Organization - Closet & Drawer overhaul (or The power of containers)

My whole life I've been a messy. It's true. Deep down it's a struggle to have to hang up my shirt after I take it off or to wash a plate right away rather than put it in the dishwasher. It's a willpower moment every time. 

But I LOVE a clean and organized space. I just didn't know how to do that for most of my life.  I would try and try and try and it would never stick. I'm growing up though and I've found some tricks to keep myself tidy. If a space is beautiful then I want to keep it clean. So my command center couldn't be just organized it also had to be cute if there was any hope of it staying organized. I follow a lot of organizational blogs and boards on pinterest and that makes a real difference two. Seeing other people's ideas always helps. 

Since moving there were a few spots I've wanted to tackle. They weren't  open spaces so I couldn't prioritize them but finally life has settled a bit and I could spare the time to work on them. Linen closet, Kitchen Junk Drawer and Bathroom drawer.  Basically since we moved in we have just shoved things into them knowing a big overhaul was coming. And finally, it's time. 

Linen Closet BEFORE

See? Technically those things belong there mostly but they're not even remotely organized and definitely not attractive. 

Oh look, it's me in the closet mirror. 

Oh hey.

First things first, I pulled everything out of the closet. I'd already gone to the Dollar Tree (formerly Dollar Giant) to pick up some baskets. I picked turquoise for fun and red, because I had to work with the colors they had, and I loved the shapes that the red came in. 

Then I sorted it all into types...bathroom, first aid, napkins, etc. My Linen closet is next to a bathroom and across from my kitchen. I keep most of my towels in the bathrooms themselves, and keep the spare sheets in the rooms they belong to. So my linen closet is mostly for light bulbs, first aid, washcloths & tea towels and disposable hosting stuff. 

Next I laid out all my baskets next to the piles of stuff and figured out what fit where. Then I put it all back in the closet. It was pretty easy. 

My last step was to cut out some more of my chalkboard label sticker and adhere that to the baskets. There are two unlabeled baskets, that will be labelled once my next "pick your plum" order arrives. They needed something heavier duty than just sticker

Here it is, in all it's glory...and fuzzy iphone photos...

Break it down...

Next up the "junk drawer"

There are many things in this drawer we use on a regular basis...but not at all of it needed to live here. For example those scrub brush heads needed to live under the sink, which was previously too messy to deal with (but now is also clean). 

I picked up some drawer dividers at the dollar tree again, and lined the bottom with shelf liners from walmart - $5 for the roll on sale! 

I had recently found 55 clean and empty baby food containers so I have put two to work here - candles and toothpicks. The lids will eventually be spray painted with chalkboard paint and labelled accordingly. 

I forgot to take a true before picture, but you can see the gross paper they'd laid out in there. They had paper laid in every shelf and cupboard in this kitchen. I hated going down in this cupboard, it looked so gross and nasty. We just sort of shoved everything in there. 

 I decided laying down some grey printed shelf lining would make it cheerier and keep it cleaner. I also added some buckets from the dollar giant to help corral things into place. You can see the refill containers in the back. Bucket One has Dish Soap and windex. Bucket Two has cleaning wipes and scrub brushes. Bucket Three has the dishwasher soap and garbage bags. This way everything looks tidy and has a home, so I know when it's time to replace it. I chose not to label these buckets since realistically you can very easily see what's in it....but I'm on the fence and might end up giving it some label love. 

And lastly we come to my bathroom drawer (I'll be doing Paul's next but the Dollar tree was out of drawer dividers). I have a bathroom mirror with a cupboard behind it, so most of my stuff lives there - deodorant, tweezers, clippers, perfume, hairpsrays etc. But I needed a drawer for my brushes and combs, hair detangler, etc. I also leave a "bathroom book" in there as well. 

I picked up these great drawer dividers at the Dollar Tree and love how perfectly they fit!

Now our bathroom is finally all organized! I did under our sink as well. I forgot to take photos. But I used one of the yellow buckets like the ones in the kitchen to hold paper towel, window spray and a container of disinfecting wipes. That way you can pull it out and clean the bathroom easily. I also organized our under the sink stuff with baskets. I did Paul's side and he was so pleased when he came to see it. He'd been using part of a cardboard box before to hold his stuff - though that was his choice originally. I would have bought him a real box if he wanted it.

I have recently discovered chalkboard marker. Until recently I've used chalk on my labels but have been annoyed at how easily it rubs off the labels if you use them. So when I grab my containers in the kitchen, the words would often rub off. I've gone through my whole kitchen and wiped off the chalk, and rewritten with chalkboard pen. Now it's far more permanent, but still easily able to be removed when needed. 

And that, my friends, is that. 

Projects:

• Linen Closet
• The Cellar - food storage & holiday decor storage
• Chalkboard Marker Conversion
• Bathroom Cupboards
• Under the Kitchen Sink
• Junk Drawer Revamp
• Kitchen Drawer Revamp
• Chalkboard Calendar Creation
• Command Center Makeover
• Craft Room Overhaul
• Craft Room Closet turned desk
• Bookshelf Display
• Repair back wall of Command Center - cover with Zebra print contact paper
• The Pantry
• Can Cupboards

And don't even get me started on the Laundry Room or our bedroom. Both of those are upcoming, but will need a lot more time than I'll have in the next few months. I'm trying to take it one task at a time. Up next - Craft Room - Sorting through boxes and boxes of craft stuff and assembling it into some sort of usable order, that is also cute, as talked about above.  Part of this will include Paul building me a closet desk - we have all the pieces just need to put it all together!