What Goes Where?

I left you on a cliff hanger in my art room, I know you want to know what I put in my new IKEA drawers!  Well I won’t leave you wondering any longer…

First up I pulled everything out of my closet which looked like this.

Most of my art supplies were in this guy.

and here is the madness that came out of those drawers…

Want a closer look?

Lots o’ stuff.  So basically I just got to sorting, as I went I tossed things that I no longer use and found new homes for some things that just didn’t belong.  Here is what went into the Helmer Drawers.

Paints in the top drawer, color coordinated of course(that won’t last).

Next up… more paint, exciting stuff!

Yarn and ribbon anyone?

More yarn.

And then some felt.  I’m beginning to feel like an 80 year old women or a preschool teacher with what went into these drawers.

Lastly, some random things like my hot glue gun and some other adhesives.  So there you have it, organization at it’s finest people!  Oh and of course I made labels…

The rolling cart also had a make over…

And in the words of Biggie uh, and if you don’t know, now ya know!

Building a workbench and organizing the garage

Justin built a pretty sweet workbench for the garage and while he was at it he cleaned and organized everything! I love him, okay I guess I will marry him.  This is what the garage looked like before…

These pictures are what it looked like after just moving in almost two months ago.  Here is the other side…

And in the back of the garage…

And after a good cleaning, building some kayak racks, a work bench and organizing things this is what we have…

He moved the tool organizer that holds our rakes, shovels, etc. to the other wall next to the kayak racks.

Looks much better.  And on the other side of the garage…

Oh ya! That’s the new workbench!

Want a closer look?

He started by building the frame, then adding the shelves and then the peg board.  This kit with the peg board and hooks was like $15, what a bargain.  You can move all of the pegs around and organize your tools anyway you want.  They just pop into the wholes on the board and then there are little black pieces that snap in over the hooks to secure them.  Seriously go get a peg board for your garage/work area, you wont be disappointed.

Pretty much the coolest thing ever.  I want peg boards everywhere!

Underneath, extra tools and coal for the grill.  As you may have noticed from a previous photo there is also a new shelf that Justin got from Lowe’s.

Which is now being used as our shoe rack.  Is it sad that Justin has fancier shoes than me?  He also built a rack for his hockey sticks.

I think he may like storing and organizing as much as me.  Now I get excited when the garage door opens and I get to see all of this sick organization!

Oh and here is a full view of the garage…

More organization…

I can’t help it, I just love organizing everything.  I just love the feeling of having everything neat, clean and in it’s own spot.  You may think I am nuts, but it is one of my favorite things to do.  I unfortunately did not take any before pictures.  Pretty much the best part is looking at a before and after, but I do not have that(I suck). I started with the laundry room.  This is what it looked like when we moved in…

The shelves had accumulated quite a bit more stuff since then,  so this picture doesn’t really do it justice.  It now looks like this…

I clearly still need to paint in here.  Next I organized under the sink…

I think everything needs a bin, I got these at Target in the dollar section.  I packed the first one with rags that I use for cleaning and dusting.  The second has cleaning products that I do not use as often, the next has garbage bags and magic erasers. The last has cleaning products I use more often, like Lysol wipes, dawn dish soap, pinesol etc. and right in front of that one is febreze duster, Lysol multipurpose cleaner and Windex, things I use on a more daily basis.  In the basket on the left-hand side there there are dishwashing tabs.  Above that is a hanging basket with sink plugs, a scrub brush and unused sponge. Did I mention I’m crazy? Here’s a closer look…

and

I then worked on the pantry, which is jam-packed.  It was pretty organized to begin with I just moved some things around.

The basket on the top has extra napkins and paper plates.  The urban outfitters bag has grocery bags that we use to pick up dog poop, oh ya! The two bins on the bottom are dog food, one for each dog.  Charlie eats an expensive low ingredient food because he has allergies, Zack can eat anything so we don’t buy him the real expensive stuff.  I then worked on the hall closets.

I began by removing everything and washing it all.  From the move things just seemed kind of dirty to me, so I wanted to start fresh.  I then folded everything and put sheet sets inside one of the alike pillow cases to keep the whole set together.  So when you need a new set you just grab the pillow case and everything is inside, no need to search for a missing sheet.  I put everything in alike piles, sheets with sheets, blankets with blankets, etc.

Then I started putting everything back in.  Big blankets on top with a couple misc pillows.  Next beach towels and a basket, then guest towels the next shelf down.  After that a large down comforter, then sheet sets and small throw blankets.  And on bottom extra bath mats and more sheet sets. On to the next closet which is pretty simple..

On top beach mats and a basket filled with photo albums. Then coats, they don’t get used too much here in FL.

On the bottom, just the good old dyson.  As I previously mentioned my parents, sister and brother in-law are coming to visit very soon! Woot woot! So next I worked on the guest bath.  I am trying to make it a little more convenient for guests to use.

Under the sink is, you guessed it dog bathing supplies haha.  The other side…

A basket with extra TP, extra klenex box, jar with tampons(there are girls visiting, you never know) and a jar with extra razors.

On the counter top I added a glass with new toothbrushes and toothpaste, you never know who’s going to forget their toothbrush!  Some lotion, handsoap and a jar with Q-tips.

A basket on the back of the toilet with some more TP and air freshener.  This bathroom is so far from done,  I just need to give it a little love so my family has everything they may or may not need.

Organizing closets and storage

In case you don’t already know… I really like organizing.  I think it is important for everything to have a place, that way you never lose anything. Justin thinks I am annoying because everything has to go back in it’s place.  Even though he is pretty organized himself(thank goodness.)  In our apartment everything had it’s place already, but here in our new home that’s not the case.  So, I spent my rainy Saturday going through everything that hadn’t been touched since we moved in.  This is what I was tackling…

This is the closet in the guest room I have yet to paint.  Just a mess of junk shoved in a closet.  Next I will show the other guest closet in the room I have painted gray.  I didn’t get a good before picture because I had already started removing some items.

I had already taken out a bin and our suitcases.

So my first step is to get into those bins and find out what’s inside…

First up some random decorations and kitchen stuff…

and tons of extra picture frames that I didn’t even remember I had(sorry about the blurry picture.)  I sorted through, took some frames that I wanted to use, moved some things to the kitchen and put some holiday decorations to the side.  Next up…

Christmas decorations,  I didn’t unpack this bin because I knew it was all Christmas decorations.  I did however add a couple that I found in the previous bin.

Fall and halloween decorations, a whole bin full.  I did empty this one.

I found a couple odd items in this bin and also…

some Easter decorations.  I repacked the bin a little better with the halloween and fall things first.

I still had remaining room so I packed in the Easter stuff as well.

Next I found this bin which was full of Justin’s school and accounting books and folders.  Pretty cool stuff in here. I added a few other accounting books I found in a duffel bag, then I closed this sucker up.

The next bin had a little bit of everything, Justin let me know he had packed this one.  It had some dog stuff, some decorations, a cooler, a poster, some paper, a bag with cords in it, a hunting license and hunting hat.  I just put the items in this one in piles and moved them around the house to whichever room they belong.  I then took the remaining things and packed them into the empty bins.  I had picture frames and decorations left.  So I packed one bin with frames, then the other with decorations.  I then labeled all of the bins, so when christmas comes around I don’t have to open every bin to find the christmas stuff.

I then put the bins back in the guest closet, eventually I think they will end up in the attic but for now they will remain where they are.

It really does not look too different, I wish I had gotten a real before picture with suitcases and other junk stuffed in.

As for the other closet…

Neither look too extremely changed, but I now know everything that is in those closets and it is all easy to find.