This week we were going to focus on the Living/ Dining room, but really we needed to get the hall and office organised in order to find a place to organise the mess of the living area into (if you see what I mean). I really struggle to keep my office area clutter free, mainly because it seems to be the place the children tidy everything from the other rooms into 🙂 This was a big job, and it has been really hot and I just haven’t been in the mood for organising (or anything much, to be honest…..too hot for movement!). Fortunately the children’s hours built up over the week, as they were socialising far too much to be cleaning anything, so I wrote a long list of all I wanted to achieve Saturday and we simply spent the day working our way through it.
We clocked up 40 hours between us and managed to do the following:
- Cleaned down the pantry
- Organised the books and tidied them up a bit
- Gary hung some hooks for aprons to hang out of the way
- He also hung some of Lillie’s art on the walls
- Lillie beat the rug and hoovered and bleached the hallway floor and washed the frames of all the doors. She touched up the green paint in the hallway
- Charlotte organised the books in the downstairs and upstairs hallways and cleared space for more books to fit in 🙂 I cleared the used books in my office to the extra space and moved the Victorian books onto the office shelves.
- Gary fixed the door handle which has been broken for forever, as well as the door to the upstairs loo
- I cleared and organised my office, making sure I had shelves for all of my resources for the next term.
- Thomas brought in my Granny’s antique bench which was at the far end of the table, into my office area. As we only have one living area, when friends come round I often take then into my office (through-way) to chat. It is the only place bar bedrooms that we have peace to talk. I’m really pleased by how it looks and how practical it will be 🙂
We also did some extra work in the previous rooms with Gary putting up the shower curtain to hide our laundry area and shoes in our bathroom, and my Be-You-tiful picture Lillie gave me as a present.
Again apologies for the number of photos, I have, once again, gone a bit mad….
The hallway looking towards the kitchen from my office:
Looking down the hallway from the kitchen:
Showing my Granny’s bench:
And a close up:
The bench from a different view:
Made even more beautiful by the presence of my bundle of gorgeousness:
The top end of the hallway, where Gary put some hooks for aprons (on the right):
And a close up:
Decorating the doorway to the kitchen:
And the other side:
Lillie’s beautiful art, reminding us we are all made in the image of God:
My almost tidy desk 🙂
Looking into my office to the bottom of the stairs from the hallway door:
Close up:
Finally, the picture Lillie made me in the kitchen:
And then into the bathroom where we have crammed shoe storage, a washing machine and tumble dryer under the eves:
Pretty unsightly, but doors are out of the question as the walls are not strong enough to hold them (they are made of 200 year old crumbly brick!), plus the radiator is in the way. So I came up with the idea to hang a shower curtain. I chose a shower curtain over a material curtain because of the shoe and boot storage – a material curtain would get grubby waaaay too quickly:
By no means perfect, but it will do 🙂
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for everyone who has been reading and especially those of you who have been commenting on my Around the World posts. Apart from posting each day, I have been completely absent from the world wide web. I have needed to take some time away from the computer to pray about improving my time management next term. I decided for the month of August not to spend any un-necessary time on the computer, but to spend it instead making my home more homey for those who live here and relaxing a little bit away from my usual every day routine. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all your thoughts, even though I have not replied. And thank you to both Lucinda and Phyllis for offering to send me some additional items to make our Around the World studies even more special. I will be emailing you on Friday with my address 🙂
I will be returning to normal on the 2nd and promise I will be replying to some of your messages and visiting your blogs and leaving lots of messages to make up for my complete absence. Again, thank you for being so unselfish with your comment love. I have so enjoyed reading them <3
I am just loving your around the world posts. Your home is so charming. I need to take a month off to really get organized around here too. It probably won’t be to soon with dance starting up next week.
Blessings, Dawn
I’m so glad to read you’ve been taking some self-care time, Claire. I hope you found the clarity and guidance you were seeking. 😊
It seems that you and I are thinking alike these days. I bought two books spark joy the art of Japanese tidying by Marie Kondo and how to clean and organise your house in 30 days. good books but not as revolutionary as the book I bought last year clear the clutter from a Steiner online shop ( Myriad Natural toys and crafts) . I lent it ( so cant tell you the author) to someone but definitely worth every penny. It doesnt tell you to clean it changes your perception as to how to put love into each room. Look at what happens in the room and creatively think of ways that could work better. Like you I am a resource person who loves books so love your book shelves in the hallway. Think I might try following you for rooms so I keep on track. Only have two weeks to sparkle my house.
It looks amazing! I love the bench and how cozy your home looks. You can feel the love your family has there. What a wonderful job you are doing!
Love your cozy home! We got rid of so much stuff in our last home with our big move recently that I am fighting with my hubs not to collect too much newer stuff. It’s a struggle, but at least we have less storage which makes me really consider if we need something or not.
I love seeing how others organize and beautify their homes. Yes, I agree with an above comment about that wall of books in the hallway–it’s wonderful!
And Claire, I completely know what you mean re time management and figuring out how to work that with all the computer time of blogging among other things…
I have been doing some of that thinking myself, and have decided not to renew my blog when the time comes this fall. I’m torn on it, but will see how it plays out with other necessities that need my hours and dedication. But in that…please know I’m still going to be reading your blog…and that I haven’t forgotten re your little one and my little one. Ah time. Not enough of it some days.
Your little office has inspired me to make an office space at the top of our stairs. I’m really pleased with it. Just need to work on our enormous collection of books!
Your home is so charming and love all the nooks and crannies! We need a large shoe shelf…love yours.
My kids dump stuff too on my desk. Drives me nuts.
It looks wonderfully cozy.
Really like the shower curtain idea, and looks like you have all made lots of nice improvements to your home so you can all enjoy it more together 🙂