Blog - Graceful Order

Leftover Paint Storage

September 18, 2014 · by Maria · 4 Comments

You know that feeling when you are sitting on the couch, relaxing, feet up, and getting a neck massage? And then the person massaging your neck won’t stop asking if they can also massage your feet? Well, neither do I. But let us subtract the massage for a minute and continue with the rest of the visual. So you are sitting on the couch and you look at the wall and notice that there is a scratch on the wall. Well you actually didn’t just notice it, you have been looking at it for 8 months and every time you sit down and see it, you tell yourself ” I have to paint that little spot on the wall. I will bring in the paint can from the garage when I get a chance.” Sound familiar?

Every home gets nicks here and there from moving furniture, kids playing, and even cleaning. Which is why you shouldn’t clean. Did I just write that? I meant, which is why you should have a different system for leftover paint storage, other than the paint cans in the garage.

I have mentioned before that we haven’t painted the interior of our home for almost 10 years. Recently, I painted the boys bathroom, our master bathroom and the dining room but all the existing paint was in pretty good condition, we just wanted to update the colors. I was able to push off painting for as long as I did, thanks to this system (and good quality paint, of course).

My tip: I always store a little bit of the paint from each room, in these small Rubbermaid containers. Any airtight container will do, so the paint doesn’t dry out.

I take the leftover paint can and fill up the little tub. The paint cans will go into the garage when I am done. I won’t be using the cans unless I need to paint a whole wall. Who wants to deal with opening up rusted cans of paint just to touch up a small area on a wall? Not I.

I label the container with the name of the paint color and the room it was used in. When I am done I store them all inside a closet the house.

If you have a playroom you know that it is not “if” the wall gets scratched, but “when” the wall gets scratched. And when they do, have a “paint stash” and little brushes close by to fix the problem. If it’s a really small nick, I have even used a cotton swab to paint over the area.

So grab one of these tubs and fix that little annoying scratch so that you can finally relax on the couch. It will be one less pain in the neck. And then you won’t need the massage.

Am I alone here, or do these little things annoy you too?

-Maria

Basic Housekeeping – Morning Routine

September 15, 2014 · by Maria · 12 Comments

Mornings are hectic. No routine will completely do away with that, but with a basic housekeeping morning routine, the first part of the day will be smoother, setting the tone for the rest of the day. Part of an organized morning is an organized evening, which we discussed earlier this week with the night time routine. If you have a night time routine, the mornings are smoother. If the mornings are smoother, you will be less stressed. If you are less stressed, the kids will behave like angels. Well…sometimes I take things a bit far to drive a point home.

Kids are kids. I ask my 10-year-old if he is ready for school and he says “yes” and then as we walk out, I realize that his hair looks like a birds nest, or he is missing his belt, the toddler starts doing the I-gotta-go-potty-dance, even though 2 minutes ago he said he was fine…Not exactly a Zen moment!

Because of the things that I can’t control, I try to do the ones that I can. Of course, I don’t always follow the routine. If we have guests, I want to enjoy their company more than sticking to some cleaning routine, so I ignore the dishes. That’s ok and that’s the way it’s supposed to be, I think. So lets leave it at, this is what I do MOST mornings:

Make the bed. The room can be disorganized but if the bed it made, it looks peaceful. On the flip side, if the room is organized but the bed is not made, it looks like a mess. It’s just the largest piece in the room and the bed only takes 2 minutes to make. Even if you don’t want to add a bunch of pillows, just smoothing out the covers makes a big difference. At night, I love pulling away the comforter on a bed that has been made.

Make coffee. My husband is the designated barista in this house, but maybe you make the coffee in your home. No to-do list has to remind any of us to make the coffee. We usually make it while we are still sleeping, right? Check out our coffee station if you have a chance.

Empty the dishwasher. Since it is part of my night routine to load the dishwasher, I unload it in the morning and start filling it up after breakfast.

Place a load of laundry in the washer. I believe in a-load-a-day keeping the piles away! I know some prefer having a designated laundry day or days, but I can’t seem to manage that without getting overwhelmed with all the laundry. I prefer knowing that one full load will get done (almost) everyday. See more details about my laundry closet here.

Defrost whatever you will be making for dinner. This way you don’t have to worry in the late afternoon about what to make. I place the meat that is defrosting inside a refrigerator bin, so that juices don’t spill in the refrigerator shelf. You know this is a big time saver if you have ever had to clean up one of those messes! You can see the rest of the refrigerator here.

Everyone has a different morning with different tasks, such as preparing lunches for the kids if they take their lunch to school, and your morning is different if you work outside the home. The steps will vary but the need for the routine won’t. When I take the time to implement this routine, I feel so productive!

Gotta go comb someones crazy hair (can’t specifically say who, but it’s not the 10-year-old and she likes to blog)!

Have a great morning!

Maria

Basic Housekeeping – Night Routine

September 12, 2014 · by Maria · 17 Comments

The word “routine” already sounds a little daunting. I mean, do you really need to commit to another to-do list, another task? I have worked inside and outside the home and I know that creating a routine is challenging and getting the family onboard is even more so. However, if I commit to completing simple tasks in the morning and in the evening, my day goes by so much smoother and I accomplish more. Of course, there are checklists that point out to clean doorknobs and behind the stove (and I am all about that too) but that isn’t feasible to do all the time. However, I can commit to a basic housekeeping night routine to make my days at home smooth, or at the very least, manageable.

Do I do this routine daily? Ah…NO! I certainly try to, but there are days that I have to leave the house and the beds are not made, the sink isn’t clear, it’s life. I just notice that on the days that I have or make the time to complete these tasks, I am so grateful that I did.

Arrange the couch pillows. This is a pet peeve of mine. These couches are 10 years old and let me tell ya, they have not been babied! In the weekends, we may take naps on these couches, we lie down to watch tv, my boys jump on these couches, they are USED. Basically, the pillows are usually a mess or they fall on the floor. I am always picking them up and threatening that I am going to get rid of them FOREVER. I quickly learned that this threat doesn’t evoke any reactions when you live with men. They are like “cool, more room to play”.

I feel like when the pillows are a mess, the whole room looks messy. So at night I like to prop them up again and I wake up to a neat couch and pretend I live in a world where people care about couch pillows.

Load the dishwasher. Throughout the day, I load the dishwasher without running it until I get in all the dinner dishes. I set it to run at night and I unload it in the morning and start again. You are more likely to load the dishes at night if there is space for them in the dishwasher. If you are already exhausted (and we usually are at night) and you have to unload the dishwasher before re-loading it, you may just skip it all together and leave it for the morning.

Wipe down the sink and stainless steel fridge. I LOVE waking up to a welcoming kitchen! After putting away the dishes in the the dishwasher, clean and wipe down the sink. Also, stainless steel refrigerators are great but they are also a magnet for little hands. Go ahead and wipe it down with your kitchen towel before your throw it in the hamper. A little bit of extra work but you will be thankful you did this in the morning.

Set out a new kitchen towel. We rarely use paper towels, so our kitchen towels get dirty fast. Every night, I place the used one in the hamper.

Wipe down counters and kitchen table. Sitting down in a clean, cleared-out table is more enjoyable for the whole family.

My husband makes our coffee every morning, but you may also want to grind the coffee ahead of time, or set some time aside to go over your agenda for the next day. You can certainly add items to this list, but the point is to make your home a place that welcomes you, in a manageable way that isn’t overwhelming. If I add too many things to my daily routines, I fall behind and get overwhelmed. I like to keep it simple.

House is looking good, so I will go to bed and enjoy a good book…which I will end up falling asleep reading. A day with toddlers will do that to you.

Night Night,

Maria

Decorating a China Cabinet / Hutch

September 9, 2014 · by Maria · 5 Comments

Decorating a china cabinet. You start with good intentions, a couple of pretty pieces you want to display, then a bowl that you can’t fit inside the kitchen, then pieces that have been passed down, then one day you don’t even know what’s in there and if you do know, it is way too much trouble to access it. Sound familiar? Well, I’m guilty too. My favorite way to decorate a china cabinet is sparingly, only 2 to 3 pieces per shelf. But you wouldn’t know that looking at the pictures I am sharing with you today. A while back, I emptied the china cabinet and started from scratch. I tried decorating with a few pieces, but I really needed the storage that the hutch provided. My goal was to do away with the visual clutter.

Here is my china cabinet. We bought it along with the dining room set ten years ago and I still love the style. Sure, I would probably choose something more approachable and kid friendly now but I still love it. My favorite thing about it is the profile. My dining room is a square room and I wanted a piece that tapered so that it wouldn’t take over the space.

These pictures were hard to take because the cabinet is mirrored so every piece looks doubled, but in reality it doesn’t look cluttered. And I have…30 PIECES in that hutch (not counting the plate sets)!

So what’s the secret in storing so much without making it look cluttered? Choosing a color and sticking to it. I chose white since I have so many white pieces. I pulled many of them from the hidden storage in the kitchen and displayed them here. In turn, I used the closed cabinets to store what no longer fit in the hutch.

Here is a peek at what’s inside:

I collect cake plates. Maybe not “collect” but I have quite a few. White ones are my favorite. Towards the back is a soup tureen that has a beautiful shape and added some height.

Add a little bit of green. It’s the finishing touch in most decorating projects! Isn’t the little birdie cute?

Above it, I have a silver cake stand and some pretty platters. The silver pieces are a nice accent to the white pieces. The lady taking pictures in her pajamas is not a nice accent to the hutch.

On the other side, more cake platters, stacked on each other. Next to it is a ballerina, which is a gift my husband gave me about 15 years ago and it must stay here if it doesn’t want to get hit with a nerf gun!

Above it more silver pieces.

More silver platters. You would think I bake all the time and I don’t! Like the people that have lots of pots and rarely cook.

In the very top I have a fine china place-setting. The thing is, I don’t own the whole set. Years ago I saw the two sets on clearance and I purchased them to decorate the hutch, not intending to ever use them for entertaining. I prefer using simple white plates that I can buy 10-12 of, and not worry about them breaking.

Talking about white plates. Here they are! These are not used daily, so they don’t need to be in the kitchen. The bottom shelf is the busiest but it also not as visible when the hutch it closed.

This cow creamer pitcher adds a little charm! It looks pretty ~~scary~~ funny pouring out cream, I must say!

Here it is all lit up! Picture doesn’t capture how pretty and simple it looks, but I tried my best.

One last look!

Hope this inspires you to move things around in your china hutch and make it look pretty without loosing the storage we all love!

Until next time!

Maria

IKEA Plant Hack

September 5, 2014 · by Maria · 4 Comments

I love grass centerpieces, especially the ones that look like fresh greenery. The finishing touch to any decorating project, is usually a little bit of green. IKEA plants are some of my favorite because they are inexpensive and they look “real”. I usually display them as-is inside a vase or small pot, but this time I needed to do a little IKEA plant hack if I was going to get it to work inside this gold geometric vase.

I purchased the vase at Target a year ago, it is from the Nate Berkus collection. I really love the vase and because of it’s interesting shape, it doesn’t need anything inside. Except, after pairing it with other gold vases and in a gold tray (also from Target), it did need a pop of color to bring it all together.

Everytime I go to the store, I buy milk (whether I need it or not) because I know that we will use it. Everytime I go to IKEA, I buy one of these plants for the same reason. Eventually there will be a project that needs a little green touch and it’s nice to have these inexpensive little plants at hand.

I had two extra IKEA plants from the Fejka collection and two ended up being perfect for the vase.

I knew I needed foam to fill the vase but I didn’t have that much foam. I placed a few crumpled sheets of paper in the bottom of the vase as a filler.

I had a small piece of foam left over from another project. I cut this piece in half.

And I arranged it inside the vase so that it was snug. You can also use a glue gun to secure it further, but I didn’t need it.

I started with the plant by pulling apart the leaves and then discarding the pot.

The really big one in the middle came out in a larger bunch and it was perfect to fill the center or an empty corner of the new arrangement.

The smaller stems were set aside as filler for empty spots, once I was done placing the rest.

I placed a toothpick inside each stem so that it would glide into the foam and stay there. You can also use a glue gun and skip this step.

I started filling the corner of the vase and just kept going…

Here is the finished product! I think it looks pretty high-end and it was so inexpensive and easy to put together!

One more shot of the before and after. What do you think? Big difference with a plant that currently sells for $3.99 !

Do you also have these plants around the house? Maybe you can add one to a vase and create a new, fresh look!

Till next time,

Maria