Organizing Mamas: Baby Nursery Inspiration

I am officially in the third trimester of my pregnancy, yay!!! I feel so incredibly blessed to have made it this far. I'm praying to stay pregnant as long as possible.

From previous experience I know it's in my family's best interest to go ahead and get prepared for baby as soon as possible. Little Mike came earlier than we expected and there were still some things that needed to be done once we were home from the hospital. Not fun.

I want to be ready this time. So this week for the Organizing Mamas Challenge I'll be trying to gather some ideas for a neutral baby nursery. I have been resting so much that I've actually ended up in a really time sensitive place. Thankfully, this challenge with Mimi from Unlikely Martha has been keeping me somewhat on task.

Living on a military base doesn't allow me to do as much as I would like to as far as decorating goes. Our home is over a hundred years old. The bedrooms are small but the house has a cozy charming feel to it. I plan to do a neutral 'nursery' so that the baby can share a room with either Sav or Little Mike. I just can't afford to give up our guest room right now. Our parents need a room when they come visit. 

I am very attracted to a room with a grey base. It can be easily transitioned to a boy or girl's room by adding different colors. 

That room is very similar to what I'll actually be working with. The walls in our house will remain white so I have to bring in color with furniture and decor. I found this crib on Amazon that I really love because it comes in different colors. I could easily choose a color that already matches the decor in Savannah or Little Mike's room.

I don't know why I'm so drawn to grey right now. It honestly doesn't go with either of the kid's rooms so I'd have to do a total room makeover for grey to work. I'm tossing around the idea. I like simple, easy and timeless design because moving is inevitable I want their rooms to work no matter where we're living.

For Mama's with multiples... Have you ever had kids share a room? How did that work? If giving up my guest room is worth it I'll consider it. Sleep means everything to me so I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep the sleep flowing around here.

Now go check out Mimi's post to see her mud room makeover update!

Organizing Mamas: Kitchen Pantry Reveal

This week has been so busy. I haven't blogged much because Savannah's birthday consumed all of my free time. I'll do a post one day this week about everything we did to celebrate her turning five.

Now that I am sort of back in the swing of things Mimi from Unlikely Martha and I are revealing our spaces for the Organizing Mamas Challenge. This could not have come at a better time for me. While I was recovering from my hospital stay my Mom was in town and she pulled my entire kitchen together. It's so organized in here and I am loving it. I can actually find lids to containers now. My heart is so happy.

My pantry before was a hot mess. There were things stuffed and crammed all over the place. Little Mike would take stuff out, throw it away or hide it somewhere in the house. Now all of his favorite items to play with are out of his reach and no longer in bright eye catching colors. He has lost all interest in the pantry. Again, my heart is happy.

Here is a before pic of the pantry...

And here is the after...

One of the things my Mom did that I loved was that she completely removed all the medicine out of the pantry. She also got rid of the cereal boxes. One of my favorite new features of my pantry would be the snack tub. I don't buy much junk food but we always seem to have tortilla chips (because chips & salsa are household staples here) whatever snacks I buy for the kids. The smaller tub on top is filled with kid friendly snacks like fruit snacks, breakfast bars and applesauce. The larger tub holds popcorn bags and chips. 

The bread basket freed up space on my kitchen island (another heart happy moment) and I love that the potatoes and onions have a basket of their own. Military housing doesn't provide much storage in some of the historic homes (like our's) so you really have to get creative with making the small spaces work. I think my Mom did a great job!

What do you think of my pantry makeover? Now head over to Mimi's blog to see the reveal of her space. She recently did a blog overhaul with a new name and vibe to match. Be sure to stop by and show her post some love. She's got so many great DIY/home posts!

Organizing Mamas: Kid's Play and Homework Space (AFTER)

I may or may not be in a very early nesting phase. When I first started decluttering at the beginning of the Summer I had no idea we had this much crap. Cleaning off the desk in the kitchen was very enlightening. Let's just say that I found a pencil sharpener on the desk after clearing it off.

Mimi and I are revealing our spaces for the Organizing Mamas: Kid's Play and Homework Space Challenge.

This was our desk area before... This was definitely my "Devil Wears Prada" moment of everyday. I'd just slap stuff down on this desk and keep it moving.

The after... This clean desk was achieved by utilizing the empty file cabinet that has always been located directly next to the desk. Don't judge me. Everything that didn't deserve to get filed got thrown in the trash or shredded. I took all of the books upstairs to their new home along with the photo album. Who has a photo album in their kitchen? We did. The pencil sharpener was found behind the photo album. 

I can see our calendar again. There is also a place for my computer now. This makes me so excited!

I had been looking for a bookshelf for weeks. Every thrift store within a decent radius from my house met me and my kids. I didn't think I was going to have any luck finding a shelf. I was tempted to just hop on Amazon and order one but because we might be moving soon I didn't want to buy anything new.

I try not to buy any big ticket items before a move because things always get broken, scratched or "lost". My plan was to find a wooden bookshelf that I could give a face lift. Something that would serve it's purpose in this house before we find new roots somewhere else.

All of the books were located in Savannah's room. I thought it would be a better idea to bring the books out into this spot between the kid's rooms. My hope was that I could free up enough space to make room for a crib in Savannah's room. Savannah has decided that she no longer wants to share a room with her new sibling. I will cross that bridge again when I have to....

Here is the new bookshelf. I found it on Sunday afternoon. It was originally $29 and I got it for $19. If you could have seen me in that Goodwill celebrating... 

I thought I was going to paint this shelf but my husband had a hard time getting it upstairs. I don't think I'll make him take it back down and back up again. That might be overcooking his grits. So I gave the shelf a nice cleaning and filled it up with books.

It fits perfectly in the hall. While putting the books on the shelf it dawned on me that if I made the kids swap rooms that it would be more than enough space for Little Mike and the #grandfinalebaby to share a room, and I wouldn't have to lose my guest room. We'll see. That's another bridge for another day as well.

Our next Organizing Mamas Challenge will focus on a kitchen storage area. I'll be figuring out how to make our kitchen pantry function a bit better. Here is a before of the pantry...

I'll be taking some cues from Mimi on this one because her pantry makeover was amazing. Visit her blog to see how she transformed her kid's play and homework space. Then come back in two weeks to see how we pulled our kitchen storage areas together.

Join our challenge on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Share your before and after pics using the #OrganizingMamasChallenge hashtag. 

 What home projects are you working on right now?

Organizing Mamas: Kids Play and Homework Space Challenge

I think everyone has that place in their house that ends up collecting all the stuff that doesn't have a true home. Since I have been on a mission to declutter and reorganize our home to prepare for the new baby I thought it would be a great idea to start focusing my attention on our kitchen next.

One of my favorite bloggers recently did a kitchen pantry makeover that inspired me to start pulling my kitchen together. If you don't follow Mimi over at Lipgloss and Binky you should be. We will be decluttering and reorganizing our homes in an effort to make a big impact on the everyday lives of our families.

So far my little projects have done wonders for me. Next up on my list is the desk in our kitchen. It's where I'd like for Savannah to do her homework after school and during our home learning time.

This desk is a mess and it drives me crazy. No matter how clean my kitchen is it never looks all the way done because of this desk. Stay tuned for the makeover...

There is also an area in their play space that drives me crazy. I have been able to find a solution for their toys but I'm still working on how to make their little library function better. I honestly feel like the library needs a new location because I may need to use that space for the new baby's crib. Savannah has agreed that if the baby is a girl she is more than welcome to share her room.

If it's a boy I guess that means I'll be losing a guest room...

Here is the space that needs the work...

That bookshelf is about two to five books away from collapsing. The bin next to it is full of books that need a place on a shelf. I'd love to find a good wooden bookshelf at a thrift store. I'll be hitting up several to see what I can find.

Anyone else have a play space or homework space that needs a small makeover? 

If so, share it with us on IG, FB or Twitter using the hashtag #OrganizingMamasChallenge. In two weeks we'll be sharing the results of our makeovers and we can't wait to see your's!

Now head over to Mimi's blog to see the space that she's working on. The play space and homework room in her house is super cute!