GITTER DONE

What I vowed to do for Gitter Done this week

was bury these babies into some banana bread.

Do you know how many loaves of bread I'd have to make?

A lot.

I did manage one loaf.  I just took it out of the oven.

My sock drawer is still a colorful mess.

I promise, Marianne, that when I get back from vacation I will organize that drawer and make you proud.

Gals, have you seen Marianne's pantry cupboard?

Wow!

Those door hanger things made me smile so big.  I even broke a sweat.  That's what happens when I get really happy!

What did I do for GITTER DONE?

Well.

I started another blog.

What?

I know.

It's absolutely certifiably insane to do such a thing.

I'm a 65 followed gal blog.  No biggey.  But I LOVE this so much! 

My brain swirls around all the time with creations that really blow me away and quite frankly tire me out.  There is only so much one person can do when she has a young family, church, friends, two dogs, a husband and a home to take care of.  Somewhere in there I gotta find time to take a shower and brush my teeth.  And there are days.  Let me tell you.

So, who do I think I am...creating another blog?

Crazy?

Yep.

It's not with the hope and dream of being anything BIG.  I've already got my big life.  A lot to deal with and be accountable for...but then there's this little bit of me that's starting to 

e

x

p

l

o

d

e

I told you I was a late bloomer!

You know.  Not all the flowers in the field bloom at the same time!

****

Here's the new blog.

CREATIVE COUTURE by KOLEIN

It's raw.

It's new.

But it is something I have been dreaming about and thinking about since the first time I sat at the sewing machine and then ran back and forth to the computer to follow Polly from MAKE MINE BEAUTIFUL's  guest post on SEWING on Donna's blog.

(there was a little blog glitch somewhere and the post was lost.  Donna retrieved it for ME.  That's how I got to finish my first EVER slip cover and pillow with a zipper)

I owe so much to these ladies. And to you all.

This is Polly's Shop

Cuz, while I'm just a little ole ME who does some simple stuff and has a blast, the support I receive from you CREATIVE COSMIC WOMEN pushes all the right buttons on my artist barometer...

Finally.

So.

Refashioning Clothes.  Taking what I've got and makin' it more suitable to my style!

You can read about it here.

CREATIVE COUTURE by KOLEIN

I'm waiting on getting a button from one of my mentors.

She shines and rocks!

And so do you all!

GOTTER DONE!

love you gals,

ps - I will be posting a picture tonight of the fresh baked banana bread! It smells 

OH SO good!

I have another blog!

 I'm too excited to wait.

It's not perfect.

But I had to let you all know!!!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeexcited!

eee!!

I don't even have a blog button yet.

I can't figure out how to fix the html stuff.

But you know how it is when you want to scream, cuz you've got some news and since I don't have all your telephone numbers I had to tell you somehow!

Hope you have a chance to go take a look!!!

It's all about design.

Re-design.

This time.

Clothing.

Couture, to be exact!

love ya,

Birds of a feather....

Denise

just got her wings
and is

flying over at ETSY

I promise if you buy a hundred or so of these birdies

they will not drop from the sky onto your lawn for no known reason.  Nor will they leave any purple markings on your car.

Instead they will put a smile on your face

and

a song in your heart!

love you gals,

Gitter Done

I have a little confession to make...

I didn't exactly do something for

I wanted to.  I had some ideas.

Since Marianne mentioned that I did so many rooms for last week's party...and some of you commented that you were going to take a nap after you read all I had done, I decided that I would take this week off.  

Oh, I did stuff.

I just don't have any photos to show.

AND

My freezer remains frozen in this state.

 My sock drawer is still in disarray.

 But I do have some ideas.

Just wait...hang on...

because "there has got to be an element of..."

Don't ya just LOVE how she gets it done?

so my Gitter Done is to go and have some fun!

I'll be here

and here

and here

and

FACEBOOK

Have a great night,

Physical Space

 Recently, while I was resetting my house for Gitter Done, I had one of those design epiphanies.  Now, you ALL probably already know this.  I didn't.  It has to do with physical space.

Currently I live in a fairly small home.  Since the birth and growth of our two sons and the addition of two dogs and the add-on retired husband, our home has gotten smaller.  It's a lovely little pad, though.  I mean, I dream of bigger, but in all honesty, this home is manageable.  Yes, I wish there was more storage.  Our two-car garage was converted to a family room 8 years ago.  Our basement is a partial with a crawl space.  We lack in storage areas.  However I have managed well with what we have. We are now bursting at the seams.  Busting a gut, one might say.  So, instead of complaining about it.  I thought I'd do something about it.  Time to say goodbye to the stuff and repurpose furniture, shelves, closets, etc.

While doing this mini-makeover I noticed something.

See that chair and ottoman on the lower left?  Yep.  That's the one.  Look underneath the legs of the chair?

What do you see?

Space.

I've learned that mirrors and light colors add visual space to a room.

However, actually seeing space adds physical space to a room.  In this small house, where all four of us and the furry ones are amid the structure all day long, having actual physical space to see with my eyes has opened my perspective to making our home quite literally bigger.

I am a visual person.  And a feeling person.  I cannot sit too long in a room with painted red walls, dark mahogany furniture and not start to feel the coziness, the warmth, the darkness around me. So living in a lighter home has been on my agenda for a long time.  This transformation, in real time, will take me years to accomplish.  That's OK. I have started, and continuing on this journey is actually fairly easy.  Make it white.  Brighten things up.  Paint. Move stuff over or out.  Not that hard a transformation when the color palette is simple.

Then I was awakened to space.

Take a look here:

how different this bedroom would FEEL if we couldn't see underneath the bed

and look what happens here,

seeing the floor opens up the room

how about here,

space

and even here in this darker palette,

space

 

the exposed floor underneath the table

allows the room to breathe

and here too, with the darker woods

without a rug to choke the room,

space

Just seeing space,

not only the illusion of it,

creates an openness in a room.

This is my new reality!

sources of photos:
1.homeedit.com
2.elle decor
3.country living
4.elle decor
5.coastal living
6.coastal living

GITTER DONE!

Because I love

Marianne's blog

and

I love Donna's blog

and

I love getting stuff done

I did this

Thank you Marianne

for taking the reigns of

Gitter Done!

On with the show!!

Here's what I made myself do for this January 14th deadline

Note:  nothing was purchased for these endeavors

in fact, I shopped the house!

1. Rearrange both boys' rooms  - here's what transpired

• moved out furniture - extra book shelves and chairs
• removed large area rugs
• filled totes with toys/stuff
• cleaned
• organized
• moved in one large storage cabinet in each room

Boy #1

Room Before

Room After

After

shelving unit moved in

roar from the crowd

"thank you, thank you!"

Boy #2

Room Before

Room After

Shelving Unit moved in

Closet Reorganized

Everything in its place

"can I hear a shout out for the mom?"

2. Rearrange our classroom which is in our large family room (converted two-car garage) - here's what transpired

• removed many years worth of school supplies, books, etc to storage
• moved two very large and heavy cabinets out (those are the two that are now in each boys room)
• condensed school room supplies to one neat and tidy, accessible area (I have been mentally planning this for years)
• did I mention that I moved these large 4 foot hard wood cabinets up a landing and a set of three stairs and through the entire house, down the hallway and into each room?
• I meant to
• cleaned and vacuumed spider webs - horrible for me to do!

Classroom

Before

(actually this is more in-transition....I had the two cabinets back to back so I could decorate for the holidays and I had already started moving furniture and rugs out the boys rooms)

After

After

Each area labeled

the boys love working in here now...."Mom, now we can find our stuff!"

nice.

3. Brighten up the living room by way of what's underfoot - here's what transpired

• rolled up 11X14 berber from son's room  - moved furniture up and over the rug as I went.  Can someone say?  Oh my aching neck and back and I think my arms are longer??
• rolled up 10X13 slate rug from LR
• berber was unrolled into the living room
• slate rug was put into son#1's room
• throw to the curb EC's 30 yo lounge chair - see it right there in the lower left corner?  It has a cover on it. It's true color - faded LL Bean rustic burgundy - NOTE: 7yo was concerned that I was getting rid of "Daddy's chair" - "Where will he sit and relax, Mommy?  I mean, that's where Daddy likes to nap.  Are you still going to throw it out?"
• Move EC's lounge chair to the family room
• Remove lounge chair cover
• Yes, I did

Before

Transition

After

how do I love thee?  let me count the ways! 

*there's my first EVER slip cover chair and ottowoman on the left and the other grey number in the back to the right is almost done...the drop cloth chair is waiting to be a slip, too.

Marianne, if it weren't for YOU (and Donna) these plans would have remained in my head for another...day or so!  Bwahahaaha! ...a long time!

OK, when is the next GITTER DONE?

This is what I've got on the agenda so far:

 1. Clean out the freezer

2. Make some banana bread

3. Organize my sock drawer

love you gals,