Tips for Mom: Operation Organization

So I have a problem.

I feel like we are old friends and I can admit this to you, freely. The problem is, I get really tired of house decor. Like I would paint every six months if MacGyver would tolerate it.

So the living room/kitchen eating area have been bugging me. They run into each other, so the back of our house is just one long room, part of which is hardwood with a media niche, and the other part of which is tile with french doors.

Things that were eating at me: there was no separation between the two rooms; Turtle's toys had totally overwhelmed the living room (and we're not at a point where we are ready to set up a playroom); the gorgeous hardwoods are totally covered by "stuff"; the new TV didn't quite feel right as it was.

It's hard to get a good picture because there's a weird entrance to the living room and an odd and random hallway, but I'll try to give you a good idea of what was going on.

This is the view from the kitchen bar area. The sectional was set up in the corner and along the window. The monster train table and become an impromptu coffee table.



View from the front room: Your first visual is the side of Turtle's play kitchen, and then the weird open space where I was keeping the bins of toys.



And then the view of how the armchair just sort of slops into the kitchen area. And that white wheeling container with the bin on top is diaper changing supplies and lots of baby-related things that we have outgrown.



So I gave myself 90 minutes. And then I ripped the room apart.

I was able to empty a lot of drawers in that white container and get rid of the bin on top. The dipaer changing drawers are still around, but much less visible.

I also moved the train table and kitchen into the empty part of the eat-in kitchen area and moved our ottoman stools back into place as the "coffee table."

The armchair got angled in the corner of the room, and now we have a cozy sitting area.



View from the front room. You can see the kitchen behind the sectional, which provides a nice barrier between the living room and the kitchen. The train table is hidden away, behind the back of the couch. There were some other toys that weren't getting tons of use, so I moved them out to the garage (translation - I will have to tackle the garage at some point).



The windows and drapes are now completely unblocked. Turtle's Anywhere Chair (you can see the arms of it on the bottom right of the picture) now has a permanent home, right next to a basket of all his books. I turned the area rug on its end to change the dynamic of the area, and...



I moved the TV to a slight angle on the left side of the media niche, instead of having it float in the center. The case on the right will go at some point, but we have nowhere else for DVD storage right now, so there it stays.



While I was doing this, I dusted and vacuumed (including vacuuming the windowsills, couch cushions and lampshades) and now the room is totally spotless and reorganized.

And yes, that's Jillian Michaels on the screen, reminding me to stop dillydallying and start Shredding. Witch.

It's a quick and totally free way to update a room in your house. And who doesn't love that?

What room would you flip around? Set aside 90 minutes and take care of it.