Category / House

Here’s the quick catch-up on what’s been going on here lately:

Last week, three different prospective buyers got in the mix and we accepted an offer. Pending our inspection next week, Hank the House will be officially sold to an awesome second family!

So now, things really speed up. Our planned close date is mid May, which means we’ll likely do the big move out the weekend before. Which means we need a lease starting May 1. Which means YIKES! 🙂 I’ve already packed some boxes, sold some stuff on Facebook, and talked myself through a couple freak-outs. (Did I mention I leave for a five day girls trip – first vacation in a year! – in the middle of this?) Page is on the hunt for a short term lease and possibly separate storage space – cross your fingers.

We’ll make it work, and we knew we were signing up for this when we decided to build our next home. (Post coming soon on that decision.) I can’t wait to share details and plans and sneak peeks with you guys. All of this is going to be SO worth it. 🙂

For those who’ve asked, YES we sold our home ourselves. I’m planning a post on all the details, including how we staged and promoted our home, and how to get on the MLS, all of which we’re convinced made all the difference in getting lots of traffic (a dozen showings in the first two weeks) and quick offers (sold in three weeks). It’s not for everyone, but we would do it again. We feel like we learned a LOT in this process and want to share!

I don’t know who let this lady into our house, or where she came from, but she’s into cleaning lately.

I know. Whaaa??

I chalk it up to a mixture of Spring fever and wanting to get the house feeling fresh for the changing seasons. Plus, having it on the market makes me look at it with new eyes and clean with just a little more vigor. At a moment’s notice, the house has to be sparkling from floor to ceiling for a showing!

I got on a Pinterest kick one night and started researching homemade cleaners using natural products that were cheap to whip up. (Since we seem to be cleaning daily lately, I was not opposed to something with a lower price tag.) I also like the idea of getting away from the chemical stuff, and using something greener.

To start, I stocked up on some microfiber rags, (way cheap at TJ Maxx if you’re looking for some) – rather than going through rolls of paper towels, I like that these have a little more durability to scrub with and I can use them over and over.

Then I made a batch of two kinds of cleaners, using the following “ingredients”:

Lemon essential oil and Dr. Brommer’s lavender castile soap (I found these at Whole Foods)…

…and a jug of distilled water and one of white vinegar.

Then I made my two cleaners. First, an all-purpose cleaner:

Fill a spray bottle with distilled water and add a teaspoon of castile soap. Add a few drops of essential oil if you like for added scent oomph! Shake before using. This is great for wiping down cabinets and baseboards, and I used it to clean the inside of our fridge and microwave. It smells SO good!

Then, I made a water and vinegar mix for cleaning our stainless sink and appliances as well as glass surfaces:

Half distilled water and half vinegar. And LOTS of essential oil to combat the whiffs of vinegar.

I’m loving the way my house smells (and glistens) lately 🙂 Happy spring (cleaning)!

The sign is in the yard. The flyers are printed. The lockbox is on the door. We won’t hit the MLS until later this week, but between Zillow and Facebook, we’ve already had a couple of calls…in other words, our house is officially on the market!

Even without kids or pets around, putting our house on the market this week has created an increased level of maintenance, so that we can be gone at a moment’s notice, leaving a spotless home behind for potential buyers to view.

So yes, we make the bed now. And we’re doing our best to keep the house picked up, all dishes go straight out of sight into the dishwasher, and we empty wastebaskets on a much more regular basis. I’ve also made an effort to tidy up the insides of things that might be looked at, like kitchen cabinets, the pantry, the fridge, and the linen closet.

But I’ve also put a couple other little things into play that have made leaving the house presentable, at a moment’s notice, a little bit easier. The following are my “Top 5 Tips”!

1. A basket for shower stuff

Scrubbing down the shower goes so much faster when all of the residue-producing products are corralled in a shower basket. Then, prior to a showing, it’s one quick motion to stash the basket under the sink cabinet, out of sight. The shower is less cluttered and free of personal items, making it easier for potential buyers to view it as being their own.

2. Paper plates

I know. The go green gods will strike me down. But meals at home mean dirty dishes, and when the dishwasher is already loaded down and not ready to emptied, I sometimes switch to paper plates for a quick sandwich, so as to not be left with a sink of dirty dishes at the exact moment a realtor calls.

3. Stashing Norwex cloths

No, I’m not a Norwex rep and this isn’t a plug — I just love Norwex stuff, period. In particular, the “polishing cloths” meant for glass and stainless steel. Normally, I keep all cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink, but when we might only have fifteen minutes to get out of the house, I don’t want to spend a couple of them running up and down the stairs for what I need. I’ve started stashing cloths around the house — this one in our master bath to quickly wipe spots off the mirror over the sink, and give the counters a fast swipe. I love that I don’t need Windex or anything else around for this cloth to work – just water!

Don’t get the wrong impression…just because this project has taken two years to complete does NOT mean you will be overwhelmed with the results. But, it’s a definite improvement over what we had, and I actually enjoy opening the laundry room door now!

To begin, we started with this laundry room. Standard wire shelving, organized enough, functional.

Next, the game plan hit some bumps. First, the rug I ordered (and was basing my whole idea to stylize this space) didn’t fit quite right and had to be sent back. This translated into an entirely different wall color pick for the room. I think this worked out for the best, though, as “Soft Mint” by Glidden made this room feel SO much lighter/brighter (and dare I say, bigger).

Next, we built and painted a pedestal to go under the washer/dryer and house three laundry baskets. Cue the forehead slap…we literally couldn’t angle the room-width creation enough to get them INTO PLACE! So we took them apart and kept one section as a sort of riser to line up with our baseboards. I do feel the difference in bending over a few less inches to get clothes in and out, so the project wasn’t a total waste.

Since that debacle, we focused time and energy on the basement, and the laundry room was “good enough” – meaning there were a couple improvements checked off, but all of the laundry/cleaning supplies collected in here, and without a storage system for keeping it all organized, making it not too easy on the eyes.

Finally, I feel like this is a space we can mark off as done. I’m glad to see the cheapo 12″ wire shelving gone. In its place, we added a 16-inch deep piece of pine, primed and painted to match our trim, for a bit more custom/built-in look. We had a plethora of leftover trim in the same finish from our basement, so we re-purposed a piece of that along the edge to take it up one more notch. The two white bins keep supplies sorted into one of two categories…

WASH: detergent, softener, bleach, OxyClean, stain stick, Color Catchers, etc

DRY: starch, lint roller, dryer balls, defuzzing comb, etc

…and a roll of paper towels is close on hand, in the corner where we stash a small waste basket for lint, and our mop. I like that this corner is out of sight, when looking in from the hallway.

We finally have a place to store our laundry baskets that is NOT on the floor, blocking the machines, or on top of the machines to vibrate noisily while they’re running.

This was a big check off the list of house projects, and gets us one step closer to being ready to list the house! Stay tuned for details on THAT story in the coming weeks!

…at least for me it is!

Along with a fresh start (and a renewed sense of energy to get to the gym!) I love to use the cold post-holiday month of January to take a pass through our house and eliminate STUFF we don’t need and make SENSE of what we do and where to keep it. There’s nothing like the reward of zen that comes from not having more stuff that you can keep track of! Less stuff means less time spent to keep it all straight – and it’s easier to appreciate the things you LOVE when they aren’t overshadowed by a bunch of stuff you just don’t really need or use. I think this just about sums it up:

January inevitably sends me into OCD mode, cleaning out and organizing every pocket in our house — closets, junk drawers, shelving – anywhere stuff accumulates, and also getting some rhyme and reason to collections of things – like gift wrap supplies, baking stuff, etc. I know there is more storage space in this house — it’s just a matter of creating it!

The goal is to tackle a space or two each week – some small, some large. Judging from my list this could go on for many weeks…

Purge/organize the following spots around the house: 

• Gift wrap (simplify – too many odds and ends)
• Baking/cake decorating supplies (I only use about 10% of what I own – an abandoned hobby)
• Kitchen cabinets (in general just clear out dishes/tools we don’t need or use, including the TEN-plus water bottles for two people)
• Pantry (decently organized, just needs a once-through for expired stuff and to regroup on what needs to be restocked)
• Junk drawer (this can barely open/close!)
• End table drawers in living room
• Coat closet (out of control)
• Bookcase cabinets (not even sure what it’s there anymore…)
• Cubbies/baskets in front entry bench (same)
• Bathroom cabinets upstairs (a whole mess of bath products, some being used, some not)
• Nightstands in our room
• Jewelry (I’ll always keep a TON of fun costume jewelry, but there are some pieces that have seen better days and need to go…and free up space for new ones!)
• Makeup (pitch stuff I tried and hated, but felt guilty about the money spent, check expirations)
• Nail polish (pitch colors I didn’t love on, anything over a couple years old)
• Our closet (this deserves about ten bullets in the list – pull it all out and seriously evaluate what stays and goes — bribe Page to do the same)
• Linen closet (not using space well in there)
• Laundry room (get shelving built/room finished, organize the basics that need to go in there)
• Guest room closet and under-bed (random storage, not sure what all’s there?)
• My office (clear out books not needed, paperwork for our taxes/ClickSmith documents in order, get a system for organizing camera equipment)
• Page’s office (add some shelving to max space in his closet, clear out paperwork, books, magazines, organize Page Smith Design documents)
• Basement under-stairs closet (random stuff in an odd-shaped space – clean out and figure a better way to use this precious storage square footage
• Utility closet (turn into seasonal decoration storage room! – get rid of xmas decs no longer needed and organize what’s left in there)
• Basement bookcases (I have empty baskets/totes as “decoration” in them – need to figure out what to store there and fill them up!)
• Garage (last as we’ll wait til it warms up past 1 degree F! We started to re-org out there before the cold season – finish this up in the spring)

I’ll try to check in throughout the month with any good “before and after” photo opps! Anyone else bitten by the organization bug this time of year? 

You can ask Page — I’ve been on a roller coaster with decorating for the holidays this year. I think that coming off a Fall in which I felt like I was working two full time jobs, I was just worn out…and everything that wasn’t absolutely necessary felt like too much work. Also –  is it just me, or with Thanksgiving so late this year, does the Christmas season feels even more brief?? And maybe it’s that end-of-the-year thing, but I suddenly felt like we were drowning in STUFF and we have spaces everywhere that need to be organized, not cluttered with decorations. (Are you starting to hum the theme to The Grinch yet? :)) So when it was time to deck the halls, I went into it a bit, well, half-hearted (but spoiler alert, Christmas always gets the best of me and I got more into it as I went!)

I started with hauling out the red and green tubs and sorting through everything. I think my tastes have changed a bit this last year, and while I still love some of my more Pottery Barn-esque traditional decor, I wanted to mix it up with some more modern stuff as well and ended up donating several items to Goodwill or just leaving stuff packed away for another year. This was also finally the year I got rid of the last bits of glitter — it’s such a mess to clean up and gets on everything. Anything glittered remaining in my stash (with the exception of two ornaments I can’t part with) went out the door. And suddenly, having a smaller assortment of decor made the task of decorating the house more manageable (and less messy!) and I could get more excited. (A couple purchases from CB2 and Target didn’t hurt, either!)

I also decided to change it up and with a finished basement to deck this year, I opted to NOT put up a tree on the main level. Our main tree really IS too large for our 8′ ceilings (we sawed off the bottom – SERIOUSLY – when we bought this house, since the 9.5 footer originally set up camp in our lofted-ceiling townhouse). Last year I squished a bow on the top and made it work, but with the way the furniture was arranged this year, and having the skinny sequin tree to work with, I opted to pass up a traditional tree in here altogether.

I’ve had moments where I wonder if I miss it, but then again, I like that it feels more open than last year…and I’ve still worked in plenty of lights around the room to get the same “glow” effect of a tree….

This CB2 wreath was a favorite purchase this year — although be warned, it’s harder to put together than you might think! I noticed when it arrived there is no back to it – and other reviewers on their site mentioned the same thing. So using a combination of netting garland and some strings of lights, I tried to “wind” in a bunch of ornaments (also FYI – you need BIG ornaments for this, the “regular” sized ones fall right through the front) and used a couple nails to tack it all down so it didn’t expand away from the wall. I’m sure I’ll have better, more experienced, luck with it next year, but for now, I love it!

Even if we don’t have a fancy holiday meal this month, I still love the look of a set table at Christmastime. These boxwood wreaths are one of the more traditional elements I just love to get out each year.

This felt rag wreath was an EASY impromptu project the other night – and is perfect to hang on the pantry door. (Separate how-to post to come!)

We missed the warm weather window for stringing lights on the house – but I did manage to get the outdoor wreaths up…

…and some garland over the door.

The potted tree that was out here last year was on its last leg at the time and we ended up pitching it after the holiday season. In its place, I wanted something different this year – a planter I had on hand, some birch branches I scored this summer, and retro lights wrapped around them made for an easy replacement that didn’t cost me a dime. “Holla!” from our home to yours this Christmas season… 😉

Heading downstairs, I set up another Target sequin tree (LOVE how simple these are – and the price is right!) and hung up an Ikea lighted wreath (wreath #7 or 8, if you’re counting at this point!) on the wall across from the bar.

Page and I have jokingly dubbed our evolving house style as “mod lodge”. We are going more and more modern with our taste, but with a lodgey comfortable feeling. With this idea in mind, it seemed only fitting that we deck the deer and add some antlered stocking holders to the mix.

I unpacked the white tree (usually in my office) to find it all yellowed (boo!) so in the eleventh hour of Black Friday, I braved the crowds to find a replacement. The ceilings are low in our basement, so it didn’t need to be anything crazy large, and I really wanted the look of a white tree – at least for this year. I filled in with some silver stuff, but otherwise went with grey and chartreuse ornaments. (PS – we call the above photo “adventures in creative cropping”…as there were no less than six bulldozers in my backyard today, photobombing all my pictures!)

I’ll have to shoot the above again at night to get the real effect – but I am loving these teeny wired lights that don’t get hot (Amazon and Restoration Hardware both sell them)…I feel like Buddy the Elf, but I am calling this my jar of Christmas Spirit! 🙂

I set up my small tinsel tree with the 2007 to 2013 ornament frames in my office, but otherwise didn’t decorate upstairs this year. I feel okay about it – none of our family is coming our way this year for the season, and any visitors we have usually don’t make it upstairs anyway. Hope you are enjoying bringing the holidays into your own home — thanks for stopping by to take a peek!

One of the many fun things about keeping a blog is the ability to go back over time and reference previous days, weeks, months, and eventually years. Sometimes I like to randomly look up what we were doing on this day a year ago, or go back and read a bunch of our “just married” stories.

In other cases, it’s fun to see things you tried (and either love or hate now), how your style has evolved, and what you’ve learned. This week for me, it’s been Christmas decorating. 🙂 It was harder to get very “into” it when we had a shoestring budget and were renting so it didn’t quite feel like our home anyway, but it’s still fun and heartwarming to look back on the Christmases we’ve celebrated during our marriage and remember what “life” things were going on in the background, behind the photos.

2007 – Our first married Christmas. We were new to Des Moines and thrilled to be relocated from Chicago that summer in our first Des Moines apartment. We had actually moved from Charlotte, NC, to Chicago, to Des Moines all since the previous Christmas, so we were stoked to be staying in one spot for a bit.

2008 – A more stressful year, having lost my job in late October and working some ad-hoc jobs while searching for something more permanent. At the same time, Page was worried at the time about keeping his own employment status. Still in our first Des Moines apartment.

2009 – First Christmas in our townhouse. While we were still renting, this was a great move and we loved having a bit more space. It felt more like a house. I had found a home with a new employer by this year and Page was starting to get excited about making a move of his own, and fortunately on his own timing. In short, life was very good this particular year and we were more at ease about everything. This particular post made me realized I have improved my photog skills in recent years, just a tad! Ha!

2010 – I specifically remember not doing as much this year for decorating. We bought a new “main” tree and did it up, but I didn’t decorate any other rooms. This year was a busy one for us both with our freelance jobs on top of everything else, and I think there just wasn’t a lot of free time. After the first couple years of marriage involving one or the other being unemployed, we felt behind in our savings and we were in overdrive mode to save for a down payment, so we worked what felt like every waking moment. When there was a spare minute, we were completely lazy and wanted to do nothing but lay on the couches and stare at the one tree we DID manage to put up. We both had a hunch that this might be our last Christmas in a place that wasn’t “ours”. We had secretly made a goal to make 2011 “the year of the house”. We just barely squeezed in under the wire…

2011 – Just days after moving into our home (closing on the 1st and technically moving “in” on the 8th) we mustered the motivation to at least put up the tree and even hung a box of ornaments we were able to find among the piles. I’m so glad we did. I read this post now and I can sense how totally exhausted we were and just ready to be in a put-together house after a few months of not. I remember taking a lot of crap for our frustration haha – people told us just wait until you have kids and have to move! I can’t imagine. It was enough just being Type As that had to have it all unpacked, organized and decorated RIGHT NOW, working and running second jobs, and trying to squeeze in the handful of holiday parties and get-togethers on top of it all. There were lots of wee morning hours unpacking, catching a few shorts hours’ sleep, then going into the office. But we were so damn excited to be in our house and loved every minute of our non-traditional Christmas season that particular year.

It all makes me appreciate the calmness that has encircled us in 2012. What a difference a year makes in having a little time and energy to plan ahead and enjoy the process of pulling this together. Already excited to plan the 2013 version of our house’s holiday decorations — next year it will include the basement! Woo hoo! 🙂