The Hidden Layers

After living in this house for 14 years with no move in sight, it was time to find the bottom of closets and the back of cupboards. Over the summer I moved from space to space and, for now, I have crossed the last space off my mental list. I have some aspirations for making our home for visually appealing, but first, I needed to get rid of some of the excess. I have some pride so there are no before pictures! =) And I can report that all of these areas continue to look very similar to the pictures.

The dryer is a very natural "catch all" space when we walk in the door.

It's very easy to throw things on top of the refrigerator to keep them out of reach of children. There are a few craft supplies that remain on the back corner of the fridge for exactly that reason.

The cookbook shelf is what you are looking at below. That shelf was threatening to explode every time I opened the pantry door. Now I look at that shelf for relief when I open the pantry door!

Cupboards that were very full have been pared down to size. There are more cupboards and I chine cupboard that are not pictured. =)

This is the closet under the stairs. Another explosion that was waiting to happen. My goal was to get the board games in there. I did--with plenty of room leftover! You can actually step in to the closet, see what coats are hanging there and find what you are looking for. Another door I can now open for fun.

It's hard for me to believe, but we have painted the entire house since we bought the house. The girls have a closet that goes under the eaves and turns under the eaves. In the logic of our youth, we stored the unused paint under the eaves. Including the little ones, 27 cans of paint are now stored neatly in the garage. Yay for children who are helpful and who want commission!! I didn't carry all those can out myself. =)

That closet also had a bunch of baby stuff thrown back there. I completely cleared it out. Now there are 2 tubs of girl clothes waiting for Anna to grow in to them.

And when I came down to enlist Jeremy's help with another organizing project I found this! He had gotten in to the spirit of things and decided to clean under the stove. This is my one before picture! If you ever wondered about the quality of my kitchen cabinets, yes, that is 2 pieces of raw board nailed up to be the end of the cabinet.

In between all of this the going through things I started scrubbing walls and door. When I start, it is hard to stop because I keep seeing more and more and more that needs to be done. Even as I'm ending this post more spaces are popping up in my mind begging to be reduced and organized. I'm satisfied for now.