Baskets to organize office supplies

Re-purposing a bookshelf in a closet is thinking outside the box.

This picture is actually looking into a closet.  I had a challenge with a client. Organize all these office supplies.  There was a small closet in the room and a bar across it and a couple of little shelves that had been left by a previous owner. There was no need for clothes for this office….and I wanted to utilize this space.

The client had  this bookshelf that wasn’t being used.  I did all the measurments before I had it moved into the room.  It was going to fit! I was So excited!

Now for the containers.  I wanted to use a clear plastic so that you could easily see what was in them.  I measured the shelf height and length to make sure I could get the most use out of the space…knowing I was buying the right size baskets or plastic boxes.

If you notice I have the lids off the boxes.  It would look very nice and neat to have them on, but would things get put back as easy if you had to lift a lid to do it?  This was a place that I could leave them open and easily accessible.  But….I did put the lid directly under the basket so that you don’t have to worry about losing them…and they are there if you want to use them.

Holiday Decorations

Holiday Decoration Storage

Is Your House A Mess At Holiday Time?

Storing Holiday Decorations

What do you do with all those Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations, Halloween ghost and goblins, Easter baskets, New Years Eve and 4th of July decorations? They can take up a lot of storage space (especially Christmas if you are anything like me). But stores are gearing up and selling a lot more decorations for all holidays and it is easy to jump into the decorating phase. I saw a house this Halloween that had more decorations and blow up characters and lights than you usually see at Christmas.

**You need to make sure you have the room to store them if you buy them.

 

Clear Colored Plastic Containers work best.
I suggest that you look for the clear colored containers they have out for that holiday. I think these are great!! I can go down and immediately find my Halloween decorations because they are the ones in the orange and black (clear orange) containers. Of course they are still labeled..but it makes it so easy. My Easter containers are pink and Christmas is red and green. Again I still go for the clear over solid non-see through bins. So if you can’t find the colored clear ones, then just get clear. Being able to see what is in the at a glance is time saving!
So before you buy any more decoration, make sure you have the room to store them, then find clear colored bins to store each separate holiday in. Still label it and getting out decorations will become a very simple thing!

If you realize that you do not have the storage space for the decorations, that you have decorations in many different areas of your home (due to lack of adequate storage)… then what you more than likely need to do is to sort out your holiday decorations into what you really need each year and what you haven’t used in several years.

Garage Organization

Garage “After” Organizing

I spent about 7 hours today organizing my clients four car garage. We had already sorted through his things and gotten rid of a lot of things.
I purchased many plastic bins in 5 different sizes to work with. I knew that I would be able to get 2 across on the shelves and I messaged the height (hence the reason for several sizes).
I used bins where I could to keep things together and to be able to label things. I wasn’t able to use the lids on all of the bins (example bug sprays and things that were taller). But I did make sure that I put the lids underneath the containers even if we didn’t use them on top, just so they wouldn’t get lost.
I did label the bins at the end, not as I went. There were times that I found out I had more than I thought or less than I thought and ended up changing the size of bin that I used.
I was very pleased with the result.

See the Garage “Before” Organizing