Can I tell you how shocked, humbled, appreciative and inspired I am by all of your comments on the downsizing post?!  Really, they’re amazing.  And just what I need.  Would you believe me if I told you that I had fear of rejection after putting all that out there?  Well, I did.  I half-expected to get comments about how I wasn’t doing the right thing and that I should consider an attitude change as opposed to a career change. But that didn’t happen.  You all are so kind and encouraging.  I can’t thank you enough.  Ever.  If I could make all of you chocolate no-bake cookies and deliver them to you straight from the pot, I would.  I am so grateful for your support {I know, I’m sounding like a blubbering beauty queen cliché right about now} and it’s just further confirmation to me that I can do this.  THANK YOU.  From the bottom of my design-lovin’ heart.

As you might’ve guessed, things are pretty hectic around here.  Handy Hubby and I are in the process of listing our home.  We are going to try and sell by owner.  We listed and sold our first home {a starter home we had in Illinois…the home we lived in before buying this home to be closer to family} by owner, so we have some experience going that route.  Although, that was 3 years ago when the market was just starting to roll downhill.  We aren’t oblivious to the fact that real estate isn’t exactly flying off the shelves right now.  But two homes have sold relatively quickly on our street within the last 6 months, so we’re hopeful.  It will be a lot work – mostly leg and paper – but we’re prepared to do it.  We know our home will sell just not sure for how much or when.  It should be interesting.

Today I started whittling things down in the pantry.  Prepping and staging your home for a sale is much different than decorating.  Potential buyers are looking to buy the house and all it has to offer…not the stuff in it.  {Not to say we aren’t opposed to bargaining off decor if that’s what would get us a sale.}  It’s necessary to edit decor to show off the best things about the house.  The large, walk-in kitchen pantry has been one of my favorite things about this house.  I can stash all kinds of stuff in there, close the door and no one’s the wiser.  In fact, other than spices and cooking oils, we don’t have any food items in our kitchen cabinets.  And since I knew I needed to start somewhere, I felt like conquering a small room first would get my purging and packing wheels rolling.  Here’s what the pantry looked like before…

And here’s what it looks like now…

…after a little decluttering and reorganizing.  I ended up with 3 piles of stuff that didn’t make the final cut.  Recycle: broken down packaging, expired coupons and old recipes.  Donate: odds & ends we don’t use.  Gift: items I’m hoping a neighbor can use.  Wine, anyone?

My goal was to get most everything up off the floor and onto the shelves.  Cereal, vinegar and toilet paper overstock were the only things that wouldn’t fit onto the shelves.  Then I faced {if you’ve ever worked in retail you know what facing is} all the food items and tucked everything nicely into its respective basket or bin.  Some of you have asked about how I have the pantry organized, so I guess now is as good a time as any!  I try to keep all the heavy and canned goods on the bottom shelf.  That way if I or my kids drop them, they don’t have that much momentum crashing into toes. Plus, they’re some of the healthier things in the pantry that I like my kids to see as a choice. {Desserts, treats and baking supplies are kept higher up…out of kid sight…to keep them from being snuck into.  I’m mean, aren’t I?}

The other food items are categorized into baskets and bins.  There are breakfast, snack, bread, pasta, rice, gluten-free {Handy Hubby has been gluten-free for nearly a year!}, baking and treat baskets right now.  I like using loose bins to organize that way I can tweak things week-to-week as our inventory changes.  I just got groceries yesterday, so this is as full as it gets unless we’re hosting a big get-together.

The perpendicular wall of shelving holds items in the household category….kid art supplies, batteries, flashlights and a few cleaners.  Hopefully, keeping a few bins empty will let potential buyers see how much space there really is in the pantry.

On the third pantry wall {behind the open door} there is a dry erase calendar to track family events and work schedules, a hanging stepladder which conceals some large drawing paper pads and a rack system for storing the broom, vacuum extension hose and a small electric sweeper.

I’ve been spoiled by this large pantry.  There’s no doubt that downsizing our home will probably result in downsizing our pantry too…if we’re lucky enough to get a pantry!  That’s okay.  I’m up for a kitchen organization challenge.  I like sorting things almost as much as I enjoy interior design.  I plan on editing the contents of our kitchen cabinets before we move anyway.  Maybe tomorrow?

Oh!  And I’d like to mention I did all of this while talking to several banks about getting pre-approved for a home loan.  Let’s just say I could hear the bankers’ eyebrows raising over the phone when I told them our plan to downsize from a home that we ‘can afford’ to a home less than half the worth of our current home.

images:  1) Make Your Own Invitations all the rest) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

I’m feeling a bit warrior-ish today.  Our new old dog {it’s a long story} decided to wake me up by dropping a deuce in our bedroom this morning.  Yeah, the bedroom that we’ve been making over. You know that one? Well, the dog gave it her own version of a makeover.  And wouldn’t you know today would be the day the windows were frozen shut?  Picture me at 6:30 this morning, barely awake, scrubbing dog poop out of a rug and carpet without adequate ventilation.  The jute rug is now drying in the tub while I’m contemplating a headboard change.

Notice how the prohibition symbol adds some rounded lines to the rectangular headboard, and the white really pops against the bare wood.  Just kidding.  I gotta laugh or I’m gonna cry.

As I forge ahead, I thought I’d show you where we charge our cell phones every night.  Are you following me?  I know it’s a stretch…charging ahead in poop-ridden battle…charging cell phones. Sometimes being creative comes across as crazy.  Anyway, here’s the console that lives in our open kitchen/dining area.

The left-hand drawer acts as a charging station for our cell phones.

Um, yes, that’s my Razr.  The young kids at work like to tease me about it.  It takes me 5 minutes to text ‘ok.’  To charge our phones, I use a double-headed extension cord that’s kept under wraps with some painter’s tape and then snaked up and over the back of the drawer so it can be plugged in.  The cord is thin enough to allow the drawer to close properly.

I hide the wire and outlet with baskets that hold table linens.

The right-hand drawer houses a phone book, local map and a folder of school contact info for my kindergartener.  To keep things tidy, I never keep more than one phone book on hand at a time. Most times, we look up phone numbers and addresses online anyway, but I like to have something handy in case the internet is down {which happens more than you’d think} or the electricity is out.

This charging station in disguise works well for us.  It’s located right next to the small hallway where we come in from the garage.  So, as soon as we enter, the phones go in the drawer.  On our way out of the house, they’re easy to pick up and throw in our pocket/purse.  Gotta love form + function.  Do you have a creative or ingenious place to charge your electronics?  I’d love to know about it!

Okay, I feel a little better now.  Thanks for listening, um, reading.  I’m off to battle.  Charge!

FYI – Please keep Handy Hubby in your thoughts today.  I’m pretty sure he left for work this morning wondering whether or not to return.

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

WARNING: NO PICTURES OF PRETTY INTERIORS IN THIS POST! But if you like a good decluttering before-and-after then stay with me.

I wouldn’t say my weekend was fun, but it was productive.  Cleaning out our unfinished basement was on 2010′s fall to-do list, and somehow we skipped right over it.  Life will do that to your to-do lists, you know. Anyhow, after I made the decision to really focus on reducing {stuff, stress, debt, etc.} this year, Handy Hubby and I scheduled for a babysitter to be at our house this past Saturday for 6 hours during the day. We knew if we were gonna make any kind of dent in the basement clutter, our boys would have to be preoccupied.  I’ve tried ‘organizing’ with our kids before.  It doesn’t work…at least for major organization sessions.  As soon as I have piles separated, *someone* starts pulling stuff out and I’m back at square one in 5 minutes.  Ahh!  So, yeah, we paid somebody to come play with the boys while we did a number on the hot mess in our basement.  Oddly enough, our babysitter’s mom just so happened to have a 15′ truck for the weekend that she kindly offered up to us for hauling junk away.  Score!  {Thanks Lydia and Sarah!}

Good thing…we had a lot of crap in the basement.  When we moved in 3 years ago, anything that we didn’t know where to put got thrown in the basement and was never seen again.  We also added to the chaos by dragging unwanted furniture, toys, electronics, etc. down there over time.  It all added up to one giant disorderly place.  And while we didn’t see the mess on a daily basis, I knew it was there…hidden by our tidy main floor.  I felt like it was a dirty secret I was keeping. Here I was decorating simply and telling you all how to disguise toy storage in your living spaces…all the while I had a dumpsterful of crap sitting in my basement.  Something had to be done.

In proper Mission Organization fashion, we hung signs around the basement categorizing each pile.

Handy Hubby and I spent 6 hours sorting through every last tote, bag and box, only coming up once for a quick lunch.  We kept a notepad in the ‘donate’ zone to write down each item we put in that pile…for tax deduction purposes.

We ended up with 4 pages of ‘donate’ stuff.  That was Saturday.  On Sunday, we loaded up our donation pile into the ‘big twuck’ {as Everett called it}.  Seriously, it took a BUH-zillion trips up and down those basement stairs.  It was 25° outside, but I was sweating with no coat.  Good workout. We didn’t have a babysitter for this part of the binge.  Everett was desperately trying to prove his big boy status by ‘helping.’  I had to keep opening bags and giving him something small to carry out to the ‘big twuck.’  His favorite part was walking up and down the loading ramp of the truck.  Here’s the ‘big twuck’ in all its glory right before we hauled it off to Goodwill.

This was the view from our front door this morning…

…notice the mongo trash pile on the curb.  We handed down the plastic storage bins to Handy Hubby’s folks who may be moving soon and just so happened to be in town for the day.  But enough talk.  Let’s walk the walk.  Check out these before-and-afters of the once furniture dungeon…

The items {doors, mirrors, old island countertop} propped up against the studs in the after shot are waiting to be hauled off to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  Sadly, they aren’t open on Sundays.  The black chairs in the bottom right hand corner of the after shot were waiting for our brother-in-law to come pick them up.  They’re gone now!

Before, the ping pong table wasn’t getting any playtime.  It was acting like more of a workbench. Now, you could probably fit 5 ping pong tables down there.

Who knew changing the furnace air filter could be so easy without all that crap in the way?

The majority of the stuff we kept ended up in this bump-out under the sunroom.  In a few months, I plan on going through this keep pile and whittling it down even further.

That’s the view looking back toward the front of the basement where you come down the steps. Nice.  All-in-all the basement binge went off without a hitch.  Things did get a little hairy when this guy made an appearance.

That picture doesn’t do him justice.  He was easily the size of a ping pong ball.  Maybe he thought he was one since he was hiding out under the ping pong table.  I saved Handy Hubby from him. He’s not fond of spiders.  All the dust from the basement and salt from the walk {we didn’t want to slip on the ice!} got tracked onto the floors.  I spent the better part of the afternoon scrubbing them clean.

It feels so good to have a clutter-free basement.  I’m glad we finally wrestled it into submission, but I’m also looking forward to doing something fun next weekend.

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

I’m trying to reduce our stuff this year.  To start out on the right foot, I decided to tackle something small scale before moving onto more chaotic messes. {Namely our basement.  Gulp.}  Our boys received a few new movies, Wii games and music CD’s for Christmas, and the bins in our entertainment console were beginning to overflow.  Handy Hubby had the grand idea to take everything out of their original cases and organize them into folders.  Brilliant.  A trip to Walmart for three $2 zippered CD cases {we already had one on hand} and I was in business.  First, I whittled down the collection to only those items that we still watch, play and listen to.  Then I emptied every single movie {only 2 of them were non-G-rated}, Wii game and CD from its packaging…

…slipped them into corresponding folders {Layne even helped!} and labeled each folder with a silver Sharpie…

I had an inkling to alphabetize everything, but, let’s be honest, my 3-year-old isn’t going to put stuff back in alphabetical order.  And that’s the whole point…to give the boys {and Handy Hubby and I} a quick and easy way to put things away.  So, I nixed the A-Z idea.  Our entertainment console is breathing a little easier.

I am too.  Especially since this little organization project only took about 15 minutes and cost $6.

PS – I still need to find a green way to get the empty packages off my hands.  I tried donating them to our local library, but it’s a small library that doesn’t carry movies so they wouldn’t accept the movie cases.  Any ideas from the peanut gallery?

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

I found 2 of these linen hanging organizers at Target last week on clearance for $3.74 each.  They were originally priced at $14.99 each.

I grabbed ‘em up and knew right away where I was going to use them.  You see, Layne started kindergarten this fall.  Who’da thought kindergarteners would bring home so much paperwork? From PTO newsletters to fundraiser info to weekly fluoride treatment consent forms…I’ve been slightly overwhelmed.  {Layne calls it his ‘homework.’}  Most of it gets tossed into the recycling bin but some is worth keeping and I haven’t found a good place to put it.  That is, not until I found these Real Simple bad boys.

Our mini mudroom is drop-zone central for coats, backpacks, shoes, hats, bags, etc.  {It was once a cumbersome hall closet.  See how we DIY’d it into a multitasking mudroom here over on Young House Love.} So, I figured what better place to add organization, right?  I used 4 drywall anchors and coordinating screws to secure the 2 hanging organizers to the narrow mudroom wall {just left of the bench if looking head-on}.

Then, to make ‘em a little more personal, I stamped the boys’ names onto the back of the Real Simple cards that came with the organizers.

Everett isn’t in school {not even preschool} yet, so I’ll probably just throw some extra pairs of undies in his for a while…or his coloring artwork.  God forbid I don’t get him something that Layne got!  Layne’s will come in handy for school reminders, consent forms and his weekly school library book {that we often have trouble finding the morning it’s due back}. And I love the fact that these will grow with the boys. Homework, here we come!

I could see these hanging organizers working just as well in an office or craft room.  And what about as mail sorters? Yes, siree.  Finding ways to keep our home clutter-free and running smoothly is fun to me.  Nerdy?  Absolutely. But it preserves my sanity.  And a mother’s sanity is a worthy investment.  Especially if it only costs $7.48.

images:  all by Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

The first thing I do when considering a room makeover is question the current layout.  Is it conducive to what needs to happen in the room?  Does it allow for proper traffic flow?  Are there too many furniture pieces?  Not enough furniture pieces?  Am I emphasizing a focal point?  When I started in on our master bedroom makeover I asked myself all these questions and then some. Even though I had made an attempt to establish a focal point by placing the bed centered between 2 windows, I decided the layout we’d put in place {and stuck with} nearly 3 years ago needed revamped.  Which means I took out some paper, a ruler and a marker to sketch. Sorry, no fancy-schmancy software program here for room layouts.  Sometimes a girl’s just gotta get away from the computer.  Know what I mean?

OLD MASTER BEDROOM FLOOR PLAN

As you can see, the room is wide and by putting the bed right in the middle of one long wall {albeit between 2 windows} the room is cut off right down the middle, leaving little room on either side for functional vignettes. Not to mention, it left Handy Hubby and me staring at 3 doors {entrance, closet and bathroom} every night as we were lying in bed.  Not the most appealing view to wake up to either.  So, I tweaked it a little.

NEW MASTER BEDROOM FLOOR PLAN

The new furniture layout places the bed on one of the narrower walls creating a cozier feeling.  The bench that was at the end of the bed now resides between the 2 windows.  And, look at that!  We don’t have to stare at all those doors anymore thinking, “What’s behind door #1?” Instead, there are 3 tall bookcases to catch our eye and add some height to the room.  The side chair remains in the room angled in toward the bed along with a few other tables to place drinks, books or accessories on.  I’d like to use 2 rugs to ground the 2 separate zones {the bed and the sitting area}. I’ve got my eye on a cowhide. You may also notice that the desk, desk chair and dresser are missing from the new floor plan.  The dresser has to go.  It was left by the previous owners in our first home and it’s bulky, loud and too feminine for what we want out of our new bedroom.  Believe it or not, the dresser only contains clothes that belong to Handy Hubby.  {He has most of the closet, too!}  That means he has some major purging to do. Hear me, Handy Hubby?  You need to get rid of all those things you haven’t even unfolded in 3 years! I’ve promised him a closet organization system if/when he gets his wardrobe whittled down.  As for the desk and accompanying chair, I’m pretty sure they’re not making the cut although I haven’t 100% decided.  I’ve tossed around the idea of swapping out my nightstand for the desk like I see in all the magazines nowadays.  We’ll see.  Oh! And even though we won’t have to face the wall o’ doors while we’re lying in bed, I think removing the closet and double bathroom doors would be an improvement.  I like the idea of curtains for the closet and some kind of sliding door for the bathroom.

So, that’s the plan for now.  Things could change.  I’m not promising anything.  Handy Hubby is out of town and I’m home alone with the boys this weekend.  {I don’t know how single moms do it!}  I’ve got a few projects planned for the bedroom makeover:  hang wallpaper {never done it before}, some painting, shop for a thrifted table, move some more furniture and maybe tackle a slipcover.  I’ve got my work cut out for me!  But it’s all stuff I enjoy doing so I really don’t mind.  I’d like to put together a mood board for our master bedroom at some point, too. Watch for that.

I get this question {or some version of it} a lot.

“Your house doesn’t look like it has 2 kids living in it.  Where are all the toys?”

Contrary to popular belief, I do not lock my kids up in the basement or keep them outside.  In fact, they eat, play and make messes here every single day.  Just like any other kid.  We do have a ‘toy system’ in place to corral all the kid stuff in our house which helps to make picking up {or ‘redding up’ as Handy Hubby calls it} simple.  Here are a few of my secrets for keeping toys in check:

1. Donate, separate and rotate. About 3-4 times per year, I {sometimes with the boys’ help} go through all the toys and purge.  If it’s broken, missing parts or just not grabbing my kids’ attention anymore {young kids tend to outgrow toys quickly!} I get rid of it.  Most items make it to Goodwill where I always ask for a receipt to write them off at tax time.  A few things get passed onto neighbor kids who see the secondhand toy as new. Some people may have a problem with this idea, wanting to hold onto toys because they remind them of their kids or thinking the kid might play with it again someday.  But I find happiness in knowing that our donated toys can make another child smile while keeping our house clutter free at the same time.  {I do keep the rare family heirloom toy.}  Whatever makes the cut and gets to stay in our home is loosely categorized:  cars, trains, blocks, Knex, books, puzzles, games, etc.  I try to keep like with like.  I’m not military stiff about it; we don’t have labels or anything.  I also try to keep what’s at kid reach to a minimum…meaning I put away a few items to rotate into the mix every couple of weeks once the boys have gotten bored of what’s available.  I find the boys are more apt to focus on a few toys versus a gazillion.  Simply keeping a handle on the amount of toys in our home makes it that much easier to create a space where kids, adults and style can live harmoniously.

2.  Place toys in appropriate areas. In other words, I keep toys in the rooms/areas where I like my kids to play –  mainly the family room and guest/playroom.  I set aside one half of our guest room to act as a playroom upstairs.  I hated the idea of only using this room in our house a couple of times per year when we had visitors.  Now, it gets used weekly if not daily.

Believe it or not, my kids don’t really have any toys in their bedrooms.  Instead, I store all their books in their bedrooms.  My boys have always been great sleepers and it may/may not have anything to do with this. {Kind of the same reason Handy Hubby and I refuse to have a TV in our bedroom.}  To us, bedrooms are spaces for downtime and sleeping…not playing.  Same goes for the front living room in our home where you enter the house.  I don’t like the idea of people tripping over toys as soon as they walk in, so I don’t store toys there.  That’s not to say that we don’t get the occasional car or truck under our feet in the kitchen, living room or even dining table.  But, for the most part, we’re able to keep the toys in appropriate zones out of the way of normal traffic flow.

3.  Store toys in appealing baskets, bins and containers. Not only can this work to keep toys out of sight, but many storage options can actually add texture and interest to a room.  For instance, I use a console behind our family room sectional for toy storage.  The woven baskets hold toys and break up all the dark wood and leather.

I use baskets, bins and boxes all over the family room for disguising toys.

This corner may look unassuming enough but behind the chair is a fabric covered bin holding our Wii floor mat.  {Yes, those are my toes.}

One bin in the TV console is assigned to kid DVD’s.

The ottomans that flank the entertainment console actually house board games.

The black and white geometric ‘book’ has a secret.

Card games!

Even our sunroom is in on the basket organization action.

The basket holds Lincoln Logs.

Truth be told, we do have toys in our house after all!  You just have to know where to look.

4.  Get rid of bulky packaging. As soon as a new toy comes into our house, usually the first thing to go is the packaging.  {Don’t worry, we recycle.}  All that cardboard is unnecessary.  Once that’s out of the way, I’m usually left with a much smaller thing to find a place for, and I can come up with an alternative to the flimsy packaging that holds up way better.

For example, I use this linen box to house a solar system puzzle.

I cut the picture off of the original box and store it with the puzzle pieces for a quick reference.

5.  Pick up as you go. If Layne & Everett have been playing cars all morning {a typical morning} and then decide they want to try Playdoh, I’ll usually say something like, “Okay, I’ll get out the Playdoh while you guys put the cars away.”  That way we don’t have too many messes going on at once.  In case you’re wondering where the Playdoh is…

…it’s in the bottom drawer of this cabinet…

Before bedtime at the end of every night, we make ‘em clean up toys too.  But I’ll be honest.  We do have those nights when I’m just so ready for them to go to bed that I’ll forgo the toy mess until later.  We’re not perfect!

6.  Save large items for special days. Over the years, I’ve kept the kids’ kitchenette, pop-up tent and ball pit in our unfinished basement.  I’ll bring one upstairs every month or so and leave it up for about a week.  After that, they’re usually tired of it and back down to the basement it goes.

So, there you go.  That’s how I keep toys from taking over our house.  Maybe this makes me out to be a stickler, but I assure you my kids have plenty to keep them occupied.  We rarely have the *newest* toy because there’s always going to be another *better* toy to follow.  Half the time my kids prefer to move around the furniture and build forts anyway.  Who needs toys when you have your imagination?

It’s Feature Friday! On Fridays, I’ll be featuring one room in my house in its current condition even if there are some things I’d like to change about it. If I do happen to improve something later, I can always revisit it when the time comes. Plus, I’d kinda feel dishonest if I only focused on “finished” rooms in my house. And if what they (the professionals) say is true, a room is never really finished anyways…you’re always tweaking it. Concentrating on just one room weekly should give me some time to tidy it up a bit, too.

Today I’m showing you the bathroom that our boys and guests use.  It sits between the laundry room and guest/play/craft room.  It doesn’t have a window (I wish it did!), so I had to brighten the photos quite a bit…hence the decreased picture quality.  Here you go…

We removed the vanity doors, primed, painted and added a fabric curtain & hardware to the boring builder oak vanity.  Check that project out here.  Several months later, I’m still pleased with the (cheap-o) results!

I hang my toddler’s potty seat from a 3M hook inside the vanity.

Above the toilet is an orchid print (have you noticed yet that I have a thing for orchids in my home?) and open shelf storage for toiletries.

I use small glasses to corral fingernail clippers, q-tips and cotton balls.  My boys use the empty glass for quick sips of water after brushing their teeth.

Across from the toilet are 2 towel racks and a cabinet for storing extra toilet paper rolls.

Beneath the towel racks sits a wooden step stool.  My littlest boy, Everett, uses it to wash his hands at the sink.  I use it to sit on while giving my boys a bath.  And Bear (Everett’s best stuffed friend) uses it to cheer for Everett on the potty.  (Sorry, no Bear in the picture…Everett was napping with him.  All I could find was Sheep.  You get the point.)

That’s my boys’ and guests’ bathroom, short and sweet.  I have plans to add more color and personality to it for cheap.  Keep watching!

It’s Feature Friday! On Fridays, I’ll be featuring one room in my house in its current condition even if there are some things I’d like to change about it. If I do happen to improve something later, I can always revisit it when the time comes. Plus, I’d kinda feel dishonest if I only focused on “finished” rooms in my house. And if what they (the professionals) say is true, a room is never really finished anyways…you’re always tweaking it. Concentrating on just one room weekly should give me some time to tidy it up a bit, too.

We’re fortunate enough to have an extra bedroom that serves triple duty:  guest bedroom, craft room and playroom.  It’s a little more playful than the rest of our house.  Take a peek! 

The bed frame was actually Handy Hubby’s in college and was wood veneer in pretty bad shape.  I sanded it down, primed and painted it.  The bed linens are simple white with cheerful, geometric pillows.

The frame above the bed was actually supposed to be a mirror but it arrived shattered.  In a bit of luck, the sender let me keep the empty frame because it was going to be more expensive for them to ship back and repair than sell…2 for the price of 1!  It’s the same frame/mirror as in our living room – only I painted the living room one black and this one white.

I found a pair of metallic gold sunburst plaques at Goodwill for $4.  I spray painted them white and leaned each in a windowsill.

Right next to the bed is a long, narrow table where I sew and do other crafty things…although not nearly as much as I’d like.  I found the lamp at a thrift store and the fabric storage boxes came from JoAnn’s on clearance.  The scroll wall pieces are from local antique malls.  I painted them white…surprise!

There is one large blank wall across from the guest bed.  Someday, I hope to add family photos.  The closet is my craft closet.  See how I organized it here.  Yep, it’s still organized!

A small vignette by the door holds special meaning.  The dresser is a family hand-me-down, the baby shoe is mine and the framed quilt was my great-grandmother’s.

Finally, the play area includes a hand painted train table, a reading spot and a bookcase for toys.

Here’s my little playmate now…sans pants…

So if you ever want to come sleep, sew or play (without your pants on) at my house, you can do it all within the confines of this room.

FYI – A huuuuuge ‘thank you’ to my mom who let me borrow her computer for this week’s posts…including today’s Feature Friday. 

I’ll make this quick.  I have to.  Our stinkin’ 8-year-old computer has gone viral again and will only stay online for about 5 minutes before wiggin’ out.  Needless to say, I haven’t been able to upload any of the photos I took (3 days ago!…I was even trying to plan ahead!) of the guest/craft/playroom for Feature Friday.  Sorry to disappoint.  Hopefully, I’ll be back up and running soon. 

Does anyone have suggestions for a good anti-spyware and/or anti-spam program?  This is the second time in the last 3 months that we’ve been infected.  I’m starting to think I can’t wait until Black Friday for a killer deal on a new laptop.