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Organization

Organized attic, bonus room and holiday decor

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Sharing my organized attic today! Along with our extra room above the garage.  Remember back in January when I came up with a one year plan to organize my home?  You can see what area of my home I’m organizing each month here.  (It’s not too late to start a plan for your home!)  I’m personally loving my well laid out plan because it’s just so doable.  A couple of spaces each month.  My list really is keeping me on track!  These were my January organizing goals:

JANUARY:  PLAYROOM/EXTRA ROOM/ATTIC

-Holiday decorations/ski clothes

-Donate old toys and organize playroom closet and pull-out drawers

Sounds simple, right?  I think I gave myself the hardest rooms first!  You might remember what our extra room looked like after we moved in:
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Yikes.  So I cleaned things up last April and then the room looked like this:
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Much better!  But then Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas happened.
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(I had so much help with the decorating and un-decorating.)
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And because I didn’t have a place/system set up in our new home for holiday decor (it was all still in boxes in the garage before I decorated) I just kept taking things to the extra room.  Add a few toys and random items the kids threw in and before long this room was down right scary again.  Every time I walked in this room it made me shudder!  I wanted it clean again so badly.
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There was another thing motivating me to clean that room.  For Christmas my budding gymnasts got a gymnastic mat and balance beam and I knew the extra room would be a perfect place for them to practice.  As long as we could find an empty spot on the floor.  :)
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So after many hours – and a bit of blood, sweat and tears – our extra room finally looked like this!  What a transformation.  I mean – we can walk in here again!  :)
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I should probably get rid of the crib but I just can’t.  Too many memories of waking up to my babies holding on to that side rail.  There are little teeth marks on some of the slats from when they were teething.  {tear}  I convinced my husband we needed to hang on to it for company – in case anyone stays with a baby.  But really it’s there because I just can’t part with it.  A lot of the other stuff in this room?  I could easily part with.  :)

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So now we have a place for the girls to do gymnastics!
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And a place for their parents to squeeze in a quick workout on days there isn’t time for the gym.

Where did all that holiday decor go?
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Remember my new console table in our front entry?
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It opens up to fabulous storage!  During December I had my Christmas village displayed on this table and another table I set up across from it (never got around to taking pics of it all so I’ll have to next year!).  It was such a pain to haul all the village boxes downstairs and unpack everything.
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So I had an ah-ha moment and decided to not put each village piece back in its box and to just store it all in this console.  THRILLED about this!  I was amazed that everything fit so well.  Setting up the village in my entry next December will be a breeze!
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I even had extra room on the right for all of my cords and fake snow.  :)
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The rest of the decor went in my attic.  (Sorry btw that this post is turning into a book!  Feel  free to grab a sandwich at this point if needed.)  :)

Our extra room has a door…
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that opens into our attic.  My builder teased me constantly about this so called “attic” space.  It was going to just be the frames but then I decided I wanted him to drywall it.  And then I said if we’re going to drywall it, we might as well paint it.  And if we’re going to paint it, we might as well add carpet.  Right?  (I’m starting to sound like the book If you Give a Mouse a Cookie…)  Ha!  Pretty soon it just looked like a mini bedroom!  I couldn’t help it!  I knew I’d be the one using this space and I wanted it to be as cozy as possible.  :)
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Because of the exterior of our house we ended up with this strange gap before the attic starts.  It was empty space on the sides of the door and my builder was going to fill it in but I stopped him.  Precious storage!  I use it to hold frames/pictures that I still might hang.
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So here is my attic after hours of organizing everything!  (Excuse the terrible lighting!)  It might not look that amazing, but I now know where everything is and I only have things I absolutely use/want to save in this space.  Plus I have room for more!  Amazing to me.  :)
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On the right is all of our Christmas decorations.  I saved the pesky village boxes just in case.
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I used bins and trunks and ornament boxes that I already had and packed everything in nice and tight!
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There are random things along the back wall.  Outside Christmas decor, furniture we use in the playroom but aren’t using right now…
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and Halloween/Fall decor in that back left corner.
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Eventually I’m going to add these beautiful family trunks to my decor downstairs, but for now they are helping with storage until I get more bins.  One holds all of our ski clothes.
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The other one is full of our Easter things.
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Next to the trunks are all of my extra small bins/organizers.  Yes!  This is the one thing I hoard and don’t get rid of!  :)  I love having lots of options when I’m organizing a new space.  It’s like a mini Container Store in my house.  ;)
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Random baby items I’m saving, a box of old clothes/prom dresses from High School, and pics of the kids I still need to hang – and that completes the organized attic tour!

Wanna see what I’d eventually LOVE this space to look like?  (But with paint and carpet of course.)  ;)
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I’d love to have some shelves like this built to maximize vertical storage space.  And then of course have rows of matching bins with labels!

Someday…
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But for now I’m happy just to have everything in its place!
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And to be able to walk in our extra room again.

It’s the little things.  :)
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So there you go!  Attic, extra room and holiday decor are all organized and checked off my list!  Playroom is next!  That will be a long post too so I’ll give you the weekend for a breather.  After this post I know I need one…

:)

xoxo, Erin
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38 thoughts on “Organized attic, bonus room and holiday decor

  1. Do you think your budding gymnast can teach a certain budding yogi how to do a handstand without fear of falling?!? What a great picture! And I love, love, love all of your storage spaces. I’m inspired to use our 5th (!!) snow day in a row here in VA to have the kids help me organize their rooms and playroom. I think we’re all officially tired of playing in the snow : ) Happy Friday!

    1. Oh my word Lucy! I think YOU need to come and give us all a few yoga lessons! 5th snow day! Oh how I miss Virginia snow days! Of course when I was enjoying them I didn’t have any kids so I might not have that same fondness for them today. ;) Enjoy another cozy day at home! xo

  2. Wow! You have been working very hard! Your extra room and attic look amazing! I am inspired to get started on some purging at my house!! Unfortunately, there are only a few months in the year that I can get up in the attic – it’s either too cold or too hot!! Right now, with the temps at -2 degrees, I’d say it’s way too cold to get up there…excuses, excuses!! Ha! Ha! Have a great weekend!! xo

    1. Thank you Susan! Oh my word! 2 degrees! Definitely not the time to head to the attic. I think you have a very well justified excuse this time my friend. :) xo

  3. Oh my goodness, I’m so impressed by how much you’ve gotten done, especially on the heels of your daughters’ play. I wish I had your energy! One question I have… logistically, *when* do you find the time to do this sort of organizing? Is it during the weekday when your kids are in school? We’ve been in our new home about a year, and I have so much stuff in our basement to organize, but my kids are young (2 and 3) and not in school full-time, so it always seems so tough to fit in big-time organizing on top of all the day-to-day stuff.

    1. You are so sweet Alison! Thank you! That is such a good question! It’s so hard. I actually used to organize a lot more when my girls were little and home all day because they played so well together and we were home more. Now I have until noon everyday before Kole’s home from preschool and it’s a mad dash to fit in exercise, grocery/errand shopping, regular house work and blog stuff. He has therapy at noon and then the girls get home and we are busy with their activities and homework. The weeks are a blur! I do most of my organizing now on Saturdays. Saturday morning Kenny takes the girls to gymnastics and breakfast (their little routine) so Kole and I organize. :) A lot of the attic stuff I got a jump start on over Christmas break. Then I finished the past few weekends because January was a wash! It’s always hard to find the time, isn’t it!? I have to break big projects down and just work on them a little at a time. xo

  4. Love your organizing posts! Sometimes it can all be so overwhelming! Particularly love those shelves in the eaves! What a great idea! Thank you!

  5. Looks fantastic! I have to say I think you are pretty dang smart to have your attic finished out like you did! I wouldn’t mind heading into mine if it looked like that! The future shelves look awesome. You’ll have to share when you get to that point. Your little gymnasts have zero excuses not to practice, right? Unless the skill is parallel bars…but I’ll bet you could find a way to squeeze those in somewhere, someday, too. (wink). Great job, Erin!

    1. Ha! Too funny Jeanne! That’s what they want next and I said no way! Our house will look like a gymnasium. :) Thanks cutie! Enjoy your weekend! xo

  6. Not sure if you have seen the pictures or not on Pinterest, but you could always take the crib and turn it into a bench for your house or a desk area for the kids playroom. There are tons of ideas out there of things you can do with old cribs that you don’t want to get rid of. Then you won’t have to justify keeping it because it will be functional again :)

    1. Now that’s an awesome idea! How have I missed those pictures!? I’m certainly on Pinterest a fair amount of time. Ha! :) Thanks Lindsey! Something to consider for sure!

  7. Wow – Erin — it all looks so fabulous!! Great job — I sure wish you lived closer and I could hire you to help me! :) Have a great weekend!

  8. You were genius in designing your house. Our attic space is “wasted space”. I can’t wait to see what you do with those family trunks. I have been swooning over them since you showed them in a post a while ago. Congrats on getting all of that organized. Isn’t it such a great feeling. I would have to walk in and stare at it all a few times. Yes, I am that person!!

    Have a fun weekend.

  9. Great work, Erin! I just love all your organizing posts! I have an off topic question for you. Where do you buy gymnastics leotards for your girls? Thanks!

    1. Thank you Mindy! I buy most of their leotards at Target or a dance store we have at our local mall, but a few I’ve ordered on-line from a store called Dance Wear Solutions (dancewearsolutions.com). The one Ellie is wearing in that picture is from that site. :)

  10. you’ll never catch me complaining about these long posts Erin :-) I’m reading while at work and when I saw the email this morning telling me this was my post, I was happy that I would have something to look forward to today :-) I for one love how they build attics nowadays and they’re not super creepy anymore. I love that she has a balance beam to practice with at home, how clever!! oh and while I’m at it with a long comment post of my own…the post where you shared the girls in the play… I never got to comment there but can I just say I beamed with pride as if they were my kiddos?!! lol Enjoy your weekend!!

  11. Hi Erin! The bonus room and attic look great! You inspire me so much with your organization posts. I enjoy every one of them! I share the exact same feelings about the crib. I still have my boys’ crib (they are now a sophmore and freshman in high school). I just can’t part with it! Some how it makes me feel like I still have those wonderful baby/toddler years with me. Definitely the BEST years of my life that went my way to fast! We have moved three times since my boys have been out of the crib and each time my husband tells me the crib is not coming with us! Of course, it ends up coming with us. I have a feeling that crib will be with us for a LONG time :) Enjoy your weekend!
    Joy

    1. K I think we are both keeping our cribs FOREVER. Just made that official decision. :) Seeing the crib really does take you right back to those baby/toddler years that flew by and you can’t think about without wanting to smile and cry all at the same time! Love that you get it! Thanks Joy. Your comment warmed my heart. xo

  12. Erin, I just love all of your extra spaces! You were smart to drywall/carpet/paint that extra space. I would have done the same thing. Good job on getting everything organized; it takes time to do that so I think splitting up your organization goals makes sense. It takes time to do it right:)

    As for the crib, if you have room, I’d keep it. I had trouble getting rid of my son’s crib but I didn’t have the storage space. I am sentimental at heart so those things are kind of tough. I love the picture of Kole in your ornament storage box. He looks like a delightful little boy! So cute! Love the space for the girls to do the gymnastics!

    As for Christmas organizing, I use Sterilite 66 quart clear containers for all of my storage needs (you can find them at Target) and then use an 81/2 x 11 sheet of paper with the category name of the contents typed on it and taped inside the bin. For Christmas, I have tree décor storage and then Christmas storage by room (LR coffee table/Foyer/MBR/Bath Décor) so that if I only have 15 minutes, I can take out the bin labeled LR coffee table and set up the Christmas décor on the coffee/end tables. Everything goes back in the bins and it’s easy peasy to set everything up and take everything down. I purchase fresh garland every year and then add all of this décor. Your home is just beautiful…I really enjoy all of your posts!

    1. Oh my word! I LOVE that idea! Storing things according to where they go – SO smart! I’m going to have to remember that for next year! That would make decorating a lot easier. Thanks so much for sharing that with me! Your sweet comments always make my day. :) xo

  13. I am so jealous of your attic space! That is something that everyone needs! Just a quick question…what is the color and brand of your carpet. We are redoing ours and we are having the hardest time finding one we like. Can you help me out?

    1. I so wish I could help you with this Joy but I honestly don’t remember! It’s a grey color that I just walked in the store and picked out. If I come across the information at some point I’ll let you know but I can’t find it anywhere. So sorry that’s not more help!

  14. hi erin. i just love reading your blog. i gave up TV for lent so i am more updated than ever on all your home improvements and organization!! i am glad your spaces get messy, organized, messy AGAIN, and then organized AGAIN. makes me feel better for sure! your last line in this post compelled me to share my blog with you. i think we share a love of the little things!

    https://noticethelittlethings.wordpress.com

    -erin

    1. Hi Erin! Oh my word. LOVE your blog! I tried to leave a comment and for some reason it wouldn’t go through but I wanted to tell you that you are right – we definitely share a love of the little things! I actually just ordered a sign for my house that says “ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS” because I believe that so strongly. Sounds like the two of us have a lot in common! :) Thanks so much for sharing that with me! One of the “little things” that made my day. :) xo

  15. Erin, could you please tell me what you used in the unfinished attic space ? I am asking about the black wire/Metal that you used to support the shelving ? Thanks

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