Going overboard in the process

**Warning**  This is a LONG post!

I had originally intended for this to be two posts, but since I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday, you get to enjoy one big blog today. Lucky you!

Let's start with Post #1:

As you are probably aware, I'm in the process of cleaning and organizing our house. This is a difficult task for me as I'm a bit of a pack rat. I know that we have way too much stuff, but I can find an excuse to keep almost anything.

So to keep me on track, I'm going to start posting pictures of some of the items that are in the process of finding new homes. I'm not near as good as my Knit Sib Deb over here at The 100 Days Cleanout, but let's just see what we have.

These came from a picnic basket set that we had many years ago. I had to get rid of the basket a while ago because it fell apart, but for some unknown reason I hung on to these.

I think that the kids have out grown their plactic IKEA dinnerware set (at least I'm getting tired of trying to find a place for it in the cabinet.) I seem to have collected just a few glass measuring cups. I know they're useful, but really how many do I actually need?

There are also some random items, like old coolers and clothes the kids have out grown, but please forgive me for not taking a picture of those. 

Moving onto Post #2:

The last holdout.

I was very much focused on getting my main floor cleaned and organized. I tackled the kitchen (including most of the cabinets), the dining room, the foyer and foyer closet, even the laundry closet.

All that was left was the sitting room (so called because I like to sit in here and knit). But it was overwhelming! I just didn't know where to start. Let me show you the chaos that has run rampant. (As before please don't judge me on the before pics.)

I started attacking it very meticulously. I set my timer for 15 minutes and started with one small corner. Overall, it took me about a week to cleanup. Since I know you're just dying to see how it looks now lets get going with the after picture!

This is about the point where I went overboard. In the process of cleaning out the room, I decided that something had to be done about my picture wall. At one point I had just slapped some pictures on the wall and they'd been there ever since:

What was I thinking? Please don't answer that!

So I pulled down the old pictures and went running around the house looking for more pictures and frames. This took about an hour or so. Then came the fun part. I laid all of the picture on the dining room floor and started arranging. 

Once I was happy with it, I snapped a quick picture (so I wouldn't forget the placement) and started to put them up on the wall. I have a lot of nail holes that I have to go back and fill in! But in the end I was was very pleased with the gallery wall I created.

Please excuse me while I take a moment and pat myself on the back. Ok, moment over. Before I leave you for today, I wanted to draw your attention to the piece in the middle. This is a shaddow box that the Teacher made for us after our wedding.

I'm embarred to admit tha this wonderful piece of artwork has been hiding in the guest room for the past ummm cough cough eleven years. I want to say "I'm sorry" to the Teacher for having negected it for so long. But, it really is very happy in it's new home. (Please excuse the lousy picture, I'm not a very ood photographer.)

I can't believe I actually did this!

As I was trolling Pinterest, I came along this neat idea for the inside of the cabinet. I fell in love with the idea as I always have trouble locating the right size measuring spoon. It always seems to disappear just when I need it. So, without further ado...

I would like to proudly introduce you to today's project! I'm not sure how my husband, the Engineer, will feel about the pink, but I love it!

Let me take you through the steps.

1. This is what I started with. (The only thing I had to buy was the hooks.)

2. I painted the paint stirrers a beautiful pink. I was planning on doing 2 coats of paint, but I was very happy with how it looked after the first coat. Why do extra work? I then pre-drilled the holes for the hooks so the wood wouldn't split.

3. I used a black paint pen to write the measurements on the stirrer, and screwed in the hooks. Everything was moving along just dandy until this point. This is where I realized that the screw was longer than the thickness of the the paint stirrers.

Not to be deterred, I went out to the garage and found these handy things to snip off the end of the screw. (And before you ask, yes I was wearing my safety glasses.)

4. I wasn't prepared to permanently attach this to my cabinets, so I used these hady damage-free hanging doodads.

5. For the measurements chart, I used black poster board and a pink paint pen.

All in all, the project took about 2 hours! And just to update you, my kitchen is still clean.

Sidetracked

I did have something planned for today, but I got sidetracked. So I will leave you with two of my more crazy organizing tools.

Information Center

Meal Plan - I can't take credit for this one, I borrowed it from here.

On the knitting front, my gloves have not made as much progress as I had hoped. I'm still optimistic delusional that they will be done by Monday.