Greg and I had a doozy of a weekend. We set out to tackle our major to-do list which consisted of boring stuff like filing, blog maintenance, getting the oil changed, clearing off the patio, etc. Just when we were about done… it’s Monday. Ugh.
Nevertheless, over the course of our ultra busy weekend, I managed to finally finish unpacking my office stuff and load the final pieces into the new storage furniture (more on those here). One of the things I wanted to keep in the tall storage cabinet is a set of my favorite and most referenced books. The only problem was that I needed a bookend. Rather than going out and buying a set of bookends, when I only needed one, I put on my thinking cap and decided to make one.
I grabbed one of the extra bricks we have stacked up next to the carport and wrapped it with a piece of scrapbook paper. Yes, so simple it’s stupid. Since it looked like a plain gray box, I thought it needed something a little extra. I ordered a vinyl number 7 (for $5) from the go-to queen of vinyl, Shelley, over at The House of Smiths.
I followed her easy instructions and instantly had a one-of-a-kind, personalized bookend. Yes, a ridiculously simple solution. My favorite kind.
A full “Storage Cabinets: Cribs Style” post is coming your way on Wednesday, but until then, here’s a sneak peak – and what the new bookend looks like in the newly organized cabinet:
Since a post is always 100% better with a cute photo of a furry animal, here’s a shot of Bentley basking in the sunlight on the patio this weekend…
Operation Organization is in full swing here in my office. As I type, I’m surrounded by stacks of papers waiting to be filed. My current desk has two large(ish) filing drawers, but I’m not going to be keeping this desk forever. Therefore, a new solution is in order. And until I find one, they are scattered on my desk like so…
Having all of these loose papers around is driving me crazy – which is why a trip to the store is in order for today. Nevertheless, I keep having to remind myself that organizing is a lot like sunburns… it always looks worse before it gets better. Over on the other side of the room, I’m just about finished organizing all of my “crafty stuff” in the cabinets. I’m planning on doing a “big reveal” post of the whole organized kit and caboodle next week – complete with the requested ins and outs of the Martha Stewart Craft furniture.
One of my favorite things about organizing is thinking outside the box. Finding things to repurpose makes my day. I picked up this metal utensil caddy from Target for $14. I love the combination of the gray metal finish on the outside and the shiny coral finish on the inside. It also rotates, which is a plus. At the time, I wasn’t completely sure what I was going to use it for, but I knew it had optimal organizational potential (wow, Greg’s vocabulary is rubbing off). When I got home, I remembered I had some chalkboard labels I’ve been wanting to use. I love these labels because you can write, erase, and write again. They also peel off really easily, so if you don’t get the label on there perfectly straight, you can peel it off and try again.
Put the two together, and you have a handy dandy and oh-so-cute utensil caddy for Sharpies and colored pencils. I used one section for black Sharpies (every household needs a good amount of these!), one for my collection of colored Sharpies, and the other for colored pencils.
Every time I see it sitting in the cabinet, all of it’s cute, colorful and labeled goodness makes me happy. I also like being able to just pick up the caddy and bring it to wherever I’m working in my office or around the house. Who knew an utensil caddy could be so useful?
So, how about you… Do you repurpose things for the sake of organization? Any tips/tricks to share?
These days, it’s looking like a semi-empty, a tad less of a hot mess…
Knowing we’d be in the market for a new desk eventually, we went ahead and donated it along with the two small hutches. We also moved the small thrift table to another room in the house (it’s currently floating between the guest room and Greg’s office), and we put the second orangish/redish chair in our “holding room” (aka Greg’s office). So now the room is feeling more and more like a clean slate. Yep, and I’m oh so pleased to say that we finally pulled the trigger and ordered the Craft Space Storage Cabinet and a Eight-Drawer Flat-File Cabinet by Martha Stewart Living in addition to a matching hutch to go on top of the Flat-File Cabinet:
Even though they took forever to put together, I’m really happy with them! Like, really, really happy. They are solid as a rock and there seems to be a place for everything – even a perfect-sized compartment for legal pads! And Sharpies!!! Oh, Martha, you do know the ways to my heart. And check out how DEEP these drawers are…
So you can get an idea of how big the drawers are, those are full-sized legal pads.
The major thing that sold us on these were the extra deep flat file drawers. They are the perfect width for storing the destination prints we sell over in our Etsy store and have proved to come in very handy when keeping everything organized. When we get a new order, we know right where everything is and how many we have of each print.
I haven’t even begun to fill up the furniture, which is awesome! When I do, I’ll be sure to give you guys a “behind closed drawers Cribs edition” post.
Now that the big storage pieces are in place, it’s a lot easier to see the vision for the rest of the room. The plan I sketched out before we bought the storage furniture (the first photo of this post) is still on the to-do list, just reversed (the tall piece will be on the right and the shorter piece will be on the left). As for my desk, I’ve had a doozy of a time trying to figure out where to put it. Do I put it on the same wall as the door to the kitchen, or on the outside wall so my back is to the dining room, our out in the middle of the room… or on the ceiling. I want to have a comfy working area, with lots of space to spread out whatever I’m working on while having optimal storage. After a lot of brainstorming, pinning, and bouncing ideas off my mom (yes, I’m a mamma’s girl), I think I’ve finally settled on a floorplan that will meet all my needs and wants…
Now that I look at it, I think, “Duh, that’s how this office was meant to be laid out.” I just wish it hadn’t taken me so long to figure it out, haha! If that wasn’t enough revelation, I then came across this photo on Pinterest:
Done deal. Now if I can only make an awesome metal desk like that! Hmm… I should totally take up welding ; )
