Final Living Room-Before and After

It is SO nice to have this room clean! The vacuum and some plushies need to be put away, but overall I'm really pleased with the final pictures. Wow, another room DONE. Over this next week, the whole family will really focus on keeping this room looking good by putting things away. As previously mentioned, I want to get a lamp for behind the green chair when it gets moved to the right of the TV in the spring and we need two end tables and two torchiere lamps for the sofa. The room is SO dark during these daylight starved winter days.

Seeing the living room COMPLETE and tidy, is frankly somewhat miraculous. It was SO hard and it took me SO long to overcome this room! The sweet reward of seeing carpet is awesome. I realize I have a testimony of perserverance just in this one room alone.

As I look over this blog as I'm updating the living room photos, I'm astounded. I have come SO far! And as I look over some of the pictures, I can remember and feel what it was like to be stuck. At those times, I couldn't see the "after pictures"...all I could see was the mess in front of me. Oh, how I feel like that in the sunroom and playroom! All I can see is mess (for now).

I really like Vicki Norris' comparison of a life process and riding a bike through a tunnel. As I can see I'm in the latter portion of the tunnel, I can see that "there's light at the end of the tunnel". Hooray! Seriously awesome! I can also turn around and look behind me to see where I started at the opening of the tunnel and how at that time, everything in front of me was veiled in darkness. As I stand nearing the light at the end of the tunnel, I'm struck with "what happens next"? I feel uneasy and maybe a bit afraid...the unknown of what life might be like once this huge process is finally completed. I continue to step forward in faith, knowing that the Lord Himself has given me assurance and power to overcome.

The challenge to actually get rid of junk continues to intensify as we only have two rooms downstairs remaining. The playroom and sunroom are full of stuff we've dumped and the reality as I look around is that probably about 80% of what is here MUST FLOW OUT OF MY HOUSE.

Today we spent 5 minutes in the sunroom, so that is underway!

Living Room DONE!

Well, the Christmas tree is put away and the decorations tucked away for next year and we have a tidy living room! Not perfect...there are a few things to refine the area but we can function and walk in the room safely! We want to replace the googly lamp in the corner and in the spring when we can turn off the heaters, we'll move the green chair back to the right of the tv. The sofa is still squished next to the bookshelf (to make room for the tree) and along with centering it under the windows again, we need a couple lamps and end tables. I LOVE the new mantel art and I like that it has little glass cups to hold the tealights. These are easy to take out and clean.

Though much of the mess got dealt with properly, in a way, I cheated on the living room because some of the stuff got tossed into the sunroom/playroom area (which is a no-no). But due to Christmas, it was necessary to clear out the room. Those things WILL get dealt with soon as we are already working in the sunroom now.

Official before and after photos coming soon. :)

New Mantel Art

Before Thanksgiving, I ordered the Crate & Barrel Circuit Wall Candleholder and then decided I needed to MEASURE the area above the mantel to make sure it would in fact-fit. GUESS WHAT? Too big. I have standard 8' ceilings and it just would be too big so I cancelled the order with Crate & Barrel (excellent customer service) and I found the Collage Sconce at Z'Gallerie which I bought on sale for Black Friday. I love that the package came with two extra tealight cups and everything was protected with no breakage. The metal has a bit of a rusty finish and I wasn't sure if I'd like that it wasn't black (even though the photo looks really black). But it really works and I think it has a softer look NOT being all black. The Circuit Wall is 48"x33" and the Collage Scone is 40"x24", so the Sconce simply fits better.

Ironically, today as I look at the links, the Circuit Wall price has gone UP $30 to $179 and the Sconce is on SALE for $69.99 down from $79.95. I am so pleased with my purchase and was thrilled the Sconce was SO EASY to install. We used the E-Z Ancor metal screw-in wall anchors (50lb limit each) from Home Depot. One screw, two screws and it was up. Too bad Z'Gallerie doesn't have place for ratings on their website, they'd earn a 5 out of 5!

I thought I might sell the artwork by Howard Behrens, but Daniel requested it for his room. It looks AWESOME above his art table!

Sunroom Cleaning Process

Everyday I'm just working inch by inch, gathering and sorting. I've been listing some resources on HomeschoolClassifieds.com, picking up trash and putting a few things in the giveway box. :)

Sunroom - BEFORE

Last Thursday we got rid of a bunch of stuff...friends came and took it away. This was a blessing. BUT. Now I have stuff all over the floor (mainly in the playroom) because we couldn't get the bookcases we were going to install last weekend. This left me with a heap of stuff with no place to stow it. It also left me with a heavy heart.

I started to realize I was feeling sorry for myself. I was focusing on myself and my problem. I was totally stuck and I was trying to figure it all out in my own strength. As of Monday, these bookcases won't be in stock until mid-FEBRUARY. I felt dejected, derailed, demotivated and depressed! My friend Christi spurred me to examine my AIM (attitudes, intentions and motivations) which I did! That exercise helped me expose and repent of some pretty pathetic stuff. The next day at a real low point, the Lord spoke to me...a beautiful promise, an assurance which gave me great hope, security and encouragement.

Then yesterday my sweet friend Marilyn and I talked. I was really blessed by her as we talked together about many things. Today I heard the Lord direct me to the sunroom. I did "before" pictures a couple weeks ago and I don't need to do WDIS (What Do I See)...it is all been dumped in here. Most things belong somewhere else. I have already received vision for this room regarding an extendable table. I was motivated by my heart full of worship and trust in what He is doing in my life...inch by inch.

When I'm done cleaning, this room will contain:
-the computers
-bookcase
-extendable table
-nail table

I also have some ideas about how to store the Legos! The table is 41" deep (hooray!) for puzzles, projects and probably the Lego Building Station! We've discussed the possibility of having the children combine their Lego collections and share, but that hasn't been decided yet.

I'm hoping we can get the table this weekend along with some large Lego boxes to tuck and store under the table. John wants to create a central Lego "station" area so both children can reach and build with their Legos.

Out.Of.Stock

You're joking. IKEA is out of stock of the Expedit bookcases in the large size. Last night, I heard the Lord say to me, "check the stock before going". I'm so glad I listened!

Out of stock with NO idea when more will arrive! Huh? IKEA has this amazing inventory system and no one knows when they'll be in? We even joked about driving to the Portland store but they are out of stock as well. Huh, interesting. There's just no information about when they will get to the West Coast warehouse. Rats, our plan was to move forward with these shelves. Well hurry up will ya?

Thankfully, they aren't being discontinued, just out of stock. Did I tell you they are out of stock? We are kinda disappointed that they are OUT OF STOCK!

This did spur some late afternoon discussion about the sunroom, since now everything is in heaps everywhere...I was asking the Lord last night, "what should we do with the sunroom?" and I got an idea I've never had before...a dining room table! YES, that is EXACTLY what it needs!

We want a large table area to do puzzles, projects and Legos...this table has enough room for all 4 of us to sit and do stuff at the same time.
That means we really can let go of these huge 8' countertops because I found a table I really like that (with the two leaves in) measures 115" (which is about 9 1/2' which is exactly the space we want to fill)! We don't want to put these babies back in the garage, so they need to go. I know what to do about that!

Saturday - Playroom

What has my life come to? I seem to "blog" before I "live"! Before I can begin picking up, I have the need to take photos first...for the BLOG! And I felt I wanted to do a post before I started (am I procrastinating!?)

My friend Christi told me I need to take more pictures for the blog. So here we go...

This is what it all looks like after taking out the "built-in" bins (which went to a friend's house on Thursday) and removing all sorts of stuff from the literature sorter which went to Christi.

Today:
-husband and son going to IKEA for two Expedit bookcases, actually I think they'll just bring home one and do the other tomorrow...there's not much room to bring four enormous boxes into the living room
-clean floor in playroom

My goal today is to bulldoze...probably dump all the junk into the sunroom so we can paint and get the bookcases up...the sunroom will come soon enough!

Both John and I are DREADING putting those bookcases together because we KNOW what it takes. We already have two that we've put together twice each and they are a BEAR. Sigh. But the payoff is our motivation...a tidy house.

It is a grey, soggy, drippy day (typical December) so I don't feel like we're really missing out on going somewhere since the weather is perfect for a day inside! That makes me sound like a really active person, which I'm so NOT! But when the sun comes out, there's always a tinge of "guilt" for staying inside! Not today! Can't wait to put up some in process photos later on, especially when the paint goes up!