Organized My Chaos

I don't know why, but I always like to start my stories off with the word "So." I think it's my attempt at convincing the poor soul I've wrangled into conversation that the story is life changing and epic. 

So, (you see what I did there?) one day over Christmas break I told Josh I was tired of how our house was so disorganized. Namely, our bathroom storage and closet storage. When I moved in I used our linen closet, bathroom closet, and bathroom cabinets as various 'shove stuff that doesn't have anywhere to go' spots. You know things are disorganized when the Advil is hanging out next to the Lysol toilet cleaner. Just keepin' it real, folks.

Anyway- this a little bit of what we were working with:

linen closet at the end of the hallway.

bottom half of master bathroom closet

top half of master bathroom closet

medicine & cleaning supplies. for shame. master bathroom cabinets.

master bathroom cabinets

I'd had enough of this mess. And when you've had enough of anything, there's only one place to go: Dollar Tree. I knew they carried lots of baskets and such because they are where I run when I need organization stuff for my classroom. Kids demolish anything, cheap or expensive, so I love having what I need for a very replaceable price.

When I got to Dollar Tree the Heavens opened and angels sang: They had brought in shelves upon shelves of buckets and baskets and bins (oh my!) to replace all of the Christmas decor. So naturally I wiped the drool from my chin and filled up my cart.

the picture I sent my husband. he knew better than to question my madness.

 Once I got home I started with the linen closet (the smallest/easiest) in the hallway. I took everything out and laid it on my bed. I sorted through all the items making piles to put back, donate, and trash. When all my schtuff was grouped I grabbed a few of the bins and further categorized the 'put back' things into handtowels/washcloths for the spare bathroom, extra home decor, and misc items. I then arranged the baskets and bins, found I had the room in the bottom to stash some cleaning appliances (woot!), and then stepped back to admire my work.

before. blech

after. gorjuss. and the vacuum fits!

I was so excited with those results I carried on (my wayward, sonnn) and used the same process on the master bathroom closet:

before. guh-rosss

after. do you hear angels? i hear angels.

Aaaaand the master bathroom cabinets:

before. dane-juh-russ medicine/cleaning chemicals mess

(lady products are behind the left door)after. medicine is in the closet now. huzzah!

before. random stuffs.

after. soaps in the basket. hardware, paint, etc on the right

I was on such an organizational high after all of this that I pushed forward (my back was killing me with all the bending and squatting and carrying back and forth. I cared not!) and cleaned out/organized the spare bathroom cabinet and the cabinet under the kitchen sink. I forgot to take pictures of those, but they had very similar yucky befores/beautiful afters. :)

Finally, I took care of one last problem. I was oh. so. tired. of wet towels ending up on our bed, in the floor, and hanging over the shower curtain. Both Josh and I will use a bath towel a few times before tossing it in the laundry (you're clean when you dry off from a shower, so why only use it once?) so I thought and thought until I came across this pin and was inspired:

source

We've had a towel bar in our bathroom since we moved in and the only purpose it has served is to hold a decorative towel. I decided it was fired.

Cute, but not working for us.

It did not want to go quietly. I had to google how to remove a towel bar that doesn't have outside screws. This webpage helped me a lot. Josh had to bring home his allen wrenches and I had to use the teeniest, tiniest one! I unscrewed the itty bitty set screw-

Which left me with this-

So then I popped that off with a flat head screwdriver (my PINK one! holla!)-

Which left me with this-

owner before us used a variety of screws. very frankensteinish.

So then I unscrewed the Frankenstein screws and had this-

Which I covered with spackle and then smoothed and painted-

After doing that process with both sides, painting, and allowing time to dry, I mounted two coat hooks I got at Target for a couple bucks.

Then I finished them off by adding the adorable little round frames (Hobby Lobby 50% off). To do the letters of our names I sprayed some cardstock with chalkboard spray paint and free handed the 'a' and 'j' with a sharpened piece of chalk.

Now we have a designated spot for our towels and they are easy to grab from the shower and can hang there and dry after being used. Functional and so pretty! Love!

Organizing those spaces of your home that get so easily cluttered really help keep stress levels down and allow you to put more time and energy into things that matter a lot more!

Until next time,
-A