the craft rookie: organize my life...

So, for as long as I can remember, I have been an organizer. When my mom used to take me to the grocery store with her, I would sit in the cart and arrange all of the items she picked up off the shelf by type of food and shape of the container. I was 6.

For people who have met me lately, my "organized" mindset has not necessarily come across. With being a teacher and managing my life outside of work, I have allowed myself to get MAJORLY disorganized - to a point where I was embarrassed to allow even my roommate to see my personal space in our house.

So, I went for a MAJOR overhaul of my bedroom, office, and bathroom; and, lucky enough for you, I took photos of the before and after!

Are you ready for this journey?

I promise to not get too personal... :)

Bathroom

This was the room that I started with, mainly because it was the lesser of 2 evils, and because I found some ideas for how to organize on Pinterest.

Here are some BEFORE shots of the chaos:

BEFORE: The top of the linen closet.

BEFORE: The bottom of the linen closet.


BEFORE: The cabinet where I used to keep my medicine.

BEFORE: Under the sink storage (left side).

BEFORE: Under the sink storage (middle cabinet).

BEFORE: Under the sink storage (right side).

BEFORE: Under the sink storage.

I decided that I desperately needed a neat way to organize all this stuff, so I went to Wal Mart and found these cute canvas containers for $1.97 each.

IN PROGRESS: Linen closet

IN PROGRESS: Linen closet.


IN PROGRESS: Old medicine cabinet.

AFTER: Under the sink storage.

AFTER: Under the sink storage (left side).

AFTER: Under the sink storage (middle cabinet).

AFTER: Under the sink storage (right side).

AFTER: Old medicine cabinet.

AFTER: Linen closet

AFTER: Linen closet.

I used clothespins and scrapbook paper to label each of the canvas containers.

I enjoy a little humor in my day :)

While I was at it and on a roll, I also organized my bobby pins with a magnetic strip. Yet another idea breathed to life by Pinterest.

The nice thing is that not only are bobby pins magnetic, but so are a lot of the other tools I use often in my "beauty" regimen.

The Office

This is the room that I am truly embarrassed of...

Oh, God...it's like ripping off a bandaid. Here we go. My Before pics:

This is just ridiculous...I honestly used my office as a "catch-all" room for things that I didn't know where to put them.

Ugh...

Not as bad, but I HATED that I didn't have anywhere to put my craft stuff!

This is where I had the majority of my frustration. That pink and cream bag was where I kept all of my fabric. I never remembered what patterns I had bought and what I had just liked in the store. So, every time I wanted to use fabric for a craft, I had THAT monster to dig through!

My closet. The shoes...oh, the shoes. I have NEVER had a good way to organize those!

More of my closet. The upper storage bugs me. I felt as though I wasn't using my space to it's fullest potential!

And, finally, here are the wonderful AFTER photos:

First, I cleaned up all that mess and trash that was on the floor. My trashcan was full very quickly.

Then, I took care of the bookshelf. I LOVED organizing that bookshelf!

I took that fabric bag, and brought the fabric out in the open! I also used the same canvas containers from Wal Mart ($1.97 each) and clothespins with scrapbook paper as labels for each of the containers.

The bottom of the bookshelf. The bottom plastic container is for felt, and the cream canvas container is for Yarn.

The final look of the bookshelf after being organized :) OHHHH, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Every time I walk in to my office, I look at this bookshelf and smile. I'm in love.

I also created this little ditty so that I can keep my blog ideas written down. My next on the list is to create a Home Organizing Binder. Not that I have any kids or a spouse to take care of, but I just love the idea of them. So, I'll find a way to make it work :)

The closet at the end. The shoes still bug me. I hate having them all spread out on the floor of my closet, but, alas, beggers can't be choosers. I don't have any other ideas for how to store my mondo loads of shoes. In the left side, where you can't really see them, I have stacks of summer flip-flops (since they are out of season), and sneakers that I don't use often.

The closet with more fulfilling storage usage. Notice, that I put my closed-toe flats in the small space between the hanging bar and the shelf storage. I had been trying to figure out how best to utilize this (wasted) space. I'm pretty pleased with my decision!