How to Save your Sanity in the Face of Kid Clutter

We recently moved our couch around again (are we the only ones that are constantly rearranging our furniture?) and it caused us to a bit of reorganization. A big part of the motivation for moving the couch in the first place was to get better access to the shelves that Eric put in under our stairs.

You see, having kids seems to automatically cause an influx of crazy amounts of kid stuff. Between presents from from grandparents and friends plus all the little things that we as the girls parents just can't resist picking up for them we seem to have a ton of stuff! Let's face it, shopping for kids is fun! There are a ton of beautifully designed kids products and it is so hard not to go overboard at every opportunity. We have quite a collection of toys, games, puzzles and art supplies and since we ant the main living space to feel like it belongs to everyone, not just the grown ups, we store a lot of the better kid items in the living room.

It used to cause quite a bit of clutter but we found the magic solution to keeping the clutter under control and making the room a snap to clean, storage buckets! I know this isn't a revolutionary new idea or anything but they aren't something that I ever used in my decorating before I had kids and they have made a huge difference in the look and feel of our living room.

Things like art supplies are pretty well organized but for the most part the storage buckets have no rhyme or reason to them. They just house all the random toys that end up floating around the living room. When I need to clean up it takes me literally 2 minutes to scoop everything up and toss it in a bucket. Our kids are young enough that they rarely look for a specific toy so the fact that they are totally unorganized doesn't really matter. Plus Echo enjoys digging through the buckets just to see what's in them, it's like a treasure hunt to her!

We have the same system going in Echo's room and it makes it so easy to clean! Seeing how well it worked in her space really made me want to try it in the other rooms in the house. We have the most buckets going in the living room since that's where we mostly hang out but having a single bucket in the dining room, kitchen and kids bathroom has proved really useful too. Some of our buckets are prettier than others but they all help bring a sense of calm and order to our house that just wouldn't be possible otherwise. I feel like the living room is cleaner than it's been in years and it makes me wonder why we didn't do this from the get go. Hopefully it will keep things feeling neat and tidy as our kid stuff continues to grow!

Changing and Rearranging

We have been making big changes in our main living area of the house and now I am finally getting around to sharing some photos of our updates. I think it's really interesting to see how our needs have changed and how the space has developed over time. The first thing I wanted to show off are the awesome built in stairs that Eric made for under our staircase!

This is a project we have been wanting to do since we moved in. The previous space under the stairs was inaccessible and basically unusable and a waste of space.  We had some bookshelves stuck back there but we really couldn't get to them and they didn't give us as much storage as we wanted.  The new built in shelves are very wide and very deep and allow for plenty of storage for our games and extra kitchen goods.

The top section of the shelves will one day be a reading nook for Echo but for now it's a place to hide the cat food so Echo can't eat it (babies love to eat cat food, don't ask me why). 

In order to be able to access the shelves we had to do a little furniture rearrangement and this is the new setup. It is a much cozier arrangement and allows for better conversation and a better spot to sit by the fire since the furniture is closer together now. We even found a nice little nook for Echo's easel and her little rocking chair.

The area by the front window has changed too since we swapped out the round table that was in this corner with the rectangular table that used to be in the dining room. Eric is now using this corner as his work desk for when he works from home. It's great because he has a lovely view out in to the front yard and plenty of light. He also sold his IMac and works exclusively on his new Chrome Book and his Ipad so he doesn't need much room. We almost never use the loft now because we have pretty much stopped watching tv altogether and Echo hates being confined in the small space up there, preferring to have free reign of the whole house. The consequence of this is that we are using our "formal" living room a lot more now and not really spending much time in the the loft. Plans for how to revise the loft space to make it more usable are in the works though.

We got a cool new firewood holder so we can have dry wood inside and it fits nicely with the new furniture arrangement (it needs to be filled up more though!). The house is starting to feel like a greenhouse because I had to move so many plants inside to save them from the freezing weather but it makes everything feel a little fresher and greener so that's nice.

Here is a picture of the new dining room arrangement. I actually think the round table fits better in this space. Unfortunately this area wasn't very clean for this photo, oh well.

I also felt the need to change out the art on the dining room wall so I got a huge poster sized print of one of my photographs and framed it for this wall. I'm loving the updated look. The glass in the frame is a little too reflective though and messes with the photograph, I'm working on a solution to this. I'm moving the art that used to be on this wall up in to the loft where I'm making a gallery wall.

Here is an aerial view of the new downstairs space. Sometimes I think it really helps perk up your spirits to rearrange and redecorate a space. I think this is just what we needed and we are appreciating our house in a whole new way now.

Essentials for a Small Kitchen

I love just about everything about our house, including our small kitchen. While our kitchen is on the littler side there is still room for two of us to work in there and cooking together is one of our favorite things to do as a family. Having a small kitchen does mean that you have to prioritize and conserve your counter space as much as possible. We have really worked at pairing down our kitchen appliances to just what really use. Here is a list of our kitchen "must haves", our "nice to haves" and what we can live without.

Must Haves

At least one really good knife, preferably two. We have more than one knife but we only have two really good ones and they definitely get the most use. Our favorite knifes are our wonderful Santaku that was a wedding present and a small pairing knife. These have very different uses and there are lots of other knifes that are nice to have but we find you can do most of what you need to with just these two.

Emersion blender. If you have a regular blender you probably don't need this. However it is great for saving space in a small kitchen and eliminates the need for a food processor and a blender. The only exception is if you want to make smoothies since it doesn't handle ice well but for most of my blending needs it does just fine.

Mason jars. We use mason jars for pretty much everything. They are kind of a fad right now but there's a good reason for it, they are awesome! They are heat and cold resistant and keep air out so they are great for storage. eric also loves to drink out of them, especially his Scotch out of the teeny ones.

Wooden spoons and spatulas. These are great because they won't ruin your non stick cook ware. If you take care of them they last pretty much forever and they have a million uses. My little girl also likes to bang them on the floor which helps keep her occupied while I cook :-)

Enameled cast iron dutch oven. This is probably the single most used item in our kitchen. It is nonstick, you can cook on a stovetop with it, you can bake in it and it is pretty much invincible. I can't tell you how amazing this piece of cookware is, get one!

Coffee maker. Ok, I know this isn't essential for everyone. But for a sleep deprived new mommy it it sure is! We used to have a French press which we loved for many years but these days I find that it doesn't produce the amount of coffee I want (I tend to sip on it all morning, getting warm ups as needed). We got a cone filter machine a few years ago and love the quality (and quantity!) of coffee it produces.

A decent set of of basic pans. This includes at least one frying pan and a sauce pan with a lid. You really need these for sautéing things and for boiling water.

Nice to Have

Stand mixer. This is really only for someone who bakes a lot like me. I really resisted getting one of these for a long time, they are so big and take up so much room! However I saw one on sale and couldn't resist it and now I am rapidly falling in love with it. It is amazing for making bread and pie crusts!

Silicone baking mat. Again, if you are a baker this is something that will make your life so much easier. It replaces parchment paper so you don't have to buy that anymore. Literally nothing sticks to it, you don't have to worry about greasing your cookie sheet ever again. It's easy to clean and great for all kinds of baking.  

Rice cooker. I realize this is a huge indulgence on my part, it's really not hard to cook rice in a pan. However we eat a ton of rice in this family and it is so nice to be able to turn this thing on and then forget about it. We have a small one that we keep in a cabinet when we aren't using it.

Good tupperware. It's great to have a nice set of tupperware for leftovers. If you really want to pair down you can do without and just use mason jars though.

Pot with a strainer lid. We love pasta and this pot makes it super easy. it is also a space saver since you don't have to have a colander handy anymore.

Slow cooker. Any mom will tell you slow cookers are the best! It's awesome to be able to throw you ingredients in a pot in the morning and not think about it again until dinner time. As an added bonus you can cook cheaper cuts of meat and they always turn out tender so it can be a big money saver as well. I use our slow cooker a lot on days when Eric works late. I can have a nice hot meal ready for him when he gets home and I don't have to worry about getting my timing just right.

Not Necessary

Microwave. We cut this out of our kitchen years ago, we never miss it at all. Everything can either be warmed up on the stove top or in the oven. It tastes better that way and it really doesn't take that much longer. In my opinion the microwave is the most useless of kitchen appliances.

Toaster. A toaster is only slightly more convenient than an oven. I always just set my oven to broil and stick my bread in for a few minutes, it toasts up nicely and I don't need a special kitchen appliance.

Food processor. If you have an emersion blender you really don't need this. Everything you need cut up you can either cut by hand or use the emersion blender on.

Toaster oven. This is just like a toaster but worse, why does anyone need this?

Bread machine. Personally I am really not a fan of bread machines. To me the bread from them always comes out tasting funny. It's not hard to make bread by hand, it just requires a little patience. And now with all the no knead bread recipes  out there you really don't have an excuse to not make bread by hand. it doesn't get any easier than no knead bread.

Popcorn maker. I'll admit that I do have a popcorn maker and I do use it. It's a little easier than making popcorn in a pan but not much. If I had it to do over again I would skip buying this and just do it the old fashioned way.

Special glasses for every kind of drink under the sun. For example, margarita glasses, red and white wine glasses, champagne flutes, martini glasses, the list goes on and on. Regular glasses will do just fine for most drinks. we regularly use our wine glasses and our pint glasses but that's about it.

I realize this list would probably be different for everyone since we all have different cooking priorities but this is how it goes down in our kitchen and we are pretty serious about our food. In an effort to avoid clutter we have pretty much cut out unessential kitchen gadgets. You should try it sometime, you won't believe how nice it is to have the extra counter space!

Chore Chart

January is all about cleaning and organizing and generally putting your life back together after the madness of the holiday season. I've been struggling to get back in to my daily routine and having to fight the urge to snuggle up with a cat and a large stack of unread books that I got for Christmas. To help me get organized to accomplish my New Years goals for the house I found a few helpful tools.

This is great! I am such a visual person and seeing everything broken down in to daily tasks is so helpful, it keeps me from being overwhelmed. I printed one out and put it on my fridge. You can download this one or a blank customizable one here.

Another cool idea, I haven't really used this yet because it might be just a little too organized for me. Plus printing this every day seems like a waste of paper. Still, I like the idea and the way it's laid out. You can download this and others like it here. 

Aren't people clever to come up with things like this? It's a good thing there are so many organized people in thew world out there. Making awesome tools like this to help poor slobs like me pull it together ;-)