Re-Spruce your Home for the Holidays
Re-Spruce your Home for the Holidays

Around here, we live by the motto: “Less, but better”. And I’m pretty sure you’ve had MORE than you bargained for and not necessarily the BEST of 2020. And to top it off, Christmas is just around the corner. Whether you do so willingly or begrudgingly, you likely always try to provide the most magic for the Christmas season for those you love. Perhaps as the year winds down you are craving the magic Christmas usually brings, but you don’t know where to start because your year has been such a mess. Or maybe you are dreading the holidays because you see it as just one more thing to stress over.

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Jamie StaufferHere, Let Me Designchristmas decor, Christmas spirit, Christmas, organization tips, professional organizer, Interior Design, designerComment
The Best Way to Fold Your Shirts
The Best Way to Fold Your Shirts

Last weekend, we took a giant reprieve from all of the holiday hustle and bustle and just chilled for a bit on Saturday afternoon. This, probably not the wisest of choices, led me to the usual all out panic that ensues the week before Christmas as I realized I had so much left to do before the big day. So instead of planning, shopping, and wrapping I decided it seemed like the perfect time to organize my husbands t-shirt drawer; because…priorities. Don’t think for a second though that this was all in vain because let me tell you friends, I was actually shocked with what I discovered.

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Jamie Staufferhow to, kon marie, minimalism, folding, organization tips Comments
Finding Yourself and Minimalism
Finding Yourself and Minimalism

I’m not the type of person that talks about “finding myself”. You would never find me seeking inner peace in the Peruvian Amazon or eating, praying, and loving my way to happiness and tranquility at the top of Kilimanjaro. It’s just not how I vibe and to each their own. I do think that by whatever means necessary, discovering who you really are is essential to your well being and must be done asap.

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Jamie Staufferminimalism, simple life, Finding yourself, questions, friendship, FamilyComment
The Best of the Best Painted Houses
The Best of the Best Painted Houses

In the spirit of all things slathered in paint I thought I’d give a run down of all my favorite paint splattered houses. The best of the best painted houses, if I may. Because our own house is currently being painted as we speak (FINALLY). Consider it a preview of what is to come in a future blog post when I can add my own house to my list of the best of the best painted houses.

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Jamie Staufferpainted house, white brick, house painting, paint colors, home renovation, remodel Comment
Simple Thanksgiving Tablescapes
Simple Thanksgiving Tablescapes

A little unknown fact about me is that I get absolutely beside myself with anxiety over hosting dinner guests. Some of my closest friends are the most incredible hosts, but the crowd I run with does not influence my hostess with the mostest skills. I love to cook and I love to decorate, but putting those two things together with an audience makes me so nervous. I just can’t do it. What I can do is offer you a few ideas for Simple Thanksgiving Tablescapes for the event you host in your home.

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Jamie Staufferholidays, thanksgiving, diy, home decor, tablescapes, homeComment
Keeping the Holidays Simple: 25 Gift Ideas for the Minimalist
Keeping the Holidays Simple: 25 Gift Ideas for the Minimalist

Whether you start the Christmas hustle and bustle the day after Halloween or if you wait until the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers have been reheated, it’s up to you. It’s you’re business. I’m not here to tell you what to do. Here’s where I get my Christmas stockings in a twist. When I start to feel pressured to answer questions of, “what do yo want? What do they want? No really, there must be something.” When my visions of dancing sugarplums becomes visions of a rigid schedule that I am expected to follow so as to avoid hurt feelings. “But, you were at their house for 15 minutes longer than ours!?” really sours my eggnog. Can eggnog be sour? I really have no basis of understanding. But, I can offer 25 Gift ideas for the Grinchiest Minimalist on your list.

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Jamie StaufferChristmas gifts, Christmas, Gift ideas, minimalism, simple life Comment
How Would Living With Less Make You Feel?
How Would Living With Less Make You Feel?

I’m going to add something to your to-do list today. I promise it will only take a second and won’t require anything but a pen and paper and that glorious heap of matter between your ears. Make a plan today to walk into your house with a handy dandy notebook and write down your first impression of your home. What do you see first? How does what you see make you feel? Do you feel relieved to be home?

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Jamie Staufferminimalism, professional organizer, organization tips, living with less Comments
Let Me Tell You Who I Am
Let Me Tell You Who I Am

I think the trend is technically “Introduction Friday” if your an Instagrammer, but here it is on Thursday and I’m doing my introduction ahead of the game. Who’s gonna stop me? I know that I have made new friends via social media that may not know who I am and I thought it would be right and proper to introduce myself.

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Jamie Staufferintroduction, chalk paint, diy, about, home renovation, foodie, etiquette, manners, marriage, siblings, family mess, family, travel, who I am, professional organizer, home stager Comments
Home Renovations Equal Parenting Fails
Home Renovations Equal Parenting Fails

I struggled for a few hot minutes on what to title this post. Should I title it, "The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Home Renovating" or frankly, "Home Renovation Turned my Preschooler into a Monster"? The first seemed a little too vague and the latter a little overdramatic and harsh. The reality: home renovating is totally fun, awesomely rewarding, and a complete life ruiner of well-established rules and good intentions. Let me paint this picture for you (Eminem? Why not?) Here are the ways

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Jamie StaufferFamily, kids, lifestyle, parenting, renovatingComment
Making Enemies: Painting the Fireplace
Making Enemies: Painting the Fireplace

Introducing how I trusted my own gut and thought it would be a barrel of fun to paint a massive brick fireplace and then realized I had been completely duped by my own risk vs. reward meter. Our lovely 1980's home would not have been a true renovation if I hadn't addressed the huge elephant in the room. That elephant was brick. One big ole wall of it. Brown, black, red, and outdated. I knew right away I was going to be searing Pinterest for inspiration. I'd seen it a million times, it couldn't be too hard. I considered renting a paint sprayer to tackle all of the paintwork throughout the house, but our small town resources provided nil. Because I was trying to do my part and be frugal, buying a sprayer didn't seem within reason. 

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Jamie Staufferdiy, home, home renovation, real estate, renovatingComment
Tearing Out Walls: Chip Gaines Makes it Look Easy
Tearing Out Walls: Chip Gaines Makes it Look Easy

Once we'd decided that we would take on a "fixer upper", I immediately envisioned myself taking a hammer or ax to the walls that we would want to remove. Heck, maybe I would even try to remove the wall by running through it. That's how it's done on tv right? Wrong. Our "new" house was built in 1980 and the number of updates that had been done prior to our name being added to the Deed was mostly superficial. The master bathroom had been redone and at some point, the carpeting had been replaced. What was still intact was the dark stain, original dark oak-ey cabinetry, some chopped up rooms, and wall to wall wallpaper that

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Jamie Staufferdiy, fixer upper, home, houses, renovating Comments
Goodbye, House
Goodbye, House

On Memorial Day weekend seven years ago, the husband and I moved into the home in the country. Seven years later on the very same weekend, we moved out. Naturally, many memories were made in the place we called home; starting with finding out that our daughter was going to be moving in nine months later the very weekend we moved in. We added baby brother two years later, lots of outdoor cats, and a very short-lived experience with a puppy. I can only look back with fond memories of our time

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Jamie Stauffergoodbye, moving, packing, relocating, sentimentalComment
Gutting the House. Are we Really Doing This?
Gutting the House. Are we Really Doing This?

Prior to renovations, Jake told people that we were doing a "total gut" on the house. I scoffed and told him to quit being dramatic because a kitchen and bath renovation and taking out a couple of walls hardly classified as a gutting. However, as I walk through the house now, I see that Mr. Right is, in fact, right. The floors are out, the kitchen is almost completely gone, and two massive walls have completely vanished. Let me just admit that I had grand plans of blogging this every step of the way through, but throw renovations in with moving (and child raising), I'm in way too far over my head.

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Jamie Staufferdiy, home, lifestyle, Painting, real estate, Removing Tile, home renovation Comments
10 Things We've Kept in 10 Years of Marriage
10 Things We've Kept in 10 Years of Marriage

It either is or it isn't. This shows very true when it comes to me and the "keeping of things". I don't get too sentimental on most material possessions and when the other people who cohabitate this household turn their backs, they've come to know, I'll likely be throwing something of theirs away. Broken toys, favorite shirts that are well past their useful life, even from time to time scraps of kids artwork that even Jackson Pollock couldn't decipher.

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Jamie Staufferhome, lifestyle, marriage Comments