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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

28

Reader Space: Eat, Sleep, Decorate & ORGANIZE

Today I am excited to welcome Amy, author of Eat. Sleep. Decorate.  Although her blog title doesn't include organizing, I added it, because I think she is a pro.  Not only a pro at organizing, but at making it oh so pretty! 


Two common themes that come up frequently here on the blog, are lack of a laundry room and organizing media.  Since Amy was such a rock star at handling both of those situations, I asked her to stop by and share some of her tips and tricks.

Laundry closets seem to be a bit of a popular feature in most homes.  Although it is not a "room", it still must function as one.  Some of my favorite makeovers take place in small closets, since I am always so impressed at how much function such a bite sized area can pack.

Here is what Amy started with:


"Who likes doing laundry?  Not me! I decided to do something about it since I will be doing laundry all the days of my life!  I wanted a space where I could enjoy doing laundry even if it wasn't my favorite chore.  I saw all of those pretty laundry rooms on Pinterest and the web and decided that I could also make my small laundry closet a pretty place to work.
 
 
My first step was to take EVERYTHING off the shelves!
   
 
I got a lot of my inspiration from Target.  And my go to place for finding budget friendly containers and organizing items is TJMaxx-HomeGoods.  I try to look there first before spending a little more money somewhere else. {Side tip: If you go on Wednesdays they start stocking their new items for the week! That is when they get their large shipments of new items!}
 

I also remembered pinning where to find Free Label Printables and decided to be even more OCD organized by making labels for all of the bins and baskets.


 
Adding the bird prints and WASH letters really added that special touch. It makes the space feel more like a room than a closet, which makes me smile even more when I open those doors.
 
 
I am totally in love with my closet! I love how everything has a space and isn't just thrown up on the shelves. I can't say that I really enjoy doing laundry now, but it does make it a little easier to open those doors and start the laundry process!"
 
Doesn't it look like a cozy little room now?  I love how clean and refreshing it feels.  Absolutely a space to be proud of!
 
Now, let's chat media.  Isn't it amazing how much room all of those movie and DVD cases can take up?  They are serious space killers.
 
 
"I needed some sort of organization for our DVD's. It was driving me nuts every time I opened the hallway bench. I could never quite find the movie I was looking for.  That is when I knew I needed a change. 
 
I saw a post on IHeart Organizing a while back where someone had organized their DVDs into a smaller container using a filing system. I instantly flashed back to that post and got to work {you can find the media solutions here and here}.
 
I found the small fabric bin on sale at Target. The colorful DVD/CD holders added that extra punch of color I was looking for. 
 
 
Using some leftover scrap book paper and stickers I was able to save a little money on the labeling. 
 

 
 
 Now it is so easy to locate the movie we want to watch!"

  • Broken record alert, but seriously, aren't both projects just so darn cuuute?  She took the time to make them special to her, and now they blend seamlessly with her fabulous home.
  • The bins and baskets she used in her laundry nook are not clear, so labels will help her forever find what she is looking for, without digging and wondering.
  • Every great organizing project starts by removing everything and giving yourself a fresh perspective and a blank slate.  It always looks worse before it looks better.
  • Amy didn't just stop at the decorative bins.  She took the time to add additional touches to the closet to make it feel more like a room.  The artwork and the wall letters both bring the project to the next level.
  • Streamlining belongings inside of the baskets reduces visual clutter and makes my stomach do happy somersaults.  
  • As I mentioned earlier, media is a space hog.  DVD cases take up so much valuable real estate and can also create so much visual clutter on shelves.  Reducing the cases down to single sleeves is a win each and every time.
  • I love the hand-made DVD dividers.  The scalloped edges and sticker labels are simply lovely to look at!
  • The colorful DVD sleeves just make me smile.  I am a color happy gal!

A special THANK YOU goes out to Amy for sharing her awesomeness with us today!  You can read more about her projects here and here.


ATTENTION!!  Want to be featured in a Reader Space edition?  Have an awesome organizing story to share?  I am looking for projects that have made a positive impact to your life.  Please submit your story and photos here and I would heart to feature them right here, on the blog!!  Photos should be high resolution and unedited.  Please include a description of the project, including any costs, inspiration, and how it has changed your life and routine for the better!  Oh, and no worries my friends, we will NEVER judge "before" pictures because that just wouldn't be nice!  Only love goes on at this blog!

28 comments:

  1. I just can't get rid of my DVD covers! I would love to free up space, but I like having the original packaging. Love the laundry center!

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  2. Where did you get WASH letters from?

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  3. I love what you did with the space- so clean and inviting!

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  4. I love the wash room! It makes me want to go organize mine right this minute! :)

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  5. I love Amy's blog and it's so great to see it featured here! She did a great job!

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  6. After you organize the DVD's, do you discard or recycle the original packaging? My husband would probably want to keep it in a box somewhere and my space use would actually be larger! (Nice basket of DVD's only, and a box of empty cases as well.)

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  7. These both look great! That laundry "room" is so fresh and happy and I love the way you organized (and prettied up) your DVDs! This is definitely a space saver that we need in our house :)

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  8. Both amazing! I love those bins and baskets from Target, but haven't seen the white ones before! And, I need to pass on the DVD storage idea to my oldest daughter living in an apartment with limited space.

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  9. I love that both projects are doable in a relatively short time.

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  10. So great!!! both projects... I plan on borrowing that DVD idea! brilliant =)

    on another "laundry" note... I need serious help... I am one of the unfortunate ones who has to share my "laundry room" with our garage =( it is dreadful!! I would love to do a make-over of my laundry room horror to share... but alas, I have no idea what to do!!! or where to start!

    HELP!!

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    1. If I were you, I would try and separate the spaces as much as possible. Make one area specifically for laundry and then the rest can be the garage. Shelves/storage units would be a great way to make it seem more like it's own area.

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  11. Ahh, love the laundry 'room'! Love an organised space that looks pretty as well! :]
    Kim @ www.happymummyinspired.blogspot.com

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  12. The laundry closet looks amazing and so very cheerful -- we certainly need cheerful when doing laundry, don't we?

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  13. Thank you so much for the inspiration! Our home has been under construction for 6 years and none of our rooms are finished! Since finding your blog I have almost finished the bathroom just by re-purposing things we have around the house and from some serious organizing.
    This post in particular helped a TON! I had seriously hit a brick wall because our laundry room is located in the bathroom closet and it was just BLEH! I kept the curtains closed just so we didn't have to look at it! But after reading this I suddenly had a light bulb go off and I set to work. Still needs a couple finishing touches (would love some simple art work???) but WOW so so so so SO much nicer! Curtains are definitely getting left open now!

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  14. I always wonder when people move their DVDs to some other storage - cases, binders, etc. - do they keep the original cases? If you want to sell them down the road, it is really hard without the cases. I guess I could see keeping them in a box in the basement or something, but then they are just taking up space somewhere else!

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  15. woohoo, more motivation for me to de-clutter my place. 4 kids and a hubby = MASSIVE CLUTTER :/

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  16. I like the loundy closet, but what happend with all the clothes from "before" picture. I always have a problem with that, so I hoped for the smart idea.

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  17. My question is, how much were the cases? I tried looking them up on Target, but it says they aren't sold online and didn't have a price. My husband has over 200 DVD's and they're taking up 8 ft of wall space in my den. I'd love to put them in some kind of binder/box system some where else, but like the others have asked, what about the cases?

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  18. Love the laundry closet! It looks bigger now! What is the circle thing in the middle?

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  20. The laundry is a definite improvement, but I could never ever ever do that to my movie collection! I love having my *cough*450*cough* dvd collection out for the world to see. I keep it organized on shelves (and alphabetized, of course...it's the former video store employee in me) and can't wait to continue to add to it until I have a full library effect :)

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  21. I am so going to do this with my DVDs! How perfect! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  22. Why has it never occurred to me to take the dvds out of the package?!?! I was all impressed with myself for putting them in cute green ikea media boxes...until it took 6 boxes to fit all our dang movies! this is so happening in our house stat!

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  23. LOVE the DVD idea. I already did it to my own DVDs!! It was liberating to free up an entire cabinet of DVDs. It took a few hours because I trimmed the cd cover picture down to size and color coded to differentiate between the kids' movies and ours. I got rid of the plastic cases. NO need to have those lying around!

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  24. LOVE the bird photos. Where did you get them?

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  25. This media storage solution just about made my week. I am a movie fanatic and I can't believe that the movie covers filled 3 large garbage bags! They were stored in a really nice burgundy Bassett dresser in my family room. The space is now used to store scrapbooks and photo albums that we're previously hidden in a closet because there just wasn't any other place to put them out of reach of my little ones. My laundry room looks very similar as well, so that is my next project. Thanks so much for these great ideas!

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  26. Im very curious......What is the white thing that your drying is sitting in??

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