Y3W! Living-room Cleaning Extravaganza!

So I have been exhausted for about 6 or 7 days now and even though I have been picking up and keeping the house mostly clean I haven't gone through and really cleaned nor have I continued the process of down sizing. We have been overly blessed with a lot of "stuff" in our house. A lot of it is toys but in general we just have a bunch of stuff and I keep feeling overwhelmed by the amount of it in our house and so does my hubby. So we have decided to clear out things that we don't use, don't truly need, and anything we plain just don't want in our house and to donate it so that we can bless other people. Not only will this help them but it will bless me as well because I'm hoping that I won't feel so overwhelmed with everything! Yesterday I worked on the kitchen (I don't have pictures of that) and today I worked out our living-room and our 1/2 bath that doesn't have a working toilet at the moment. I scrubbed down everything in the bathroom so that way when people want to wash their hands it's not so icky. Plus I was able to use some of the space for storage. I put our car seat that always seems to be in the way in the living-room on the toilet. That way it is always available but not under our feed.

Then I worked on the living-room. I vacuumed the couch cushions, under the cushions, and under the couch. I dusted everything! Vacuumed the floor and then moped it. I also made sure everything was in its place.

Here are some pictures of the final project.

For whatever reason she was not happy that I was taking pictures and decided to tell me all about it.

Please ignore the hubby's work stuff. Hoping that I can get that out of the house and out of our car this coming week. I'm not really liking having to take all of it out before I go anywhere.

Our shoe basket use to match but not so much anymore. I will be trying to figure out how to change the color here soon. But it saves us from a big shoe mess. All of our shoes belong upstairs so this makes an easy place for us to store the ones that we wear all the time and I clean it out every other week and put the not every day shoes back upstairs. I love it. Plus it helps keep our floors more clean because we aren't wearing dirty shoes every where.

This is a night stand that my hubby refinished. It sat outside for about 2 years before we got it. He sanded it down, took of ugly trim, stained it a dark cherry, and put on new knobs. This has been used for many different things but currently it is housing the blanket for the baby I'm going to start watching plus all her diapers, wipes, pacifiers, and whatever else we need to put in there. I love it because it sits right by the door and I use it for my purse. We also use  it for side table to put out drinks and things on. I don't think I will ever have regular end tables again because I like the extra storage. A wrote a post last Friday and talked about someone close to me having cancer and she was that one who actually gave this to me. I don't think we will be getting rid of this piece of furniture ever.

This was a dresser that we got at a garage sale for $10. It was a great buy but looked horrible but not for long. My hubby sanded it down, I spray painted it, he drilled the holes for the new handles, and I put them on. It was great to work on something together. He then added granite to the top (he still had to put the edging on it and I'm sure one day in the future he will get to it). We use the top 3 drawer for multiple things. One is full of coloring and other things Rex needs supervision with, one is a junk drawer that I do my best to clean out monthly, and the other one is full of TV/computer accessories. All the other drawers are devoted to Rex and his toys. 

It's a great way to put all his toys away and having it still look like a home. Before I felt like we were over run with toys (and we still are) but at least now at the end of the day and at nap time it doesn't look like it and I'm able to relax without stressing about it looking like a mess.

I needed a place for all of the baby toys that I now need to pull out too so I had these bins around and decided that they will work great. They are also great for cleaning the toys in too. Just add some water and a little bleach, soak, rinse, and air dry. I will be doing this in the tub once a week once the little girl starts coming here. 

I had to share this one. After everything is clean he wakes up from nap and has to start playing (which is fine) in his learning corner. I love having his letters up (although with the basket of baby blankets I need to move them), puzzles he can play with, and a ton of books he can read. I have our books on the bookcase and the one's we get at the library in the basket next to his couch. It is a great way for him to enjoy some learning time on his own.

I think one of my favorite things about our house is all the family photos on the walls. I love having books displayed from Heritage Makers on my mantle. Our wedding and Rex's first year are two of my favorite books and I think they share what is important to us. I do however have another motivation for having the books there. 

I can stash things behind them that I need to access easily. This side has my Scentsy scents and my phone charger. The other side has my hand sanitation and lotion.

Then the last thing I will share with you is my books. The white bag has all of my books and journals that I use almost daily. I have several books I'm reading plus I have my Bible and journal in there with pens, highlighters, and pencils. It makes it easy to get to, take places, and doesn't make a huge pile of stuff anywhere. The backpack has more Hubby work stuff in it like his computer. I like having a place for it because then he doesn't normally forget it but today he did because it wasn't where it belonged. 

I'm so happy with the way the living-room turned out and I hope that some of my ideas will help someone when trying to accomplish an adult living space when you have kids you have to share it with. 

Linking up with Jenni today!