As we get settled into our new home, I have been working hard in finding great organizational ideas. I have a type "A" side of me that appreciates things having their very own place and with its very own purpose. Many of these ideas I have borrowed from others, but here they are with my own twist.
3M may have one of my new favorite lines of products...I hate the idea of putting nail, screws, and tacks all over my brand new walls; so I picked up a random assortment of products to give a try. (Honestly, with a hint of skepticism) Originally, I thought the prices were a little steep for their products, but they proved worth it. What I wish they would invent is a product to hang curtain rods without putting holes in the walls. If they could come up with something like that, I would probably buy stock in their company.
One of the products I picked up was the "Command Damage-Free Hanging". And here is how I used them:
They are VERY easy to install. Basically, they have adhesive on both sides of this strip. You stick it to wherever you would like a hanger, then stick a hanger to the adhesive. Then voila! You have a hanger. They hold great and legitimately hold more weight then I thought they would. I also installed two hangers in the laundry room/mud room right outside the garage to hang keys.
In addition to the hangers, I bought "picture hanging strips". I was even more skeptical about these. They are velcro-ish. But once again, thinking of my walls, I decided to give them a shot. And they worked great! They are extremely easy to install (in fact, they install in a *snap*--haha, you have to check them out to know what I mean). With these, the days of patching nail holes are over!
One of the biggest places I struggle with organization is the kitchen. Pots and pans & my plastic ware is always a mess. I'm still open to more ideas, but here is what I did to organize me pot lids. I love this idea because I don't have to search for the right size lid.
Then, of course, as many of you have already seen from me: my wash and dryer. I am IN LOVE with this set-up. Our washer and dryer is in a walk through area from our garage to our foyer/ entry, What I didn't want was dirty laundry in piles, mocking me, every time I leave the house. So with this, my dirty laundry is neatly tucked away and sorted under the units. What I also love about this, the front loaders are now the perfect height for me. No more switching laundry with my rear to the sky (even though Ian enjoyed that). And here is the final bonus, this set-up cost HALF what it would have cost to buy those factory pedestals.
Finally, my master closet. I tried to take a picture to demonstrate this point but I couldn't get the right angle. The master closet looks grand-ish, but it is awkward and lacks the storage I would have liked. We tried to re-figure it to our needs--but other parts of the house took priority. The first picture, I can't take any credit for, but I like the idea. The stairs happen to go right under our closet, so the bulkhead runs through our closet causing there to be a random 45 degree angled wall through a corner of the closet. So the builder thought, perfect shoe rack. And I have to agree.
In another part of the closet, there is some dead space. The builder installed these shallow shelves, which I couldn't for the life of me figure out what to do with them. Finally, I decided to make it a place for some of my jewelry. I used cheap screw-in hooks, but with hindsight-I wish I would have used the 3M hangers.
I still have a lot of work to do, but I was excited to share some of the things I have done so far. I would love to share more picture, but I haven't finished putting all of the finishing touches on everything...that is my goal for the day!
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