In our last meeting my Mothers of Preschoolers Group (MOPS) talked about organization, it was great to hear what works well for other families, and definitely spurred that I should share what works well for Andrew and I.

For lists of all kinds Andrew and I utilize the To-Do List app Wunderlist . In fact I LOVED Wunderlist so much I got work hooked on it and they still use it for all their projects today.

What’s Great About It:

• Shared Lists, you can see who made what. can assign tasks
• Phone app and web app – you can do the heavy set up on your computer one day but then only use your phone for the rest
• Customizable reminders but only when you want them – you can  set specific reminder times for your due dates, but it doesn’t automatically turn those on!
• Customizable recurring tasks – lots of options for repeating tasks to fit whatever the scenario

• Folders – Group lists like shopping lists for specific stores in one folder.

How we use it:

I say to Andrew I’m headed to xyz store, he can add items to the list as I’m in the store and I can check them off.

Best of all this is everything you can do with the FREE version of Wunderlist, lots of these features only come with the paid version of other apps.

I've been busy working on operation Making Room for Baby now that my first trimester fatique has worn off.

Since our master bedroom is off the kitchen the best nursery room is my dressing room so I've been working on reducing my clothes to fit into our current guest room. (Lots of designer goodies are now listed in my Tradesy closet)

After 2 weekends of sorting the odds weren't looking good... I started looking for ways to cheat...

A couple of Amazon searches later I found my answer! This beauty is a high rise bedframe with 16.5" of clearance underneath it! That's tall enough for your average big storage tote!

 So for $110 added 58 cubic feet of storage to my guest room and all I had to do was ditch the box spring that squeaked anyway! Even better our medium size suitcase fit under it on it's side!

Since it's a oversize 'Prime' product it took awhile to get here, so I continually planned ten tons of stuff I was hoping to fit under there to the point I joked that I it was going to turn into Narnia under the bed! So far most of it is fitting.

It's super strong and sturdy and was very easy to put together!

For the bedskirt I just took the velcro off the old boxspring (see my easy velcro bedskirt post) and stuck it to the metal frame. I'll need to add a border to the end of the bedskirt to make it a little longer. The velcro will be great to remove the bedskirt when doing big swap arounds of stuff.

If you're not willing to give up your boxspring they also make a slightly shorter one that still has more clearance than your average Hollywood style bedframe, but won't make your bed too high. 

This is not a sponsored post I'm just super excited about this easy storage solution.

Here’s the simple way I organize some of my crafting tools.

I used tomato paste and sauce cans spiffed up with ribbon scraps and little galvanized buckets from Logan’s desserts.

All on tray that I can slide out from under this little shelf.

It’s great to have lots of little containers for all those notions and tools you acquire for sewing!

Inspired by the many ideas out there on Pinterest for thread storage, I combined all my favorite features into the ultimate thread rack, 3” is a little deeper than most, but I like it since it gives more flexibility since it’s wide enough for jars and cone thread.

Mine Measures 34” wide and 40” tall and 3” deep based on the 1”x3” white pine I bought at Home Depot.

Materials I used:

• 2 - 6’  1x3 White Pine Boards
• 3 - 8’ 1x3 White Pine Boards
• Drywall Screws
• Decorative Brass Corner Brackets
• Screw in D-Rings for Hanging
• Caulk
• Paint
  

First map out what size you’d like it to be, and about how many shelves you’d like to divide that into. I thought I was going to be able to cram in more shelves than I did, so I ended up getting extra wood. I made my size divide well into the wood I bought, the inside dimensions of the shelves were 32” which meant exactly 3 per 8’ board, which kept it pretty easy.

With your cut boards on the floor and your objects in hand, determine where you’d like your shelves to be and mark them. I made that top shelf perfect for those great Crystal Light containers.

We also drew a line down the middle of the side boards so our screws would be in a row, in the end we countersunk the screws and drywall spackled them so this wasn’t as much of an issue.

Drill pilot holes through the sides and the shelves (skinny wood=pilot holes) then screw together. We made the outside box then added the shelves. This part is tricky to keep square but take your time and you’ll get it.

Add the shelves one by one and make sure they are level. (We had to go back and correct some since I didn’t notice I was using the ‘wrong bubble’ until the end… oops).

Once done with the shelves stand back and double check that they are straight.

Countersink any screws you need to and use drywall putty to cover them up, I’m a fan of the pink-dries white kind. I did 3 layers of putty to get the perfect finish. Caulk the seams before painting with ALEXA paintable caulk.

Once the putty is dry sand smooth, along with any other rough spots.

Wipe down with a tact cloth or damp paper towel.

Prop Up and Paint. The skinny shelve will be tricky, I used my leftover hallway paint, Behr Bali Bliss in a eggshell. I did one full coat and just touched up the spots I missed.

Add your corner brackets, I did not make pilot holes for these. Be careful they can be tough to center perfectly.

Add your hanging D-Rings, I set mine at the junction of my top shelf so they’d be most hidden.

Protect your wall by adding electrical tape over the bottom of the D-rings, and felt bumpers to the back of the unit.

Hang. One side of mine hung with a drywall screw in a stud, for the other side we used a 75 lb. rated drywall anchor.

Fill to the brim with all your notions, and add little nails for bobbins if you’d like.

Couple more finished glamour shots:

Here’s an easy room divider my Dad made for their pool house. He wrapped a typical plastic shelving unit in table cloth. By adding pleats it lays nicely.  It’s makes easy to get to hidden storage for all the ‘pool stuff’.

To attach it at the top use screws paired with washers screwed into the plastic.

Very simple, but effective and cheap.

 

   

You know my hanging headband organizer?? Still one of my most popular posts, and I’ve sold 35 of them online!

Well a scarf loving friend pointed out they’d be great for scarves and sashes, so I tried it!

It works awesome!

To make your own, follow the Hanging Headband Organizer tutorial but make it  4 feet long rather than door length.

You can also adjust the size of your loops to fit your scarf collection.

These are my guidelines:

For Silk Scarves and Ties:
- The top third has loops spaced every one inch. (Perfect for sashes)
- The middle third has loops spaced every 1.5 inches. (Perfect for squares)
- The bottom third has loops space every 2 inches. (Perfect for wider silk scarves)
For Knit Scarves:
- The top third has loops spaced every 2 inches. (For the thin cottony kind)
- The middle third has loops spaced every 2.5 inches. (For the thicker knits)
- The bottom third has loops space every 3 inches. (For the chunky knits)

The bottom elastic isn’t as needed in the scarf holder. Hang with an over the door hook or a 3M command hook.

Gotta love vertical storage solutions!

Here’s how to use it:

 

If you love the idea but don’t sew I try and keep them stocked in my shop or email me and I’ll make you a custom one.

This post is partying here.

We started the day off right with some turkey bacon, biscuits, eggs, and Pioneer Woman Hash browns (note in the cook book she has you bake not boil…)
Then I tackled one of those OCD projects I’ve been wanting to do for ages. I cleaned the inside of both the windows, the storm windows, and all the sills and on the outside sills too. I also scraped off a bunch of paint from the glass. I had to be really really careful in some of the rooms since a genius painted water over oil and it peels off on touch almost. Ugh another issue for another day, so in those rooms I left most of the paint on the window =(
Whew, that took a whole spray bottle of vinegar/water and a bunch of Windex, and my entire cleaning rag collection, and a roll of paper towels, and my nifty new battery shop vac that’s pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread.

They were REALLY dirty.

  

Then we hung the curtains I made from a $14 JC Penney shower curtain hemmed in half, linen and ombre, at total trend twofer! The rod is $24 a Levolor from Home Depot, really happy with it for the money. Curtain rods are evil. I got the clip rings from Amazon, for $12 they are really really nice and you get a lot of them!  Still think I need to add a band to make them a little longer, and more defined wave, but the beauty of the clips is that I don’t have to take the rod down!

Then it was time to tackle kitchen organization round 2. Last weekend my folks brought down some Ikea for my birthday. So we added a buffet and shelves to the ‘eat in’ area of the kitchen (The dining room is actually closer to the stove than the eat in, lol!)  So now that I had more space, I needed to reorganize again!
A world of difference, everything now a has a good functional home, it’s WONDERFUL! The organizational part of the kitchen is done, now all that’s left is putting in a dual fuel stove, painting the cabinets cream, and the walls yellow, and some light fixtures... and certainly I've forgotten like 5 million more things...

Looking in from the Den.

Looking in from the Den.


The rolling island was actually a Kmart find of all places, it’s called the Sandra Lee Kitchen Cart. Between it being on sale, ebates, Sears Rewards, online coupons, I was able to get it for just $120 with in store pick up. It looks pretty dang good and the top is actual granite!  Very happy with it, and it’s a huge help!

Ikea Norden is the perfect Appliance Bar 

Paired with Branas baskets

Helpful hint, if you follow the Norden directions, the baskets won’t fit because of the support beam for the movable shelf, so we had to take that off. We then attached the support beam to the back of the legs to add a bar against the back of the shelf, now I have a “stop” for the baskets and they are always in line!

We didn’t stop there, that bi-fold door is my laundry closet. Since my washer and dryer stick out 8” from the back wall, I had Andrew make me a shelf to go over the control panels. No more losing my favorite shirt! Still need to finish organizing and making it pretty, but functionality is way better!
 
Ok I’m tuckered out now!

Now I need to show you what we did Saturday, lol....

Non-sewist might think it’s hording, but us sewing folks know that scraps are handy, I probably keep way too many of the super tiny ones (I justify it in that with doll clothes some pattern pieces really are that small…)
After some trial and tribulation I’ve come up with the ‘scrap management’ method that works best for me and my filled to the brim craft room.
I have a plastic pretzel barrel that holds all my scraps.
To keep it easier to ‘root through’ I safety pin all my like scraps together.
If I have a large scrap piece I’ll pin those right to the yardage I have left.

Other Scrap Management Ideas

Someday I’d love to do open labeled boxes like Karen at Sew Many Ways, actually, I’ll just take her whole sewing room!

Clover and Violet sort their scraps into plastic shoe boxes by color.
American Sewing Guild in The Salt Lake City always has great informational posts, here’s there’s on organizing scraps.

My favorite idea from this post is using a shoe organizer like Pioneer Valley Girl, you could even make your own with my over door organizer tutorial.

Pleasant Home uses wire baskets, I use a big elfa wire basket in my Mom’s Sewing room, to pretty good success since it’s easier to see through than plastic.
What’s your favorite way to tackle scraps?