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My husband is traveling on business this week.  Before we had children, I would embark on major house "projecting" whenever Chris was away since (2) I found that I had a lot of free time without him and (2) he wasn't around to tell me all of the reasons why I shouldn't do something (in case you hadn't yet figured out, I'm the impulsive one in our relationship).  That is how the living room wall ended up painted red, the wall in our room was given a faux finish and the oil tank was painted in bright yellow Rustoleum. 

With children, I'm finding that it's not quite that easy.  The two gallons of paint that I bought for our family room remain in their cans, unopened, in the living room.  The notion of painting the family room over the space of a few days wasn't so daunting - but figuring out how to keep three sets of grubby little hands off of the wet paint was.  So, Martha Stewart's "Seedling Green" and "Satin Sash" will have to wait to see another day...

Likewise, the instructions on how to recaulk a bathtub are still in my top desk drawer.  Anything involving utility knives and chemicals in what is arguably the kids' favorite room in the house (the bathroom) was probably best left to the day when there were two adults in the house.

But I was not completely defeated.  While in Target, I saw a set of shelves from Closetmaid and it dawned on me:  I could build something!  The bright red sales sign on the shelves just reinforced my gut.  I mean, c'mon, how can you pass up shelves at $10 off?  So I bought them.

One of the things that has plagued us about our house is a chronic lack of storage.  The house was built in the 1890s and apparently, children in Victorian times didn't have quite as many books as my kids...  We have whined and complained and drawn up plans to change it, but over the years, we haven't really made any inroads.  And there they were, calling my name, an answer to our storage woes - at least in the girls' room.

The shelves are modular so that you can expand them.  Expansion, at this point, is asking a bit much.  I decided to buy the 9-cubby shelving unit with 2 cloth drawers, figuring that I could add to both if things work out.  You see, I had a little - we'll call it an "incident" - when I tried to put together a file cabinet last year, so I didn't want to start this project out by being overly ambitious.

One hammer, one Phillips head screwdriver and one can of Diet Coke later, I had a complete set of shelves put together.  And if I do say so myself, they are quite attractive.

I moved the shelves into the girls' room last evening and decided that it would be an ideal time to get the girls to clean up.  We divided toys into two piles, one for each of Katie and Amy.  On four of the nine cubbies, we stacked books and puzzles.  On the rest, we put stuffed animals and the cloth drawers; Katie chose green and Amy chose red.  Into the drawers went matchbox cars, small dolls and other toys from the piles.  And *gasp* the room looked organized!  Well, as organized as two girls under the age of five and their slightly messy mom can be.

I added a large new rug for color.  It is also quite soft (it's a rag rug) and therefore a lot more inviting than the prior foam color squares.  I threw it down on the wood floor in front of the new shelves and between the girls' beds.  My theory - and we'll see if it works - is that a more welcoming play area might mean more toys in the girls' room and, you guessed it, fewer toys around the house.

The entire transformation cost about $100.  I never would have guessed that you'd get so much bang for your buck at that price.  The room is now spectacular.  And no, I didn't paint the walls myself, I am not that talented.  The walls were painted by the wonderfully talented Jay Bevenour of Bevenour Illustrations.