Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Organizing The Whole House, One Cabinet At A Time

You Down With O-R-G? Yeah You Know Me.

Yes, that’s a Naughty By Nature reference. But why O-R-G? That’s $herdog’s abbreviation for organizing. I’ve gotta be honest. Our house hasn’t been this trashed/chaotic/messy since we moved in 16 months ago. Seriously, I’m not talking about a little dist around the baseboards or some streaks on the windows, I’m talking about serious stuff like not being able to locate anything in our completely ridiculous sink drawer:

Drawer1

So although we have two entire sections of our Projects page dedicated to cleaning and organizing posts of yore, there hasn’t been much of that going on lately. At all. It all started to fall apart back in Jan/Feb during three weeks of book shoots in our house (with a crew of people, and a ton of moving/painting/general insanity) that left our house looking like this…

Ram Bed In Corner

Why would other things like our sink drawer go downhill too? The only way I can explain it is that it’s a slippery slope. When you’re juggling secret book projects, regular blog projects/posts, and baby care while a bunch of folks are in your house shooting over 150 different book photos that you’re DIYing and styling yourself, you just don’t have a minute to breathe during the day. And once the baby goes to sleep and the crew leaves, you think you’ll tackle stuff at night, but since they’re all coming back in the morning (and you have 20 more projects to finish, style, and walls to paint before they arrive in the am) it feels like you’re working two shifts and you don’t even remember what day it is let alone where the deodorant should go.

And between writing posts, doing projects, raising a toddler, and birthing this book baby of ours (we’re still proofing 200 page stacks of layouts, completing the resources section, and finalizing the cover) it feels like we’ll never have time to put our house back together. Unless we officially declare whipping our insanely unorganized casa back into shape as Project Numero Uno in a week-long bootcamp of sorts. So we’re doing it!!! Hang on to your hats. It’s gonna get messy. And then hopefully clean (with a giant yard sale pile at the end of the rainbow). And we’d love for you guys to hop on the spring cleaning train with us! Speaking of which, we got a head-start this weekend (forgive us) since we needed a Monday post to kick things off. First, I decided to make the cabinets under our dining room built-ins say my name. That’s right, I literally whispered “Say my name” to my cabinets. Winner.

Books Storage Before

Then I took everything out. Well, I took about three things out and was already over it, so I padded over to the computer and put on some tunes (Nicki Minaj then Eminem then a little vintage Britney). And I did some mild to moderate head bopping (but zero freestyle rapping) as I removed every last book, magazine, and other random object that found its way in there (many books and mags are stored in there since the built-ins aren’t deep enough for them).

I made piles. Piles of each magazine (Domino, Cottage Living, House Beautiful, Blueprint, and BHG & other Meredith mags like DIY). I also tried to stack my books by subject (pregnancy/health/green, chick lit, decor/design, and teen fiction like Hunger Games & Twilight – haha). I’ll say it again. Winner.

Books On Floor

Oh and see those white things on the bottom of the pic above? They’re actually old shelves from the built-ins that we removed since it was way too crowded up there (more on that here), so we shoved them into the cabinet in case we changed our mind and wanted to crowd the cabinets with too many shelves again (why????). It was a bad call. Over a year later they’ve just collected dust and wasted space, so off to John’s scrap wood pile in the basement they went.

Then I wiped down the shelves (they were grosser than I’d like to admit) with good ol’ white vinegar. It cleans things and kills odors at the same time (they sort of smelled like an old storage room). Wiping the entire cabinet only took about half of Hit Me Baby One More Time. So worth it.

Vinegar For Cleaning

Then I slowly put things back in, grouping stuff that made the most sense, and stacking them in a way that I thought would be easiest to maintain while allowing me to store everything and see almost all of it. Instead of standing everything up (knowing I’d pull something out and everything would topple) I made small stacks of things that I can see beyond and can easily remove each stack to reach something in the back row.

After Books

Ahhh, order. How I love thee. Let me count the ways Domino magazines.

After Books Straight

Of course about 10% of the books and mags that came out ended up in a yard sale pile I’ve started in the guest room closet. It’s nice to admit that I’m not going to read something again and give someone else a chance.

After Books Detail

Oh and you might be wondering where all my hard cover decorating books are (other than stacked in plain sight on the console, on the built-in shelves, and on the top of our office file cabinet). Well, the two ottomans in the hallway under the console (you know, that sits in our hallway o’ frames) are filled with them. But they don’t runneth over so I don’t think I have a decorating book problem. Yet.

Books Storage

At this point my brain hurt from thinking too hard about what to group with what, what to put in the yard sale pile, etc. But I still had a bunch of random decor related items sitting around looking for a home (remember in the before pic there were faux gourds, vases, and candlesticks shoved in there too?). So it was time to deal with the cabinet under the built-ins on the other side, which is where I keep all of my candlesticks, vases, and various decor-related-items. That side had gone to h-e-double-hockey-sticks too.

Decor Store Before

It was so bad that I started stashing overflow items in the book/magazine cabinet on the other side. Not good. Time to pare things down, group them so they make sense again, add stuff to the yard sale pile, and generally get my stuff together under there. But wait, there’s more…

Serving Cab Before

Yup, I also overflowed stuff into the new corner cabinet in our kitchen. But about half of the things in there actually belonged there since they were kitchen/food/serving related (like a cake stand or a salad bowl). So I decided to turn the corner cabinet in the kitchen into only serving/food related storage and pare down my decor stuff so it would hopefully all fit in the single cabinet under the built-ins in the dining room.

Once again, the first step was taking everything out. This time I listened to various Glee versions of songs, more Nicki Minaj, and old school Snoop & Dre. Picture me singing “Ain’t nothing but a clean thing bay-bay. I got so many candles it’s cray-zay.”

Decor On Floor

I also emptied the corner cabinet in the kitchen. For reference that peninsula counter is five feet long by three feet wide. Blort.

Serving Cab On Counter

Then I pulled out every last item I didn’t use/need/want for my growing yard sale pile and grouped everything else by item (ex: all vases in one spot, all candlesticks in one spot). Then back in it went after a quick vinegar wipe-down.

Decor Store After

It juuuuuuust fit. A loose description of what’s going on in here now is that the top right quadrant has candle holding devices, the bottom right quadrant has vases and planters, the bottom left quadrant has various vase filler and a few other random decorative items, and the top left quadrant has all of my tabletop decor that gets rotated in and out pretty much all the time.

Decor Store Detail After

But where did all those crazy candles go? Well, many of them used to live in our first house’s living room fireplace (on a big silver platter) but since we now have a toddler who gets into everything, I just saved a few of the better looking ones and put them in a candle drawer of their own. How novel! This small cabinet in the dining room was empty (it’s actually a night table, but we thought it worked nicely in here), so I commandeered one drawer for candle storage. And the rest of my too-large candle collection went into the yard sale pile. Update: I’ve added two plastic place mats to the bottom of the drawer to protect it from any potential waxiness.

Candle Drawer

Huzzah! Now the corner cabinet in the kitchen only has kitchen-related items, like serving dishes, bowls, plates, trays, a cake stand, etc.

Serving Cab After

And there’s room to spare in there. Lookout John. Momma feels a shopping spree coming on. Just kidding, I’m way too tired. But I better buck up, because there’s still lots to do this week. And we’d love for you guys to join our bootcamp and clean/organize/pare down along with us! Here’s our schedule:

  • Monday: Since we shared how we organized a few cabinets, feel free to tackle one or two of your own (you could also just dive into books and decorative accessories, wherever you keep them)
  • Tuesday: Taming kid clutter is on our agenda (if you don’t have kiddos, any clutter-wrangling works)
  • Wednesday: We’ll cover how we pare down our grooming & cleaning products (feel free to tackle yours and share your tips too)
  • Thursday: Let’s get on some paper/tech org (we’re aiming for some blog streamlining, but you can take on anything from digital photos or cleaning up your desktop to filing paperwork or receipts)
  • Friday: Ahhh, we miiiight let you see our basement. Gotta work up the courage. So maybe plan a little basement or garage cleanup on your end?
  • Bonus: We also hope to tackle clothes (make sense of our dresser and maybe do some slight closet shifting) and our clutter-fied night tables at some point – here’s hoping!

Of course that’s tentative since we’re blogging in real time, but we can’t wait to report back and hear how you guys are doing. Have you already been doing some spring cleaning/organizing or any general house streamlining? Are you down to do it with us? What music keeps you from going out of your mind while cleaning and organizing? Or do you favor an audio book/TV/NPR? That sounds like a good time too.

Comments

  1. dana828 says

    I am totally on the spring cleaning train! So far I’ve tackled some kitchen cabinets (the shelf in my pot & pan cabinet came crashing down, so that needed a new solution. Done!). Last week I started on the tall bathroom cabinet. I bought 2 of those small plastic Sterlite 3-drawer things for all my makeup, which is now organized in the drawers by categories–eyes, lips, face, etc. I also organized all my hair stuff and lotions in 2 plastic bins on another shelf. I still have 3 shelves to go, though. The biggest issue is that the cabinet only opens halfway before hitting the toilet (who builds things like that?!), and is very deep, so to get to the stuff in the back on the lower 3 shelves I have to sit on the floor next to the potty…nice, huh? Stupid bathroom.

    Reply

  2. Meredith @ La Buena Vida says

    It’s nice to see someone tackling organizing without dropping $100 at the Container Store first. I think that’s my biggest stumbling block to organizing–feeling like I have to spend a bunch of money to buy totes/dividers/whatever first, and knowing we don’t have extra money to spend in that area.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Meredith! I definitely think there’s this balance between letting things go and grouping like objects. It’s hard brainpower to figure out how to do both, haha (I’m literally always second-guessing my groupings and what I want to put in the yard sale) but it feels so good at the end of it all!

      xo,
      s

    • heather says

      I totally get that Meredith. I used to feel the same way and then a light went off that changed everything for me in 2008 when I was trying to organize all the stuff I brought from place to place with me through college/etc. “Stuff” should never be overwhelming. Things I thought I would miss? I don’t even remember what I got rid of. My theory is if I can’t find a place for the item I don’t stress about it. I either donate it, reuse it (i.e. storage in the house becomes tool storage in the garage), put it in the wood stove (sensitive paperwork), or the last option-throw it away. If it was really sentimental, it went in a box in the garage upstairs (I have a couple and that’s it). Everything else is either used or out. Somehow my house still gets messy and I still find more things to get rid of but the less “stuff” I have, the happier I am. :) I say purge, don’t buy storage!

    • heather says

      (the other trick was taking pictures of things that I thought I would want to remember, but would never use again.) I have a couple pictures of some of my highschool artwork I wanted to remember but it was huge and I was never going to hang it. It’s great!

  4. Lisa says

    I am a purger. I hate clutter and I like to do a big purge each spring (along with smaller clothing purges/toy purges throughout the year).

    I am getting ready for a yard sale of my own, either this weekend or next. Depends on the weather forecast. Also, my goal with a yard sale is not to make a lot of money necessarily…the idea is to get it out of my house! So, as soon as the yard sale is over, my SUV is standing by ready to haul anything left to Goodwill. I also am willing to take a lower price just to get rid of things…so the yard sale folks love me! ;)

    This spring I have redone my daughter’s bedroom, so lots of stuff from there and we redid our family room, so I have a few leftovers from that.

    Oh, and does it make me sound strange that I would volunteer my time to help people clean out their garages? It drives me INSANE to see people parking in their driveways because they can’t get into their garages! I want to stop and offer my help right then and there! My husband and I agreed before we got married that our garage was for cars. We keep to it almost all year, but right now…yard sale stuff is on his side! So, the sooner the yard sale, the sooner he can park his car in again! :)

    Looking forward to all your organization projects this week. :)

    Reply

    • Beth says

      I totally understand wanting to help people clean out their garages! The development I live in is FULL of people who leave their cars outside and their garage doors open for no apparent reason. Driving by and seeing how full of JUNK their garages are while the cars (which are obviously a lot more valuable) get to sit out in the weather is just crazy. We all have big basements and attics, too, so it makes me wonder how they could possibly have so much stuff to store.

  5. Kim says

    You guys are the BEST. I was about to start cleaning/organizing, and didn’t know where to start…so I procrastinated by going blog-reading. Thanks for the schedule – I’ll be with you guys all week!

    Reply

  6. Ann says

    speaking of candles…do you buy yours from one source only? need a lot of white candles for upcoming wedding and want ones that burn as long as possible. i know how to find cheap candles…but hoping i can find cheap and long lasting.

    Reply

  7. Jamie says

    Love it! I have been trying to tackle spring cleaning for a week now…but somehow have just managed to end up with piles of stuff everywhere (winter clothes to put away, clothes to give away, books)… its a mess! And we haven’t even gotten to the messy drawers yet.

    In addition to spring cleaning, it sounds like someone’s been reading the Happiness Project? :) I loved that book!

    Reply

  8. Barbara H. says

    Maybe this will inspire me as it gets too warm to work outside. I wonder if the candle drawer needs some liner – sometimes candles will leave an oily mark – from the wax, I guess. It’s looking very good around there!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks for the tip Barbara! I just added an update to the post (I added two clear place mats under the candles to keep the drawers from getting waxy).

      xo,
      s

  9. Stacey says

    i was just looking at my production calendar at work to see if i could swing taking a week off this month to do a huge house-wide purge. it will literally take me an entire day just to clean out/organize the cabinets under the built-in in my kitchen! i’ve been debating having a yard sale as well, but the thought of putting all that time into organizing one only to have people haggle over pocket change makes me second-guess doing it. any advice for throwing a successful “lazy person’s” yard sale? ;)

    Reply

  10. Cathy says

    YES! I just made a “Spring organizing” to do list last night. I started this morning with organizing my son’s kitchen cupboard that holds all his snacks, sippy cups, bibs, bottles, etc. Later today I hope to tackle organizing my pantry. This week I also hope to work on our clothing organization, the garage, and basement. Glad to see that I’m not the only one who has the organizing bug. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

  11. Emma says

    I’m so relieved to see that messy picture of your house because that’s what my apartment has looked like for the past 2 months too! Working long hours and 8 weekends in a row away from the city has made it difficult to get anything done! But yesterday my boyfriend and I had a massive cleaning session and I am so relieved! Can’t wait to see all of your organizing posts this week and hopefully I’ll get some more done too!

    Reply

  12. KLL says

    I’m SO in. My kitchen cabinets got a complete clean out makeover last year…and now everything is chaos again.
    I think part of the problem the last few months has been that I began a diet and began cooking for the first time. Not that I didn’t cook before, but I didn’t COOK before…big difference!
    When I’m chopping veggies, which takes forever each week, I turn on the 80s digital music channel…sometims the 90s channel to get some college frat party tunes stuck in my head. Good times!
    I’m going to try to hit the cabinets tonight and try to keep up with ya this week. I printed out this ‘declutter’ calendar in January and haven’t looked at since *FAIL*

    Reply

  13. Christa @ a*typicaljourney says

    I am absolutely ecstatic that you guys are doing this series!
    I’ve been slowly working on organizing my teeny townhome for the past few months, and I’m ready to be DONE! We spent the entire past weekend in our basement — which has just been a catch-all for empty boxes for electronics, baby toys, shoes, etc… — and got it completely organized (which was my birthday present from my hubby).
    The best part?? Now I have a craft/sewing room with adjacent playroom for our 2 year old! Two more activities that used to get crammed into our itty bitty living/dining space now have designated rooms! It made all the difference in the world. I no longer feel claustrophobic in my own home.
    It’s hard to get motivated to do the small things, but it’s so worth it in the end!

    Reply

  14. Melissa says

    You have such great timing! Our son’s third birthday is next weekend and we’re having a party at our house. It is total chaos since we’re juggling a SAHD, a 40-hour a week mama, an almost 3 year old, and a cruising (and skooching) 10 month old. Dreams of tackling the entire house will have to be put on hold while I prioritze dealing with the “public” areas after the kids are asleep/after we tackle the basic daily cleanup/before I pass out. It was already my goal for the night to work on the bathroom (one small bathroom, pitiful storage, two adults, two kids…one of whom is potty training…). Knowing that a home as well organized and beautifully put together as yours needs a little intensive care from time to time is actually comforting and helps motivate me!

    Reply

  15. Stephanie says

    Nice! Your plan for the week sounds like just what we need to do in our house, but my goal of cleaning the bathroom might be all I can handle. I bet my basement is scarier, I was thinking of showing the world. Good luck this week!

    Reply

  16. Zoë says

    I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a interior-design magazine “problem” (I still grieve the loss of Domino – so happy to get their one-off special this month). I store mine in our Expedit bookcases from IKEA. One of my favorites is Ideal Home magazine, an import from the UK that you can find at B&N. I justify the expense by telling myself it helps with my homesickness as I am a Londoner living in Tennessee. And Sherry, some professional organizers would suggest we purge our collections – how dare they!!

    Have fun with the clean-up. I have 4 more weeks of work until I am off for two months and my plan is to purge, clean and organize. I only hope my three kids and husband cooperate!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, I love Ideal Home! Sometimes I see it at the library for free so I check it out and soak it up! Or I read it at B&N! Haha. You’re so lucky to have a home collection!

      xo,
      s

    • Karen F says

      oh, I love Ideal Home! I have so many inspiration tear sheets from that magazine (I dream of living in London someday). Sherry, I never thought of looking for it at the library – great idea!

  17. Emiles says

    actually just started going through my non-work clothing last night! took out stuff i’m done with and turned the remaining hangers around so i know if i’ve worn it in the last “so many” months when i go through it again! SO! WE’re in! Plus, I think we’re going to try this: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/screenfreeweek/index.html this week, so this will be a good task! (although, is it strange to do when you DOn’T have kids? — i’ve vote it’s not, everyone needs to. back. away. from. the. tv/computer. sometimes, right?)

    Reply

  19. jenn says

    This is super-timely! I just went to Ikea this past weekend, and my daughter is off to Camp Grammy & Gramp’s this Thursday through Sunday. I already planned to redo the bookshelves and her clothes/toys while she was gone. I like this plan! 4.5 year olds are awesome to play with, but not super organizing partners..

    Reply

  20. Bethany says

    Can I admit that I got a little misty with the sight of those old Cottage Living magazines? Best. Magazine. Ever.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh my gosh it totally was! Although I’ve noticed that Coastal Living is getting very close to it in a great way! Check it out! It’s almost like it’s back!

      xo
      s

  21. Anna says

    This is just the motivation I need! Our guest room somehow ended up being a dumping ground for random stuff for awhile so I want to get that cleaned up. I’m also in the middle of switching out my winter clothes with my spring/summer clothes (not enough closet space for everything at once).

    I like to listen to audiobooks or podcasts. I found a podcast that teaches conversational French.

    Reply

  22. Jen A says

    How serendipitous to be spring cleaning together. I have started a routine of cleaning out one drawer / cabinet / etc. per day. 20-30 minutes tops. Feels great and the momentum is strong. I’m over a week into it and look forward to my 20-30 minute stretch of accomplishment. Today is the cabinet under my bathroom sink.

    One of my mottos is “Don’t put it down, put it away”. It only takes a second or two more to “put it away”, and keeps the household gears oiled and the happy spot inside shining, which makes room for a cheery disposition.

    Oh geeze … on that sappy note, i will bid you adieu.

    Reply

  24. bridget b. says

    good for you! i don’t like clutter, so once i finally get around to it, it feels so good to purge and re-organize. i just cleaned out my closet and donated a bunch of clothes and i love home much space there is in there now.

    question: can you give me any kind of leads on what kind of fabric that is on the cover of the two books in the lower left corner of the fourth picture in the post? it’s lime green, turquoise and brown and would be perfect for a shower curtain i want to make for my little one’s bathroom.

    Reply

  25. miriam says

    We’re trying to get our apartment down to fighting weight in time to move this summer, so this is exactly what I need to see right now! Our cabinets are already lean and mean, so I’ll be attacking the places where all our “I’ll deal with it later” stuff ends up. In our apartment it’s the top shelves in our closets… and under the bed (eep!)

    Reply

  26. Sabrina says

    You need to make use of that vertical space in the corner cabinet! Time for a visit to the Container Store. They have great wire stacking shelves that help you fit tons more stuff in a cabinet in an organized way.

    Reply

  27. Leslie P says

    We just started our spring cleaning adventure yesterday. We started in the kids rooms & their playroom (which I’m hoping to finish up today). thought behind starting there is making downstairs off limits for toys & playing. Wish me luck as I tackle it today! I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to be doing this at the same time! Thank you! Looking forward to seeing what your doing everyday!

    Reply

  28. marti says

    Ummmmm. See, your _before_ shots looked pretty O.R.G. to me! I wish I only had that amount of clutter! (kid stuff, garage, gardening gear are my nemesises… esises…) But I will admit my sink drawer is not that bad. Thank you for sharing – you guys are inspiring!

    Reply

  29. Ali Miller says

    It definitely must be something in the air. I started de-cluttering our bedroom this weekend and did some MAJOR cleaning in the master suite as a whole. Hope to tackle the clothing (drawers and closet) this week/weekend. It feels so much nicer to have everything cleaned and the table-tops de-cluttered. Much luck to all of us this week!

    Reply

  30. Kala M. says

    What great timing. The Hubby and I just cleaned up and reorganized in preparation to clean up and ORG. LOL Sounds funny but we have a lot of boxes in our apartment that my husband has been trying to go through and cut down on stuff. The problem is our Landlord and the Fire Marshall are coming through today for the yearly inspection so we had to reorganize everything to make sure we would pass. Some boxes were stacked and semi-blocking fire exits. We could still get around them if necessary but they wouldn’t have passed the 3 foot space that the Marshall requires. So now our apartment is in a somewhat more organized position for us to really get our ORG on!

    Reply

  31. Connie says

    This is completely unrelated to today’s post, except that there are walls, shelves, frames, etc. in your photos. Do you guys get the snazzy new JCPenney monthly ad catalog? I got one on Friday (maybe for May) & on a page opposite some wedding ring bling, was a white page with a tan square in the middle. Inside the tan square, printed in white letters, are the words “still the one”. Sweet! Looks like something you guys could frame for your hall wall, dining room shelves, etc. If you don’t get that ad, you may have to hunt one down. I’m in KS or I’d hand mine over :)

    Reply

  33. Megan @ Two Live Colorfully says

    So glad ya’ll are talking about organizing! My husband and I are in the midst of preparing to move/have a yard sale/get rid of all this crap we have! So it’ll be awesome to do it at the same time!

    Also, I’m with ya on the tunes. I can’t O.R.G. like a bamf unless I’ve got my 90’s club music playing! LOL :D

    Reply

  34. Lindsay says

    I’m due in October with our first baby, and I think my nesting instinct suddenly (already?) kicked in yesterday when I cleaned out and organized both mine and my hubby’s dressers and then moved to our closet!

    And fun fact: we have our gender ultrasound on Clara’s birthday! Exciting day all around! Although, we’re planning a gender reveal party on the 19th, so we technically won’t find out that day, but still!

    Reply

  35. Karyl says

    wow! I thought your first shot of the magazine cabinet was the “after” since relative to our cabinets and drawers it’s pretty good! Since we have a lot of wind storms and power outages out here in the pacific NW, we keep a box of matches and a firestick in the candle drawer. It saves trying to find them in an emergency….

    Reply

  36. simplyblythe says

    with baby #1 due in 10 days and the nesting instinct rather hit and miss, your boot camp is just what i needed.
    may not follow along exactly, but i will commit to a task/area/project a day and post the results.
    thanks!!

    Reply

  37. Kimberly says

    Oh how I would love to organize this week! Now if only I can get through folding two loads of laundry, doing diaper laundry, and get over the sleepy-all-of-the-time-with-a-toddler pregnancy symptom.. I think I will! I saw something on pinterest where a woman folded and placed all of her clothes horizontally in the dresser instead of in piles, I did it for my daughters clothes and for my husband and mine. Now I think you have convinced me to do it for my sons clothes tomorrow! Thank you!

    Reply

  38. Jennifer says

    I do okay with organizing cupboards, but drawers seem to give me the most trouble. Do you have any places you know of that offer the best drawer organizers? I like to have lots of different sizes but usually end up with a lot of mismatched containers.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve found some great stuff for cheap at places like Bed Bath & Beyond (use those 20% off coupons!) and TJ Maxx/HomeGoods/Target on sale. Sometimes they don’t match though! Haha.

      xo,
      s

  39. Deena says

    We got a jumpstart on the garage idea this past weekend. We cleaned out our huge pile of “garage stuff” (old paint cans, tools, car cleaning supplies, lawn care stuff – you get the idea) that was being store in old furniture items we didn’t want in the house anymore. (Basically… here honey, take this old coffee table and use it as part of the “workbench”) I wish I had taken a photo – we looked like Hoarders.

    We went to the HFH ReStore (thanks for tipping us off about those!), got a great used lower kitchen cabinet set with drawers and cabinets, it’s matching upper, painted them (they were white, we went with a dark brown to hide the dirt and dust it’s bound to accumulate in the garage) and installed them to create real storage and a real workbench. We used 2x8s to create the workbench surface on top of the lower cabinets. My hubby is so happy to have real storage solutions out there. It was quite the task, but it feels so good pulling into our garage and seeing the nice, organized workbench instead our mountain of random stuff!

    The rest of the house is on schedule for a re-O-R-G and rearrangement this week… I guess great (cleaning) minds think alike!

    Reply

  40. Lisa says

    I was just going to email you and ask where you store all your stuff. So this gives me a “peek” into your storage/organizing habits. Thanks! And I love, love, love your blog.

    Reply

  42. Morgan says

    Kudos to you guys for getting organized! We’re still in the unpacking boxes stage from our move last weekend, but I love the idea of dedicating a week to just organizing. Maybe in a month or so we’ll tackle something other than just getting things out of moving boxes!

    Reply

  44. audra kelley says

    So I’m really excited to post this…I’m FINALLY going to paint my whole kitchen (cabinets and all). It all started with a random ceiling issue…ie. drywall tape falling, hubby thinking there was a leak, cue 4 foot hole cut, no leak, now have to paint where hole was, let’s just paint kitchen and cabs. But, it will give me a chance to clean out everything in the kitchen since we have to empty it for painting.

    Reply

  45. Amanda B. says

    What great timing, you guys. Today I will take the last final exam to complete my masters degree, which I’ve been doing online while working full time for the last two years. My house is a WRECK. When I finish the exam tonight I will allow myself exactly 10 minutes of fist-pumping and giddy grinning. Then I’ll be on my first organizing task: collecting all the magazines that have stacked up all over the house! This is going to be awesome!

    Reply

  48. Lauren says

    I think I’m going to declare it a clean/reorganize week too! And there’s nothing better than some good old 90’s songs! In fact, I recently got married and half the wedding party was in a self-proclaimed Dr. Dre Club and it had to be played at the wedding!

    Reply

  49. Cynthia says

    Would not blame you if you chose to not allow this post to get past adjudication…

    I have you guys on my facebook feed, and I followed the link, having correctly guessed that you guys were going to discuss organization. (Good job!). But gutter minded-elephant-in-the-room, your title is…naughty. Say O-R-G really fast, when Clara is taking a nap. Then check out how your URL read on my phone:

    ” https://www.younghouselove.com/2012/04/you-down-with-o-r-g-y”

    Ack. Just a heads-up!

    But otherwise, keep up the awesome work, guys.

    Take care!

    Reply

  50. Kari says

    I love your weekly calendar of tasks, and may try to play along! Any of this spurred on by The Happiness Project by chance? Just curious… because I was on a MISSION to clear drawers and shelves while I was reading that book. Inspiring, no? :)

    Reply

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