organizing 2011

Remember this post on organizing jewelry? I'm guessing no, but I want to update it a little. We've moved from an apartment to our first home in the last year and I've found a better way to store my earrings and jewelry and thought I would share.

I store my earrings in this now and LOVE it:

The rest of my jewelry now goes in a standing mirror jewelry armoire. You can see a teeny bit of it in the picture below.

Another storage solution I came up with and love (I think I came up with it... maybe my sister gave me the idea... but I don't think I have seen it anywhere) is this one for some of my hair stuff:

The upper two pictures are mainly what I wanted to show you- just two old oatmeal containers store all my headbands (I have a lot I know). What a great way to store headbands etc. though, right?! You could make them a lot more visually appealing by modge-podging some pretty paper on them I'm sure, but I just never seem to get around to it. I'm not that motivated because nobody ever sees them really but me.

The lower two pictures I thought I would show you because that is where I store all my getting ready stuff and I get ready there each morning. We only have one bathroom in this little home of ours for now, so it comes in pretty handy. It's just a sofa table (hand-me-down) we painted, then put shoe storage shelves (garage sale find) underneath it for storage. I used fabric from curtains I got at a garage sale (10 for $10!!) and tailor-made them to cover up my stuff down there. I made side panels for the bottom too, but put them on after I took this picture.

Oh, and the mirror above it? I got it for $1 at a yard sale and painted it to match too:) I love me some good deals!!

Hope these have inspired you in some small way...

I hesitate to post house pics, because my house is never how I want it really, but I've decided recently to be proud of what I have done and be okay that it is all a works in progress. So expect to see more house pics and let me know what you think.

organizing jewelry

With two recent posts about making jewelry, I thought it might be appropriate to do one about organizing it. Is it just me or does coming up with a good organization system for your jewelry seem to be sort of tricky? I have tried all sorts of systems. For a long time I had the better portion of my jewelry in a nice jewelry box similar to this one:

I liked it better than previous systems I had tried, but quickly outgrew it as I started making jewelry.

Another problem I find with storing my jewelry is that I am lazy. If my jewelry is put away too well, I find I don't wear it as much as I should.

As I searched for a better organization solution I came across a few options I really liked such as these from PBTeen:

...but I still wasn't sure how much it would all store, and the minimalist in me didn't want a bunch of things to put on my dresser or in my bathroom.

I also thought a jewerly armoire like this one might be the way to go:

...but again I didn't want another piece of furniture in my already somewhat crowded room.

I considered a hanging canvas solution like this one:

...but didn't want to put my necklaces in it and have them get all tangled.

Another idea I came across that I thought about was a wall mount jewelry armoire in the form of a picture frame or mirror such as this:

...but alas, because of everything I have in currently in my bedroom (tons of windows, and no real good place to put it), it still wasn't really the right solution for me.

Eventually the solution I came up was this one:


...simple, organized, and easy to get to!! Sorry the photos aren't the greatest. My jewelry is kind of hiding in a poorly lit corner of my room.

I came up with the earring solution in my head, proposed it to my husband to see if he could make it for me, and he was able to whip it out fairly easily with scraps he had hanging out in his shop. So, first and foremost I am thankful for a handy husband. We have since decided on a few tweaks to the design that would make it work a little better that will be easy to fix when we take it down when we move again, but I love it so far.

For my necklaces and bracelets, I was inspired while at DI when I saw the simple wooden accordion coat hanger, brought it home, hit it up with some spray paint, and voila!!


Want more diy jewelry organization inspiration? Check out these other great ideas I found on the web (click on the links for more info on each solution):

I think down the road I may like trying something similar to this. I love the idea of having cutely framed jewelry storage!


Natalie came up with a great solution for storing all of her jewelry with the help of her husband too. And she has one big jewelry collection!


How cute is this one?!


This idea came from a guest post featured on Designmom:


Find more great ideas from this post!

organizing- using what you've got and thinking outside the box

As I mentioned previously, I love to organize. I dream one day of having a perfectly clean, perfectly organized house where all my organizers match and are visually appealing. Someday...

Until that day comes though I still find a lot of satisfaction in organizing with whatever I have on hand.

These are things I use in my house that I love:



1. A notebook to store odd and end recipes. There are many products out there that will help you organize recipes. For now, I love my simple white notebook that merely has clear plastic sleeves in it. I stick any old recipe in it in any order. I have recipes from friends, family and magazines simply placed in the plastic sleeves in no particular order, which surprisingly, I haven't minded that they are not categorized as of yet. It is kind of fun to go through and never know what type of recipe I will find next. It makes it super easy too.



2. A bunch of files to keep favorite magazine articles, images, and pieces. I love magazines. Over the years I have kept bunches of my favorite magazines until I have moved and then thrown them all away. I found that I loved some of the articles and imagery, but never really had time to thumb through them again. Then I had the idea to cut down on having to thumb through them by tearing out my favorite articles, images, sources, etc. and keeping them filed away in categories. You could organize these in a binder like my recipe binder with clear plastic sleeves, but I find the files quicker, easier and cheaper. I have a category for every room in my house, every holiday, gift ideas, crafting, sources, flower arrangements... and I think that's about it.



3. I find that using office desk organizers works wonderfully for my make-up.



4. Here is a crazy thing I have done with my make-up... I have used little bead and scrapbooking organizers to salvage and repurpose lipstick and eyeshadow that has been dropped or damaged by my toddler (or me :) ).




5. A few favorites for my closets are pictured above. I use the hanging shoe and sweater bags for everything from shoes, to my husbands hats and workout clothes, to my craft supplies and projects, to blankets. The sky is the limit with these. I also have loved using the hanging shoe organizer to store my markers, crayons, colored pencils, pens, paint, paint brushes, etc.



6. I have been known to use tackle boxes for beading and scrapbooking supplies.


7. I also use old cereal boxes to store some magazines that have too many good features to go through my #2 suggestion with.



8. I use shoe organizers and stacker shelves in all of my cupboards and closets to utilize the space in there better.



9. I use bead organizers for sewing supplies, cake decorating tips, and anything else that suits my fancy.




10. I love using old suitcases and baskets to store things like toys, remotes, exercise mats and weights, phonebooks, etc. and serve as decorations as well.



11. And last but not least... I use good old fashioned boxes of course. Old diaper boxes seem to be the most popular around here.