Labels

I love labels! 

Not as much for fashion/home decor as for organization.

Say "hello" to my new little friend:

I've been meaning to buy a label maker for way too long and finally found myself in a Staples for a non work related reason and picked one of these babies up for 1/2 off!

and

then

she 

went

label

crazy

.......

{all of Jeremy's project plans are labeled by last name of client}

 {my craft drawers}

 {Jeremy's small hardware drawers}

 {And far too many other things to show without getting embarrassed}

I was also reminded to label my baking/cooking canisters.

Thanks to Martha Stewart, I labeled my canisters with cute and perfectly editable labels.

The trick to labeling: stop yourself before you start labeling the utensil drawers and coffee mug cupboard :)

Jeremy's shop and our chimney

As Jeremy's work trips have become extended and more frequent, his shop has become more and more of a nightmare. Finding a paint brush became impossible without a phone call in order for him to help navigate me through the mess and arrive at where he hopefully left one last. In addition and most importantly, the lack of organization was increasing the amount of time it took for him to get out the door and start his day. So, organizing the mess and sorting through his shop went on our list. I'm kicking myself for not taking some before pictures but I'm also glad to not possibly embarrass ourselves with how bad it got!

So here's his shop completely organized with our camping gear/hiking/floating gear on the left and stacks of lumber on the right. Everything is super easy to get to and he's now able to see what lumber he has on hand so he's not buying doubles (I've said this before but lack of organization can seriously get expensive if you're constantly buying doubles of something you already had but couldn't find)

We got these shelves to stack his plumbing bins/painting/electrical/grout and tile work bins, his many bags of different colored grout and mortar, tools, etc so he's able to clearly see what he has and where it is and grab it and go. There is plenty of shelf space left for any tools that are typically kept in his truck to be stored in the shop instead.

This was my biggest contribution. Jeremy had bags of screws and nails and bolts, you name it all over. Not to mention the loose nails/etc that were scattered on the floor and in every nook and cranny of his work truck and shop. I will eventually label everything. But for now, row by row, he has organized hardware.

Our poor ceilings have taken a serious beating. Partly due to a desperately needed new roof, which we thankfully took care of last fall. Also partly due to a poorly sealed chimney. So, before we repaired the ceilings, we had to take care of the root of the problem on the roof. Again, no before picture, but I'm happy to say that our chimney is now sealed and mortared.

CHECK, CHECK!

Spring Cleaning...

...that I didn't have time to post about until summer. Well, it's sort of summer. Who am I kidding, especially if you live in Oregon it is certainly NOT quite summer! It seems to be closer to summer than it is when most people consider their cleaning/organizing sprees to be "spring cleaning" , yes? Anyway... I had a few items on my list that have been crossed off that I was able to do completely on my own and am very proud of function and neatness of the outcome. It was fun for Jeremy to come home from being out of town to a considerably more organized bedroom and bathroom.

Exhibit A:

Before

I found this jewelry organizer at Bed Bath & Beyond. It only stores my costume type jewelry, which took up a significant amount of space behind my bathroom cupboard door. The organizer is on a closet hanger and hangs very nicely with my dresses. An added perk: I don't have to carefully peel open my cupboard door in caution of the clanking the jewelry did before.

Exhibit B:

Before:

I got these belt organizers at Bed Bath & Beyond

I can't tell you how good that blank wall makes me feel!

More Organization

These two things were not on my list, but certainly needed to be done. I saw the closet organization on a new blog I'm following and was inspired to also do my spice cupboard.

This is the mess I had to tackle. Storage? Yes, more from the dollar store.

After:

The spice cupboard was a request from my husband to tackle. He said it's the only place in the kitchen that drives him crazy. No problem, dear... I got it! With a little help from a -gasp- lazy susan and a napkin holder for my yeast/seasoning packets.

Before:
After:
No, the cupboards aren't pretty and yes they are going to be ripped out. I just thought I would throw that out there :) But for now I have much more room in both the linen closet and my cupboards!

A weird thing to blog about

This is my beauty supply/whatever you want to call it collection cupboard. And until recently it has been a nightmare, pulling things in and out of, to get ready for the day.

Yes this is a weird thing to blog about, but I am always a giant fan of things that are organized and in the end makes things sooo much easier in my daily routine.

I am currently storing my nail polishes in a vase (seriously, who needs five-thousand vases??)
I'm storing my makeup brushes in a planter with decorative rocks to help separate them
And I've always stored my dangley (is that what everyone calls them? I've called them that since admiring my mothers earings growing up) earings from a martini glass.

Jeremy just built me a little steppey thingy for all of my beauty products and -holy cow- has it made my life easier. No more knocking things over as I pull them in and out of the cupboard.
Don't worry these cupboards and lining will be gone soonish.

Hurray for more organization!!

Recipes

I am anti-clutter...ish.... The "ish" is an addition to that

statement that I am recently grasping.
The "ish" is referring to the fact that I can tolerate it,
when there is no use in spending time to pick something up
or organizing it when it's going to be torn apart in the
near future anyway. This "ish" can be summed up into picking
your battles and using your time wisely.
For example, this is my junk drawer

This will always be my junk drawer so I am safe to keep it up every once in awhile.
(Although, honestly, it always looks like this so I don't really need to organize it)
But, this is what I mean. Even my junk drawer is organized, but our office...during tax season.. when you own a construction company... is cluttery.
There is no use (and would actually be extremely counter-productive)
in cleaning up all of the paper work after prepping for part of a day.

I do, however have some hidden exceptions around the house.
My recipe collection is one of those exceptions.
I used to just store the ones I found or created in a little recipe box and just
dug through them when I needed to. But lately it has been truly been on my
nerves that I don't have them organized.

So I started with this mess And eventually got everything organized into a recipe binder that was given to me as a gift for my bridal shower (3 years ago... I know... I know). I have the fondest memories with this particular gift, everyone who attended the shower put their favorite recipes into the book. It's fun to cook other peoples' recipes, especially if those people are family.

And here's what I ended up with.

The box is going to go into our baby closet.. Once we have kids we are going to compile our childrens' favorite recipes from their childhood to send with them once they are out of the house.. Did that just sound as crazy as I think it did??
How's that for over planning, eh?