The Mission: Organization...again

Currently this is our situation...

See a little problem? Yep. Me too. We have lots of stuff that needs to fit in a tiny small house. I don't want to throw away, sell or donate things that I know I'll want when we eventually move to another house. Or they are sentimental or I just plain like it. I'm definitely not a pack rat, thankfully, but I do believe in keeping something you know you may need down the road...even if it doesn't work currently. Otherwise, I just end up buying it again and that's a waste.

So once again I find myself in the need to reorganize our closets, baskets and other storage options. It seems that this is a yearly task at least. This all kicked off with my own closet. For a small 1950's house, we actually have his and her closets. Granted not very big but at least we don't have to share. Because that would be bad. Very, very bad.

One night, as I'm once again searching for a shoe and tripping over bags and coat hangers, I decided to work on a little re-do. The boys were on the bed playing and watching TV so I could keep them contained. Do you know I totally forgot I had some cute clutches I found in a bin? Score! In my excitement I forgot to take a before picture. Ooops. But here's the after...and yes, this is MUCH better than before. Keep in mind "lots of stuff, small space".

At this point when I showed Daniel the closet, he said "it's just a place for bags and shoes. You have a problem!" To which I replied, "no I don't, it just looks that way because I don't have alot of room."  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

You'll notice in the above picture that the clothes (shirts, tops, jackets are all on top) are organized by color. I started doing this many years ago and I highly recommend it. Makes it so much easier to find things that coordinate since color is often the primary factor. I've tried others ways (t-shirts together, blouses together, etc) but it always was hard to find the right coordinating item. I was even able to use those 3M hooks and get a large overnight bag hung in the dead space above my clothes (instead of underneath where it took up valuable space).

One of my favorite blogs, YoungHouseLove, had recently blogged about a week of re-organizing (although I didn't realize it at the time since I was waaaay behind on my blog reading). So thus inspired, I tackled the kids toys on Saturday.

First, I've heard read heard and read that kids will tire of toys quickly since they see them all the time. That seems to be the case with us. We have three spots where toys are stored: living room, boy's room and the guest/office/man room. The more I thought about it, the more I decided we should give him fewer options. I plan on rotating out the toys every 6 weeks-ish in order to keep them interested. So up went a huge bag of toys to the attic. Plus, a few that had balls were useless given that all the balls are lost. I'm sure we'll find them eventually. In fact, I vaguely remember one being in the fireplace.

First step - sort through all the baskets, bins and toy boxes to figure out what belongs to what.

Second step - put away all the baby blankets, burp clothes and other paraphernalia for babies that we don't need (for now). In other words, clean out this corner cabinet in the boy's room.

Slowly but surely I found all most of the missing pieces to their toys. I even found the lost duckling that goes to the red barn. It's one of his favorite toys since the four little barn animals all make sounds. It's how he's started learning animal sounds. (thanks Aunt Carol/Uncle Si!)

And we were left with bliss this...

side note: I'd like to move the chair in the corner back to it's rightful place so the basket can go there but we have a baby jumper where it belongs. So yes, this space is a little cluttered still.

Now I have a better place to store their shoes plus I have an extra basket that's totally empty! Whatever shall I do!? I'm sure I'll find something to store in there.

Perhaps the most dramatic change was their cabinet and reading corner. Take a look at the before again.

And now...

Ahhh. I love looking at the before and after. There's so much more room and that empty basket makes me want to leap for joy! Even Daniel commented on how much cleaner things were looking. Charlie even started playing with toys he hasn't played with in months. Seems to already be working. Well until he finds an electronic, dirty dish from the dishwasher, or cell phone he's not supposed to play with.

Next up...the dreaded bathroom, guest/office/man room closet, hall closet and hall cabinets. We also will need to clean out our bedside tables but more on that project later since we got a nice little surprise this week.

Here's a snap shot of what lurks behind the bathroom cabinet. It's amazing we can even get ready each morning.

Anyone have any great ideas for organizing under a small bathroom sink that has the pipes horribly placed right in the middle? Any other cute, crafty ideas for organizing?