A Box For Everything and Everything Has a Box

After - Clean & ClutterFree

5.95 Ikea Caddy (found in Kitchen Dept)

Our Friend, Spraypaint



Before- Messy Command Central (don't look too closely)

High Gloss Caddy

Love!

You know the saying: "a place for everything and everything has its' place", I have adapted it for boxes. I can always find a use for boxes / storage containers, anywhere and everywhere.

Before I go on, let me just acknowledge the elephant in the room. Did you notice that I started with the after?  Yes, once uploaded, I did realize that the "before" photo prominently displays a box of tampons. Generic ones nonetheless!  And yes, I am too lazy to recreate the "before" mess and photograph sans feminine hygiene products, for this I apologize.

Moving on. We all have a little command central in our kitchens.  I like to keep mine to a min. but the area quickly self detonates during busy weeks. During one of my many blog crawls, I saw this project. I feel bad that I didn't note the blog/creative genius down.  This is pretty much a complete copy of said forgotten bloggers project. (If I find the post, I promise to give credit).

Details on this very easy project:

• Ikea Caddy - 5.95, found in kitchen dept.
• Drill hole for phone charger to thread through
• Spray paint entire caddy with paint/gloss of choice. I wasn't sure about this goldenrod color but it's growing on me.
• For added touch, modge podge decorative paper on the bottom. Personally, I think this is key to the finished product.
• Once dry, reorganize, reevaluate command central and voila! Excellent caddy for just a few items.

Hope you enjoy this inspiration. Thanks!

Opt Out

I'm not sure how it happened, I usually carefully protect both my home address and email address from unsolicited mail, but all of a sudden, I was receiving numerous unwanted catalogs.

Upon returning from vacation last year, my counter was covered in catalogs. The one thing I dread when returning from vacation is going through all the piled up mail, I was overwhelmed. I decided that I no longer wanted to take part in this unnecessary use of paper, gas, energy and time. For the next month, I vowed to take the time to call every single company that was sending me catalogs and opt out of their circulation. So each day if a catalog (s) was in my mailbox, I walked into the house and called. ("No time like the present.") Though it took some time, eventually the catalogs stopped coming and guess what, I don't miss them at all.

Would it be hard to give up your catalogs? Do you feel like you would be missing out?

How Very Exciting

As compared to regular sized business cards
They had me at mini-cards!

For a couple of reasons, I have been putting off having business cards made for months. Mainly, I was uncertain of the resolution quality of the pear graphic in my logo. And by making a business card, I guess...that means I am in business! Yikes and Hurray!

In discovering custom mini-cards from MOO.com via a great bloggers' resource, Meylah.com, I knew I had found the place and application to move forward. The mini-cards were the perfect solution for my not so high quality jpeg logo, plus the size makes them so unique!

Creating business cards, mini-cards or postcards at Moo.com is incredibly simple:

Choose Your Product:



Select to upload your own image or choose from existing fun templates:


Continue to follow prompts that allow you to add text to the reverse side, crop and center your image and finalize the layout before ordering. The paper quality is outstanding and my graphic ended up looking top notch in this size.

Once I placed my order, the mini-cards arrived within 8 days. As you can see by the clever packaging by the folks at MOO.com, they know their audience! "How exciting", was exactly what I said while opening my package. And yes, they do have a new best friend!

If you would like to become friends too, simply add the coupon code: PAP2ZN to receive 10% off your order.

I hope you like my new business cards! Yay!

Date Stamp

My family is close to a big milestone, our oldest is graduating from high school! As a surprise for his graduation, I am putting together a mini-video of sequential images with music. It has been an awesome project, where I have learned many things about my photo organization. I would love to share a bit of advice on an issue that has consumed most of my time while working on this project. "What year was this"?

The photos posted above are just a few examples of images where I am unsure of the place, time or context.

I always thought I was doing a great job of keeping things in order. But it appears that an unbelievable amount of photos missed being categorized, leaving me to ponder, call relatives, or ask my husband to check his running journals (he records all events in annual running journals). All of that takes time and really dilutes your enthusiasm for the project at hand.

If you are not using a formal set up for digital photo storage such as Lightbox, iphoto or Photoshop, try to rename the photos you upload adding at least the year the photo was taken. Taking time to add this date stamp to your images will then allow you to further compile into monthly, quarterly or annual folders. Also, while renaming, you have the opportunity to edit images, removing duplicates, bad photos, etc.

Does anyone else have suggestions on organizing digital photo files without using a software program?

Card Making Party

Most of us probably spend more time on the computer than we'd like. We tend to live within this box with a screen in front of our eyes and a keyboard at our fingertips. While this has become a necessary part of daily life, switching gears and working with your hands and creative side is so healthy and fulfilling.

A few weeks ago, I hosted a card party at my home. I invited friends and asked them to bring card stock and any card making supplies that had on hand (stamps, paper punches, paper,etc.). This was a great way to join creative forces as well as share in crafting supplies. If you've ever been down the paper or stamp aisle in the craft store, you know it can be difficult to keep your inventory streamlined.

Hopefully you are inspired by this collaboration of supplies, friends and ideas. It was truly successful on all levels, we are planning another one for this month!

Grammys' "Jarmoire"

To say I love storage solutions is an understatement. I like to have a place for everything and everything in its place, behind closed doors is even better. My incredibly creative mom just sent me photos of her completed garden shed to house all of her garden tools. She decided to "Brangelina" the name of a garden (jardin) closet (armoire) and deem it a "jarmoire". A storage shed this cool deserves to be named.

Using rescued doors and windows, she etched glass with a stencil design to obscure the contents of the shed. It is seven feet wide, two feet deep and eight feet high in the back. It is truly just a closet and took about four days to build!

Her inspiration was this under the eaves storage shed from Sunset Magazine:

What a great use of space, unique design and clever touches to make it her own. Great job mom!

Junk Drawer

Chef Tools

Last week, I spent a few mindless hours cleaning out the kitchen drawers, as previously posted. All was going well until I hit the dreaded "junk drawer". I know that we all have junk drawers in our kitchens, bathrooms, and offices. You have to have a catch all place for items that just don't belong elsewhere. However, if you have no idea what is in your junk drawer due to, well, all the junk, it might need some clearing out.

Items I found that did not belong:

• Hammer
• Wrench
• Garden shears
• Nail polish remover
• Athletic tape
• 500 bobby pins, hairbands & pony tail holders

While the above items are acceptable in a junk drawer, they all have a place elsewhere in the house. Tools in the toolbox, nail polish remover and hair accessories in the kids bathroom, athletic tape in the first aid kit, etc. The basic rule is, if the item has another place, it shouldn't reside in your junk drawer.

One of my favorite organizing items for this drawer are mini-loaf pans for small items. I found a set of 4 at Chef Tools for 9.99. They are perfect for batteries, small tools, loose change, paperclips and rubberbands. Also essential is a paper tray for post-its, note paper, and scrap paper.

Drawers

Not this kind:

David Beckham Armani

This kind:

Ikea
What a crazy week, my friends and I all have a lot on our minds. A running inner dialogue of health, prayers, love and gratitude to those I care for has had me super antsy. If I pick up a book, I will read the same sentence over and over. Napping isn't going to happen and I already swam laps for over an hour.

So, what is my go to distraction? Drawers. And while I can, will and do pause on David Beckham "drawers", I am actually referring to mindless productivity with a controlled, sparkling outcome: cleaning out kitchen drawers. Empty, scour, throw out unnecessary items, reorganize and move on to the next.

What's your distraction therapy? Would this work for you?

A Homemade Life

First let me apologize for blog tardiness. My laptop is down with a virus and with one less computer at home, allotted blog time is limited.

I am filling a little of my extra time reading: A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg. She is the genius behind one of my favorite food blogs: Orangette. The baker, homemaker side of me connects to Molly and her cooking. Recipes are woven into family stories and you quickly discover that her passion for cooking is evoked by the memories formed in the kitchen. There is a reason why they say the kitchen is the heart of your home!

I wanted to share this book with you because it's an enjoyable read, the recipes sound fantastic and you are immediately reminded of some simple concepts. My favorite one: "clean up as you go". What a great reminder to take a few moments throughout your day and tidy up as you go along = less mess in the end.

So that's all I have for today, a great book to pass along and a great reminder:

"Clean up as you go".

Closet Storage

Yesterday my sister-in-law, Wendy, blogged about closet storage at SimplyBrookes.blogspot.com. For me, a clean and well organized closet is practically nirvana. Worried that I am overstating, I looked up the definition of nirvana. "An ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy = nirvana". Exactly!

Wendy and I are on the same page when it comes to organization. I was inspired to add to her post.

Many of the closet storage options on the market don't fit the bill. Fabric covered cardboard bins lack durability. While slope-sided storage bins compromise valuable space, making it difficult to fit folded clothes. I love these polypropylene woven crates from Storables. They come in many different sizes and are true rectangles. A huge stack of nicely folded running t-shirts would reside there in my closet.

Cascade Crate, Storables

One of my favorite tips is to use photo storage boxes for shoes, adding a decorative touch to shelves. Photo boxes are available at craft and office supplies stores. Find a set that compliment your closet or room. A stack of black and white toile photo storage boxes house my "occasion" shoes. These boxes from Joanns are 3.89 for 6!

Decorative Photo Storage Boxes, Joanns

Finally, Nest for Two, is a beautifully photographed and inspiring home decor book. Their storage ideas showcase how mindful closet design can lend harmony and even an artistic quality to your home.

Nest For Two, Amazon

Can It

Metal Quart Tin from Container Packaging and Supply
I spent roughly 3 hours cleaning out one area of the garage yesterday. Although we try to keep the garage pretty tidy, (a weekly kid chore), it never seems to look or feel that great, especially with the shelves full of various paint cans.

We do a lot of painting, there are probably 30+ cans in our garage, most are unmarked with warped lids and dried paint down the sides. Ugly. When I took a break from my garage cleaning, I was perusing my favorite blogspots. Lo and behold, I found this excellent article in "Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone", all about organizing household paint colors. I love the idea of having a tidy shelf of marked paints.

Photos courtesy of Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone





The photos tell the story of this genius organization idea. If you would like to read the whole post and download the labels for the tins for free, click here.

Back in Black

Before:



After:



Storing my new find, the excellent footed glassware from France, required a total clear out of my upper glass front kitchen cabinets. For this post, I am just showing one of the cabinets. I cleared them out, gave them a good cleaning and restaged the with silver and glassware. Side note, I do like my silver tarnished and yes, my wine glasses leave much to be desired, I am patiently waiting to find just the right wine glasses at just the right price. My goal was to thoroughly clean the cabinets and restage the items to look streamlined and crisp with the doors open or through the glass fronts.

I was happy with the outcome but it felt a little stark. I grabbed a big sheet of black card stock and placed it behind one of the shelves. The glassware and silver seemed to pop with a black background. With this idea, I ran to Home Depot and purchased a roll of black contact paper ($5.97), it happened to come in a faux leather finish (very subtle though). With some time and precision I redid all of the cabinets covering the back panel with black. I love that it isn't a permanent look, it required no construction and the kitchen looks sleek and a bit updated. My big regret is that we never installed interior cabinet lighting when we remodeled. At night, lighting within the black backed cabinets would be gorgeous!

The lighting in my photos can't quite do the look justice but I would love to know what you think. Does this look work for you?

Stay Sharp

I realize this post may offer a glimpse of my OCD tendencies but who can't appreciate a mug, cup or urn filled with super sharp #2 pencils? A silver wine flute filled with pencils sits on my kitchen "desk" area, always ready for the morning sudoku, crossword, phone messages or homework help.

Hooked

Felicity Hook - large & sturdy, perfect just outside your bathroom. Hang your robe or towel.

Pantry Hook - great in multiples, use for belts, scarves, necklaces, any smaller lightweight items inside your closet.

Coat Hook - classic style with rounded head to alleviate warping fabric of heavy coats or sweaters.

An organized home can't be without hooks in all sizes and styles. There are so many beautiful hooks to be found online and in stores. The few I have highlighted can be found at Restoration Hardware.

I tend to prefer hooks for usage inside closets, laundry rooms, garages and bathrooms, but not entryways or hallways. It's not that I oppose displaying beautiful hooks in useful places throughout your home, it's the inevitable dumping of clothing items that can weigh down the room and the hooks, defeating the intended purpose: organization.

When searching for hooks, "shop" your home first noting specific needs and locations before shopping. You will be hooked too!