When I was searching for storage ideas I found so many great suggestions.  Bins and baskets are the way to go, to keep all those knick knacks out of sight !  We have so many little toys, soooooo many.  Like the toy shop threw up in our house :-(  Even after the kids clean up something is always forgotten behind the chairs, tables, baskets, dressers, on the table, tucked behind a shelf, etc.  They are kinda really bad at cleaning.  At least they clean so I don't complain and always thank them for their hard work.  Then when they sleep, C and I would organize and clean and complain about them kids.  We protest whenever they want to make a mess but we actually like (and hate) that they have so much ideas !  And often we can't help but get down and dirty with them and that's when the whole house is a huge mess !  Ah, this is the life with kids and it's all good !  

The few times when my kids made my blood level rose and I am ready to smack someone's behind, I usually give myself a prep talk in my head - Tracy, you want kids !  You love them, this is what life with kids is like, it's a crazy roller coaster, embrace it, scream if you need to, then get over it as this time shall pass.  

To compromise with our kids, I am have gotten some baskets and toys trunk to throw everything in, quick and easy and we all can do it !  Now I just need to pretty them all up.  Anyways, until I get to it, here are some ideas I like and hope to incorporate into our play area.   Keep in mind that all these pictures are probably staged for photo ops.  They must be right ?  Who's house look like that ?   OK maybe theirs. Maybe just our kids are messy :-(  can I return them ?  :-P

I don't have a mud room :(  I wish I have a mud room.  I am planning on converting my entry area into something like a mud room.  It will house all the kids jackets, shoes and backpacks.  Since we don't like clutters, I think we will have baskets and cupboards so we don't see all the stuff.  No matter how organized an area is, if I see too many colors, too many types of items and too many holders it makes me go a little nuts inside.  I like storage that's uniforms, not too many things hanging out and about !  We are thinking of building something maybe this Christmas holiday or the spring next year.  We'll see if we get to it !

Here are some ideas of what I have in mind:

This is something I think hubby will like !  Wood and white !  I would use all rectangle woven baskets on top and have all the bench solid and the seats can open up for storage (shoes :-) the kids have so many shoes).

*Pictures are courtesy of PinInterest

I've been browsing for coffee table and sofa sets !  We're not buying anytime soon as we're waiting for Peanut to hit at least 2 or 3 year old.  Our white leather dining chairs have been decorated with pen marks and paint here and there so we know better not to buy anything right now.  Our furniture is practical and meant to be destroyed at the moment.  I can't help but dream of the day where my tables doesn't have plastic corner covers.  I like to do online-browsing just to get ideas of what I want.

Currently I don't really have a theme or a look I'm after.  If I have to come up with words to describe my taste I would say urban rustic.  Modern design with lots of wood furniture, clean lines, no curves or fancy work, just plain straight.

When buying I like to buy for longevity.  Furniture are expensive so you want something that last and doesn't scream a certain era.  The big ticketed items like sofa and table and accent tables, I like to stick to neutral solid color.  This allowed the piece to easily match up with anything.  To add colors and set the tone with the room, I like to spice it up with cushions and accessories.  These are usually not very expensive and with careful planning, you can change the look of the room according to season without spending too much.

Here are some ideas of living room set up that  I like.  I wish I have large living room with tall ceiling, exposed beams and lots of windows.  Instead I have a long narrow living room so I find it quite challenging to lay out the furniture.  So far it looks ok but I still need to play around with the set up.

One of my go-to table top accessories is a pot of plant !  greenery never go out of style in our house.  Twice a year I like to change it my table top for different feel and look.  Right now is a lot of wood on wood and while it's pleasing to the eyes, I like to add some color into the mix, just to jazz it up a bit !  Below are some beautifully styled tables that I looked through for inspiration.  Enjoy !

I heart craigslist !  I've found many awesome deals and sold many of my no-longer-needed items on this site.  I think it's important to recycle, not just newspaper and plastic, but recycle in the form of buying used item, keeping it out of the landfill !  If you got things you no longer want, before dumping them, try to sell or offer them for free on craigslist first.

A while back I found a console table for $80.  It was solid wood and super heavy.  It took us and 2 other gentlemen to carry it to our car !  We hauled it home on our SUV and got my bro. to help us taking it into our garage.

It sat there for weeks.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Then one day my husband said to me, "I've been sanding it here and there, it looks like it's a lot of work.  I don't know when I can get to it.  Please don't take home junk !!!  we have so much stuff in our garage already".  Eeekk, I forgot that I  bought it !  I went down to take a look at it, saw the streaks of sanding, and thought, man, this is too big of a project.  I shared it with C and we both decided to use it as storage in our garage.

Then one sunny Monday, (we sure got lots of sunny days lately !) C got a day off so we dragged the table out of our garage, attempting to clean it up one last time.  He spent 5 hours or so sanding off just the top, front and sides.  It looks promising so C quickly ran to Rona and grab walnut wood stain.  It's now early evening so I asked my mom looked after the kids so I can help C stain this baby.  If we don't finish it today, I know it will be a long time until we get to it again !!!

We spent the next 4 hours staining the table !!!  It took 4 coats to darken it.  After each coat we have to wait for it to dry a bit before we continue on with the next one.  When done, we shared a victory smile while our arms were super tired, they're about to fall off.  

After the stain dried, we noticed some stain dripped but not very noticeable on first look !  overall, it turned out even better than how I envisioned it.  We enjoyed working on this so much we don't mind doing something similar again !  Cheers to our next project !

I've been obsessing with teak credenza as of late.  Been hunting antique stores & craigslist for an old one for a steal of a price.  So far my search returned null :(  There are a few thrift shops on my hit list but I can't go there just yet.  Hubby got me all creeped out, feeling the hibby jibby of antique furniture at the moment :-(  It happened during our last excursion, he would say stuff like "I wonder how the owner died ?"  or "I can see the dead people using that thing".  I yelled at him but it was too late to un-heard what he said !  so now when I see antique stuff, all I can think about is dead people.  And I'm a bit of a weak sauce when it comes to the sixth sense O_O

While waiting to find that perfect credenza, I've been browsing at new ones :-S  You know, in case I'm destined to buy a new one, because I know my crazy hubby will pull off every stop to prevent me from bringing an antique into our house.  He has this phobia with old stuff !  His problem really but I want to respect it.  I have no choice anyway !

So, here are some beautiful credenza/sideboard that I really like, that I can only admire online, simply because I can't afford it:

 

A Vancouver shop called Full House Consign has beautiful beautiful storage pieces.  Price point for some of these nice ones are a bit steep.  I'm waiting for a good sale :)

Here are some reasonable priced ones from Moe's Home, West Elm and Mod GSI:

I hope within a month or two I can find the perfect one.  Wish me luck !