Lollipops and Lemons

One of the things that I’ve struggled most with in our house is how to create a functional entry in a small space!  I love the mudrooms that I see on HGTV with the benches and locker style cabinetry for coats and shoes.  My dream house would definitely include a huge mudroom area!  (Is that a sign of getting old – when your criteria for your dream house includes a big mudroom and laundry room?!).

Now that we have kids, which means a lot more stuff, I’ve come to realize just how poorly our house is laid out in terms of storage space on the main floor!  Our garage door and front door both open to the same small entry space.  There is just never enough room for coats, shoes, and bags!

After our home remodel earlier this year, I really focused on our entry.  I needed to convert that small, disorganized space in to something pretty but very functional.  My list of criteria included bins for each family member, a place to sit to put shoes on, and a place for keys and our dog’s leash.

We have two small (and I mean small) coat closets.  I found Elf storage units with slide out drawers at the Container Store that fit perfectly on the floor of each closet.  They are very sturdy with a nice top on them (perfect for storing diaper bags on top)!.  We got enough drawers that each person in the family has their own drawer for shoes, hats, mittens, and scarves.  The dog even has a bin!

For storage of small items that we use frequently, like keys and the dog leash, I decided to make over a small table that was once in our kitchen.  It was a boring cream color and was looking a little worn.  Our house has a lot of neutral colors, so I decided that for the entry I really wanted a bold pop of color.  Bold pop of color is definitely what we got and I love it!  It was a super quick makeover – a light sanding and two coats of paint!  One day’s work and our entry was completely transformed.  I placed a pretty, white chair in the corner to give us and our guests a place to sit to put shoes on, and the entry makeover was complete!  Have a look at the before and after:

Having bins designated for each family member has really been a lifesaver.  As I’ve said before, it’s so important when trying to keep a home organized that items have a home.  This gives all of those things that collect in the entry a home in the same area where they usually are left.  That makes it super quick to pick up shoes at the end of the day!  (Will they ever learn to put their own shoes away?!)  Sigh.  A momma can dream, right? 🙂

To break it down into easy steps, here’s how to get your own small entry space organized!  (I suppose this concept would work for a big mudroom too).

1.  List your must haves in terms of functionality for your space.  For me it was a place to sit, a convenient area to store keys, and a shoe bin for each person in our family.  Then, keep your focus on making sure those must haves are met.
2. Add color to make the tiny area pop.  Stick with one bold color.  Too many will overwhelm a small space.
3. Add a fun, unique piece to the space.  I decided to incorporate a really unique, neutral wood mirror to make the space feel a little bigger and add something interesting to look at.
4. Use every inch of space that you have!  Add bins to the floor of a closet, baskets to shelves on top, or even a small shelf with a cute, tiny basket hanging on the wall to store keys!

One of the areas I struggle with the most in our house is how to organize mail clutter.  Every day when my husband gets the mail, it just gets left on the kitchen counter or table.  Over the years, I’ve tried many different ways of organizing our mail.  I put a table with mail slots in our entry.  The mail never made it to the entry (my hubby always goes out our back door to walk to the community mailbox).  I put bins upstairs in our office so that we could file mail immediately as it came in.  In reality, nothing got filed immediately.  Wishful thinking.  The problem was that I was creating a ‘home’ for our mail in all the wrong places.  It finally occurred to me that the only way a mail organization system would work was if I placed it in the area where the mail was constantly left out. READ MORE

Hi!  I am so excited to share this post with you!  When I decided to leave my job, I started the hunt for a planner to keep our life organized.  After a great deal of research and trying a few different planners, I finally found the perfect daily planner!  Its the Simplified Daily Planner by Emily Ley.  I’ve been using it for a year now and just ordered my 2017 planner!  In one years time, this has gone from a planner I’d never heard of to me sitting in the parking lot of preschool drop off ordering my 2017 planner the SECOND they went on sale.  I love it that much. READ MORE

This week I’m kicking off a new series focused on how to get organized for the New Year! I feel so good starting a new year knowing that my home and life are well organized.  It’s like a breath of fresh air for me.  Bear with me, today’s post is a little wordy, but I’m sharing how to get organized in 10 easy steps (and keep it that way).  These tips will lay the foundation for my posts over the next three weeks as I walk you through tackling some of the most difficult areas of the home to organize!  I hope you’ll follow along and organize your home alongside me as I get mine in order for the New Year! READ MORE

One of my favorite things about Christmas decorating is how cozy the house feels when all of the decorations and lights are up.  I just want to light the fireplace, grab a cozy blanket, and sit in quiet looking at the tree.  (Not that it ever happens, just saying, I’d like that)!  This year, my decorating was really pretty simple.  I did my normal mantle decorations, the tree, and the EASIEST table decorations ever.  Remember my Fall tablescape?  Here’s how I swapped it out in under 5 minutes for Christmas!  I swapped out the Fall leaves in the centerpiece for mini trees from the dollar bin at Target.  I also swapped out the painted pears for pieces of greenery and laid my plaid fabric a different direction.  Done!  Seriously – 5 minute swap.  Doesn’t get any better than that when you’ve got a 2 year old “helping” you decorate!

When I’m choosing decorations for holidays, I like to plan them around some of my mainstay pieces so that decorating for each holiday isn’t much work.  For my mantle, I always have the black framed mirror and my white distressed candle holders.  Then I add in a flower or greenery accent appropriate for the season.  Here’s my mantle for Christmas!

Continuing the theme of easy decorating swaps, I did the same thing with my display corner in the kitchen.  I printed an art piece that I purchased from Etsy, put it in the black frame, and added my white Santa sign.  Pretty easy decorating!

What’s your favorite Christmas decoration?