Organization Increases Life Expectancy

Okay, I don't have any facts to back up my title. But I am sure that if I researched it, I would be right! Our house has a habit of things getting out of hand very quickly. Especially in rooms that we don't use as often. It starts out as "Oh, we have people coming over. I will just put this stack of papers in the office or girl room and I'll sort through them later." Well I have a tendency to do that too much, and then never get around to them "later." Here is just a small snippet of what my beautiful, girly craft room had become. Just keepin it real, my friends.

 Piles of crap everywhere. Half finished projects and supplies under the desk, in their bags still many of them. Packing boxes for any orders needing to ship. Bills, mail, wrapping paper. And this was after I had been at it for a few minutes! Not to mention I have been neglecting this poor room as far as finishing up its decor. two of the walls were still naked and screaming for some interest (I have projects to show you about those too!) So last week I decided enough was enough. We had people coming over and I wanted to be able to enjoy the room and not close the door in fear. Not to mention, with my business picking up, I wanted to be able to use the room for what it was intended for. My office.

The first thing that I did was drag all of the random piles of paperwork and bills floating around our house, as well as our too-small bill filing system (that little brown bin) and sorted through all of them. I created name tabs for everything I could think of and sorted it all into our newly remodeled (but not finished) file cabinet. (By the way, I have decided that I love the green!) It felt so good to have our paper monster tamed. And I only used the first drawer for our personal items, so I have the other three for business related paperwork and craft supply storage!

 After working really hard for almost a full day on this room and sorting through a lot of crap..Here is my desk!

 *sigh* I love the look of a clean, organized room. I feel like my stress levels are so much lower! And there is my cutie little chalkboarded pot again! I love it!

 Now I have room for my laptop and can sit in here and work instead of hogging the hubby's office upstairs! Now just to sneak my big, dual-screen monitor down!

 You see that little curtain? Yeah I have an awesome process to show you guys! Easiest curtain installation ever! I love this room now. I loved it before, but there is something about it being neat and clean and girly that just makes it that much more fun!

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True Life: I have a Chalkboard Addiction

I know that there are probably SO many people out there that struggle with this just like I do. In fact, I know my friend Amanda Carver (Amanda Carver Designs) does! She recently chalkboarded a refrigerator!  If you leave something that I think is ugly in color...or maybe just boring...around me long enough, it most likely will get covered with chalkboard paint. Its just a fact that I have come to accept.

A friend at work gave me this brown, glazed clay flower pot a while back because she did not have a use for it. While I did not hate it brown, I thought it was boring. I also wanted to use it in my girl room, which is primarily blacks and teals and greens and the brown just looked all wrong in there.

So the other night I took it out back and shot it. With a can of chalkboard paint! You felt bad for a minute...I know! I did not do my fanciest spraypainting, because it was dark out and I kept hearing noises. I got a few drips, but you cant really even tell. Big deal, right?! I kind of liked the way it looked just painted with the chalkboard paint.

 Once you let the paint dry for 24 hours (this step is really important!), You rub chalk all over the newly chalkboarded surface, to prepare it for writing. It should look something like this, which I also don't hate!

 After doing that, you have to take a cloth, paper towel, something and wipe the chalk off. You don't want to get it all off, just kinda smear it around some.

 Once you have done this...it is ready to be written on! I have found that you should not press too hard the first few times that you write on a chalkboarded surface. It still tends to be a little soft and can scratch.

 I took the flower pot and filled it with ribbons, my glue gun, glue sticks and a few other craft items that are usually strewn about my desk.

 Once I had filled it as full as I could without over-filling it, I tucked it onto the open bottom shelf of the little cabinet that sits on my desk. It is the perfect size for the opening!

This was part of my campaign to organize and clean the girl room. I have a whole separate post about that! And several other little projects to share! :) The long-neglected and poorly organized craft room now looks amazing and neatly organized!