More Toy Cabinet---I forgot some pics! And some lesson from small-space-living.

So, 

I totally forgot that I have more pictures I had been planning to add to the cabinet post.

Mom Brain -- I hope this doesn't get worse per child birthed, I cannot keep thoughts in one spot in my head anymore!

I was going through photos for Christmas, and low and behold, cabinets in progress photos -- since I was sad I didn't include them...here you go!

(I'm sure you are as pumped as I am! :) ) 

I spent every nap and bedtime painting these in my kitchen.

Worrying Ruby would wake up and I would need to nurse her, while covered in paint.

Extra Triva: I was watching Downton Abby (on Netflix) the whole while! Love that show! (18 Days!!)

Painted and waiting for Blake

:)

Look how tiny Ruby is! Oh my gosh! I already forgot she was ever that little!

5 months went by at the speed of sound!

I didn't even realize there has been time for her to grow! But there has!

So Here's our living room before, with the furniture we moved to town with:

DVD player under the table, DVDs in the black cabinets beside it.

I was just telling my friend how I like this small-space-living because it gives me the emotional ability to go through my the logical process of making our stuff work for our life.

I don't know if I would have ever been "brave" enough/ "strong" enough to get rid of a piece of furniture that I liked, in order to make my space work better, because I would have felt guilty. Like I should have been able to make due.

It was a nice table!

But this isn't how we used it (taken for craigslist.)

It took up too much real estate as a coffee table -- we need room to play.

It wasn't visually doing us any favors as is.

Nor adding any practical functionality. 

Had I not needed a way to stash tons of toy, I would have just accepted the status quo.

I think so often we {I at least} feel like "we have it, so we have to keep it, and try to figure out how to make it 

work." But once its gone, you can use stuff that actually works and everything goes smoother. 

Its really true in all sorts of situations -- clothing for sure. If I have something I think I like, but can't figure out how to wear it, I waste all my time trying to make it work. But once I get rid of it...all of a sudden I'm coming up with awesome outfits because I'm not stuck anymore. (Just happened!)

Its not often about the money -- 

We didn't spend too much on the cabinets and selling the table on craigslist {when I finally get in gear!Its taking up the garage right now!} will offset probably half of the cost. And as far as clothes, I get most my clothes at the thrift store or on super sale.

Its usually all about the emotional attachment, or feeling of guilt from being "picky", or fear/discomfort with change.

So that's one of the nice parts of having our small place --- those emotions are not more powerful than the fact that I don't have a lot of space to use.

 I've learned just do what works, not what "I {or someone else} thinks should do"

Another thing 

small space living is doing for me

 is teaching me to go with the flow.

Here's our living room flow:

There's the rocking chair that was in the room 

before the jumpy thingy.

And before the rocking chair, was a stationary chair {sort of a club chair.}

Before I moved to this duplex,

my rooms rarely got rearranged, 

and if they did, it was a full blown "remodel."

Like the whole room was rethought and remade.

So, that didn't happen much at all.

And therefore our rooms were kinda stagnate.

And they felt stagnate after Jasmine was born and starting to get active.

Our house was set up for two young adults.

And yet now it needed to function for a tiny person.

I of course baby-proofed, but I didn't want to change anything because I felt like it was how it "should be" because that's how it had been.

I couldn't get my mind around how to change things.

Moving here has helped me see how simple it really is.

I just have to change things because that's just how much space I have.

You just change it.

I used to think

 you thought hard about it, and studied up on it, and shopped for it, and worked at it, 

and then some day you changed it.

Now 

I just take one chair from one room, and switch it for a different chair in another room.

(I do work at making it match -- like sewing a new cover for the rocking chair cushion, but I don't think so hard about it.)

And then after a while (once it stopped working for us) I moved the rocking chair to the spare room, 

so we could pull the jumpy thing out of the garage.

Its way less planning,

and way more living.

I'm not gonna claim this effect has come over my entire life yet,

but it is a nice eye opener.

I'm a work in progress.