Thursday, April 11, 2013

29 UHeart Organizing: Switchin' Things Up For Spring!

Who is ready for spring?  Me me me!!  Although it hasn't officially sprung here in Wisconsin, I do take a moment to not only do some spring cleaning once the weather starts changing, but we make other minor changes around here too.  Things like swapping out bed linens, clothing and winter jackets to spring ones.... I get giddy just thinking about it.  My super pa,l Courtney from A Thoughtful Place, is switching things up a bit in her own home due to the seasonal change.  She is here today to show us what she has been up to now that spring is in the air!


Hello, IHeart readers!  Because we live on the West Coast, we see sunny skies and temps warm up pretty quickly.  For us, that means we are out and about and headed to the park, pool, or beach beginning in April.  I am all about making those excursions as simple as possible.  If you have young ones, you know that just getting down to the beach and back is an event.  We have streamlined our garage so that we are summer ready.  I am passing along a few of my tips today.


If you have visited my blog before, you may have seen how we organize our garage.  You can see that full post here.  But to make sure we were ready for warmer weather, I stored the umbrellas and rain boots and pulled out the items we grab each time we head out.


I like to know we have sunscreen, goggles, sunglasses, towels, flip flops and the beach bag ready to go.  The kids know where we keep everything and it makes it so much easier to load up our bag and go.  The storage shelves on either side are his and hers!  I have one large metal cart with my craft/paint supplies and my hubby has his for his tools and work items.  The smaller white bins on either side hold running shoes and sandals.


I recently found these cute pails in the $1 section at Target.  I used clear Command Hooks to hang them on the wall.



I used another hook to hang my beach tote.  It's nice to not carry this inside as it normally fills with sand during our outings.  A stack of towels and the sunscreen is easily accessible as well.



The other tip I have is keeping a basket just for flip flops.  Keeping them all in one place is so much easier and the kids can simply toss them in the basket before we go in the house.  I have a small towel in the bottom of the basket so that I can dump sand anytime I need to.


The label is polka dot wrapping paper that I covered a piece of cardboard with.  If you know me, you know I have a huge crush on using wrapping paper and even just wallpapered my daughter's closet office with it!  Then a simple chalkboard label and punching some holes does the trick.  I hung it from the handles with jute.  The basket is another Target find.  Here is a similar one.


You can see from the shot below that a red clock hangs above the door and the overhead storage on our garage ceiling allows us to tuck away rarely used items.



Oh, and in case you are curious, the stripe rug is from Target.  It is machine washable which is always a plus.  I figure it will last me through the season.  I even picked up an extra one to have on hand when this one wears out!

So that is a peek into how we transition from rain boots to sunny skies and beach outings over here.  Enjoy your day!




"Do you believe in love at first sight? I sure do because when I first stumbled upon I Heart Organizing I immediately fell in love with Jen's mad organizational skills. I think we all long for a calm, organized, well styled life. I am the author of A Thoughtful Place blog where I dish on all things related to decorating, organizing, entertaining, and of course DIY-ing! To be quite honest, working on making my house a home is my happy place. It fulfills my need to be creative and I love sharing ideas {both big and small} with my readers. Along with my blog, I am a contributing writer to House of Fifty and have recently started my own decorating firm, Casey Grace Design, LLC,  with my talented sister.  I call Orange County, California home where I live with amazing husband and two children. At the end of a busy day, I love to enjoy an ice cold beer on the front porch with my hubby while we watch our children ride their bikes or run around. Life is sweet and I am thrilled to be a part of the IHeart Organizing Team."


29 comments:

  1. Love these ideas!! We are still getting settled in our new house, and we have a pool, so I've been trying to think of ways to be organized with pool accessories for the summer. I think the command hooks with the pails is a fantastic solution to having sunscreen handy right in the garage entry by the pool for guests to use too!

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  2. Great ideas Courtney! I remember the days of lugging all the necessary things to the pool with our girls. Always prayed we hadn't forgotten something.

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  3. Courtney,

    Great post! It was timed particularly well for this southern California family! I have a question about your striped rug that is placed on your steps. Do you adhere it in any special way, or does it stay in place pretty well? I like the idea of having one on garage steps, especially since we take off our shoes before entering the home. (By the looks of your shoe racks, seems like you do too?)

    Thanks Courtney!
    Anita in Southern California

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    1. Hi Anita. I do not have it adhered but I made a sharp crease in it where it bends on the step. So far it hasn't been a problem. I used to have a red one for a couple of years and just swapped it out for this striped one. We are big on taking off our shoes before going in as well!

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  4. Seriously, this has got to be the cutest garage I've ever seen. Great tips -- I am SO ready for summer!

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  5. Great ideas here! Thanks so much for the inspiration!

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  6. I love this but would be freaked out about spiders getting in my stuff if I left it in my garage!!! Maybe I could do this in my tiny laundry room :)

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  7. Thanks for these great tips! So inspiring. I need to get my garage ready for the summer too.

    Have a wonderful day!

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  8. That looks great! though I'm not sure how well it would here in GA. Everything in the garage gets covered in pollen (yellow powdery film) in the Spring, would be great come Summertime though. :)

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  9. I have been following you for about a month now. Really enjoy your tips. I am also from WI, Fond du Lac. We are sooooo waiting for spring weather too.

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  10. Very cute! I wish our garage looked like this! I love the cute pails from Target - that's a great idea to hang them with summer items to make them easy to grab and go. These are great ideas!

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  11. I love the curtains and the adorable containers. Can't wait to try some of these ideas in my garage. There is nothing worse than opening the garage door and to see "stuff" exposed and disorderly. In my new house, all my garage items are stored neatly in a corner until I have time to sort and organize. You've inspired me with some fab ideas. Thanks!

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  12. But how do you keep the buckets from getting filled with trash? I suppose you would say "why would you ever do that?" But I can see that while there is and empty bucket on the wall it would get filled with other people's things.

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  13. This space is awesome and I especially love the black and white striped rug!

    ~Sarah

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  14. Great ideas! I love the curtain idea to hide things!

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  15. Cute! I especially love the polka dot pails... I can't imagine storing my umbrella just yet though. I live on the west coast too, but the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver Canada specifically) so there's no way that could happen!
    {lamourcheznous.wordpress.com}

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  16. I love that many American garages have these integral garages. We have them here but not as often. Your tips are amazing

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  17. This is a dream garage! So many good tips to take away... love the pails and rug; love that you've made your garage another beautiful space in your home and not just a dumping ground (like me!) For those of us that aren't blessed enough to be by the beach it could totally apply to pool outings or kids sports! And the wrapping paper labels? LOVE! Great job! Jules from bles-id.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks so much! But please know the garage gets crazy messy from time to time and we just take an hour or two out on the weekend and get in back in shape. We have learned that if we wait too long. . it's harder to maintain. Thanks for the sweet compliment.

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  18. Such fantastic tips. Wow, Courtney's garage really puts mine to shame. Need to get out there and start tidying up!

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  19. Seriously!!!??? Your garage is nicer than most the rooms in my house!!!!! Great tips, per usual, my dear!

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  20. I love that flip flop basket. I have just
    the perfect basket to do.

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  21. A few years ago, I got a couple of these hook rails and put them along one wall of our powder room (long, narrow room, with lots of empty wall space). The powder room is just around the corner from our kitchen/back entry that we use all the time, instead of the garage.

    http://www.target.com/p/threshold-27-scroll-hook-rail-vintage-distressed-soft-iron/-/A-14034318#?lnk=sc_qi_detailbutton

    On the hooks, I have a beach tote for each person. As soon as the beach towels are washed/dried, they go into the appropriate tote. Swim goggles are kept in the totes, too. I also use the hooks to hang bathing suits to dry after they've gone through the wash. Suntan lotion is kept in the linen closet in the powder room. We use the powder room as our "bath house" before heading to the local pool. Everything in one place!

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  22. Wow! This is beautiful and super functional -- I love it.

    I had some questions regarding your overhead garage storage and the white melamine (I loved your garage post so much I popped by your website to check out other posts on it!:))

    We have a lot of holiday decor boxes in our garage -- are you able to store these in the overhead storage? Where did you get your overhead storage/brand? Where did you get white melamine board to put on the bottom? Does it make the garage feel claustrophobic with them hanging down from the ceiling? Is your garage have high ceilings?! :) What size are they (l x w)?

    oh, ya-- where do you store your lawnmower, bikes, etc?

    I might have to try this!! Thank you so much for sharing!

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    1. Hi! It does not feel tight as the ceilings are very high. Not sure how high. We store bikes on the wall next to my car. They also hang. The lawn mower is in one of the corners. We store two holiday bins {Easter and fall} but Christmas is in our mudroom storage {also on my blog}. Think we bought them from the local Home Depot . . same with the boards. Hope that helps!

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    2. Thanks for answering my multitude of questions!! I just got so excited/ inspired seeing your garage! :) --maybe went a little bit overboard with the questions.

      I am even more amazed now after seeing your creative hiding spot for your Christmas decor -- I am going to have to browse through your website more! Thanks for sharing all your ideas with me. Your answer was very helpful.

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  23. Love how this looks. I am painting my garage door black fo sho! What does the "No 6" stand for? Just curious...why not keep the sunscreen and towels IN the beach bag, and then all you have to do is grab and go. That is what I do and it works fantastic! I love the flip flop basket. I do that too. However with 5 kids, its a tad larger ;)

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    1. Hi Melissa! Great points. I keep sunscreen there because I put it on the kids before school almost every day. So we don't just use it when we go. It is so nice to have it right be the door for me. And wish I had done the flip flop basket long ago! I can imagine yours is more than a tad larger! 6 is our house number, by the way.

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  24. Great organization tips for Summer. I enjoyed reading this post.

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