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The organization bug has bit me again, and I had a little fun with it.  This time, I decided to tackle a craft paint situation.

I am a craft paint lover because for around $1 a tube, you get bold color that can cover just about any helpless object.  Vases, planters, Easter eggs, art.... I have been known to head to my craft paint bin frequently.  However, up until recently, I really struggled to store my collection.  The colors seem pretty enough to be on display, but I also want to control the clutter and keep them corralled.  Another goal was to ensure I wasn't doubling up on colors I already owned.

Once I found a container to store the paints {more on that in a moment}, I instantly realized that once the paints would be placed inside, I could no longer identify the color inside of the tubes.  I would be looking straight down onto the craft paints when opening the lid, and I wanted to be able to quickly identify the color and grab what I needed in a jiff.

So, I spun my wheels for a moment and decided to plop down in front of the TV, catch up on some Kardashians and get crafty with my paint organization.


It basically consisted of me using a pack of All Purpose Adhesive Labels I found at the Dollar Store, combined with a circle paper punch and some Q-Tips.  I punched the labels with the circle punch and painted each color of paint onto the circle which I then stuck to the lid.


You probably could just paint dots right onto the lids themselves, however, I am not sure how well the paint would stay, and the cray cray in me likes the nice perfect circles.


It is important to have fun when organizing.  Have I mentioned that before?  If not, make organizing fun.  Seriously, it is so much better if you do.


Once I finished labeling the bottles, I tucked them into the new storage box.


I found this glass terrarium from HomeGoods.  It was a crazy bright blue that made no sense in our home, but that wasn't anything a good ol' can of spray paint couldn't handle.

And here she is, all pretty and happy on the counter in my studio space.


By painting the dots on top of the paint containers, I can see all of my colors and grab what I need in the moment of a project.  I can even tell the sheen of the paint, as some are glossy, some are pearly and others are satin.  I give this project a nice big gold star!

These simple and fun projects are my favorite.  And organizing while catching up on bad TV receives a thumbs up as well!

What is your favorite show to watch while you get your organizing on?

As we have been spending our efforts on other areas of our home over the previous couple of years, our storage areas have suffered.  We have been spending a huge amount of time and effort focusing on these areas to put in place sufficient storage solutions, to ensure that these spaces don't fall to the wayside again as we continue to work on the remainder of our home.  When it came to under the stairs, it all started with an exciting plan!


But let's back up a moment...

Once upon a time we built a house with under stair storage.  Our basement was unfinished for many years, and under the stairs held some of our home building remnants.  After we finished the space, it started to hold bins.  Those bins contained our memories and were stacked all nice and neat in a row.  And then I added bins of toys, and baskets, and home decor, and binders and things to donate and projects to work on and more memories.... oh my.  As I added more and more {it was for sure becoming a stash and dash zone}, things were becoming more and more challenging to get to.  And things started building up and piling and the entire closet became a giant chaotic embarrassing mess.

Sometimes I get so excited to dive into a project, that I start working on it before realizing I should have stopped for two seconds and taken a before photo.  So, I took one of my studio right after the area under the stairs was completely empty.


Just imagine all of that, plus the same amount behind me, all stored in a not-so-neat way in the 3 1/2' x 8 3/4' storage space.  Not cool.  But what was cool, was having a great, blank slate to play with!


By emptying it out completely, we took advantage of the chance to finish the walls and give them a fresh coat of paint along with some pretty white trim.


Then I had to look at everything I wanted to put back into this closet, and come up with a plan to keep it tidy for the long haul.

There were two areas of the storage space I wanted to address.  Being that the closet is right off of my office/craft room, it was important for me for this space to be the hub of all of my projects.  Once we emptied under the stairs, we donated about 40% of the items!  It was amazing.  So you would think I wouldn't have all that much to put back into this space, however, I still had quite a few things that came out of our utility room and other items that never had a proper home in my office, that needed a place to call home.

So phase one was to use an existing cabinet to turn it into a functional gift wrap/packaging station.  This has been on my drool list since laying my eyes on the Martha Stewart station a few years back.  Phase two was to add in a wall of drawer storage, allowing me to navigate a "hallway" to access everything being stored in the awkwardly shaped space.  When items under the stairs were stacked from the back forward, I had set myself up to fail.  Items in the back were lost, not simple to access, and never maintained.  That created a forward motion for the rest of the closet, and eventually, I had to run for cover upon opening the door.

As I mentioned, I initially thought about splurging on the Martha Stewart cabinets and hutch to put together the primo storage space for gift wrap and boxes and bows.  But the cost of the cabinet combination alone came in at $520!

For the drawer system, again, I was dreaming big.  I have purchased one small set of Elfa drawers in my life {to use in my wardrobe}, and I heart them like crazy.  The quality is amazing and they roll so nice and are extremely sturdy.  So, I initially came up with a plan to check out the Elfa system again.  I am OK in investing in good quality if it is something I think will last the life of the house.  Sticker shock!  $540 for the system I wanted to build out of their drawer frames and baskets.  Yeah, no thank you.

So, we were resourceful, pulled a cabinet from the laundry room, and with the help of some inexpensive wooden dowels, scrap wood, paint and hooks, for around $20, I was able to create my own gift wrap station!


And for the price difference, I am pretty sure the amount of joy I had for this project is unexplainable!


IKEA makes a drawer system which is similar to the Elfa.  However, it is IKEA and not Container Store, so there is a huge price difference.  When I pieced together a similar setup at IKEA using the same number of frames and baskets as I initially planned with the Elfa, it came in at $184.  Sold.  That meant two tall frames, two short frames, 10 small baskets, 5 large baskets and three toppers.  I will admit, the IKEA frames are not as sturdy and the drawers don't roll as nicely, but that is such a huge price difference for the same amount of storage!  It just made the most sense to me given how the space was going to be used.  To glam them up a bit, I gave them some gold spray paint lovin'.


So in the end, my dream vs. reality:

{ALGOT system from IKEA, Martha Stewart Gift Wrap Station, Elfa system from Container Store}

You have seen the gift wrap awesomeness, now, for the remainder of the space under the stairs!


Please forgive the photography.  This closet is so small that with my lens, I was having a heck of a time getting it all into one photo, and no tri-pod could be used either.


I am over the moon for the gold drawer system.  I think the gold spray paint should hold up fairly well, as it had about a month of cure time while we finished the closet space.  And if not, I have a small paint brush for touch-ups.


To label all of the drawer fronts, I added my favorite sticky bookplates found at Staples.  There are always coupons for the Martha collection, so I pick them up whenever I can get them on sale.


I know in the photos above that it looks tight, but we measured for this project about eighteen times, certain we couldn't make it work.  But it did!  And I can easily walk in and access the contents of the drawers from sides because of the small "hallway".


Please forgive my awkwardness.  I hate being in front of the camera, but I asked the hubby to take a few photos to show that I can easily use this tight space.


 
So now what do I have stored in these drawers?  SO much goodness!

• Camera accessories: Lighting, lenses, camera straps, camera bag inserts, flip cam and smaller digital camera, chargers, etc...  Anything camera related now lives in the top drawer.

• Planner and binder making accessories:  Although I am not to a point where I have the resources and capacity to be mass producing these puppies in my Etsy shop, I do create them for locals on occasion and stock up on materials when I can get them on sale.  The binders and inserts and materials take up two drawers.

• Fabric:  Two drawers are dedicated to my years of fabric purchases for pillows, table runners, upholstery projects, curtain panels, etc.... 

The next cart holds home accessories and project materials.

• Accessories:  Candle votives, vases, figurines, etc... anything that I love that I set rotate out with other accessories around our home.  I am always collecting inexpensive votives and dishes from thrift stores because I love to use them for flowers, pens, paperclips, etc...
• Paint samples:  I purchase these to get a custom color on small painting projects.
• Trays:  Use these around the home as well as for entertaining.  Mostly to corral items on a desk or dresser.
• Unfinished Projects:  I am always coming up with projects for spaces we are working on, but can't always get to them right away.  This drawer holds those.
• Project Life:  I am planning on starting back up in 2014 with a photo per day, and use Project Life to document that.  
• Artwork:  We have a stash of frames from 12 years of hitting up IKEA and thrift shops, and I have been wanting to do a gallery wall for.ever.  I have been saving some canvases and prints and also needed a drawer to stash frame glass and mats.
• Shelf Liner:  Always lining cabinets and drawers around here, also love to use it to cover shoe boxes and cereal boxes!

• Free:  This drawer is basically a drawer which can be used to expand my storage, but in the meantime, I toss my extra printer cartridge in there.
• Frames:  We have a stack of large frames tucked at the end of the drawer setup.  All of the smaller sized frames from over the years, now fit inside of the final drawer.

And that completes the full under the stairs closet tour!




It was so fun to play the High/Low game in this space.  And it really feels like I finally am setting up my work area for success.  I love having a designated place for current and planned projects, for home decor and accessories and for all of my wrapping supplies.  Smitten doesn't quite describe my feelings, over-the-moon-happy-in-love starts to cover it though....

Such a wonderful feeling to have the project crossed off of the list.  Although we still have a lot of work to do in the utility room and garage before calling the entire storage room overhaul complete, we are taking the rest of the year off from projecting and organizing to focus on our family.

Anyone else been high-fiving over a high/low storage solution you have implemented?  How do you make the most of your under the stairs storage space?

Happy Monday!  Today, I am participating in another color challenge with my some super dope blog friends!


You may remember a few months back, the color we were challenged to work with was pink and the hubby and I DIY'd a portable workstation.  This time around, we were challenged to play with gold!  I was so game, you don't even know.  I am accenting everything with gold as of late, so I knew it was the perfect time to integrate some gold into a project we had already in the works!

I don't know about you, but sometimes I have huge organizational aspirations.  I gaze at my piles and come up with these grand visions of awesomeness.  Then, life and budget happen and a lot of times I revert to getting crafty to organize those piles in a pretty way without breaking the bank. 

That is the situation with my wrapping paper supplies.  My supplies once lived in random piles and my stash would grow birthday after birthday and Christmas after Christmas.  Some items were stored in my studio, some items were stored with the Christmas supplies and others were stored with party decor.  I always save gift bags that we receive, and if I see them on sale, even stock up on a few extras for those last minute birthday party invites.  I had messy bins that needed to be addressed.  And don't get me started on pretty wrapping paper.  I end up using it to line drawers and cover shoeboxes far more than wrapping gifts, but I love it and collect it and needed a much better way than this to store it....


Sure, the basket was cute, but that paper was only a quarter of my collection.  And the paper continuously came unrolled and the edges were always ragged from the wire basket and improper storage method.

There are endless amazing ways to store gift wrap, such as an over the door organizer {genius idea} or under bed storage bins.  I knew I had more supplies than what an over the door organizer could accommodate; I also knew I may want to remove the closet door all together someday.  I also wanted to keep the wrapping supplies in my studio, which is where I work, craft, project and pretty much spend every last waking second.  Lastly, I wanted to set up a station that could potentially transform into a packaging station for my shop someday, if/when I get to that point.  Occasionally I ship things and keep shipping envelopes and packaging materials on hand, therefore, it only makes sense that these items live here as well.  I was longing for the wrapping paper to be stored in an easy to access way, which would allow for it to stay nice and neat in-between uses.  Oh!  And my ribbon collection also.  I had tried one of those sweet ribbon boxes, and was even planning on DIY'ing a few more, but I ultimately decided that there was a better, space saving solution.

This is the process I go through when taking on any organizing task.  I sit and create a wish list and narrow down the ways to ultimately store my belongings.  With all of these "wish list" items, I decided that a cabinet could do the trick.  And we already had one on hand!  We stole this one from the laundry room, which was previously storing linens.  While cleaning out the garage this past month, I was re-acquainted with another bookcase I had purchased on Craigslist about two years ago for the boy's shared bedroom, which ultimately didn't work out.  Now it will be getting a makeover and taking place of the white one in the laundry room {it makes more sense for the space size wise}.  That allowed me to take our laundry room cabinet and tuck it perfectly under the stairs.


To create the gift wrap organizational portion of this project, we picked up nine inexpensive 1/2" wooden dowels from Home Depot for around $1.50 each.  We also picked up a package of gold cup hooks.

My hubby found a scrap piece of wood, which he cut into 18 equal pieces.  I then painted each individual piece white to match the bookcase. 

I also painted the wooden dowels with an oil based liquid leaf paint, which I already had on hand, to give the dowels that pretty gold finish I was after!


Once all of the paint was dry, my hubby helped me install the hooks and dowels.  The hooks were screwed into each of the eighteen pieces of scrap wood.  The rest of the process went something like this:

1. Measure where you wish to place your dowels which will hold your gift wrap and/or ribbon spools.  My hubby did some math to ensure everything was equal and angled evenly on both sides.
2. Nail the scrap wood pieces into the side of the bookcase/cabinet.  We used our brad nailer.
3. Here you can see how all nine pieces on one side of the bookcases looked.  The opposite side was an identical mirrored image.
4. The gold dowels slide and clip right into the cup hooks.  They are loose enough to spin, yet tight enough to not pop out with some use.

Once all of the dowels were installed, I blasted some tunes, dumped all of my gift wrap supplies on the floor of my studio and spent a few hours organizing it all into bins and baskets.  Now, when I look into the closet under the stairs, I see this beautiful site!


Not a bad view right?  But wait; once you walk under the stairs, the view is even better up close!


I am completely obsessed.  My organizing lovin' heart couldn't be more thrilled with how well this cabinet worked out for this project!


With the exception of the two baskets on the bottom shelf, a hook for my scissors and an organizer for my thread and twine, we had everything else on hand.  Can you spot it all in this photo?  Where's Waldo?


Let's take a closer look shall we?  Sorry for photo overload.


The dowels are working great to not only hold the paper, but to easily pull the paper out to cut off a slice.  The other night, I took the entire roll out to wrap a few Christmas gifts, and just popped it back in when I was done.  I have a counter just outside of the closet, which is the perfect surface for wrapping.  And best of all, the paper is now going to last much longer, and the edges are going to stay nice and preserved!


The dowels also spin within the hooks, making it easy to pull some ribbon from a roll.


The next shelf holds even more goodies to make giving a bit easier.



The pink box and the white box were both purchased from IKEA awhile back, and are part of the KASSETT line.

The pink box is great for holding my supply of gift tags.  Tip: stock up on these after Christmas, they go on steep clearance and you get a lot for a little.  I like to make my own tags throughout the year, but around the holidays when I do more wrapping at once, it is nice to have a stash to grab from.


The white box is a document or art box, which is perfect for my gift bag collection.


You will also notice that this shelf holds my recently organized Washi Tape collection.


Along with a basket of miscellaneous items, including large rolls of twine, smaller ribbon rolls and paper slicing tools.


The final two baskets are organized greeting cards, which you can read about here, and an entire basket of Thank You cards, because I still believe in hand written gratitude.


The two baskets on the bottom shelf hold more of the bulky wrap items; gift boxes in one...


... and bows and tissue in another.  A few cheapy magazine holders were the perfect basket dividers for the pretties.


To label the baskets, I used some blank tags which I embellished with Washi Tape and added a clear label created with my label maker.


I was able to crawl into this sweet little space to snap a photo.  This completely filled my heart with JOY, considering a month ago I didn't even know what was being stored in here.  Piles and bins and years of "things", oh my!


The upper shelf has some more magazine files, these hold a few random supplies that needed a home, including store catalogs and mailing envelopes.


These little stacking boxes are one of my most favorite organizing containers.  I received them from the Storage Magazine crew when they came to photograph our house last year, but have found endless uses for them.


I labeled the boxes with some white vinyl cut with my Silhouette.  Simply darling!

On the back wall, we added a small hook to hold my good, gold scissors, which are not to be used for kids crafts or in the kitchen.  They are all mine!  Bahahahaha in my most devilish laugh!


The twine and thread holder, was originally this unfinished wooden one fro JoAnn {only $5 with a 50% off coupon}.  I removed the legs and gave it a coat of brilliantly bold pink spray paint.  Now, to learn how to master my sewing machine so I can put that thread to good use!


The acrylic organizer once held makeup in our bathroom, but has since been sitting in one of my piles in our utility room, waiting to be given new life.  Now, it holds a few of the smaller cards and office like items that I use when writing notes or putting together a small mailing.



To add a little extra colorful whimsy to the closet, I created a fun tissue paper tassel garland using a tutorial found here.  It is pinned up with push pins above the cabinet.


And that rounds out the tour!  Being that it is right off of my personal creative space, I am so lucky I got to add a little glam to the project!




You can bet this area has been getting used like crazy as of late!  It has been beyond convenient having every last item in one single place.  Everything is easy to access and maintain, and I now know what I need to stock up on, and what sales I can skip over this year!  After all of the cleaning out and purging we did last month, this feels like the best of rewards.

So that is how I integrated a little gold into my gift wrap storage project.  You can see how all of the other fabulous peeps used gold within their projects, by clicking the links below: