Our living room is very large, but not used very often. We do not have cable television, only select videos, so we don't spend a lot of time sitting in the living room. The older children use the living room to read, as it is usually quiet. We have two large IKEA book shelves and are in need of more. We also have a closet that we store games, stuffed animals, and containers for legos, Fisher Price little people, loving family people, matchbox cars and more.

Children are a Blessing video giveaway...leave a comment here to win! 

Little Girl's Room

As I have promised I would start posting picture of our new home. We are still working to finish getting everything put away, decorated, as well as keeping up with the daily chores, school and life that doesn't stop for boxes.

Andrew and I have a very large master bedroom, sitting area and three large walk in closets. We chose to put the two little girls in our room for awhile. This has helped them transition into the new home, with ease.

Eden sleeps in her playpen, more now that she is getting older. Her bed is in the sitting area of our bedroom.

Abigail's bedroom is a large walk in closet. She loves it! She has a bed and her rocker in her room, just like mommy. Rachel and Rebekah helped decorate the little girls rooms with butterflies and flowers on their walls.

Jonathan and Jordan put one of our bookshelves together today. Rachel and Rebekah put books on the shelves by category. Josiah is trying to decide what to read next.

If you're in Australia, then Gumtree is a great resource for finding furniture in Melbourne and second hand furniture in Sydney. Gumtree even has a second hand book section to decorate your shelves.

Our home has a very large great room upon entry. When we moved in we chose to make this room a dining room. With a minimum of twelve people at the table for most meals, we love having a large dining room. We are able to put two long tables side by side and feed thirty or more people at one time. We also use the barstools at the counter for school, snacks or when little ones want to help with cooking.

4 Moms Open House: Storage Organization

Today we are talking about storage organization. Organizing is one of my favorite subjects! My husband and children know how much I love rubbermaids. In order to simplify our out-of-season and too-small clothing I have a stack of rubbermaids in the garage. 

Each container is labeled with a number. I have a card file box with a 4X6 card for each rubbermaid. On the card I write what is in the rubbermaid. In the top corner of the card is the containers number.

This is a card from the girls clothing size 8/10. When I need the clothing from that bucket, I will take out the clothes and cross it off the card. When I place something else in the container I will write the new contents on the file card.

This method of clothing storage has worked very well for us over the years. We have rubbermaids for all sizes of clothing, hunting clothes, life vests and bathing suits, maternity/non-maternity, blankets, shoes, etc. We even have one container with blankets, sheets and towels for two guests. On a recent Sunday morning a young boy in our home announced, as we were leaving for church, that his church shoes were too small! My older daughters took him to the little boys shoe container in the garage and he picked out a new pair of church shoes. I try to always purchase black church shoes for this reason.

See the other mom's Storage Organization!

DeputyHeadmistress @ The Common Room

Kimberly@Raising Olives

Connie @ Smockity Frocks

Kim @ In A Shoe

Decorating the Walls

As I continue to decorate the walls of our new home, I have been searching for a few wall stickers for the children's rooms. Rebekah has a birthday coming up and loves horses. I found a horse mural on CSN's site. CSN store sells everything from furniture to modern decor. I love the laundry hampers in every color, style and pattern.

4 Moms 35 Kids Open House: Laundry Room

This week we take a look at our laundry rooms. My laundry room is small. It is only 6 feet by 8 feet. The advantage to my laundry room is it is upstairs, right next to the three upstairs bedrooms. First thing in the morning I will get a load started and before bed everyone comes to collect the laundry that I have folded for the day.

Over the years we have organized clothing and laundry differently. For a time I had wire shelves with buckets for each person. When I would fold laundry I would put each persons laundry in their own bucket and they could take it and put it away.

Now I just fold laundry on the end of my bed and each person puts their own away except for little Eden.

I have also done different kinds of storage in my laundry room. Currently I have a small dresser that my grandfather made for his mother when he was in wood shop in high school. It is a very sturdy dresser. I keep clothes pins, trash bags (for all upstairs trash cans), winter hats and gloves (don't need too many in GA) and extra towels for cleaning in the dresser.

On top of the dryer I have a bucket with my shout, detergent bottle (I refill with homemade detergent) and dryer sheets. I also have a bucket I place the baby's dirty clothing in. 

I keep a towel across the top of the washer and dryer. Towels make it easy to dust off the machines, wipe up water messes or lay clothes on to spray shout or pre-treat spray on.

I have an ironing board in the laundry room that folds out from the wall. I do not like to iron in the laundry room, but the children will use it to make their little craft items or Rebekah used to iron doll clothes on it.