A Handy Husband!

With 6 people now living in our home, laundry has become a large issue. It seems like I am doing 3 -4 loads every day. Some of this will calm down after basketball season but it will continue to be a big job everyday. I was really struggling with staging the clothes. I would carry them all the way to our bedroom and then try to fold them on the bed and redistribute them. Sometimes I would try to utilize the kitchen table or the counter in the kitchen but there is never any guarantee that those spaces would be free and clear. Usually I just tried to fold and stack them on the washer as they came out of the dryer. This meant a lot of shifting clothes out of the way. Then I remembered that we had a wall table in storage. With a little bit of effort, Mr. got it installed last night and wala.... a handy work surface just where I needed it! The table folds flat against the wall to get it out of the way if needed.

Organizing bookshelves

Thus began an afternoon project! I was reading a book called The House Always Wins, written by Marni Jameson. In it she described the process of having a decorator come to her house. One of the areas that the decorator changed was her bookshelves. Inspired, I spent a delightful hour following the principles of bookshelf decorating. I did not think to take a before picture so what you are looking at is the finished project.

The principles were as follows; books are first separated by hard back and paper back. Never should the two meet on the same shelf. Then books are arranged from tallest to shortest. The books should be slid out to the front of the shelves not placed against the back. Photos or knick knacks should not be on the same shelf with books, but if all possible placed on a separate shelf. The over all look is much more organized and there is the benefit of dust falling behind the books where it is not seen. No dusty lip in front of the books. However, I do miss the books being organized topically. It bothers me to not have all the nature books on one shelf, history on another. I might have to go back and see if I can't be more topical within this system. For now I think I will just enjoy the new look of my shelves!