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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Organizing Complete!!!


Well, time is up! Put down your pencils and pass your test to the front please! LOL! I'm so excited that today I can finally show all of the hard work I've been doing. This story actually begins 6 months ago when we moved. Everything that we didn't want to decide on where to put at the time got shoved into our storage room. Boxes were piled everywhere. We had to dig through, climb over, and rearrange any time we needed to find something. I knew it needed to get under control before it took over the house, and this challenge gave me the shove I needed to get started. And once I started I couldn't stop there! I ended up organizing my office closet and my boys' closet as well!

First I started by taking everything out of the storage room to give me a clean slate to work with. I sorted the junk into piles: empty boxes, food storage, sewing/yarn stuff, garbage, things to go in attic, and things that go in other rooms. This alone was quite a project. Then, everything that wasn't going back into the storage room got put in it's place and I boxed and labeled everything to put back. I love labeling, I think it is my favorite part lol, you'll see my brightly colored labels on most of the boxes. We didn't get our new shelves until yesterday so for a while they were just stacked nicely. But the shelves arrived yesterday! You should have seen how excited I was, I was practically jumping up and down! I got the first one put together and was so proud to show DH when he got home. I said "Isn't it beautiful?!" I think I might be a little strange lol. So then I stacked the boxes on the shelves nicely and cleaned up the laundry area.

Before:


(you can't really see well from the pics, but that is a gigantic pile of boxes and junk, took up 1/2 the room)
After:



On the left I have baby things on the top shelf, food storage on the next 2, and a fan and doorknob thing on the bottom. On the right I have Christmas decorations on top, sewing and yarn supplies next down, serger and sweing maching and other items on the 3rd, and my keyboard and nativity set box on the bottom. There's a chair in there cuz we have a small kitchen and it won't fit, so we keep it down there. I was able to clear a ton off the washer/dryer and just left the essentials there.

But that's not the end! Somehow our shelf order got messed up and they sent 2 extra shelves! So of course I had to find somewhere to use them. To the office I went. I dragged everything out, put 1 set of shelves in, neatly boxed, labeled, sorted, stacked, and otherwise organized the mess all into the most gorgeous closet I've seen!

Before:

After:
On the left side I have extra blankets and pillows stacked neatly behind that suitcase, on the right are jackets, my wedding dress, and some backpacks. The shelves have office supplies, computer stuff, school stuff, and craft stuff. And I can finally get to the tools (top shelf)when I need to!

That's still not all! I had one more set of shelves so I headed to my boys' room. The closet was a mess and I'd been putting it off for too long. Again everything came out, the shelves went up, the room seemed to get messier by the minute, some things ended up in the storage room, the kids were wrecking havoc on the house, but eventually an organized haven of peace shone from the closet that I had been afraid to open before!

Before:


After:

The shelves hold baby clothes, blankets, and other miscellaneous baby things. On the right are larger baby items that couldn't be shelved, and on the top are a few more toys and our board games. 3 boxes of clothes were put in the storage room until our next baby.

Now I'm exhausted, my fingers and back ache, my husband and kids think I'm completely nuts, but I'm so proud of myself! I keep going to the storage room and closets and just staring, they look so nice! The pics just don't do it justice, but I jsut realized you can click them to see them bigger and better. :) Now, what should I organize next?!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just want your washer and dryer!!!!

It all looks great!

Amber said...

Wow, fantastic! Everything looks so orderly. I completely understand the compulsion to keep going. I'm still going!! Funny, our problems started with a move, too. :) Glad you got it all organized!

Anonymous said...

Ditto!

Dawn said...

Wow Kara! GREAT job!!!

Beth said...

Man, where did all your stuff go?? With it all put away neatly it looks so much more usable and less overwhelming. Awesome job, Kara! You go, girl!

Kate said...

Way to go Kara! :) It looks great!

Laura said...

Oh I think I see an organizing junkie emerging...well done! It is addicting though isn't it. You start with one area and then before you know it you've done a couple of closets. Great job and yes you should definitely be proud of yourself. Laura :)

Kara said...

Thanks everyone :D DH is very proud of me too

Anonymous said...

Don't ya love it when they mess up an order in your favor? It all looks wonderful!

Unknown said...

Nice work. It was really fun to think about where everything should go.

Kristin said...

Wow - what a great job you did! I love how you were able to pull everything off the floor that needed to be. And look at all the open space you have! Room for kids on trikes, even!

Tammy said...

Hi! visiting from Raising Five...looks like you did a great job! :D Now get some rest! ;)

I have two little girls, ages 4 and 7...out of diapers but they still keep me busy! :)

Michelle said...

And you say you don't like to clean. ;) You did an AWESOME job! I'm proud of you too. You deserve a good long break from cleaning now. :D

Kara said...

Aw thanks :) I'm already thinking of what to work on next lol. All the flat areas in the house, desks, tables, entertainment center, dressers, etc that attract clutter. I want them clean and organized, but I think I'll wait a while until I can buy a few little organizing containers for them.

Anonymous said...

That looks amazing! You did a great job!

Jen said...

Woo Hoo!! you should bake a cake and celebrate! And how lucky was that, they sent you extras!?

Andrea said...

So organized now. Love it. And love your labels. I realized I need bigger and brighter ones for my closet. good job!

Bethany said...

Wow, great job! You really have been at work this month!

Anonymous said...

It looks so nice, I always love the end result when everything has a place and is clean and tidy.

I usually start to organize when I open a closet and everything falls on me. Which is pretty close to happening now!