Say NO to Clutter!

If it's summer, can I still call it spring cleaning?

I am on a cleaning and de-cluttering kick. Not sure why... spring is behind us and school doesn't start until the middle of August, but I suddenly feel the need to get rid of all the junk in my house. Oh yes, my friends, there is waaaaayyyyyy too much junk.

So, today I spent all my time cleaning up the "upstairs" of the house. For those of you who don't know my strange house... the upstairs consists of the kitchen/dining room/living room (also known as the "Great Room") and the master bedroom and bath. So... the laundry is done, the kitchen is clean and the living room is free from tiny shoes and polly pockets and empty candy wrappers.

I thought I'd start with the "top" of the house since the "bottom" of the house is something that I am trying to put off tackling until I absolutely have to. The lower level of our house could be an episode of "Clean Sweep". If you haven't seen this show, they take the messiest, most unorganized home and sweep it clean of every stitch of furniture, knick-knack and just plain trash... then they make it look really, really pretty. My problem is... I actually have a degree in interior design... so I have no darn excuse for my house looking like this!

So, the bottom of the house has the girls' bedrooms and the playroom, as well as the office that David and I share. So my idea... change the "playroom" into more of a "craftroom" for the kids. Some place where they can do their homework and work on their projects. Since toys are finally going the way of the dinosaur (I never thought I would actually say this), I want my girls to be able to show more of their creative side. Temera can write... Mandy can paint... and Lauryn...???... well, I'm sure Lauryn has some type of creativity in her.

Okay, get rid of the tiny, rickety desks that they have been using and get some heavy, duty, sturdy ones for them to really work on. Then I need to buy a sturdy shelving unit that they can store all their supplies on (crayons, markers, scissors, glue, tape, paper, etc., etc.). Oh... and get some inexpensive but funky colored boxes that they can keep their schoolwork in (you know the kind... you know you are going to toss it, but you can't really do it until the end of the school year). Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Of course, I am dreading our office space. Two people (with a lot of stuff) sharing one office. The only good part is that I use it during the day and HE uses it at night. And how exactly did I manage to accumulate these hundreds of books? I know I can do it... I think I can do it. No, I KNOW I can do it.

I'll post pictures.