If you know me, you know I am not an organized person. I am having to work very hard to figure this out. I have been thinking about it a lot lately. What did I do wrong in the past? What can I do to make it different now?
One thing I have always heard is "A place for everything and everything in its place." Sounds simple, right? Maybe for some people, but not for me. One thing is I have never had a place for everything. Part of that is too much stuff. Part of it is not enough efficient storage.
I have been working on the too much stuff. I have gotten rid of so much stuff. Enough? Probably not, but I am still getting rid of things daily.
Now, I have to find a place for everything. I have conquered the kitchen and the laundry room. It really is making a huge difference. I can clean those rooms up so much quicker. Tonight, we had family over for dinner. Because everything was put away, and I knew where it was, I was able to get everything ready in just a few minutes. Clean up was even quicker.
One major clutter problem for us is what we bring in from the car or motorcycle. Keys, purse, camera bag, Dean's computer bag and back pack from the bike, everything from his pockets. How does he carry so much in his pockets? We walk in the garage door. The laundry room is directly to the left, and the living room is to the right. I have been putting my things on the dryer. Dean puts his bags on the sofa. He puts his keys and pocket stuff on a ledge by the dining room. This is not efficient for us at all.
After the buffet was in place, we had empty space in the laundry room shelves. It is just the right size for all of our bags! Woohoo! That really made me feel better to have a home for the bags. That left keys, change, sunglasses, wallet, and various other pocket items.
There is small little wall outside the powder room next to the laundry room. I have a little vintage magazine rack. I don't know the history on it, but it is unique. There is a shelf at the bottom where we each keep a pair of flip flops.
I got rid of most of my magazines when we moved in an effort to declutter. The empty shelves made it seem that much more bare.
In the process of sorting and getting our family photos ready to hang in the loft, we had a few items I decided to repurpose. I have been looking at Pinterest a lot. So many cute ideas. I decided to try a couple of ideas and make them work for us. One idea I liked is a key rack. The other was a frame for writing notes. Hmmm, sounded like a good place to start. I tried two separate frames. That would look nice, but there was no place for all the pocket stuff. I decided to combine the two frame projects and add a shelf.
I must say this frame was a real pain. Really. I think the frame was built around the glass. I thought I would never get the glass out. I took the above pic after i had gotten the glass out and cleaned it. It had been in our garage for years. A lot of years judging by the dirt on the glass and frame. I had already cleaned it up. Oh, and I had taken the lovely photo below out of the frame. Yep, you can see why it was sitting in the garage.
I had primer left from the buffet project, so both pieces got a nice coat of Zinsser Over Stain Primer. I still have a lot of the green paint from the bedroom project. I told you it would be making more appearances. Both pieces got 3 good coats of the green. For some reason, it just didn't seem to cover as well over the white primer. Cheap paint. What can I say?
Today, I made a trip to Micheal's for some scrap book paper. That was when I had 2 more great ideas. The first was 2 divide the frame in half and use 2 patterns. One would be my side. One would be Dean's side. The next idea I had would make the paper changeable where I can change it for the seasons!
I only bought enough for two today. I knew I had some scraps here that might work, and Micheal's didn't have Christmas paper that I liked. Above is my Fall look - it should work for October - November, don't you think? Because the paper is glued to poster board, it is thin enough to store behind the one that will be showing. That way, I don't have to worry about a place to store the other seasons' pages!
Here is the finished product! We each have a place for notes. We have 5 hooks for keys and plenty of space for our other things. I do need to add something where Dean can drop his change. There is a dry erase marker Velcroed to the back edge to the left. If we put it up right, it is hidden. We talked about adding coat hooks under the shelf for jackets in the spring and fall. That would mean we would need to find a different place for the magazine rack. I have decided the laundry room is just one step away. We have hangers and hanging space there. Jackets will be fine there.
We even got a couple of magazines in the mail! I think it looks great. Hopefully, it will help us give us a place for all those things coming in from the garage. I think we will like writing notes to one another, too. Sometimes, he leaves before I am fully awake. If this had been up last night, I could have written him a birthday message last night. Instead, I had to text him.
There are still a few more projects going in the garage. Stay tuned to see what we come up with next.
One thing I have always heard is "A place for everything and everything in its place." Sounds simple, right? Maybe for some people, but not for me. One thing is I have never had a place for everything. Part of that is too much stuff. Part of it is not enough efficient storage.
I have been working on the too much stuff. I have gotten rid of so much stuff. Enough? Probably not, but I am still getting rid of things daily.
Now, I have to find a place for everything. I have conquered the kitchen and the laundry room. It really is making a huge difference. I can clean those rooms up so much quicker. Tonight, we had family over for dinner. Because everything was put away, and I knew where it was, I was able to get everything ready in just a few minutes. Clean up was even quicker.
One major clutter problem for us is what we bring in from the car or motorcycle. Keys, purse, camera bag, Dean's computer bag and back pack from the bike, everything from his pockets. How does he carry so much in his pockets? We walk in the garage door. The laundry room is directly to the left, and the living room is to the right. I have been putting my things on the dryer. Dean puts his bags on the sofa. He puts his keys and pocket stuff on a ledge by the dining room. This is not efficient for us at all.
After the buffet was in place, we had empty space in the laundry room shelves. It is just the right size for all of our bags! Woohoo! That really made me feel better to have a home for the bags. That left keys, change, sunglasses, wallet, and various other pocket items.
There is small little wall outside the powder room next to the laundry room. I have a little vintage magazine rack. I don't know the history on it, but it is unique. There is a shelf at the bottom where we each keep a pair of flip flops.
In the process of sorting and getting our family photos ready to hang in the loft, we had a few items I decided to repurpose. I have been looking at Pinterest a lot. So many cute ideas. I decided to try a couple of ideas and make them work for us. One idea I liked is a key rack. The other was a frame for writing notes. Hmmm, sounded like a good place to start. I tried two separate frames. That would look nice, but there was no place for all the pocket stuff. I decided to combine the two frame projects and add a shelf.
Today, I made a trip to Micheal's for some scrap book paper. That was when I had 2 more great ideas. The first was 2 divide the frame in half and use 2 patterns. One would be my side. One would be Dean's side. The next idea I had would make the paper changeable where I can change it for the seasons!
Here is the finished product! We each have a place for notes. We have 5 hooks for keys and plenty of space for our other things. I do need to add something where Dean can drop his change. There is a dry erase marker Velcroed to the back edge to the left. If we put it up right, it is hidden. We talked about adding coat hooks under the shelf for jackets in the spring and fall. That would mean we would need to find a different place for the magazine rack. I have decided the laundry room is just one step away. We have hangers and hanging space there. Jackets will be fine there.
We even got a couple of magazines in the mail! I think it looks great. Hopefully, it will help us give us a place for all those things coming in from the garage. I think we will like writing notes to one another, too. Sometimes, he leaves before I am fully awake. If this had been up last night, I could have written him a birthday message last night. Instead, I had to text him.
There are still a few more projects going in the garage. Stay tuned to see what we come up with next.
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