Christmas Storage Options

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I have a lot of containers filled with Christmas items that are stored in our 6 ft high crawl space. At our last house, we stored things in our basement, which was a bit easier, since all we had to do was walk downstairs. 

Sterilite containers are my go to storage for nearly everything. 

I prefer the non see thru containers because I want everything to be uniform and neat and tidy. Labels on the front of the container help. I added laminated labels I could write general contents on with a dry erase marker.

How To Store Your Stuff

If you prefer see through bins, you might like these . Just be sure to check the measurements of the container you decide on  so it will fit in the space you will be storing it.

Then, there are wreaths and odd shaped things where another storage option is better. 

Amazon has these nice wreath storage bags that are perfect.

Even if you don't have a crawl space or attic, wreaths can be stored easily in these bags on a top shelf in a closet, or under a bed.

I store most of our wrapping paper in a large drawer in our office. Since we only use it once a year, I store the rolls of Christmas wrapping paper in a plastic storage container like these in our attic.

plastic wrapping paper container

 

If you don't have an attic, a Storage Box like this can be easily stored under a bed.

Here's  the current storage space in our 6ft high crawl space. We also have a large space in our attic, but we don't keep much up there because it gets so hot in the summer. 

You can see How We Store Our Stuff Now HERE.

Would love to know how and where you store your Christmas storage.

Pam

*this post contains affiliate links, which means I'll make a small commission should you purchase something from one of these links.

Keep It Organized

Hello Friends!

How's the organizing going???

Oh, if only spaces would stay neat and tidy. You know the Bissell's tag line...

Life's messy, clean it up!

No matter how organized I am, and how everything has it's own place,
things get messy and need re-organizing

Since January is the traditional time to organize, I'm on a mission to clean and organize every space in the house.
Ha! We'll see how that goes.
The Master Bath seemed like a good place to start.
Under the sinks were first, then I opened the linen closet.
Things didn't look tooooooo bad.
But the baskets were hiding the mess.

The first  to begin is clearing off one shelf at a time, taking everything out.  I wiped down each shelf
then put everything back. Each baseket and container was cleared out, wiped down, sorted and put back. Between the trash and the pile for the Goodwill, I filled a whole trash bag.

Don't let the lack of a big chunk of time get in the way of keeping things neat.
If you only have 15- 30 minutes, clean out a shelf at a time. Do the easy shelves first - it will motivate you because you've accomplished something and you'll keep going.

I had a big chunk of time, so I organized the linen closet in one day. (I took breaks in between)

I can't stress enough to use baskets and containers to coral your stuff- Big baskets, medium basket, small baskets - I use them all. 

So what space of yours is begging to be organized?

Kitchen? Closets? Bathrooms? Garage? Crawl Space?

Yep, all of the above for me. 

Thanks or stopping by.

Pam

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How We Store Our Stuff (Now)

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How To Store Your Stuff is my number one post that is shared everywhere. It shows our diy Storage Shelves in the storage room in the basement of our last home . A basement is great for storage and that house had no lack of it, but many don't have a basement and need storage shelves in their garage. Some people have a shed where they store their stuff. The simple and inexpensive diy storage shelves can be adapted to fit any storage space. 

The Original:
 Mr. DIY built 2 of these super simple and inexpensive with OSB and 2 x 4s. You can find that post HERE.

14 DOUBLE DUTY STORAGE BEDS

Hello everyone!

Who couldn't use more storage in a bedroom? 
Especially, in your kids bedrooms?!!! 
When our girls were little, they always seemed to need more space for their stuff than they had even though we purged and cleared out stuff regularly throughout the year.

If you're like me, you like to keep organized and while having space in a basement or attic is wonderful to store your stuff, sometimes it's much more convenient to have space available right where you need it. 

That's where a double duty storage bed is awesome to have. (Mr. DIY and I made one for the upstairs bedroom our tiny mountain cottage...you can find it HERE if you missed that post)

To see the rest of the post, click on  "Read More" below.

Adding More Storage -Building a Built In -Bookcase

I keep saying over and over that every project at our mountain cottage is designed with storage in mind. 

Our mountain cottage is a small house at under 966 square feet, but I think it's actually less than that. Adding more storage was lacking in every single room when we purchased the house and we're trying to remedy that feature. Most homes may not be as small as the mountain cottage, but..

Who couldn't use more storage?
It's so important to build in storage space in every room. Just look around your house and see where you can steal a few inches here and there. I bet you can!

Add Space To Your Master Closet

It always seems like we need more space! Cleaning up and clearing out once in a while helps, but sometimes you just need to add some space. 
 I had an otherwise unused wall and put some simple baskets on some tracks you can find at your local hardware store. 

This photo of my simple tracks and baskets is one of my most pinned photos and the post it's in: 

A Little More Organizing.

I get quite a few questions as to how these baskets were actually put up and so I'm going to show you all the details. 

It's pretty easy and doesn't cost a lot to add storage space to your master closet. You can add lots of storage space by installing a double track system and either putting shelves or baskets on the tracks.

First off, what I keep in the baskets changes seasonally. The bottom basket is filled with tank tops, which I wear both in summer and winter. 

One basket holds my sleep shorts and sleep pants. Another basket holds t shirts and the last one holds tops I wear while gardening or painting. Baskets would be great for under garments, ties, hats, scarves or whatever else you have need to store in your closet. 

This is how it looks if the baskets are taken off. No need for shelves because the baskets  sit directly on the brackets.

The tracks are just screwed into the wall and the brackets are adjustable and can be moved up or down.  

Here's a closeup of the double track bracket.  The photo isn't upside down, the label is. lol...still haven't taken a few of these off. 

You can find the tracks and the double track brackets at Lowe's or Home Depot.  The tracks come in different lengths, depending on how much space you have. I found the baskets at HomeGoods several years ago, but I've seen similar ones at Target recently. 

There you have it...a relatively inexpensive way to add more storage space in a closet.
This project can be finished in one afternoon. 

If you'd like to see more of my master closet, you can click HERE.

Pam

Disclaimer: The above post is how we added space to our closet. I don't take any responsibility for any errors or results obtained from using this information. When using power tools, use safety equipment.

A Great Time To Get Organized

January is a great time to get organized.  It's cold outside, so organizing your pantry, laundry room or office  would be a good thing to get done during the Winter months. The key to keeping organized is to clean up and clear out spaces on a regular basis. How often depends on the space. Some need organizing weekly, some monthly  and some every six months.

How's your Christmas storage? Is it all neat and tidy and organized for next year? Our newly finished basement storage area fit all my Christmas and other Holiday bins...that is BEFORE  I bought 4 new wreaths and a few bunch more ornaments this year. So I need to find some space to put these extra items. Guess it's off to Walmart to buy some more(made in America) plastic storage bins.

A space that needs organizing monthly in our house is the pantry. In your house, it might take organizing weekly to keep it neat,  especially if you have a few kids and a husband going in and messing things up there.

How's your linen closet? Our Master Bath linen closet  stays pretty organized ever since utilizing baskets to keep things corralled. It takes just a few minutes to tidy up the linen closet to make it look as good as this pic. These baskets were a great investment!

How about organizing a new, little space? Think about all the places in your home where things pile up. A couple of baskets, or some faux baskets made from a wine box, would help contain the clutter. 

Our Breakfast Room used to suffer from little piles of magazines and newspapers. That is, until I found a basket to put the miscellaneous reading material in. I have since switched the basket out with a  wooden crate.

Our Master Closet is a space I tidy up both daily and weekly. I pick up clothing that ends up on the floor daily and make the shelves and baskets pretty weekly.

Next space on the list to be organized is our office. Nope, not going to show you how bad it looks right now because it looks like a Christmas wrapping bomb went off in there. Seriously. My work table is piled high with boxes, tissue, wrapping paper and ribbon that need to be put away. Definitely a two day job.

So what space do you need to organize at your house?

Pam

End Of The Year Wrap Up 2012

Just a few more days until a brand new year. Don't ya just love a new start? The end of the year is also a time of reflections for me; I like to look back over what was accomplished.  I even forgot about a few of the projects I did this past year. Must be getting old ;)

The Two pillows I made for the vintage chairs in my Foyer were easy to make. I'm hoping to do a few more simple sewing projects in 2013.

Another easy project for January was a wood sign made from a leftover 2 x 6. 

The post on how to make Wax Paper Crayon Hearts was viewed 12,500 times. I was surprised at the count since it was such a simple craft.

I had fun making  some Valentine Hearts. These were made with vintage fabric that my grandmother made me a dress out of when I was 8 years old.

Raised beds  in our North Garden were finished in March.

My Wax Paper Transfer project was really fun. Thank you Graphics Fairy!

I made some Pretty Little Pillows for our daughter in California in June.

One of my favorite projects of the year was the Jewelry Organizer  Mr. Fanatic and I made for our youngest daughter.

I was so happy to show you our New Paint For The Family Room... It only took me several years to pick a color. lol.

Who doesn't love a super easy paint makeover? The Painted Side Table on our basement patio got a fresh coat of paint last summer.

Everyone seemed to love  Make A Basket From A Wine Box and Baskets Made From Cardboard Boxes, as they have been viewed over 59,000 times. Whooda thunk?

Spent some time in the kitchen sharing How To Dry Basil that I grew in my herb garden. I dried enough to last me until the next harvest. In just a few months, it will be time to start thinking about the Spring garden.

Making Homemade Vanilla Extract couldn't be easier. 

I must have struck a nerve in October with How To Store Your Stuff because it was clicked on 63,000 times. Guess there are lots of people who have a bunch of stuff to store!

We're all still loving the  Solar Tube Mr. Fanatic installed in our upstairs bath. The light it brings into the room is fantastic.

Finally, Christmas decorating in December. My favorite room to decorate is our Breakfast Room.

Fortunately for ya'll, I've left a few projects out, otherwise, we could be here for hours.

Even though we built our Barn Doors for the Basement, I haven't shared them yet because there's still a debate on diy Design Fanatic Facebook page and at Casa Fanatic about which door pulls to choose. I shared this photo the other day, which shows a peek of the Barn Doors in our Basement Family Room. Hopefully, you will see them all finished soon!

Thank you all for stopping by all these months and for leaving your nice comments. Ya'll are just too nice.

I am so grateful to have so many wonderful blog friends and I'm looking forward to "meeting" some new friends in 2013.

Happy New Year to you and your family!

Pam

DIY STORAGE~ HOW TO STORE YOUR STUFF

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 These DIY storage shelves are a really simple solution for storing your stuff easily and without breaking the bank. 
We all have things we need to store and keep  organized so we can find it when you need it. I've found that storing your things in  tubs on simple storage shelves made with 2 x 4s and OSB is the easiest and most efficient way to keep you storage accessible.

Being organized saves you money, because if you can't find your stuff when you need it, you will go out and buy another one...

So, how do you store your stuff?

Here are some tips on how to store your stuff:

1. Assess Your Space and stuff to be stored.

When organizing a room, I assess what is kept in the space. This means measuring everything. 

2. Build storage shelves to fit your stuff
This storage room had two storage shelves in it before, but the shelves weren't spaced correctly and stuff got piled up. 

The shelves didn't fit the stuff we needed to store and things got piled up
Mr. DIY took these shelves apart and reused the wood and OSB to make another shelf that fit our stuff. That's living frugally. (I know having all this stuff isn't living frugally, though)

3. Store your stuff in containers with labels to make it look more organized

 I store almost everything in 18 gallon Sterilite (made in America) plastic tubs or totes. Most of my stuff fits in these plastic containers. There are also clear containers if you would like to see what's in them. 

Sterilite 18 gallon totes with lid

Sterilite 66 qt clear view totes with lid

Here's what the basement storage room looks like. The room is about 15 ft x 11 1/2 ft.

 

Mr. DIY reused all of the materials from the old shelving units and bought some extra 2 x 4's to make a 3rd shelving unit.
Even if you had to buy all of the wood, these shelves are still a cost effective way to store your stuff. Have you seen the price of sturdy shelving?

Here's how we made the shelving:

These shelving units are simple to make. He just used two  8 ft long 2 x 4's and cut two more 2 x 4's  down to 24" for the ends. The total length of the unit is 8ft, so the long 2 x 4's have to be cut down a little because you are adding the short 2 x 4's to the end. 
He screwed them all together as you see in this photo. Screws are so much better to put shelving together because this allows you to take them apart if you have to rework them another time. It would have been much more difficult to take apart the old shelves to make the new ones had he used nails.
Mr. DIY used torx head, 3" self tapping deck screws.

Mr. DIY then screwed  1/2" thick OSB  to the 2 x 4 frame. He made 3 of these for each unit. 

Then he attached 2 x 4's on each corner to complete the unit. The shelves are spaced the height of the plastic storage boxes we have plus 1 1/2 to 2" extra space.

These shelves are super easy to make and are inexpensive, as far as shelving goes.

 He made this shelving unit a little shorter so that the plastic storage containers could be double stacked on the top shelf. I organized this shelving unit to hold my girls childhood toys, books and clothing they wanted to keep.  The clear boxes on the bottom right hold their artwork and school mementos.

The shelving unit on other side of the room holds Christmas and seasonal decorations. The armoire holds hunting clothes and heavy winter coats. 
We found the Ikea Armoire on Craigslist.

It's such a good feeling to get all of my storage organized and 

If you don't have a basement and are limited on space, store stuff under beds, high up in closets, space under sofas, your garage and attic .

UPDATE:
 At our new house, Mr. DIY splurged a bit and installed cabinets to store most of his tools. You can see the post HERE



Mr. DIY Also installed a rail organizing system HERE




At our new house, we have a high crawl space instead of  a basement, so Mr. DIY built a different shelving system to store our stuff. You can see it HERE.

Where  do you store your stuff and how do you keep it organized? Leave me a short comment (or a long one) - I read every one!

Pam 

Click HERE to see how we cleaned up and organized our garage.  Our storage shelves above would we awesome in a garage, as well.

If you love organizing and functional,pretty storage, here's another great project we did in our oldest daughter's bedroom...
 We took a Craigslist Armoire and transformed it into lots of storage for our oldest daughter. 

You can see the details by clicking HERE

Disclaimer: The above post is how we made our shelves.  We don't take any responsibility for any errors or results obtained from using this information. When using power tools, use safety equipment.

*this post contains affiliate links, which means, I'll make a small commission should you purchase something from one of these links.