Pinterest Organizing

Wow!  Pinterest literally sucked away at least 4-5 hours of my time this weekend if not more, but not exactly how you think.  I organized all my Boards and Pins!  I seriously need help, I am the complete opposite of a hoarder. 

I wanted to create boards and save pins that really reflect my style and not just a lot of likes that were all over the place.  I also really wanted just pins of things I would realistically craft, cook, or use as actual decorating tips.  Pinterest is an incredible website and I have always saved images from magazine and I love having a virtual place to store images.  I also love that I can refer back to websites for things I want to remember.  

I started with 675 pins and now have 379!!  I had 18 Boards and now have 24.  As I was deleting pins that I really just “like” I found that my Decorating board was overloaded with certain images such as, Curtains, Gallery Walls, and Wall Treatments.  These guys now have dedicated boards. 

In the process of cleaning all these up I found this blog entry from Blogging with Amy that gave great tips for using Pinterest and I found special interest in the tips on helping “Pinning” to grow your blog.  I am grateful that some of you follow me on Pinterest and welcome any of you that currently do not to do so.  You can find ME Here.

I hope that now you will see a better reflection of my style.  I also updated my picture, I had Will take a couple pictures so I’d have a good current one.  Here is one that did not make the cut. LOL!

Hope you all have had a great Sunday! And happy Pinning!

April 

Showing a House

This week marks around the eighth month we’ve had our house on the market.  Luckily we’ve been averaging 1-2 showings a weekend for the past three weekends, so I am hopeful things are picking up with Spring right around the corner.  We had a showing last Saturday and I was picking up and cleaning up and I was thinking how easy it has become to have the house “show ready” in under an hour.  When we first started it was a mad rush and we did the best we could, now it is quick and easy. 

I thought I would share with you the things that we’ve done to make things easier because if you have ever had a house on the market you know how hard it is to live in one you are showing.  I like having a clean house on a normal basis but having one “show ready” is a lot more difficult.

Baskets to Hide Things

Having a few basket placed around the house is a great way to hide everyday things.  Just try to make sure they are placed neatly and decoratively.

We have one in the bedroom that hides books, magazines, and remote controls.  We also have some in closets to keep items orderly. 

This photo shows the ones in our office closet.  They contain printer paper, office supplies, and misc office needs.

The best example is seen here.  This counter top in our kitchen is right where you walk in from our garage.

This is the spot where we sit everything down when we come in the house.  It is a collection spot for all things random.  Now when we have a showing, whatever is sitting there goes here…

It rest here above this shelf.  I also have items from the fridge in this one, coupons, magnets, pictures. 

Use Your Morning Wisely

I wake up 20-30 minutes earlier than I normally did in the past just to clean up in the morning.  The two major things I do is empty and refill the dishwasher and clean up the bedroom each morning. 

Here was this mornings bedroom before (sorry for the crap pictures)

 

And 5 minutes later…

Use Cleaning Products that Help You

I have found throughout this process a few things that have made my life much easier when preparing for a showing on short notice and for everyday upkeep.

Clorox Cleaning wipes for the kitchen and bathroom are super easy. Wasteful, but easy.   Wipes clean and then you throw out.  Keeps things smelling nicer and looking clean quickly

Fresh Wave is an awesome air freshener.  I needed something to use in guest bathroom where I keep the litter boxes and this stuff really helps absorb bad odors. I have another near the cat food as well. 

Having a dust buster near is very helpful in our house to suck up the pet hair that lingers in corners and window sills.

Clean Closets Out

We cleaned all of our closets out to make them look more spacious, we have removed all unnecessary stuff.  For our clothes closet and coat closet we packed up everything out of season to keep the racks and hanging clothes spacious.  We are lucky to have some storage space we’ve used and have some things in the garage but I recommend renting a storage unit.  I am shocked by how much I’ve been able to live without during these last months.

This photo is our Bonus room closet, I use it as my craft and Holiday storage.  This is a walk in closet and before you could not walk in. 

Our Laundry room is actually a laundry closet and we added a shelf to store all the detergents so not to have these sitting on dryer like before.

In our downstairs hall closet, we use it to store coats, brooms, paper towels, and toilet paper.  I moved all the brooms and mops to the far right so they are not the first thing you see when you open the door.  We also moved out several coats to keep the rack from looking stuffed.

Keep Countertops Clean and Void of Personal Items

In our bathroom on the left you see my basket full of daily cosmetics.  When we have a showing they are moved under the cabinet.  The only thing left on the counter is what you see in the picture on the right. 

Our toaster oven comes out only when in use and now lives in the cabinet below instead of on the countertop.

 

I hope you found this helpful…It has made life a lot easier for us to take these steps while showing our house.  I feel a little silly posting this when our house has continued to stay on the market this long but the realtors that have showed it have complimented us on the cleanliness so I think we are on the right path. 

You want to keep things very impersonal.  People need to envision living there the way they live.  I encourage you to go check out some local model homes for ideas on staging and you will also get a good look at the impersonal feel, because no one lives there! :)

Have any of you got other tips to share?

April

Happy Birthday Heart’s Desire!!

http://hiphiphoorayblog.com

 

I can’t believe I have been crafting, painting, decorating and writing about it all for 1 year now.  This blog has been a great outlet for me and a lot of fun!  Thank you all for reading and following me.  Looking forward to even better content in the coming year! 

April

A “Vintage” Sign

This is one of my favorite projects to date!  I had so much fun making this sign. 

This is an old cabinet door that came out of the $15 estate sale room.  I saw a few signs at an antique sale a few months back and knew I wanted to try my own sign.  I've been pinning old signs on Pinterest for a while to find one I liked and finally decided to try my own thing.  I pinned and used Miss Mustard Seed’s tutorial seen HERE. 
I painted the base in Provence Chalk Paint, one coat.
I am lucky because I have a projector I use for work so I hooked that up and projected the logo I found using Google images.

I just centered and traced out the design.

The next step was painting in the lines.  I used all the same colors except the “pickles” I wanted in yellow.  I was pretty impressed with myself for staying in the lines!


As you all know I am usually hesitant to really distress my furniture much.  I like the slightly worn look.  But, for this sign I really wanted it to look old so I sanded away.


And just to give you a better idea of size I stuck it up on my pie safe to photograph. 

I don’t have a home for this yet but this is mine to keep.  I chose the Bick’s Pickles logo because me and Will meet at my Dad’s cucumber station.  My Daddy is a farmer and years ago the farm grew cucumbers and operated a cucumber station.  I worked Summers there in high school and Will found a job there through a friend for two Summers and the rest is history :)  The cucumbers that were grown during the time we both worked there were sold to Bick’s Pickle Company.  :)
What do you guys think?  I’m ready to make another, it was a neat project to work on.
April

Linking up to the Pinterest Challange hosted by Katie, Sherry, Cassie, & Erin.  Be sure to stop by all and check out the projects. 

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

I have been painting various projects this weekend.  I am excited to share all with you soon and none are furniture projects.  The first one I completed is this mirror…

Yesterday I picked up this little mirror at Goodwill for $3.48.  Sorry forgot to take a picture before I taped it up. It was just brown and dated, in need of a makeover.

First I primed it

I have been wanting to try out the Martha Stewart Specialty Paint at Home Depot.  This was the perfect little project to try it on.

I used Vintage Gold as the base and Black Coffee glaze on top.  I love it, very vintage glam. 



I think this color looks great in my dining room and I have been wanting something to hang over my buffet.  I am going to be on a thrift store hunt for a piece to paint to hang here.  The mirror was purchase because I want a dresser in my closet with a small mirror above and a peg board to hang scarves.  I am slowly collecting pieces for this project. I have not found a dresser yet and I don’t think it will fit in my current closet the way I want.  I think now the closet theme will be GLAM :)
What do you think about this paint?  Check out the other colors here.
April


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