Clean Freak & Country Girl Collide

I like to think of myself as a country girl. When I was younger, I spent practically every weekend on my aunt's farm. She had horses (one was owned by me), cows, chickens, pigs (one owned by me & my cousin), cats, dogs, guinea pigs, goats, and sheep. I remember feeding the baby goats bottles of milk and playing hide & seek in the dark. I remember laying out on the roof of the barn and watching the clouds roll by. I remember baling hay and driving my uncle's huge truck (which was terrifying) when I couldn't lift the hay bales anymore. I would say days spent on my aunt's farm are probably my favorite childhood/youth memories. However, while I do think of myself as mostly country, I do have one quality that is very contradictory of the country lifestyle: I am a complete neat freak. My aunt had this huge barn where all the cows lived and hay was stored, but there was this one room that was partially closed off that I turned into my fort. And I cleaned and organized it. I dusted it. A BARN! Do you know how insane that is? I do, but the tendencies to clean and organize everything follow me everywhere I go.

I remember when Aaron and I got married I had these dreams to have a perfectly organized house, but when you live in multiple rental homes for only a year, it's a nearly impossible task. So I told myself once we bought a house I would have my organized dream home. We bought our house three years ago, and you know what happened? Life. Kids. Complete chaos. So I said one day it would happen. My in-laws took the kids to Florida for the week and since I have a break in school and not many other obligations to fill right now, I decided that it's the time to finally fulfill my dream (haha).

I started reading a book called "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing" by Marie Kondo and really liked her theories to maintaining a organized home. Basically she says keep things that give you joy and get rid of everything that doesn't. She also talks about having a place for everything, which I feel is a big part of maintaining an organized home. I will say that I didn't follow her program exactly as she laid out. I did start with clothes then books, as suggested, but then went room to room, which she says is a huge no-no. But whatever. It's my house and I'll do what I want! ;)

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MASTER BEDROOM

My drawers and closets were a complete disaster. I really wish I would've taken pictures of everything before I organized, but I was on a roll and forgot for most of it. The first thing I did was organize our closets. I took everything out and threw it all on the floor. I tried on every piece of clothing I owned and got rid of the things that didn't make me feel good. 

Clothes organized by type: Top left has t-shirts, tanks, casual long-sleeved shirts, sweaters, jackets. Bottom left has workout tanks and tees (I have a lot, but I love them!) The right side I have my jewelry organizers, scarf organizer, capris, jeans, pants, skirts, then dresses. The top middle part has my traveling bags, the basket contains swim items, then shoes are all put away neatly. 

Jewelry organizer. I got them on Groupon a while ago because I don't like a tangled mess. 

Aaron's neatly organized closet! I left out part of it in the picture, but hanging on the top left are his dress shirts, top right are casual long-sleeved shirts. Bottom left has all his pants and bottom right has casual short-sleeved shirts. The large middle drawer has all of his work clothes which are folded using the Konmari method (seen below) and upper small drawers have work accessories.

Next I moved onto my drawers. These were terrible. I'm not exaggerating from the "before" picture, either! I used the Konmari method from the book I mentioned and folded everything as she suggested. I LOVE that I can see all of my things when I open my drawers now. 

Shorts/Pants drawer: Before

Shorts/Pants drawer: After

I realize this is my underwear drawer, but wanted to show how I just cut-up a cardboard box to create sections for socks/bras/underwear. Everything is folded using the Konmari method. 

Aaron's drawers even got a makeover!

Look at that beautiful space! Can you still feel the country?? Btw, shelves are built out of gutters, in case you're wondering!

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Pea's Room

Next up is Pea's room. I have a few wonderful friends who have given me their daughters' hand-me-down clothes and shoes, but most are still too big for her. She has clothes that range from 2T all the way up to 6! I needed to figure out how to best use her space and keep everything close by so things don't get forgotten about as she grows. 

Before picture. This gives me anxiety just looking at it!

Little clothes folded with the Konmari method! So cute!

Pea's closet. The upper bins have shoes labeled by size. Her clothes are separated by tabs by size and category (2T then 3T shirts, 2T then 3T dresses, etc). The pink tote on the floor has her ballet clothes because there's no way I'm folding tu-tus. I also have 2 bins next to it with 4T & 5/6T clothes for easy access (I don't like things stored in the attic). I also have a shoe organizer hanging on her closet door for the shoes she can wear now.

Bow organizer I made a while ago. Bought the frame from Hobby Lobby then super glued ribbon to the back for the bow clips to attach to. Then I drilled holes on the bottom and put hooks in for the headbands. (Pinterest project, don't have the original link instructions!)

Aaaaah... sweet organization.

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Big's Room

Big's room was pretty easy to organize because it's so big! He has two closets, one which was being used as a storage space for clothes the kids outgrew, toys that were no longer played with, extra blankets, etc. I moved everything out of there and changed it into a closet for my husband's work gear (it's no longer under my bed!) and left the other closet just for Big's things.

Here's an in-between picture, haha. The book cubby was just organized and I was trying to figure out what to do with the rest. 

I moved the number bins (Ikea) from the book cubby to his dresser to store his hats, belts, and snow supplies in. You can also see the train holder that Aaron built for Big's train collection. I didn't think I needed to bore you with more folded clothes. :)

Check out that beautiful train table! Also, the toy chest in the back has all of his puzzles (he has TONS) which I took out of the boxes and put in large ziplock bags for easier storage. 

Cute little book corner. :)

 Big's closet. Those blocks were originally under his bed. I made sure that NOTHING stayed under any of our beds. It's too much of a hassle to clean. 

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PLAYROOM/GUEST ROOM

For this room I took everything out all at once and dumped everything on the floor. I then got rid of things I knew the kids no longer played with and put everything back based on their category. I know this room won't stay this neat, but it was helpful in seeing which toys were broken and missing pieces, and I'm hoping I won't have to hear, "Mom, have you seen the other piece of this?" ... for a day, at least. 

Sorting through it all! First half of the room is the play room. Second half (other side of that 1/2 wall) is the guest room, which didn't need much help. 

*Big sigh of relief*

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MEDIA CLOSET

The media closet was probably the biggest pain, but also the most satisfying for me to organize. It was a huge mess with movies no one watched, games falling out of boxes, and random odds and ends that were just left there to put away "tomorrow." I'm so upset that I didn't take a before picture. All that is left in this closet now are movies, games, pictures/scrapbooks, & legos. 

DVD boxes from Ikea. Orange are kid movies and green are adult movies (all organized alphabetically, naturally!)

Picture boxes/scrapbooks/adult games. I realize the boxes are different.. but it's what I had on hand!

I was so tired of games falling out of their crappy cardboard boxes so I bought these totes from Target ($1-$3 each) and put all the games in them. These aren't large enough for the boards, but I left them all out together to the side and will label them once I get some refills for my label machine. And I'll label the boxes with them instead of the dry erase marker I used for temporary purposes (I can hear you, type-A people!)

Lego storage in the media closet.

Maybe the best idea I've ever had. I put the instructions for building all the Lego things inside this folder and put it on top of the lego bins so we aren't always losing them. 

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CRAFT CLOSET

This was another room that was a huge pain to organize, but felt great to finish. Look at it. It was a mess. I had old catalogs, tons of boxes, fabric scraps, unfinished craft projects, etc. Such a mess. 

Before. This is seriously what it looked like. *Shivers*

Organized the craft supplies that can't hang from the pegboard wall. 

Look at that! Nothing on the floor. Everything in its place. 

All that's left of my Scentsy business. It was a good 5 years!

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KIDS'/ GUEST / HALF BATHROOMS

Not too much organizing needed to be done to any of these bathrooms, but look at how clean! 

Kids' bathroom

Guest bathroom 

One of my favorite accents to this bathroom is this old drawer used to store shampoo, soap, etc for our guests! (Country girl!)

1/2 bathroom. I found the mirror in an antique shop (ugly gold color probably from the '70s) and painted it this antique white. Love it!

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MASTER BATH

Anyone else a hoarder of bath products? I am, apparently. I probably got rid of 80% of what was in this room... from lotions to makeup to little tubes of toothpaste. It was a mess and I never used any of it because I couldn't see it. Also wishing I would've taken a before picture of this room. 

This bathroom had no linen closet, so I got an old box from an antique store and turned it into towel storage. Also, check out that organized makeup!

So peaceful!!!

Everything in its place. Toiletry items are all separated and easy to find now. 

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DINING ROOM

The dining room used to be our playroom until my parents gave me their old table. Now it may be my favorite room in the house. Look at how country it is. :)

The green piece of furniture holds the kids' toys that they play with on a daily basis. I love having it for storage because it looks cute and you can't see all the toys inside. The canisters actually have crayons, chalk, and darts in them! And my friend/neighbor just gave me that basket on the chair which her mom made. I loooove it. 

Stained glass window my mom made, shutter I repurposed into a chalk board, old ladder, and 1920s goat cart wheel. Not organization related, but still share worthy in my opinion!

Farm table & kids art wall. The art holder wire is from Ikea. My centerpiece is made from another old drawer, 3 antique mason jars (one from 1910!) and an old milk jug. 

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KITCHEN

I organized my kitchen a while ago, but went back through and cleaned out everything before putting it back. I love all those pan organizers, space savers, etc that you can buy to help give you more space. 

Clean counters. So nice!

Just wanted to share this picture because I LOVE my unpaper towels that my neighbor/friend's sister made!! The Kroger box is where I store my bread. Also notice my old lady pill organizer on my lazy susan. I forget my vitamins otherwise! 

These organizers make it easy to find the pan you need.

LOOK AT THIS! This is my junk drawer! Look at how little is in here! The Konmari method says to throw out all the "how-to" manuals, which filled up this drawer before, because you can find everything online and are more likely to do that then scrummage through crap to find them. I kept my gun one though, just because.

I also did this a while ago, but thought some may find it helpful. My medicine cabinet is organized by category: tummy, cough/cold, first-aid, allergies, etc to make it easier to find. I obviously need to make new labels, but it's still one of my favorite household systems. 

Just cause I love them... wine rack Aaron made with old pallets, and shot glass rack (which I've changed into an essential oil rack) made by my uncle! 

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LAUNDRY ROOM

This is another project we tackled earlier in the year, but I still wanted to share it. The laundry room is one of the hardest areas for me to keep neat, but it's also the first one I see when I get home so it drives me crazy if it's a mess. 

I love the broom holder and having all that stuff off of the floor. I put the command hooks up to hold the bags we use on a daily/weekly basis (school, swim...)

Little clear organizers keep everything handy and easier to find! The cardboard box is driving me crazy but it's all things for my loaner dog (I'm watching a friend's dog for 6 months) so I'm not changing it! The white cabinets have extra laundry supplies and emergency supplies in case the power goes out, etc.

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THE OFFICE

It was really hard for me to let go of books, but I had a ton. And really... when was I going to read them again? I kept some of my favorites... like the ones autographed by Charlaine Harris and my fitness books. I don't have many pictures of this room because it is completely full of stuff I'm taking to donate on Monday. All because of my cleaning and decluttering efforts!

Start of the sorting process.

All of these are going to a second hand bookstore.

So pretty. My parents gave me this bookshelf. It's also from the 1920s! Love my antiques.

I had to include it because of all the medals (that's right, Marie Kondo... they all bring me joy) and my clarinet lamp! 

 My current situation... at least until Monday. 

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I hope you've enjoyed seeing all my organizing efforts. Honestly, I think I wanted to blog about this because I wanted to remember this moment in time when my house was perfect. I understand that messes are good... that means memories are being made, right? But please don't beat me down for enjoying the simple satisfaction of having a clean and organized home, even if it's short-lived. I love my family, but my soul also craves this bliss from time-to-time, too. We all have our quirks and this is mine. Little bit country, little (or a lot) OCD. That's just me!

And as an added insane treat, here's my planner! Notice that it's color coded... based on the person or activity that is involved. My personal stuff is purple, family stuff is red, green is workouts, church is dark blue, Pea is pink, Big is light blue, Aaron is black, and the list goes on. You're welcome.