Organization Progress

We're starting to make some serious progress with this whole house thing. Hizzah!

Last week Alex and I headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to burn through some of our wedding gift cards (thanks everyone!) and get organized. We left the store with a cart full of storage supplies and immediately went to work.

The biggest transformation is in our bedroom closet. We actually have three closets in our room (I know you're jealous), but this last one had two awkward shelves across the middle...and that's it. No hanging bar. No top shelves. Just a whole lot of wasted space.

Before. Blah.

To take advantage of all that vertical space we bought a couple of the Real Simple customizable shelves and set them on top of the middle shelf. Just look at that organized final masterpiece.

Ahhhhhh! The organization angels are singing.

The best part? Look at all of the cubbies for my shoes! Below is the ingenious system I had in place before the closet overhaul.

Shoe pile!

Much better, right? Alex says that my shoe collection is limited to the number of cubby slots, but we'll see how that works out. (I'm pretty sure I can fit multiple pairs in one slot.) We also did some arranging of the hall linen closet, but I fail and forgot to take a before picture. Here's the exhilarating final product anyway...

TGFT...Thank Goodness For Tubs

Now like items are stored in their own tub. (First aid, eyes, teeth, sun, etc.) Maybe I can borrow Mom's label maker and put on the finishing touches. OCD alert!

It's nice to finally have things put away and out of the "stash this here for now" home. We're headed to Chi-town next weekend and are planning to make a pit-stop at IKEA. Who knows what kind of storage goodies we'll come home with?

A Bit of Yard Work

We've been busy the past few weekends working on the yard.

Before

After

When we moved in EVERYTHING was completely overgrown and out of control. So Alex and I headed off to Home Depot to pick up a set of loppers and a couple pairs of gloves.

Our backyard jungle. (Mowgli was nowhere to be found.)

As we started feverishly attacking the growth, we encountered what we affectionately call "Evil Ivy". Seriously, it was straight out of the movie classic, Batman and Robin. What? You haven't seen it? Watch this clip...it symbolizes the epic battle that went down in on our backyard. 

Seriously though, that ivy put up a fight. And we did not leave unscathed. Just look at those thorns.

Sooooo evil.

We made our way across the backyard and got the majority of the brush cleaned up...we still have a little to go. So far, we've filled 25 big trash bags with yard waste. The trash guys love us. Speaking of trash, we found an eclectic assortment of items hidden in the brush. These items included an old lawn chair, a broom, an unopened can of Natty Light, a dog toy, a tennis bell, and even a sewer manhole. I guess the 7 bedrooms in the house didn't provide enough storage for the previous owners. 

The buried treasure. Not exactly what the pirates were hoping to find.

The morgue. Where limbs, bushes, and "evil" ivy go after their deaths.

We still have more to do, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. Stay tuned for future battles against "evil ivy"... same bat time, same bat channel.

Laundry Time!

We finally have a functioning laundry room! Hallelujah! The past 6 weeks have been ROUGH. 

The laundry room was not on our initial "To Do" list, but when we hooked up the washer and noticed that the cold water knob leaked (or more like gushed), it jumped to the top. We were able to jerry-rig a system for a few loads of laundry, but it was not a feasible long-term solution.

Insert Dad to the rescue! He and Mom (and their old friend, Brian) came to CoMo for the day to re-plumb the laundry room. A few hours (and 4 trips to Westlakes, 2 to Home Depot, and 1 to Lowes) later, we finally had the washer up and running. The day started off a little slow when we had to track down the main water shut-off valve. It turns out that previous owner had dry-walled over the valve, but luckily we were able to find it on the first try and only had to cut one hole in the wall.

Once we actually got down to business in the laundry room we replaced all of the copper pipes, and moved the sink over so the washer and dryer could sit side by side. The laundry room is by no means finished...we still want to paint and add some shelves, but it's a step in the right direction!

While Dad, Brian, and I worked on the laundry room, Mom was outside cleaning up the backyard. She made a major dent in the yard work, tearing out a row of unruly rose bushes and pulling weeds. The roses put up a heck of a fight, but Mom won the war. We can't wait for the ground to soften (come on rain!) and the temperatures to cool off so we can really get to work on the yard.

There's still plenty to do on the house, but we're taking baby steps. Baby steps...