Color Therapy, Part 1

May will be 6 months since we moved into this house. And, I am reaching that point that I ALWAYS reach after moving (you'd think I'd actively remember this, since we've lived in 5 different places since we got married!) where I'm realizing what works, what doesn't, and what needs help with our living arrangements in this house.

So, the past couple weeks I've set about getting things the way I need them around here. When I had a job in an office, in an cubicle, I could NEVER focus, or get anything done, or work unless my area was perfectly organized. I can't function in mayhem. So, it makes sense that as a SAHM, my WHOLE house is that workspace. It has to be organized, it has to make sense, and it has to be neat, or else I shut down and don't function properly. 

And, when Momma doesn't function properly, NO ONE functions properly. 

Or has clean underwear or cereal bowls.

Since I'm still somewhat capable of moving and being active right now, I decided to take what time I needed off school with the girls, and just focus on the projects I want to get done before Bebe' gets here, and then when I'm not feeling quite so active we can buckle down and finish off the few weeks of school we have left. I've taken pictures through the whole process so far, so I'm just going to blog them, and you'll get them in the order I got them--the order of progress. :-)

 This is my "Command Center". HORRIBLE, with the lack of organization and color. It made me so crazy. I get buried in paper despite my best daily efforts around here, as I'm the only one who throws paper of any kind out. So it just gets stacked up, and then I have to actively plan a time to deal with it all. The lamp was too short, so when it needed to be on in the evening it was casting a funny light on my laptop screen. And, even though it's a little weird to have a mirror over a desk, I do love it there because it reflects the lamplight into a very dark living room at night time, but the paint was chipping on the silver, and quite frankly I was bored with it.

 I've endeavored to do as much organization/decoration on the smallest budget possible. Not just because there is always way more expenses than money, but because it seems plain stupid to "have" to go out and spend a bajillion dollars every time we move on new lamps, tables, organization stuff, etc. To be clear, I'm not opposed to spending when needed and on pieces that will really make life better, and there's going to have to be some of that, but I do think there's a lot of satisfaction in re-purposing stuff you have, or getting stuff on the cheap and making it what you want. I enjoy working on a tight budget for stuff like this--the challenge is pleasurable. Except, of course, when I WANT to spend money. Then it's just annoying. Ha! So anyway, pretty much everything I've been working on the past couple weeks is of the cheap/free/re-purposing variety.

I guess this is the only before I have of these lamps, which is weird, because I could swear I took one of them specifically. Maybe it's later in my catalogue of photos--you might see it yet. Anyway, the lighting in this house is appalling at night--it is WONDERFUL in the daytime due to all the windows and skylights, but it was built in 1988, and has florescent, BUZZING lights everywhere. I can't handle them--it makes me feel violent when they're on. They make me crazy. And, we read A LOT in the evenings, so lamps were a must. Here is my helpers cleaning and de-stickering 3 lamps from Goodwill. They were all $9.99 a piece, and completely hideous. But they showed promise, and I may have danced a jig out the door of goodwill with them. Just you wait. :-)

 Since I was spray painting it only seemed reasonable to give my kids something to spray too--a hundred pack of clothespins from the laundry section (NOT the craft section, they're way more expensive there!) we use them for everything, and they are so pretty when they're brightly colored.

 There's a story behind this too--in the interest of saving some words for another post, I'll tell you that one in my next post. :-)

 Taping up the mirror...YAY! So excited for this!! I can see the finished product in my head.

 While I was working I became aware of the fact that Brie was CARRYING her bike everywhere in my periphery. I finally asked her what in the world she was doing. Well, it turns out that "Bikey" carries her around all the time, today she thought that maybe "Bikey" would like to be carried everywhere today. Ha!

 My sweet helper.

 AHHH! So excited over all these gorgeous colors.

 So, upstairs on the other side of our bookcase we had just a chair, and a telescope on a tripod pointing out the window. Which is great, but it wasn't really a good use of space... the chair wasn't getting used because you didn't have a place to set your drink when you were sitting there, the lighting was terrible, and the tripod is Garrett's, but he just doesn't have time for it right now. Not to mention the fact that we're covered in clouds a goodly portion of the time here.  This table was in the backyard of the house when we moved in. So I gave it a good looking over, and decided that it could be salvaged as an end table.

 A good scrubbing with bleach, and more bleach, and a good sanding, and I knocked out a few of the boards on it because they didn't look so good, and it was already an improvement... stay tuned...

 And Brie, overseeing the action. :-)

Stay tuned for the next batch of photos from the process...