The Organizing Revolution: Week Four - Family Room!

I had it in my calendar; all ready and set to organize my son's play area. It is a small space that is between the design studio and my husband's office. We finally finished the hand-me-down shelving unit (you can see the base of it here) and it just needed a few more door handles and it is already populated with toys.

Given my recent health challenges, I decided against completing the toys this week. I'm sad but happy that I'm not exhausted, sore and regretting doing something I knew would be too much for me to handle.

Instead I decided to show the "media" area in our family room. The rest of the room is furniture and with a minimal amount of horizontal surfaces, it remains clutter free (assuming TroubleMaker picks up all his toys before bed - hence the Hot Wheels race track in these pictures).

When I met my husband, he had over 1000 records stored in his basement... He also had 500+ compact discs. In the 14 years we've been together, that number has grown dangerously close to 1000. Thankfully, he sold the records years ago, although in retrospect, I would have loved to keep some of his favourites to use as art.

None the less, I needed to devise a storage solution for all those CD's! We needed to minimize the amount of floor space used so my decision was to use vertical space and employ glass fronted units to create a lighter environment. Our family room is in our basement and is windowless (as you may be able to tell from the photos). They are all alphabetized and cataloged . It makes finding what you want a snap and having the inventory is purposeful for insurance purposes and so I can find out what my husband doesn't have when his birthday or Christmas rolls around!

As for our television and support equipment (DVD player, cable box), I wanted it up off the floor and wall mount was the only option when we (finally) upgraded to a flat panel unit.

I also wanted to create some "display" shelving to allow for a small number of the CD's to be out in the open. Being music is a huge part of our lives, I wanted to use the media wall as a focal point and centre piece to the space.




The music area was also relocated last week to accommodate our new exercise equipment. The storage bench (extra toy storage) doubles as the piano bench. The dog and cat toys have a place out in the open again in a specially decorated basket Brennan made at bible school two summers ago.

All our media is tidy, stored behind glass and works as a design feature in the space. When guests enter the room, they are always amazed and impressed by our huge music collection and the wall mounted TV! Having a storage solution that works is one of the keys to the room's organizational success! Thanks for stopping by and checking out our family room organization!

Organizing Revolution: Week Three - Closets!

This week for the challenge, we were assigned the daunting task of organizing a closet. Daunting? Maybe not... But I did have a closet that has not been touched since we moved in 8.5 years ago - save for opening the doors to stuff more junk in!

Spare bedrooms closet

Top right side

Top left side

I have to admit I was a bit surprised at what I found when I  tackled this closet. Of course I knew I hadn't looked after this room much since we moved in; honestly, I thought it would be an easy, tackle quickly kind of project. Although it, in reality, didn't take me long, I was a bit surprised at all the stuff I found in the closet.

There were more things, of course, but just yesterday I was looking for Camilla - not because I wanted her per se, but because I wanted the chef's hat that I wore as part of the costume. Ta da! What good luck! The dino pans are from the awesome idea I had to let seven children (aged 3 to 9) do a dinosaur dig in my living room. It was awesome (seriously, all the kids were so nervous about it, only my own tossed sand around the place)!

The dresser was repurposed for our son's dresser (his broke) and I got rid of tons of stuff! Including all the crap I'd been hanging onto since leaving my job in 2010! TroubleMaker has his chef's hat, Camilla will be reunited with Gonzo and I'm going to sell the portable fridge in our garage sale this spring.

I've also cleared up a whole closet so my husband has more storage for his photography equipment - so everyone's happy! Thanks for reading and sharing in my organizing journey!

Don't forgot to go vote for your favourite! Voting starts Friday - mine is listed under "Brennan's Mom (Barefoot Deliberations)!  

Can you believe this!

Organizing Revolution: Week Two - The Kitchen!

Spice Cupboard: January 2012 (It was much, much worse in 2010)

If I never did another organizing challenge, I'm absolutely all right with that because I have accomplished the one thing I've been trying to do since I started this blog in 2010. Although I achieved some success with this space early in 2012, it wasn't finished and it has been a thorn in my side for a year.

But not anymore. Now, it is exactly how I first envisioned it.

I spent a lot of time trying to find the right solution and implemented a few but when it came to the "E" in the Org Junkie's PROCESS, the evaluation never help up. It didn't work for me. When something doesn't work, I quickly abandon it.

During a trip to Ikea, I found spice jars that would fit in my kitchen drawer (idea #4 for how to organize my spices) so I bought a 12 (what would fit in the drawer). They sat for a very, very long time as I couldn't afford to give up the drawer space. During an impromptu stop at a big box home store, I found a tiered organizer and for the $4 price tag, I thought it couldn't hurt my cause to try it. In February 2012, I finally implemented it and I like it. Unfortunately, I had more spices than jars so I had to expand the system. Unfortunately, it never happened and the small success I had in 2012 turned into another abandoned mess.

After ordering another tiered storage unit in the fall, this challenge was the push I needed.

Complete satisfaction!

I can access all the jars (and have 3 to spare) and I've inventoried what I have (I discovered duplicates and triplicates of onion powder, parsley and pepper) and will tack it to the inside door. I've used large mason jars to store bulk spices (salt, cinnamon, bouillon) and contained my cake decorating supplies in a basket. I bought a small container for storing packages (mixes, sauces) and contained the "not often used" spices in containers on the top shelf. I love, love, love the cupboard now that it's finally finished. I'm so proud of what I accomplished and think it is fabulous, maintainable, functional and so organized! I still have a few labels to make for my jars as my label maker ran out of labels!!! We ordered them two days ago and they still haven't arrived - thankfully, scotch tape and a Sharpie makes a quick label (and I won't forget what I put in what jar).

I also organized the counter below the spice cupboard (which I've also done before) but after running out of time last year, I finally finished the storage device I decided to use to wrangle my cook books. I took the advice I've seen many times (most recently this post on Bowl Full of Lemons) and kept only the cookbooks I use frequently. The binder tucked behind my cookbook storage solution houses the recipes we use frequently.

Counter - before

Counter - after

I've learned that changes, now matter how small, result in positive feelings and lead to future and continued success. I'm pleased to joining the Organizing Revolution! Congratulations to all the successes I've seen looking through the others participating.

Want to know more or want to vote for my entry? Check out the Organizing Revolution and come voting time Friday, January 11, click on #92 (that's me)!

Organizing Revolution: Week One - Office Space

Here I am, once again, joining an organizing challenge. Why? Because I am "organizing challenged". I did The Organizing Junkie's 52 Week Challenge two years ago and had many, many successes and have kept *some* of the areas organized still and can attest to the fact that the things I learned that year have certainly have influenced the way I do things now. I use Laura's "PROCESS" often and am a container junkie as I found the only way I stand a chance is to limit myself and create visual boundaries by using a specific container for a specific function. When I started this, I sat down with a coffee and sketched out my zones (I'm a visual person and I like to see everything) and reviewed the PROCESS and see how I'd apply it to this job.

A little background on the space that now constitutes my office... Back in July 2011, we started a renovation - this included opening up what had been my husband's office onto the family room. We moved his office into what had been my sewing room (really, it was a giant junk dump that "happened" to have my sewing machines in it). There are pictures of the reno in this post. Also, in preparation for the move, I did my (then) sewing room) as part of the 52 Weeks of Organizing - that post can be checked out here.

The space has been fully functional since late 2011. Early in the fall, we installed new cabinetry as what I had was not working. Many things were purged then and it was tidied but never really "done" and I was always doing a "stuff shuffle". Enter Christmas and all the crafts we did left the space a DISASTER and much less inspirational than a room referred to as the "Design Studio" should be.

This challenge was perfect for me - I work well with guidance, an audience, pressure and deadlines. Without further adieu, here is my space! My design studio - interior design, craft/sewing and projects office!

After - looking in from family room

Before - looking in from family room

Before - looking out to family room

After - looking out to family room

This is the cutting station but not much cutting was getting done. I'd moved a smaller mat to my portable table since I couldn't find the one on the raised table... Now there is plenty of room and I know where all my cutters are! Plus all my rulers and adhesives are back where they are supposed to be!


This has been my workstation for my "real" job since September when I went back to work a few hours a week. The computer is OLD and SLOW... So we got a new computer. It sat in the box until I decided to start this challenge - that's when my husband decided we should finally transfer everything. Soon, the dinosaur computer will be extinct and this desk will be really neat and tidy. I've also learned that my husband needs a kick in the behind in order to get his filing done. The big pile of papers in the "before" is his delinquent filing... It's now gone from the desk!

I really like that I can sit at machine again... And I've got space to open the other door on the sewing cabinet (that's where my serger sits). It's SO tidy! Once I can start feeling my arm again, I hope to sew something awesome!

The upright storage units are excellent. They are inexpensive, have lots of room but keep me confined (remember I said I need to be limited in how much space I can have?). They create clear and defined boundaries. I sew and have hundreds of metres of fabric - most of which is hung on pants hangers and lives in the tall cabinet on the left. It's awesome and tidy and I can find anything when I need it.

The table also rotates around the room - as an extra return on the computer station, craft table and as pictured here, my design space! I can't believe I once again have room to lay out my samples and catalogs!

Sharing in all the awesomeness of the super Organizing Revolution! It's like these lovely bloggers knows there are lots of "organizing challenged" people out in the world! They should really wear capes!

PS Please ignore the open ceiling tiles. We are waiting to get the electrical completed and inspected so I can't close up the ceiling. It's an eyesore but now that the space is positively beaming with tidy, organized awesomeness, I hardly even notice them!

PSS I CAN'T believe I forgot to make the office reference to the movie "Office Space"! I had it all in my head before I wrote this and then, like so many things in my head these days, I forgot. So yeah, "Office Space"; a way cool movie.