Operation Organization

Holy moly! Word of advice if you're going to be tackling a big organization project I would suggest NOT doing it before any event that may be taking place at your house. And by "before" any event and I mean like a week before, it gets a little crazy and can be very overwhelming. I would suggest to start a big project like this when you have some free time. Work at it a couple of hours each night after you eat dinner. Just fit it in when you can, or take a weekend and push through it. But in my case I decided to do it before a jewelry party that I'm hosting on Saturday. Hey at least it gave me motivation to get it done, otherwise people would come over and see my house looking like a hot mess.

I got this brilliant idea last weekend. I wanted to re-vamp my sewing area and make everything less cluttered. I wanted to get rid of my craft table and just take away the bulk. Once I started thinking about that I started thinking about every place in our apartment. I looked in my craft cabinet and was really grossed out. It was just too much, it just wasn't working. Now our apartment is quite big, at least for an apartment it is and we do have quite a bit of space to work with, but I wanted it to work better. I wanted everything to function, I wanted everything to look nice and clean.

So Monday while the girls were napping I started researching. I wanted to see what other people did, I was just looking for any tips just to help me get started. Some basic things I did that I thought really helped me along in the process were these:

1. Whatever you're organizing take everything out, and I mean everything. It helps to be able to visualize how much you actually have.

2. Really think about what you have and what you want to keep. Think if you're really going to use, think if you've even used it in the last 6 months.

That's a big problem for me, I keep things just because I think "Oh well, maybe I'll need this for this project, or I might be able to use this for something else." Chances are if you haven't used it, you probably aren't going to so just let it go.

3. Put your emotions to the side. I probably had close to ten jewelry boxes just because so and so bought it for me, when in reality I didn't really need it.

4. And lastly RE-USE! Organizing doesn't have to be expensive. Look around you're house to find things to store other things in. You can use jars, you can use baskets, you can even use an old paper towel holder, so look around before you go to the store. 

So I started in my dining room. I have a bookshelf, my craft cabinet, a desk and some storage cubes in there. I emptied everything. EVERYTHING! The bookshelf, the desk and my craft cabinet. And it looked like this:

I know right?! What a hot mess. But seeing this gave me motivation. I wanted people to open my craft cabinet and oo and ahh over it. I wanted to be able to open my craft cabinet and be able to get whatever I needed easily.  My goal was to put everything from my desk and my sewing area into my craft cabinet. In order to do that I really needed to purge. I need to get rid of all the crap that I didn't need or wasn't using. Even I might be able to use for my future kids future school project in ten years.

Here's my craft cabinet before:

Hate! Way to cluttered for my liking, so I had to get myself in gear. Because I'm such a spaz I finished this bad boy in one night!

Top shelf, everything crammed in there. Not cool! Look at my poor little gift bags all squished in there and what not.

Bottom shelf. Because this cabinet is a corner cabinet it is tough to use the space properly. I knew I had to get my scrapbooks out of there though. They were taking up way to much room and no one could even look at them. This had to change.

So I took everything out. I got rid of things first, all the garbage went. Then I had to decide what I didn't need anymore but didn't want to throw away. I got rid of quite a few books that I passed onto my cousins who will hopefully enjoy them as much as I did. Then I sorted though all my bins moved things around and after five hours I was done. I was able to move my scrapbooks out onto the bookshelves into the living room so people could actually look at them if they wanted to. I replaced the desk with a nice bookshelf, which makes that area seem more open. The bookshelf isn't as bulky.  I got it for $16 at Wal-Mart.

Here's the desk. I knew this had to go because I wasn't even using it. I think the last time I actually sat down at it was when it was at my parents house and I had it my room. Pretty much all that was in there was crap. I had my address book and some office things (stapler, labels, ect.) and the guinea pigs food. So I moved everything that I kept from there into my craft cabinet.

And put this there instead. It allows us a lot more storage, and I picked up some fabric bins from Wal-Mart ($5.97) and put all the guinea pigs things in there. A bin for their hay and a bin for their food. I absolutely love it.

Now moving onto the craft cabinet. I found this amazing idea on some website to use tension rods. I hung up my ribbon and wrapping paper on it.

Seriously, how cute is that?! And it takes advantage of that that empty space up there because I don't have a second shelf. Another score, I freed up a box that was desigtnated for ribbon so I could put something else in there! Win win!

I wanted some where to put my scrapbooking paper that I could easily take out and put away as needed. I found this cute storage bin at Target. Paid a little more ($13!) than I would like but it was worth it. I put my paper in the back (color coordinated of course) and my stickers in the hanging files that came with the storage bin.

Stickers before, Not cute and super annoying. I'd have to take them all out just to find the way I needed.

And the stickers now. I still have to make labels for them, but it will be much easier to navigate through them and get the ones I need without making a huge mess. And another bonus, could use the old bin the stickers used to be in for something else. 

I decided that if I could put my sewing machine in my craft cabinet then I could get rid of my craft table. I don't use it everyday so if I could crave out a space for it then I could store it there until I needed. When I do need it I can just set it up at the dining room table. Makes sense. So I went to work. I took out all my fabric my craft table, I seperated it between four fabric bins. I put big fabric pieces in two of the bins, scraps in another and projects that needed to be finished in another. 

Here's my craft table. Not that I didn't love it but it just wasn't working for our house anymore. I sold it a friend of mine who I know will put it too good use.

There you have it, fabric on the bottom of the craft cabinet all nice and pretty in their nice fabric bins.

Projects that need to be done are on the bottom of the bookshelf with my little sewing basket (holds all my string, scissors, and all that jazz) and my sewing books. It may not be all in one spot but at least it's all in one room and easy to get to.

Moving to the kitchen. I got another set of organization cubes, big enough to put Harriet's tank on top of, of course. I brought four more fabric bins for that as well. I put all of Harriet's things in one (her food and cleaning supplies), I moved my cook books in there as well. We have a ton more space and the kitchen seems way less cluttered, and a lot bigger.

Yay! I'm one happy girl. I love the way these look, and I love that we have empty ones!

When I was researching I was reading how you shouldn't have anything on your dresser. I hate when my dresser gets overloaded with stuff. It drives me nuts! So I cleared it away. And because everyone loves a before and after here you go:

Sorry the picture is so dark, but maybe that's a good thing. Then you can't see how bad the before was. Anyways I'm happy and I told my husband if he messes it up I'll kill him! Just kidding, love you!

I did a couple of things in my closet as well. I re-used this memo board. Which by the sucked because nothing ever stayed where I wanted it, and that really bothered me, so I changed it to hold all my long earrings and my watch.

See how everything's mashed at the bottom! Super annoying! So now it's looking pretty in my closet with all my earrings.

I also re-used a paper towel holder for all of my bangels. There was already one attached on our cabinets when we moved in so we didn't need the one I had bought but of course I saved it, and good thing I did too!

BOOM! How do you like them apples! Now instead of being crammed in a box I can actually see them! Win!

Confession: I am horrible for holding onto items just because someone gave them to me. I am that person that thinks "Oh my goodness what if so and so comes over and they asked where that thing that they got me is and I threw it away" How horrible would that be, but really when does that ever happen. It's never happened to me so this time I let go. I think because I had all of those jewelry boxes I was keeping jewelry that I never even wore. So I let it go. I also have an obession with cards. Yup all those birthday cards, Christmas cards, Valentines Day cards, I keep them all. I don't really know why but I do. I have two boxes, and a whole desk drawer full of them. Sick right?! But I got it down to one box and kept those. I can't let them all go. Baby steps people, baby steps!

Whoa! Well that's all for today. Next I'm going to tackle my husband's closet and the front closet. Listen I'm not super woman I can't do the whole house in a week! Hope I was able to give some good tips and some where to start. Happy organizing and keep an eye out for more crafty stuff coming soon!

And before you go, just because I'm so proud of it, here's a before and after of the craft cabinet. :)