Project Organization

As most of you know, I tend to like things best when they're neat and organized.  After almost 4 years in this house, nothing was fitting the bill and it was becoming a struggle to find things.  So for the last couple of weekends I've been on a cleaning things out kick, striving for maximum organization. As a result, we've been through every cupboard, closet, drawer and shelf in every room in our house. Each of them got vacuumed and wiped out and re-organized from top to bottom.  Phew, what a process!  We thinned out a lot of junk and made some nice changes to organization so we can now find everything in our house (which is so nice, I hate having to search for things when you need them).  This even included books and DVDs.  All of our DVDs are alphabetized in
DVD binders (I know, no one is surprised) and I have these handy apps to help organize and keep track of DVDs and books: For books and for DVDs.

With the house process, we started in the basement and completely re-did the closet downstairs.  It's where we store all of our camping gear (and there is a lot) but was difficult to access and we didn't remember what all was in there.  So everything came out.

Empty closet

Some of what needed to fit back in, we have lots of camping gear, but I promise we need it all :)

The rest of what needs to fit back in, with Aria laying in the middle of everything, as usual.

Then we put new shelves in and now it's wonderfully organized!  We were lucky that my parents had extra wire shelves from the pantry they took out of their new house, so total cost for this project $0!  As always, Aria was a huge helper and thought she needed to be in the center of the project at all times.  Here's the difference between a 1 yr old dog and a 12 yr old dog; the 12 yr old (Cassie) lays patiently out of the way while the 1 yr old climbs on everything and wants to be the center of attention at all times.  Really, they're both sweet and well behaved, Aria just likes to be a part of everything!

New shelves are in

Everything but backpacks and sleeping bags in

Aria is helping, again.

And now everything's in.

Including Aria, she really wanted to be in the picture.

We also got rid of our old desktop (it was 13 years old and time for it to go) so we no longer needed the desk in the office.  We've re-arranged a bit and now have a nice, cozy reading area in place.

New reading area with electric fireplace.

The laundry room got it's final new cabinet (yay!) and is now totally complete.  It adds a nice amount of storage, which allowed things to be more organized and come up from the basement which is also nice.

New cabinet by the window, now it's really finished!

We had begun working on the pantry ages ago, organizing and putting things in labeled, easily removable containers as the pantry is deep and can be difficult to get things out of.  This weekend we finished the project up with a custom menu in the pantry and a clear, dry-erase friendly surface so that our monthly menus are right where they are needed!

Pantry Organization

Dry Erase Custom Menu

It is so nice to thin out and get rid of so much unnecessary junk!  We have the garage and shed to go yet, but we're waiting for the weather to warm up a bit, with 6 inches of snow it's a bit chilly.  We also listed several things on craigslist that we no longer need and are ready to get rid of.  After a week and several things sold, there is still lots left.  Here are the links, if you are interested please let me know!
Computer Monitor
Bathroom Sink/Counter-top
China set
TV Stand
Irrigation Controller
PS2
Nordic Track Ski Machine
Office Chair

Oh, and Happy Super Bowl everyone!