31 Day Organization Challenge- Update #1

So, Laura over at OrgJunkie is giving us an opportunity if we'd like to give an update on how our spaces are shaping up for the 31 Day Organizational Challenge. Since I was so embarrassed by my before pictures I'd LOVE to show you what I've gotten done! I needed some quick results to give me some pride and a kick in the pants so I started with the obvious...cleaning up the space!!! Going around the room in the same format I'll show you the before and after. One thing you'll notice right away is that the walls are painted! This is one of the only rooms in the house that was never painted or decorated in any way since we moved in 5 years ago. My husband and I agreed that if we are going to do a total purge we might as well get it painted and decorated too! I love our color scheme (French Country Blue, Charcoal Gray, White and Black). It already feels like a different room and I haven't even touched the bathroom or closet yet! (The bathroom is on tap for this weekend...hopefully!) So without further ado, here's my progress from this week!

I started by making sure I had bags for garbage and recycle and a box for shred items. After I took the picture I realized that I needed boxes for sorting and donations too so I grabbed those, but I didn't retake the picture :-)

The view of the door and TV stand before.

View of door after

TV stand after

View of Steven's side (closest to the closet) before

View of Steven's side after

Steven's dresser before

Steven's dresser after- the candle decoration on the top is from Wal-Mart. It only cost $5!! The votives inside were only $0.50 each. $6.50 total for a chic decoration...not too shabby!!

The top drawer of Steven's dresser before. I can't believe all the stuff that was in there!!

The top drawer after! Ahh...this is so much better!

Closer look: a lighter (gotta set the mood sometimes! lol), shoe polish, a crystal dish to empty loose change and Chapstick and the box with the kids picture holds some keepsakes like our daughter's teeth that she's lost! lol

On this side is the organizer that once sat on the top. It holds his eye glass cleaner, inhaler, some religious items, a watch and watch batteries, tie clips, class ring and lapel pins. The closed compartment also holds foreign currency that my husband kept on some overseas trips. In the back is his lonely pocket square. He'll probably never need it but you never know!

This box holds things that came out of that top drawer that I didn't know what to do with.

The top drawer of Steven's nightstand before.

The top drawer after. I left him his Bible, our Liturgy of the Hours book, a journal, his eye glasses and his bag of Snickers minis from Valentine's Day.

The top of Steven's nightstand after. If you look in the above picture from his side of the room you can see what the before looked like.

My nightstand before.

My nightstand after.

This is my Middle of the Night basket. It holds things that I wouldn't want to be searching for in the middle of the night if I have, say a sick child wake up. Things like a themometer and covers, a medicine dropper (don't worry, no medicine!), a dosage sheet for Tylenol and Motrin, etc. It also holds a few pens and highlighters (I often read with a highlighter), some hand cream and my lavender linen spray.

My top drawer before.

My top drawer after. I know it still looks like a lot but I had a really hard time whittling it down to less that this. Our remote controls (TV, DirectTV, and Sony TV), a bag of "fun" items (wink, wink...hey! I don't have 4 kids for nothing! lol), some journals, prayer calenders and a devotional book, Post-It notes (I read with these too!!), bookmarks and several books I'm working through (Sudoku, The Happiness Project, The Total Money Makeover) and a reading journal.

Bottom drawer before.

Bottom drawer after: now it just hold my hand held massager, the different heads for the massager (in the bag) and the heating pad. 

 Remember these insane piles of crap?!?! 

Here's the same space now! All those clothes have been bagged/boxed up for the consignment store. The Spring/Summer stuff is on it's way there this weekend. The winter stuff is in the attic and will be taken this winter. Whatever the consignment store doesn't take they'll donate for us so it'll never enter this house again. Thank you very much!

 So as you can see I've made some good progress this week. Our bedroom is pretty much purged and organized. Next is the bathroom (and hopefully it will get painted too!!) and then the closet. I'm saving the closet for last because it intimidates me the most. Hopefully I'll feel so proud of what I've accomplished by the time that I get there that it'll be no sweat when the time arrives. So that's my update. Can't wait to keep going and get our Master turned into the retreat I've always wanted!!! Come and check out everyone's progress at OrgJunkie.