No-Cost Drawer Organization... I Like It!

As promised, here is my post on a little organization project that I did over the weekend. I think I was drawing my inspiration from a pin I pinned on my "Getting Organized" board on Pinterest.

It is such a great idea!

Zach was outside working, and was inside, bored. I went into the bathroom, opened up my top drawer to get something, and was disgusted. The following pic is what I saw...

Beware: I'm going to swallow my pride & show a Before picture that I'm not proud of. (Think back to

my Pantry Organization post back in February.)

This shows my main bathroom drawer BEFORE.

There is was just about everything in it...

I know...yikes...

I immediately started taking things out. Everything.

I then had a clean drawer, with the shelf paper actually visible. God bless the person who shelf-papered all of our bathroom & kitchen cabinets before we ever moved in! It is such an easy way
to keep them clean.

Once everything was out, I wiped the shelf paper down...

I then thought about those little Tupperware-type containers that are taking over my kitchen pantry. We have a carousel full of them, and probably use less than half of them. I grabbed up some of those, and brought them in to tackle the pile of stuff

from the drawer.

I was so happy to knock out two things at once: 

- organizing this mess of a drawer and

- making more room in the kitchen pantry...

All at no cost! Yay!

I even have extra room left in the drawer for more junk to acquire...

So, my Before & After...



BEFORE

AFTER

I hope the original pin inspires someone to take the simple approach to organization. You don't have to spend a lot on nice containers- you can simply use what you already have! It only took me about half an hour to finish this up, but it is already cutting out a lot of time in my mornings. It was totally worth it-

cost-wise & time-wise.

I am excited about our weekend coming up! Our church women's group has a fun Girls' Night Out planned at a murder mystery dinner theater. I can't wait to spend time with some wonderful friends! Hope you all have a great weekend!

I'm Moving Out!!

Hope I didn't scare anyone! I'm only moving into the basement... not to live, but to craft. Everything is great around here! :)

I'll save those of you who don't want to read all about it, and post my pics first. Keep in mind, this is the first stage of my new hang-out. This is basically a pic of right after the brief clean-up, and after I've moved some of my things downstairs and attempted to organize some of it. I think it's one of those places where I'll need to work in it first to see if any tweaks need to be made, and if anything needs to be moved around. Or, it may be perfect the way it is now...we'll see!

I am loving putting to use this vintage Coca-Cola crate from my grandmother's! It still has all of the compartments, so it keeps all of my paints & supplies separate.

I am also putting to use my little painted chalkboard tray.

This will be a good way to keep my list of projects-in-working-order handy.

To give you an idea of what this area looked like
before I got started...

This pic shows the table with some of my crafting goodies, right after I moved them to the basement...I know- yikes!...

The table, now cleaned off...getting a little better now...

I found this awesome shelf paper at Dollar General. I had to have this cute black & white pattern!

It was so easy to apply, and now I have a cute, covered workspace...

I found the perfect place for my little knob that I scored super cheap at Hob Lob. I plan on using it to hang my ribbons...

Part of my spray paint collection is now in a neat organizer from
the Dollar Tree (Keep in mind- all these items were already purchased. I'm still sticking to No-Spend July)...

I used the few nails & hooks that were already up to hang my wreath forms & tape. My sweetie is going to help me install more soon...

I also used cheap-o baskets from Dollar Tree for more quick organizing. I already had these too!

 These water & juice jars are also from my grandmother's. They will be used for rinsing water when I'm painting...

It is totally crazy to think that my new favorite hang-out is our basement, but it is. I never would have thought to take this place-that-I-never-think-about-and-don't-want-to-think-about and turn it into a place-that-I-want-to-spend-my-time-in-ALL-the-time. And it was all my sweetie's idea- he gets all the credit for this one. I did do a lot of the work in the transformation process, but it never would have happened if he hadn't suggested the basement
as my new crafting "lair".

It is so practical, too. I have been wanting a place to permanently house my crafting accoutrements. For the past year, just since I've really gotten into crafting, I've used our kitchen table for that. Not a very good use of our table, and plus, I miss having a face-to-face meal at home with my sweetie. Not that we don't have a (very nice) heirloom dining room table for that, but we never use that when it's just the two of us. So, it was time to start thinking of

other options.

I had the idea of maybe moving my computer desk from the living room corner to our guest room, and making that my crafting area. Two negatives in that: 1.) we kinda' need the desk in the living room, to fill up the corner that it's in, and 2.) we don't really have the room to squeeze it into our guest room. So, I kept thinking,

but to no avail.

Then, came the day when Zach just casually mentioned in conversation the idea of using a part of the basement. It was one of those moments where the little light bulb must have appeared above our heads. It was a brilliant idea. Yes, brilliant-

I don't use that word often enough.

It is actually very comfortable year-round- not really hot or cold, just an in-between comfortable. Zach also still has to have his area of the basement. He needs it for all of the yard stuff- mower, leaf blower, weed eater, etc. Those things take up a lot of room. And, we also have the shelves (it is SO wonderful to have shelving in our basement) that are occupied by many a plastic bin, filled with things from our childhood bedrooms, Christmas things,
and others.

For the move, I started the organization of the set-up by first carrying my little copper pails down to the basement
with me...

...and it just blossomed from there!

 I then was able to clean out a huge chunk of the guest room floor, piece by piece, by taking things to the basement. Everything else left in the guest room now (besides the furniture!) is yard sale-ready. Woohoo!

I am so happy I was able to revamp this area and make it look not-so-basement-like. There is not much you can do without dipping into a lot of cash, so I'm not too concerned about it just yet. I am just so very excited that I now have a place to unwind, focus on my crafting & creating, and be away from the noise of the house. I know Zach's happy not having to look at all of my paints & brushes & glues, and everything else I have accumulated
over the last year or so.

A few ideas I have for this crafting area swirling around in my head so far include:

- A Pinterest craft checklist hung up
- Several more hooks & knobs hung on the pegboard
- A separate painting area and hot-gluing area- (already working on this one)

I am really hoping that my creativity will flow freely in this new area. Being away from the TV has gotta' help! I carry my iPhone down with me, so I have my music. Now, every time I see something in the house that I could use for a craft, I will go ahead and set it aside to take with me on my next trip to the basement. That way, I can hopefully start dwindling down my collection of knick-knacks above-ground.

A less cluttery home is a happy home. :)

Oh, and speaking of clutter- we now have a clean kitchen table...

...(ahem)... that we still won't use. :)

Crafty Organization

Hope you all had a good weekend! We definitely did! We went to our cousin Amanda's wedding, and had such a great time. My sweetie even made it out onto the dancefloor- with a little coaxing, of course- as we attempted to master the Cha-Cha Slide. We even got to slow-dance, and I don't think we've had the chance to do that since our own wedding. 

I highly recommend it every now & then.

I have not been crafting as much as I could have these past few days. I have had a lot of chances- for example, Zach played in a golf tournament one day last week, and didn't get home until late. I should have taken that time alone to get some projects done- but instead, I have been watching episode after episode of Dawson's Creek on Netflix at night. Shame on me. Oh well- it was one of my favorite shows growing up, and watching it all over again, I remember why I liked it so much. It's still a favorite.

I did start this new week off right, though, and finished up a few projects, including this little one. I love it!

I posted before on this pair of copper pails I got at the thrift store...

I knew I wanted to use them for some sort of organization around the house. After a little sprucing up, they have ended up on my "craft desk", a.k.a. the kitchen table. (Speaking of, I am trying to plan out in my head a little crafting area for myself somewhere in the house. I would LOVE to squeeze it into our guest room, so it would be "out of sight, out of mind," but that may not work out. BUT, my sweetie made a perfect suggestion to me last night about maybe creating a crafting area in our basement. Wow! That might just work... If any changes happen, I'll let you know. We'll see!)

Anyway, I had some cardboard pieces that I kept a while back, knowing I would use them somewhere. I tried them out with a little chalkboard paint, and they seemed to have worked great...

I cut around the corners with my zig-zag scissors for a little something extra. Then, I hot glued a small strip on the back of each & attached them to some twine that I tied around each pail. They make the cutest, easiest labels, and the buckets are GREAT for storing my crafting odds & ends.

 

 

Just a few minutes of work, and they were done! I will definitely be on the lookout for more of these cute little pails. It really encourages organization when you have something cute

to house things in!

And speaking of cute...

...here's a pic of our two babies enjoying a belly rub from Daddy over the weekend. Talk about living the life! :)

Simplifying my Real Simples

Thanks for the comments that I received both here & on FB about my little record table. Taking those into consideration, I am keeping it as is for now. I may get the itch to paint it at some point, but not for now.

So, do you remember how difficult it was to keep your room clean when you lived at home with mom & dad? (It was for me, anyway). Well, when you're married (as most of you few that read this thing are), instead of just having your own mess to clean up in your bedroom, you have your spouse's too.
And let's be honest, most guys aren't concerned with
keeping a room tidy. So, in other words, I find myself straightening up our bedroom a lot.

This idea came to me one of those many times.

I have had this little magazine rack for a while now- I think it was purchased at a Home Goods. (I'm hoping you can make out what it looks like, underneath all the magazines piled on it.)

It was once in our living room, then we got a nicer one to replace it, so this one went in our room. I use it for my Real Simple magazines. If you don't subscribe to this mag, you should! It has the neatest organizational ideas as well as yummy, easy recipes. Also, it doesn't seem to have as many ads as most women's
magazines do either.

I was almost, almost going to chunk every one of these magazines in the garbage (the rack was completely full, as you can see by the pic), but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Then, it occurred to me that even though there are some things in these that I would love to keep, I didn't have to keep the entire issues. 

So, it took me about a few nights, all while watching the tube, but I got this project done. I sat in the floor with my
scissors & pen...

...and my Daisy girl keeping me company, and cut out only the pages and/or sections that I wanted to keep. I made temporary labels for "Recipes", "Organization", "Inspiration", "Good To Know" & "Decor Ideas", and started filing.

I ended up keeping a lot of recipes and a lot of organizing tips...

...and sentimental things...

...but the bulk of the magazines were filled with useless pages that were thrown away.

Talk about making some space! Now I have most of the magazine rack left for new issues!

I gathered all of my categorized loose pages, a 3-ring binder, a pack of dividers, and started punching holes. These are some pics of the steps & what I ended up with...

My binder & dividers...and a snout & paw belonging to my little helper in the top right corner. :)

 I found TONS of yummy recipes! I need to keep this binder handy!

To jazz it up a little, I cut the edges of the pages with my zig-zag scissors.

All organized...

So, my favorite part- the Before & After...

BEFORE


AFTER

Putting Together the Pantry

Well, you've probably noticed that I haven't been in project mode lately, so I know the blog's been a little boring. I hope to post soon on some things we have been working on these past couple of weeks. We have really been in an organizational mood lately, and it's wonderful! Not many crafty things are being created, but we are definitely knocking a dent in our house cleaning & streamlining, which is priceless.

 I have to brag on my sweetie. He has been the one in an organizing mood lately (praise the Lord!), and has been taking advantage of it around the house. I got home from my best friend's baby shower two Sundays ago, and the house had been vacuuumed. I absolutely HATE the task of vacuuming, and he knows this, so he vacuumed the whole house for me
while I was gone.

Then, that night, he decided he wanted to organize the pantry. Our pantry has become somewhat of a blackhole for snacks, boxed foods, and plasticware. It was an unorganized mess. I will swallow my pride and show this "Before" photo here...ugh...

So shameful, isn't it?? My grandmother would not be proud if she saw this, that's for sure. She's the queen of clean in my family. :)

You can see our snacks & cereals & such on the top shelf, then the great tupperware abyss on the bottom shelf.

So, we started out by taking all of that junk out, and setting it out on our kitchen cabinets. It's one of those projects where it gets really messy before it gets clean. You have no other choice but to make a mess first in order to have it clean & organized in the end.

A sea of (unused) plasticware...

I bought two of these baskets at Dollar General for $4 each (but with a 50 % off coupon, ha!), and Zach used them for snacks & my K-cups. I had to head back to the store the next day to buy more. Love them!!

Here's my sweetie at work...

I loved this idea for my K-cups & hot chocolate mixes! There is no sense in keeping those bulky boxes!

Here is one of the other baskets we used, now known as the ramen noodle nest. I love my ramen!

And here are the Afters!

Top shelves...

This shows all 4 of the baskets that we used. The front two have our breads/buns and our cookies & such...

We have our neat little plasticware carousel in use & easily accessible now (on the right)...

The bottom shelves have tons of extra room now!

Ah, it's so much better!