Full of Beans

  It turns out Big Deb, the Diva Desk is a bit of a gangsta because she stole dining table's bling.

Ah, well. You don't really know someone until you live with them for awhile.

 So dining table had to go find some more bling and fast. She was feeling a little

neckkid.

Thanks to Nate Berkus' suggestion to fill apothecaries and vases with random things around the house,

dining table got some bean love.

That's black eyed peas, black beans and coffee beans.

This was super cheap. I spent $2 for each vase and $3 for the beans. The coffee beans and candles I had on hand.

 Feeling content with Bean Bling.

A Wrapping Station

I'm having fun playing  in the more organized basement. Tonight I organized a wrapping station in less than 1 hour with crap I had on hand.

That's a shoe rack holding the wrapping paper. I noticed that the wrapping paper I've purchased from the dollar store, didn't fit as well as the more expensive stuff. - The cardboard inserts are not as wide.

I hung the loads of gift bags on hangers.

I used this hangy, organizer, thing-a-ma-bop for tissue paper. -And I've got a little space to put gifts to have on hand.

Ser-sly. After the basement trauma I've been through, vacant space makes me plum giddy!

                                                In the basket I put gift boxes.

The greeting cards were already organized, shocking, I know so I just left them in their container above the bows and ribbons.

There she is, my little wrapping station.

Just in time for birthdays which are like a whole season around here.

Big Deb Dashes a Dining Room's Dreams

So we have this honking dining room that has been the bird room since we moved here in August 2009. (One of our birds recently found a new home. )) : ) 

I had been scouting Craigslist for a nice dining set for months until one day it occurred to me that I don't really want a dining room suite. No. I want an office/study.

So I began a new search. And lo and behold, I stumbled upon Big Deb the Diva of Desks!

My Daddy, husband and two sweet friends went to pick her up using Dad's truck and trailer.

Isn't she lovely? Don't you think she looks like her name should be Big Deb? What's that? You think it's weird to name furniture? I'm not going to tell her you said that.

I'm sad that the wall paper diminishes her beauty. I'm seeing deep greys and pale greys in this room...one day. The ceilings are like 20ft which is the same dilemma in my bedroom. The chances of  me doing the wallpaper removal and painting are slim. A scaffold would be nice but they are so expensive and renting doesn't work with my leisurely way of doing things. (( :

Wanna know how much I paid for Big Deb, the Diva Desk?

$300!!!

Now that is a Craigslist deal.

What's in Your Wide Mouth Masen Jar?

 So digging the look of flowers plopped in a wide mouth Mason jar and looking forward to switching them up. Let the blooms begin!

Basement Drudgery Room #2

  I took aboout 15 minutes to follow a creative whim and spray painted one of the 5 cabinet doors with chalkboard paint. It helped ease the pain of delving into room #2.

  I'm sad to say I don't have a before picture. I thought I took one months ago when I intended on starting the process but maybe I started to take one but ate a bowl of cookie dough icecream instead.

  At any rate you know my definition of disaster by now, so use your imagination. And then add 10 more spilling over the top boxes to the scene.

          That's where my Dad is going to put his stuff.

          We have dreams of this becoming a guest suite. I've got it all laid out in my head- a white, thick comforter turned down just so. A white over -the- top shaggy rug for underneath the bed... a luggage rack....pops of grey/blue here and there...beautiful tile floors...white moulding instead of oak...
            But for now it's just this.

             Behind that screen is a buttload of someone elses crap building materials that were left here when we bought the house. I'm not sure what needs to be tossed so I just disguised it for the time being and tossed some of my storage baskets on top. That space there is actually really large and someday we want it to be a bathroom with shower and separate soaking tub. That's the dream.

                                                   This is the reality.  My crap on top of their crap.

Hey! Look at how much I made today!

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friend

....Holy Spirit help, that is!

 

  Once upon a time a long, long time ago, I told you about the state of our basement. A normal person would just go in and clean that mess up.  I gave a whack at normalcy but would ultimately get frustrated, overwhelmed and an irresistible craving for cookie dough ice cream.

 My Dad has been renting a storage building for furniture from a home he is currently renting out. He called to say he was tired of paying the rent on the storage and could he bring the furniture here?
  So I said, "Let me get this straight. You want to bring all your crap to add to all my crap? What is this, a crap house?  Sure. Bring it. Give me a date." I prayed for the end of the month. Initially, he said next weekend but my Dad being the ultimate task master (Why did I not get that gene???)  moved up the date by like 4 days!!

Nothing like a deadline- and a Daddy- to get a girl motivated. Until of course, I saw this.

And this......

How does this even happen? It looks like the Incredible Hulk moved us in.

I whispered a prayer. seriously. I prayed nearly the whole time I cleaned. And He was right there talking me through it.

And that became this.

And this

All of those boxes under the table are photos, scrapbooks and albums. Argh. This task is shelved but NOT finished! Thank you, Lord, for digital.

All the stuff under the table above is curriculum.

I took the doors off of some of the cabinets because we've moved them so many times, it is pretty much impossible to attach them again. I re purposed a few of them as a vain attempt to add a pop of color in this space artwork. See if you can find them in the other pics.

This is all my craft stuff and I mean a ton of it! I've got every thing from wooden eggs to scented play doh  packed in this space.

Coordinating containers and a label maker would help the aesthetics but for now it is not meant to be.

Look how many pens and pencils I found! I must have spent 45 minutes trying out pens to see which worked and  I'm sure I tossed at least this many.

Maybe I should do a random act of kindness and pass them around to the local store clerks who are always complaining that someone stole their pen. Then again, maybe that someone was me...

Behind curtain #2 (yes, it's a shower curtain. I'm on a deadline here, people.)

Children's books; arranged according to historical, historical literature, literature, science, fun reads etc.

Behind door number 3 are games kind of randomly thrown in. I knew there was no point in organizing them until I round up all the other games in the house. Yes. We have 2 Scrabbles. I have no idea why.

But I do feel a craft project coming on with one of them....

I still have short term plans for this room.

Did I mention that this is only one of the 4 disaster rooms?

Umm. yeah. And I have 24 hrs. to get the rest done before our arrival of more stuff. 

whoopee...

The good news is, apparently I'm getting paid by the hour because look at all this change I found.

So let's compare the before and afters...

                                          

                    

I took a little time to thank my Helper...