Question of the Week - Re-Organizing Rooms

This weekend, Londo and I worked together to really clean up and organize two rooms on our first floor. You see, we have let things go for months now, and I cannot let them go any longer because it's been driving me CRAZY! The sense of disorganization and clutter, not being able to find important papers and items, and tripping over crap that hasn't been put away or has no place to go... These things make me nuts.

I can ignore them for a while. When it's winter and I am too exhausted to notice, I don't have the energy to even get upset about it. With the tough pregnancy last year and then the newborn, I was just barely keeping up with dishes and laundry. But I have had to ask people to re-send me things for the Pumpkin's pre-school (her registration), for the animals (records for the dog's vaccinations), for the doctors and pharmacists (allergy information and EpiPen perscription), and much more. I can't live like that.

Before I went back to work from maternity leave, I had started re-organizing and re-purposing the kitchen cabinets, the kitchen hutch and the dining room hutch. At this point in my life, I do not need the crystal or the martini glasses handy. I do need a place to put Play Doh and other art supplies and places to put the chips and bread that is out of reach of my tall and intensely curious child. I've been so much happier since re-orgnizing those.

I had even cleaned up the kitchen counters where we drop our stuff when we get home. But those didn't stay clean for long. You see, we've not really had another place to put those items, and so our limited kitchen counters kept getting even more cluttered.

So this weekend, we cleaned all the junk off of the dining room table. I finished organizing the hutch in the dining room so that we can put things right in there, not on the table where it'll sit and look messy. Then, we cleaned out the coat closet. We went through coats and accessories for giveaway and storage, and then we organized it to work better (I hope). We did the same for our entryway, including the coat hooks and the cubbyholes I have by the door.

Finally, I re-arranged the front room to work for us at this time in our lives. Instead of being the "parlor" where only my antique chairs fit, and instead of being the "library" when all the books are in boxes on the floor until we can afford bookshelves, I will be calling it the "front room" because it has multiple purposes. The boxes of books line the wall where we will put the bookshelves, but only one level high so you don't really see them. The chairs are set up in front of the boxes and no longer hold random junk. I moved my beautiful antique, marble-topped washbasin desk to be against the wall by the front door, along with a little table with shelf. I have begun setting those up to hold the various items we bring into the house, from cell phones and mail to the Pumpkin's school papers and art. I need to buy a couple little items to finish off that area, such as a bulletin board and calendar for the wall above it and a rack to put labeled folders in. Finally, I found a good way to store the three strollers and the car seat in that front room without taking up a lot of space in the middle of the room or looking really messy.

My head is full of re-organizing and decorating, and I've got plans for some other rooms, too! So this week's question of the week is:

What room or rooms would you re-organize if you could?

I love to hear about how other people organize and decorate. There is a reason I watch so much HGTV! Have you got any good plans or ideas for your house? Is there a room (like my kitchen) which you would completely remodel if you could?

In some coincidental good timing, last week Ask Moxie had a few posts with many great comments about managing stuff and managing schedules and papers. Check it out if you need some good ideas.