DIY Organization Projects #1, #2, #3, and Plans for #4

Preface

A Little Background

I have an office supply fetish. Understatement of the year, I know. However, with a family of 4.5+3 (4 full-time, 1 part-time, 3 pets) to support, I cannot just go out and buy more organization supplies, or the best bulletin board ever, etc. What is most sad about having spent years and hundreds on trying to get organized, is that nothing ever sticks or works long or is not quite what I needed.

Crafty Girl

Now I have a stepdaughter who is always wanting to craft things, but she's a bit scatterbrained and ADD to boot. She is in such a rush to get projects done because her mind is already shooting towards the next project. She also tends to give up on projects when they start to bore her, which is unfortunately very early in the project, about 80% of the time. In her defense, she does come up with some great ideas and it is not her fault that she does not have the knowledge base for ideas on how to implement those great ideas.

Unfinished

We also have a problem in our house of not completing projects because we run out of supplies, or had the wrong supply, or we got busy and haven't gotten back "A Round To-it". For example, not entirely our fault since we rent and are only allowed so much leeway and some things must be taken care of by a landlord, we started to repaint and fix some problem areas in our bathroom. It became clear that we needed to strip all the paint from the ceiling and mud/reapply paint. Three and a half years later, the ceiling is only half mudded.

Therefore, I am not saying my stepdaughter is the exception to the household rule; she's just a very good example of the norm.

My Little Hoarder

My ADHD son is not so crafty, but he's a hoarder. After having lost so much during moves early in life, he feels like he must hold onto every scrap of paper, drawing, broken toy he's ever owned. I have attempted to throw away toys and he used to bawl his little eyes out. I attempted to throw them out when he wasn't looking and he found them in the trash. I attempted to be sneaky by taking the broken toy straight to the dumpster when he was asleep and in less than a week he was of course asking for that exact toy. My dilemma is that I cannot lie to my kids. So when I told him it was thrown out for being broken, he insisted it could have been fixed.

I'm such a horrible mom, right?

In any event, with craft supplies and toys and books and clothes and shoes and a very tiny house, I've had to get creative with organization though the place still looks like a pigsty half the time.

The Main Event

Organization Project #1

This past spring, Stepdaughter and I worked on a project for storing office utensils above the monitor of my new computer desk. A Clearanced wine rack, empty tin food cans, and a little bit of leftover hand-me-down paint and we're in business.

Rainbow Cans

1. Paint cleaned cans in desired colors. Make sure you trim or file down any rough edges on the inside.

Rainbow Images

2. Design and paint clip-art style images on the cans as desired. Make kids part of the project, especially if it is for their rooms.

In Wine Rack

3. Added cans to a cheap clearanced wine rack at Gordmans. We do not drink wine or alcohol of any kind, but they have so many options for wine bottle organization that you just can't help but use it for other organizational needs.

On Wall

4. Hang on wall. Make sure you have enough clearance for your items to be removed like that ruler on the far left. The edge of the above cabinet is directly above so I must tilt the ruler away from me to get it out of the can. Any lower on the wall and the rack would have been hidden by the monitor completely.

My desk has no pencil drawer, and the old area we kept our pens and pencils is all the way across the room. Not effective use of movement. This was the cute and fun solution.

Organization Project #2

Kitchen Color Scheme

I needed to figure out how to reorganize our kitchen. It is very long and narrow and we need to be able to eat in it because ADD and ADHD kids with an ADD mom watching TV while trying to eat? Not a good idea. Food gets shoveled in mouths without much thought to what the food is or tastes like. (Plus I was getting quite tired of cleaning crumbs off my couch.)

The way we had it set up until this past weekend had us all crossing paths trying to do things at cross-purposes. Hot pads were in the drawer furthest away from the stove. Mixing bowls, casserole dishes, measuring spoons and cups were in a rolling kitchen cart on the other side of the room behind the table. You get the drift.

I found some wire baskets with front card slots at Gordmans that weren't too badly priced. Not the exact hues, but there is red, yellow, and blue. We have three sizes of rags and have them separated for the kids so they can grab a job appropriate sized rag.

I traced one of my husband's business cards onto a piece of white card stock 3 times. Then construction paper in the same colors as the baskets and made them a little smaller. The card stock and the construction paper were old craft supplies of my grandmother's and rather old. They look aged like the wire baskets.

End Result

Organization Project #3

So our bathroom is really tiny. I have done everything I can to maximize space. I'm not done with it, but it looks far better than it did when it was just a place to clean up. Now I can take a soak in the tub in a peaceful environment. Until kids knock on the door every five minutes of course.

Shelves are a must have when you have those 4.5+3 individuals' belongings in such a tiny space. To the Right is the tub/shower combo and it takes up the whole depth of the room.

This picture is taken from the doorway. Behind the door is a short tower shelving unit, also in white with spare towels, hand towels and washcloths.

If you can see in the mirror, under the window are a collection of coat hooks holding the towels for myself and all three kids and to the side of the sink, the hand towel.

More needs done with this space, but we're getting closer to organized.

For example, the Q-Tips and cotton balls and other flotsam took up room in individual containers and were always getting knocked on the floor. I'm pretty sure that half the Q-Tips I bought in the past 4 years were never used because of this. But I wouldn't let anyone put them back in the container after they fell behind the toilet. No brainer.

These little baskets were again found at Gordmans on 50% off clearance, so essential B1G1F. Cut some card stock to compliment the room's colors so the Q-Tips don't come out through the wire. Looks fantastic.

This beautiful lady has nothing to do with organization, but she suits the room and the theme I'm trying to go for so I had to brag about her.

The two cabinets on either side of her are hardly ever used because the doors are opaque. Many places in our home are an 'out of sight, out of mind' kind of place. This means that for the kids and my husband, items and tools they need to get ready in the morning must be right in their face or they forget to use them.

This includes everything from floss (which they still forget anyway), brushing their teeth, cleaning out their ears, and the list goes on. This area is a big RE-DO on my To-Do- List.

Organization Project #4

Back to the computer desk. It is a cute and quaint little desk. Two file drawers, one for business, the other for home. Pull out keyboard tray works great for keeping keyboard and mouse out of the way when I need to write. It is however problematic to write on a desk that has papers just thrown or piled on every flat service.

Since there are plenty of DIY sites, Pinterest posts, and HGN episodes on how to make a magazine file holder out of cardboard, cereal boxes, diaper boxes, etc. I won't bore with the details. Next DIY post will start with the end result photo and another round of Organization Projects.

Ciao! ~^..^~