issues we have been facing because of the problems in the wall. Bonus is we will have a lot more cabinet and counter space once it's done! And more outlets too! Currently there are only four outlets in the kitchen, which equals a lot of hassle! We've always known this remodel was going to have to happen someday. Cheapie Lowes cabinets were a massive blessing in the pinch we were in three years ago before The Woodworker had his woodshop. But they are just no match for five kids! And then there is the matter of the "vintage" wiring. Since we've been dreaming of a kitchen remodel for years I've pinned over 140 idea's, but so many of them are vastly different. I've never been able to decide what I love most! So I decided to give the backsplash a fresh coat of paint. I've fallen in love with white lately, so I decided to give white a whirl. I thought the Woodworker would hate it. I was so surprised (and happy) when he came in and loved it! Then I got a little carried away. I've always wanted to paint this hutch white. I finally did it. I was just sure the Woodworker would hate it too, but he always had said he didn't care if I painted it or not. I was thrilled when he walked in the house, noticed it immediately and exclaimed that he loved it! I love this wall. The walnut, the brick, the white....I think I am onto something here. After years of deliberation I think we finally fell on a plan that we can both love. I think we are going to use this wall for inspiration for the rest of the kitchen. Kind of an eclectic farm/industrial combo style. We have decided we both love copper. We plan to be incorporating it into the new design. Stay tuned! We will post pictures later this year when we get the remodel done!
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