Brooklyn Limestone: junk drawer overhaul

Showing posts with label junk drawer overhaul. Show all posts

Inspired!

I know I said yesterdays post would be the last of junk drawer overhauls but I lied. After receiving a few emails and comments from readers who wanted to share how they organized, I just had to share.

I think I've linked to them all below but Ive missed anything, don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Behind Closed Drawers

Hidden Sisters

Confessions of New/Old Home Owner

And I can't forget to mention the fabulous guest posters who were kind enough to share how they organized their private spaces over the past two weeks. Thanks again to
Young House Love, Centsational Girl, House of Brinson, Honey We're Home, Stories of A2Z, So Haute, Simply Grove, Making it Lovely, Thrify Decor Chick and Tatertots & Jello for participating.

I hope you have all enjoyed the series - it will be back to normal here come tomorrow.

Junk Drawer Overhaul: Last but not least

So this is the very last Junk Drawer Overhaul series post. Have you enjoyed it? Aside from the clever ideas all of the guests have shared, I think the best part was seeing that even those people with gorgeous homes and amazing blogs have some messy areas they keep away from prying eyes. And if it motiviated some of you to clean out a spot that has been bothering you then all the better!

Closing out the series is another amazing blogger who needs no introduction. Its the always clever Thrify Decor Chick. I've been a fan of her blog since the early days so I was so happy she agreed to join in.

Hello all! I’m so excited to join my friend Stefanie for her Junk Drawer Overhaul series! I actually love to declutter, especially this time of year. It’s so cathartic to purge – and it makes our house feel so much lighter.

I’m sharing a junk drawer from our bedroom with you today. Who has a junk drawer in their master bedroom you ask?

That would be us:

We have a dresser in our bedroom that we don’t even use for clothes. I love the extra storage space, but that space is usually the landing spot for JUNK that I find throughout our room – typically about ten minutes before guests arrive for a party. ;)

My first step when tackling any junk drawer (we have many) is to pull it all the way out – and put it on the floor or on a table.

Then dump it ALL out.

I like starting fresh. With it all spread out and the drawer all empty and clean, I can figure out my plan of attack.

First – the trash. There’s usually lots of it, like these coupons from three months ago:

I was probably looking for those. :)

Next, I pull out what doesn’t belong – things that need to be put away throughout the house.

Like this baggy full of change and furniture assembly parts:

Not sure what that was about.

While digging out the screws and bolts, I found an interesting combo of currency:

That would be US money, foreign coins (what the heck do you do with those?) and Chucky Cheese coins. Those are like gold around here. :)

It didn’t take long to get this drawer sorted out --- the trash pile wasn’t too bad:

I especially love the full package of never-opened gum that expired June of 2010. Who knew gum expired? Maybe everyone else but me.

And then the put away or do something with it pile:

Of course it’s the bigger one. ;)

I deal with this one by throwing everything in a leftover shopping bag, then I travel throughout the house distributing the items where they go.

And in the end, I was left with the necessities:

Light bulbs for the master closet, enough pens and pencils to last me a few years, notepads, hand lotion, earplugs (you never know when you’ll need them), and of course a couple of my tools.

I keep a small electric screwdriver and a hammer upstairs for fast fixes – they’ve saved me many a trip down to the basement those times I want to put one little nail in the wall.

So for at least a few weeks, I can breathe a sigh of relief when we open this drawer that started out like this:

And now, gloriously empty.

Maybe I’ll tackle the other five drawers in the dresser now. Next week. ;)

Thanks for having me Stefanie! It was fun and I got a clean and organized drawer out of it! WHOO!

Junk Drawer Overhaul: Jen's Message Center

Today's organizing know how comes from Jen of the ever fabulous Tatertots and Jello. Jen's blog is one of my favorite spots since its loaded with fun, whimsical projects you can use all over the house. Even looking at her blog header makes me smile. And its no surprise she takes organizes with a bit of fun as well. Take a look.

Hi I was so excited when Stefanie contacted me about possibly sharing a junk drawer transformation on her blog.

Let me tell you, there are quite a few junk drawers at my house -- it was hard to decide which one to work on...

I have a little corner in my kitchen that I originally set up to hold all of the kids' important school papers, directories, plus paper and pens for taking messages. Unfortunately that area became a dumping ground for all sorts of things -- catalogs, papers and odds and ends. And that area became so messy that phone messages would sometimes get lost!

I decided I needed a simpler way of keeping track of papers and messages.

The transformation started off with some vintage bread pans and jello molds I discovered at a thrift store. I used the jello molds to hold small items like tiny post-it notes, paper clips and clips.

Then I found a clear file folder holder at Target ($2.99) that could be hung on the wall -- freeing up valuable counter space.

I had some Martha Stewart laser-cut paper with a quatrefoil design.

I attached a sheet of it to the inside of the clear file folder rack.

I used some 3M Command strips to hang it so I wouldn't have to put any holes in my wall. I like these strips because when I want to remove them someday, they're easy to just pull them off and they won't damage the paint or finish.

Once I cleaned out the drawers, I put an Ikea tray in each drawer to corral the directories and other items that might slide around by themselves. I used a couple of the vintage bread pans to hold extra pens, pencils, scissors and other items that are used in the desk area.

I made a file folder for each person in the family to keep their current papers like permission slips, current homework and things that people need right away. I let everyone pick our a paper that they liked for their file folder. Then I traced the file folder onto the paper and cut it out.

And used spray adhesive to attach the paper to the file folder.

To finish the file folders, I printed out each person's name using printer labels.

And then I used my Silhouette machine to print out some label frames that I put on top of the labels.

Now I have a place to put everyone's school papers and other important to-do papers.
The last thing I did was brought a tray in to hold all of the desk materials.

I'm so happy with my new message station. I feel like I can find everything so much easier. It's a great way to start off a new year!!

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To see more of Jen's fabulous projects, stop over at Tatertots and Jello.

Junk Drawer Overhaul: Chargers Made Lovely

Today I'm so happy to have Nicole of Making it Lovely share a clever little junk organizing idea. Nicole's blog was one of the very first I frequented and admired way back when I discovered this little underworld of blogging so when she agreed to participate in the series, I was so excited. Her blog is a source of constant inspiration.

Brandon and I tend to charge our cell phones (and miscellaneous other devices) in the kitchen. That's fine, except I hated seeing the chargers sitting out all the time.

We could have tucked them into a drawer, but we didn't really have any more room in any of them. Besides, does the 'junk drawer' really need any more junk? Then I looked over at the empty canister sitting on the other side of the kitchen. Aha!

There's a power strip directly above the canister, so it's actually a better place to plug our devices into than the other outlet we were using. Then we just tuck the charger and the cord back into the canister until we need it next time. Perfect.

Junk Drawer Overhaul: Nicole's Haute Haul

Welcome back to Nicole of So Haute. If you aren't already a devoted fan, check out her lovely living room featured way back when or just go right to her blog to feast on loads more decor porn.

Now that the New Year is here I'm working on getting myself organized at home and I have Stefanie to thank for kick starting my home organization marathon because the first project I tackled was the overhaul of my once-cluttered junk drawer for this super fun blog feature!

my junk drawer before

My junk drawer is in my kitchen and I use it to store a sea of random household utilities from batteries, tape and loose change to flower food, pruning shears and birthday candles. I already had some key organizational tools in place, mainly these handy acrylic drawer organizers from the Container Store, but my problem is that I have a tendency to keep adding things to the drawer until it becomes a complete, jumbled mess. It looks pretty bad but I really just needed to get rid of some of the unnecessary clutter and tidy things up a bit.

some of the stuff I tossed

I had a ridiculous amount of pens, pencils, sharpies and highlighters just sitting in the drawer that I know I'll never use so I got rid of most of them and kept just 3 pens, 3 pencils, 2 sharpies and 2 highlighters. I had about 3 lbs worth of loose change scattered about the drawer that I gathered up and took to my local grocery store where I used a Coinstar machine to cash them in for an Amazon.com gift card. I got back $23 and change Not bad! I also found 2 unused gift cards to stores that I'll never shop at which I cashed in on PlasticJungle.com - an amazing site that lets you trade in gift cards for either cash or an Amazon.com gift card. I ended up with another Amazon gift card for $54 and change that's on its way in the mail! I plan to use the gift cards toward the purchase of a new wide angle camera lens - my reward for getting organized! I tossed out a few more things aside from the loose change and pens and after re-organizing what was left, here's the end result:

my junk drawer after

I made so much extra room that I was even able to bring over a few new things to store in the drawer. Not bad huh? I now have a neat, orderly junk drawer and I pocketed some extra cash in the process! Thanks so much Stefanie for getting me in gear and giving me the opportunity to share my junk drawer overhaul on Brooklyn Limestone!

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Thanks to Nicole for sharing a little bit of her hidden home. Hop over to So Haute for everything gorgeous in decorating and lifestyle.

Junk Drawer Overhaul: Kirsten's Everything Drawer

If you are a much of a fan of uber talented Kirsten of Simply Grove as I am, you will no doubt be curious to see what her messy side looks like. Yes, even in her amazingly gorgeous home, there is a drawer filled with stuff that never seems to find its way home. And it thrills me to no end to see that she has the same sort of issue I have! Let's take a look.

Thank you so much Stefanie, for asking me to be apart of this series. I am half embarrassed and half excited because it forced me to clean this CRAZY MESSY drawer.

The drawer belongs in my kitchen. Its a catch ALL drawer. It collects my junk, husbands junk and the kids junk. If we are in a hurry to clean, we dump everything in "the drawer". If I am tired of looking at a screw driver sitting on the counter, I stick it in "the drawer".
Its a sickness!! A junk sickness!! I clean it every 6 months and within 1 week, it is back to its chaotic stage.

I tackled cleaning it out last week by first emptying it completely. I then started making specific piles. A tool pile, toy pile, stationary pile ect. Since most everything has a place in the house, I returned the specific items to their "real" homes.

Once they returned, the drawer was almost empty. So now what?? I am in stage 2 of this drawer dilemma with figuring out what really belongs there. For now it is storing my most needed tools that I am not in the mood to go fetch in the garage. There, you saw it, and now I feel better!!

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If there is a chance you haven't oogled at Simply Grove before, don't let this bit of a mess fool you - her home and work is stunning. Check it out.

Junk Drawer Overhaul: Megan's Kitchen

I don't know about you but after seeing Megan's amazing kitchen over at Honey We're Home, I wanted to snoop around a bit. Good thing for me, she agreed to play along in letting us see whats inside her drawers. No shock, Megan's self defined 'mess' is not really a mess at all but at least we can say we saw whatever dark side there was to this beautiful space.

Aye, aye, aye! For me, a lover of all things organized, Stefanie asking me to show my junk drawers feels sorta like the equivalent of being caught with my pants down! I kid! But, this was just the nudge I needed to clear out some drawers in the kitchen and get them in tip-top shape!

The drawer I immediately knew I wanted to tackle is our “large kitchen tools” drawer. It’s one of the most frequently used, and while pretty much everything in it belonged in there, it was all a jumbled mess.

See?

A quick trip to the Container Store, also known as Mecca for those-who-love-to-organize, and I bought a few clear containers to store my tools. I measured the drawer first to see what sizes I would need.

I started by taking everything out of the drawer and grouping similar tools together.

Look what I even found- the cover to my meat thermometer! I thought it got thrown out when we moved! (isn’t finding things a great reward for getting organized?)