Day #17 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The mail station)

I think this is my most favorite day in the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here but I'm at Day 17... the mail station!

We live in a culture that's just plain busy. We do our best to keep outside commitments to a minimum so that we can keep the stress to a minimum. With home, work, ministry, and 2 kids, however, there are things we need to keep track of. Having a space to keep important info in order and handy helps with that!

With our laundry room re-do, we left space at the end of the wall of cabinets for our Command Central. You can see more of the overall transformation here.
Here's a before pic of that end of the laundry room (looking towards the kitchen):

 After all the old cabinets were removed.



Here are the almost done pics:

 An overall look from the other end of the laundry room looking towards the kitchen.

 

My calendar, tack board, magnet board, Ikea Ribba picture frame rail, and Kroken rail. I also got a little stationery sorter at Goodwill recently and that holds some current sale info, gift cards, and note paper.

A close-up of the ledge and rail. I painted Mason jar lids with chalkboard spray paint. The jars hold random things that we need to have access to here: box tops, Campbell's points labels, spare change, paper clips/push pins, rubber bands, and twist ties. The little pails, also from Ikea, hold bank info, pens/pencils, small notepads/bookmarks, and scissors/letter openers.

We made the tack board and magnet boards using 16x20 picture frames that we had on hand. We bought a 4-pack of cork tiles and cut them to fit, used spray adhesive to attach the fabric, and then popped it in the frame. The magnet board was easy too. I got a piece of sheet metal from Home Depot, covered it with coordinating fabric, and put it in the other frame. (Bonus: the fabric, which is decorator weight, was on clearance at Hobby Lobby.)

Another look at the new space!

The first cupboard at that end of the laundry room holds more needed info. A magazine holder has my current Taste of Home mags and catalogs. The red binder has important family info and contact info. The blue binder is school info for the kids. Phone books, church directory, and coupons for my mom are all in here too.

Everything's together and in it's home---where I can find it... usually. :)


See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #10 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Laundry Room/closet)

I'm jumping back to Day 10 in the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here.

Like most of the other organizing challenges, I don't really have a 'before' picture of the laundry room closet so just imagine it empty. Or imagine what the in-between looked like.... all our coats crammed in, a falling-apart shoe organizer hanging on the door with miscellaneous gloves, hats, and scarves falling out, cleaning tools, and a broken shoe cubby organizer on the floor.

When we painted the laundry room, I painted the closet too. We were running out of paint so I used my fav creamy white, Crumb Cookie by Olympic (from Lowe's.) We're using Crumb Cookie throughout the house on all ceilings and trim. It looks as yummy as it sounds! :)

Here are the 'afters' of the closet:

Off season coats for me and hubby. Extra hangers for wet laundry.

 

Steam and Sweep attachments in a box on the shelf along with my static duster.

Vacuum, Steam and Sweep cleaner, folding step ladder, and extra folding hamper on the floor on the right side.

Mini hand-held vacuum, which doesn't charge that well, up there too.
Clean with room to spare and a home for my pretty ironing board!

The rest of the laundry room is coming along too! Here are the hideous before pics:

 

From the laundry looking towards the kitchen. The sink and its plumbing were so gross that they got ripped out and tossed right into the dumpster. Ick!

Next to the sink along that same wall were the previous owner's washer and dryer. Not exactly 'energy star rated', I don't think. They went out in the yard until a friend took them to the salvage yard for us.

After we moved in, our appliances got put in down at that end. We set up a folding table and little wood stand to hold bathroom stuff and painting supplies since the rest of the house was under construction.


A trip to our local Re-Store the week after Christmas netted us brand new cabinets for the laundry room and a few additional cabinets for an empty wall in the kitchen. We weren't really planning to re-do the luandry room at this point but the savings at the Re-Store made it totally worth it. To get the cabinets out of the living room, we got right to work removing the built-in green cupboards. I guess they painted around them after installation. :) (Note that the cupboards were green as was the wall, trim, ceiling, and doors.) Along with the old cupboards, we had to empty out the rest of the room too. Everything in here ended up in the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

Before the new cabinets went in, we decided to write on the walls with a Sharpie to leave a time capsule of sorts for future owners. :)

New cabinets in; junk back in there because of the bathroom reno; no baseboard molding yet but a huge improvement.

I thought we'd be leaving the room green for the foreseeable future but my mom (who has some mad-phat painting skillz) offered to come out for a day to help with the house. This room was the only thing left on the list (that we didn't have to buy more paint for.) Here are the almost done pics:

We still need to install a utility sink and get countertop for the sink area and the corner cabinet. After the window is replaced (sometime this spring or at least when it's a bit warmer), I'll get a window blind and figure out the window treatment. I'd also like to put a shelf above the washer/dryer to keep the detergent handy along with a few pretties. On the list too is to replace the back door and someday put in recessed lighting.

And for anyone who'd like to be nosy but doesn't want to ask, the cabinet insides look like this (from left to right):

 Paper plates, lunch bags, my coupon box, and the Command Central binders.

Extra paper products, lightbulbs, smell good stuff, and batteries.

Laundry stuff on the left; Spare towels, rags, and lost socks on the right.

 Beach towels and a jug of floor cleaner that doesn't fit elsewhere.

Extra cleaning supplies, hand soap, and vacuum bags.

Under the 'yet-to-be' sink: grocery bags, extra paper towels, bathroom cleaning supplies, cleaning buckets, and trash basket.

Phew----a lot goes on in this little space! Now that it's almost completely finished, it's actually peaceful to come in here to get the cleaning stuff or work on laundry. :)


See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #14 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Under the Bathroom Sink)

It's time for Day 14 Under the Bathroom Sink. I'm getting caught up with the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here.
Day 13 and 14 were kind of easy because our vanity is new. We just got it installed about 2 weeks ago, which means I don't have any before pictures. I wiped the shelf down and added paper.

I had the wire shelf on hand so I used that to keep the scale free from obstacles. On top, a plastic shoe-box container holds hair cutting tools and the lint brush. The brown box holds 'mom stuff'. And a thrift store find basket is our new trash can.

Simple, clean, and accessible. Love it! (BTW... see the great plumbing work my hubby did?)

See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #13 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The Medicine Cabinet)

With a few skips, I'm working on Day 13 The Medicine Cabinet. I'm getting caught up with the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here. With the house in its current state, I'm skipping Day 10 (laundry room) for now and skipping Day 11 The Freezer and Day 12 The Spice Cabinet. To be honest, I don't think I'll be doing the spice drawer any time this year. :)

We chose to hang mirrors in the new bathroom so we don't have medicine cabinets. Our new vanity has 4 drawers to keep all our everyday essentials. No before pics on this one either (sorry!) Since it was a brand-new cabinet if you can picture empty drawers, that's what it looked like. I wiped them down and added paper and then bought some organizers to get everything sorted out.
The kids get a drawer with a plastic shoebox size container for their tub toys. The detangler spray and comb go here too.

 

Bass's drawer got 2 acrylic containers. The divided container holds most of his everyday items. A square container in the back holds shaving/trimming/scissors. His gel, which needs to be downsized, fits laying down in the middle.

 

My drawer with 4 dividers to hold all my stuff.

 

And that's a peeksy into our drawers.

See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #8 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The Coat Closet)

Day 8.... I'm getting caught up with the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here.

My mom came over to help me paint the laundry room which meant I needed to empty everything out of the laundry room and its closet. We had been using that one for our coats and shoes while the regular coat closet was being painted. Make sense? :)
Painting the laundry room turned out to be a good thing because I like having our coats/everyday shoes/outdoor gear closer to the front door.
Before the coat closet looked like this:

To get to the "after", we painted the closet, bought new sturdier, matching hangers (on clearance with an extra 20% off coupon), and bought the shoe shelf. Now it looks like this:

I had 4 matching, canvas bins in my stash that didn't find a home yet. I made labels for each family member and now they have a home and hold each person's scarves, mittens, hats, etc. We can each keep 2 pairs of shoes in here, and the kids backpacks fit too.

See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #7 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The Pantry)

I'm really liking the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here. I haven't been able to do the challenge every day because some of our spaces just aren't ready for organizing with all our home renovations.

I did finally get all our food put away so I'm jumping in for Day 7 which is to organize the pantry.
This house doesn't have a pantry closet or even a tall cupboard. Our regular cabinets are original to the house and only a few have adjustable shelves so getting modern-day food to fit was a challenge. So most of our boxed food sat in boxes for 1 1/2 months.

See the bottom left corner.

Down the road, we'd like to redo the whole kitchen but in the meantime, we found cabinets for an empty wall at our local Habitat Re-Store. So the new cabinets became our pantry of sorts.

The first cabinet is for our "breakfast" foods. Fruit cups, cereal, toaster pastries, fig newtons, and instant oatmeal.

The 2nd cabinet has our snacks and boxed baking mixes. I was a little short on Tupperware but in looking to get some more online, I found out that Tupperware was having a huge sale on their modular mates. As soon as my order arrived, I washed 'em, filled 'em, and of course, labeled 'em.

Cabinet 3 has my cookbooks and some taller spices and baking needs.

 

Over by the stove, I have 2 cabinets. This one has almost all baking supplies.

 

And this one has ingredients to make dinner. :)

 

I think the modular mates are ideal for pantry storage because they stack so well and keep everything fresh!

See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #5 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (Under the Kitchen Sink)

It's time for Day 5 of the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here. Day 5 is to organize under the kitchen sink. No before pics so just imagine a totally full cupboard with glass jars, assorted half used cleaning supplies, and other gross things left under there by the previous owner. It was 1 of 2 cabinets not cleaned out... fortunately, everything else was emptied by the owner's family. Along with the yucky stuff, the previous owner also left very corroded, leaky plumbing. A friend came one day and ran all new plumbing (new supply lines, new drain, new dishwasher hose, and new faucet) and hooked up my dishwasher. So after cleaning it all out, scrubbing it with multiple cleaners and sanitizers, replumbing, and adding paper, it looks like this:

My cute little tin from Ikea to hold dishwasher tabs.

A small tub, which I think I'd like to replace with something that has taller sides, holds our wrap and baggies, plus the Jet Dry and stovetop cleaner. My dishwasher tab bucket and dishsoap sit on the other side.

See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!

Day #4 ~ Getting Organized Challenge (The Linen Closet)

Now I'm up to Day 4 of the Getting Organized Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. I'm late joining up which you can read more about here.

Day 4 is all about getting the Linen Closet organized. Well.... in the course of bathroom renovations, we ripped out the linen closet. We kind of ripped out, um, everything. Generally, the bathroom looked like this:

So after a lot of work, we now have a ceiling, walls, tub, vanity, lights, and a tiny little space for a closet. Except that the light switches would interfere with a full, built-in closet.
Ikea to the rescue! We purchased the Pax wardrobe and got it installed this past weekend. We also scored an additional shelf in their 'as is' room. It was only $0.49!!!

The 'after' looks something like this:

The door is currently off for painting which is why we have that gorgeous sheet hanging and hinge parts on the vanity. :)

I wiped it down and put in shelf paper. So the top half of the new "closet" looks like this:

The bottom half:

 

*The top shelf holds extra bath towels.
*Shelf #2 holds 6 drawers, which pull out for easy access. In those drawers, we keep (1) extra shaving supplies and deodorant; (2) toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, mouthwash; (3) extra make-up, lotion, and travel size items; (4) first aid supplies; (5) pain meds; and (6) cold meds. All labeled with my handy-dandy Dymo.

*The next shelf has a clear bin with washcloths and houses our hand towels. (No bins on this shelf because of the door hinges.)

*The shelf under the hand towels has 2 more drawer bins. One has nail polish, polish remover, and nail tools. The other has medicine for the kids. Complete with boring but useful Dymo labels.
*The next shelf (our as-is bargain!) holds bath rugs and throw rugs that I use in the kitchen and laundry rooms.
*The very bottom holds another white bin from Walmart with all of our larger, extra items like shampoos, body wash, shave gel as well as sunscreen and bug spray. I think I need to make a super cute tag for this basket at some point!

It's not huge but we fit a whole lot in that cabinet. Things that didn't fit are sheet sets (stored in each bedroom's closet) and beach towels (now housed in the laundry room.) I have one other storage tub with extra linens that we don't use on a regular basis in our basement storage closet. Lovin' the new storage!!

See more great organizing ideas or join the challenge yourself!