11 - 24 - 10 = Project "Clean Kendra's Room"

She had already worked on the room for many hours before we took these pictures.

First, we removed Joel's things
though we still are unable to locate his camouflage watch
that he bought for his birthday.

This was Joel's side of the room.
All of that was cleaned out of her side without a home.

The stuff in the corner there
belongs to ^annan.

Looking into the bathroom.
She has a floor to ceiling door banner
of the nutcracker.

And do you see her cloak that she made?
It's the purple hanging on the door knob.

We repainted this bathroom when we mo^ed into the
trailer some 7 years ago.
Hard to believe that we ha^e been here this long.

If only the nice "Target" cabinetry was holding up.


(One of the buttons on my keyboard has mysteriously stopped working.)

Joel's Winter Clothes Project

This is the pile of things that are too small or never worn - ready to find somebody to hand around to.
Some of it has already found good homes.

And this is the winter stuff he can wear.
He's already had to pull out some, so we got this done just in time.

Mostly he caters to his camoflauge stuff.
It's his new favorite color - if you hadn't heard.
But yellow is still his SECOND most favorite color.


And I STILL have to get Vannan's boxes gone through and sorted.
She's grown some arms and legs over the summer, so 12's are not fitting right.

We may have to resort to hunting down some hand me arounds for her to get through the winter.
Anybody done with some size 14 stuff?

And there is always Good Will.
And when you keep stuff washed - you don't need as much in the closets.

Joel’s Clean Bedroom

 

Except for the cabinet to the left – this is how his room looks now.

After they climbed on top and started jumping at the bed – we removed it.

His creation mural from Jr. Church.  Way Cool.

The dresser at the foot of his bed is removable – and we can extend the bed with a longer mattress – just have to get it out of storage.

I’m wondering if it is worth it though, as Joel is now sleeping on Vannan’s bed most nights, and Vannan sleeps next door in the room with Marriana.

Joel's New Room - Before Cleaning

The bed use to be only an inch or so from that outlet.

and now he has 2 window pains - not just one.

Mom made those curtains for Vannan when she was 2. Joel likes them a lot.
I love reusing things like that.

Problem is finding places to keep them between uses.

More Project Enlarge Joel's Room

Hey look! My out of reach shelf is where I can reach it!

Slide tab G into slot K ... Twist knob J ... Then Remove Tab G and put it into Slot Q instead.

And hope nobody gets lost in the shuffle game.

You know those sliding games where you unscramble the picture...
That's what we do here when I decide to rearrange the house.

Tim even said so.

Our Leaky Wall

This is the water leak damage we found when we moved Joel's bed.

It obviously has not been leaking very long - probably only since after this last rainy season - April or so.

But the wall was quite wet after a 2 1/2 week dry spell.

And the panelling was peeling loose in more spots than this very obvious one. The floor and carpet were mostly dry.

This part of the wall was already having problems.

But I'm still thankful that we at least have a place to live - we could be still living in the back trailer or Tim's parent's spare bedroom and everything we own in storage.

I'm looking forward to seeing how God solves this problem.
We either need a new roof or a bigger/more secure house - and right now our rent is free.

Higher on our list is a car that seats at least 8.

And Tim is still job hunting.

And how about a safe birth for LaRue?

Maybe we'll just get raptured and have a nice place in heaven instead.

Project – Enlarge Joel’s Room AND Move the Couch

Moving the bookshelves was hard work.

 

We made a HUGE mess.  Who knew all this was in that space?

 

Joel’s Room Before we enlarged it.

 

Joel and the Puzzle Cabinet

We rearranged and had 1 empty cabinet in the space at the edge of the kitchen and livingroom. There use to be a fireplace right here.

I had Kendra find all of the puzzles and games in the house and put them into this cabinet.

When Joel discovered it, he was overjoyed. He spends hours a day now like this.

Karen found some old cabinet doors on the roadside. We plan to clean then up, put some qurarter-round along the edges and push it under the cabinet. This will be for the girls to start a game or a puzzle and they can push it under the cabinet if they don't finish it.

We may do this for all 3 of the spots under the cabinet. The quarter-round will keep pieces from falling off as it is being pushed in and out.

The work in the Hallway is Coming Along

I know it's never going to look like a palace - but we are pleased with how it is coming along.
We still need to paint the shelves the same yellow that is in the kitchen - there is plenty in the paint can.

Joel and Kendra have their growth charts moved to the hallway. We finally found Vannan's, but have yet to get it put up. I think we will get a better idea of their heights now, since the floor at the bathroom door is mostly gone - you walk on the beams to go to the bathroom. At least the carpet keeps it from being obvious. Plus the crawl space below is stuffed full of boards - you wouldn't go very far if the carpet tore... but I degress ... we were discussing the hallway - right?

The chalkboard has become a HIGH use item. You can see the chalk baskets up at the top right corner - working nicely, but a bit of a reach.
The girls love doing math and English on the board.

The plan is to make "brag strips" for each of the kids - not much room each, but at least it is something.

Of course, if I don't miscarry - I'll have to make the strips even narrower next year.

Yep - we're expecting again ... but with 5 miscarriages....
I was pretty shocked when I realized it was a possiblitiy - and even more shocked to be positive.
Talk about putting a kink in project "Rearrange the house so it works".

Painting the Hallway Shelf

Vannan wanted to paint the shelf in the hallway - after the primer dries and the weather gives us a good warm day, we plan to paint it the same yellow that is in the kitchen.

Vannan did pretty good - Kendra finished it up.

Right now, it is in the hallway waiting for it's second coat. I do think the white is a bit much though, it does need the color.

I'm alos not sure what I want to put on the shelf. It's too narrow for shoes or things like that - only 8 inches deep. Books are fine - but there is a chalk-board up above, and the shelves are not exactly spaced well for books.

I've also considered some of Joel's toys, maybe all of his cars?

It has to be baby friendly - because Esther will pull it off the shelves.
It has to be easy to step over if it is down in the hallway OR something that isn't likely to be pulled down.

I look around my house - which the more I sort and clean - the bigger the mess seems to be getting - UGH!

Anybody have any ideas?
What would you put on a short narrow set of shelves located in a very narrow hallway?