Attack of "Cluster-Phobia"

I am almost 29 weeks pregnant, and my nesting is kicking in, and lets just say I am getting a little ummm... cluster-phobic. Yes, I made that up. I look around and all I can think of is how I can organize and clean up. I have spent countless hours over the past year on Pinterest, and I think now is a pretty good time to put those Pins to good use! I will post my progress over the next few months on what I have done to become more organized. With that said, I will also post on here, what "pinspires" me, and the blogs that help make it possible! 

Downstairs we have a very, very small half bath, and storage is non-existent. We have zero storage, an old mirror, and no rug. I put up some nice picture frames, and made a burlap valance, but that is the only thing I have done to the room. I think these, Floating Shelves would be absolutely perfect. They add space, but don't give the appearance of typical shelves... also our toilet is surrounded by a wall identical to the one in the picture. Now the mirror down there has to go, and I am fond of what these people did with their Mirror redo. I also would like to add some baskets for extra towel storage and for toilet paper that can be neatly and tastefully hidden. These Baskets are a perfect fit for my small bathroom, right under our sink. The only thing left is a nice rag rug, but instead of buying, I will easily make one with some old sheets and t-shirts, just like this one.

In our living room, right in front of our front door, we just have a small cardboard box that I have reused to throw our shoes into, tacky right!? Well, it works, and I don't care! Ideally, I would like to get a small bench to sit on while you take your shoes off, but even a small shelf like structure would work. This reused fruit basket is a perfect, and cheap idea that I could do in just a few hours. 

Honestly, our living room isn't really in need of being reorganized, just really needs to be cleaned and refreshed. We have some old curtains, I hate them with a passion, I almost growl at them every time I see them. I would like to get some venetian blinds and turn them into roman shades, just like this tutorial instructs. The curtains are the only thing I would really like to change, but it may end up getting postponed until we have extra cash coming in. With just how much fabric I will need, I know it will get pricey. This room is where I have sort of gotten, dare I say it.... cluster-phobic.

Now, our kitchen is a work in progress, seriously.. I mean I love the size of my kitchen, the function of my kitchen, and how much light it has. But, the floors are from the 70's, they are linoleum and are chipping up. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to replace them, but that doesn't mean we are out of options! We will be painting the subfloors! Now, I know you're probably thinking thats going to look terrible, but honestly, it can be tastefully done. Just like here, here, and here... oh and a full tutorial here on just how to achieve them. Our plan is to paint the floors white, than with an poly-acrylic layer, or several over the top for protection.
After the floors are all done, we will be sanding down and staining the cabinets. I am truly in love with the color Kona, from Rust-oleum. From what I read, redoing the cabinets, is fairly inexpensive, you just need some elbow grease and time. Here is a very thorough tutorial, that also shows you both fails and success.
We are also going to be redoing our countertops, and I know what you're thinking at this point... "how much money is she putting into this kitchen, I thought she said fabric for the curtains were expensive!" Well, not much money actually. Rust-oleum makes a paint specifically for countertops, just in case you have ugly, white and green snowflake patterns on your formica........'eh-hem'. We have actually already bought the paint, which is a light gray, we just need to wait for a nice warm day to open up a window and actually do the painting. With me being pregnant, it's also ideal that I not be here, and let Jordan do it all. Again, here is another tutorial, to give you an idea what we are going to do. A few other organizational ideas I have, are wire baskets such as egg baskets, lots of wooden utensils and cutting boards, and cast iron. Oh, how I love cast iron. I also have some wooden bowls that my grandpa hand made and stained, and I would like to display them all on an open shelf somewhere as a focal point of the kitchen/eat in dining room. That should basically  do it for the kitchen, lots of hard work, but not a lot of money put into it.

I think, that should do it for now. The bathroom upstairs, organizing my room, and reorganizing Savannah's room into "the girls" room will be my next adventures, but I am the type of person to overwhelm myself with projects, and then I get caught up in doing so many that I don't fully finish the entire job. I will make this a "part 1" post of a many part series of how we are catching up with the projects I have listed. I will work on one floor of the house at a time and work our way up! Once they are all done, I will start a new organizational list. Wish me luck on my many adventures of thrifting for goods, and starting projects, and I hope that my "pinspiration" also give you "pinspiration"!

Thanksgiving Popcorn

Happy Thanksgiving! Today with all the cooking that I have to do, I am trying to keep the kids occupied so that they don't totally destroy the house! So, projects it is!! Two months ago we were given from our CSA share, three ears of corn that needed to dry, so eventually it could become popcorn. If you would like to learn more about the growing and harvesting of the corn, visit here From Seed to Snack.

What you will need:

• Dried corn, specifically for popcorn
• Bowl
• Paper towels
• Lots of strong hands

Since it's just Caleb, Savannah and I, we only really needed one big bowl to share. We each had an ear of corn and just started peeling the corn back against the grain and it really just falls off.

 It took us maybe 15 minutes to get it all done. 

After removing all the seeds removed, all you have left to do is to transfer to a jar or container to store until use!

The kids really had a great time and it was just enough time between basting the turkey!

I hope you all enjoy your popcorn as much as we did!

Happy Thanksgiving,

The Websters

Salt dough/play dough

Tomorrow is playgroup, and I was asked to bring a project for the younger kids to do while the older kids did something different. Immediately, salt dough came to mind. Salt dough is cheap, it's easy, it's non toxic, and it doesn't limit their imagination! So here is my recipe for making salt dough!

1 cup salt
1 cup water
2 cups all purpose flour
Food coloring (optional)

Place salt, water, and flour in a bowl and stir until well incorporated. Should be a thick dough like consistency, but who hasn't played with play dough at some point in their life and knows what it looks and feels like, am I right?!

 I separated the dough into several small balls and places in ziploc bags, then added food coloring to bags. I was really trying to keep my hands as clean as possible, and quickly found out that the kneading color into the dough inside the bags won't work. So, with your hands, work in all the coloring to your hearts desire!

 I then added it back into the ziplocs for storage. Hope the kids have fun with it tomorrow, or I might if they don't!