Friday Loves the Reinvention
It seems like everywhere I turn someone is remodeling. The office. Friends. Local Restaurants. My local DUNKIN DONUTS. The Library. Magazines. Hell, even I am.
So what better way to talk about remodeling and reinventing one’s self than to share it in this week’s Friday Loves.
1. HOME REMODEL. Since I got back from Italy, all I could think of was one thing…ORGANIZE MY HOME! All of the Italy purchases left me with no room to display them. I thought, at first, that maybe I was just hording stuff and needed to let go of stuff.
Then I realized what the REAL problem was. I didn’t have adequate storage or organizing principles to reflect my day to day life. That had to change and fast, because the current model wasn’t working for me and it made me feel so…cluttered!
So I started tackling one room at a time. The focus became the hell room…my bedroom.
I had two dressers, a garment rack and an elliptical trainer (that I never used, because I had to put it together and it just didn’t feel stable at all…I didn’t want to kill myself on it). None of these items were working for me properly. It was basically a room filled with mix-matched furniture that was crowding in on my sanctuary called ‘the bed!’
So I decided to order a storage unit that would work for me and I could easily move and transport to the new home when I finally find the right house!
I got rid of the garment rack and elliptical trainer on Craigslist (I gave it away for free). And then had room to work with in my bedroom.
I put the storage items together, rearranging the cluttered purse collection, my scarves, jewelry, etc. I created new and efficient homes for them. I no longer have that, “Oh, I forgot I owned that,” or the “I can’t find what I’m looking for anywhere” moments that most horders have. Re-organizing my wardrobe solved the bedroom issue completely.
Now, I just have to repaint the dresser, build the final drawer cabinet, buy hampers, and finish putting up the artwork. Those are my weekend projects that I enjoy doing.
So while the weekends are focused on the bedroom remodel, it’s left the rest of the apartment open for better storage solution remedies during the week.
One major clutter issue I had was how to store my flats and tennis shoes. They were just everywhere on my bedroom floor. When I saw this picture up on Pinterest, I thought it was genius! I had baskets, so I put all of the pretty flats in the front, standing them up, and then put the tennis shoes at the back of the basket. I learned after the second day that it’s easier to grab the shoes in the AM if you put one shoe inside of the other. If you don’t…you’ll not only have a cluttered basket on your hand, and you’ll waste time looking for the other shoe.
The everyday shoes came out of the bedroom and went under the console table in the living room. Shoes are not only out of the way, but easily within reach.
While in the living room, I also solved a cluttered corner…the cat’s corner…the place she loves to hang out the most. I found some crates at Daffy’s and they were the perfect solution to her cluttered corner. Not only did it give us both 6 more inches of floor space, everything went into its place and created more shelf space to put up one of the new Venetian masks I picked up in Venice last month.
That spot that Surita is standing in front of…that’s where I put her water bowl. The area is completely multi-purpose for both of us. She now has her Buddha that holds her treats, a storage ottoman where I can hide workout gear and the handheld vacuum (and she can use to get up onto the window ledge…her perch), a place to store books and decor, and a place to stash her water bowl to look like it’s actually part of the decor of the room (her bowl is a Le Creuset in Caribbean (a Tiffany blue) which is a complimentary color in the living room). It’s a cluttered spot…NO MORE!
In the kitchen, because I’ve been remodeling the bedroom, the boxes and packaging keep piling up in there. I ended up going to Target with the focus of buying organizers for the kitchen after I had a $400 food order dropped off.
One thing that drove me crazy was the refrigerator. Sometimes I open up a jar of [name your own condiment here] and don’t realize I already have one in there…somewhere in the back of the refrigerator. Then there’s the lack of space issue because of all of the condiment jars everywhere…I just needed an organized refrigerator!
So I bought a few plastic bins (very rare I buy plastic, but since these items do not physically touch my food…they’re only touching the bottles…it’s okay). I stored every single condiment jar in one basket that wasn’t stowed on the side of the door, and put all of the salad dressings and juices/smoothies in the other, taller bin. I bought a ceramic egg crate from Anthropologie for $6…and now have more space!
One Good Thing by Jillee gives you tips and tricks on how she created this organized fridge.
These two minor steps allowed me to take a step towards organizing the fridge, and taking a look at the next issue…what and how I store items in the fridge. Thank goodness I made chalkboard paint! I’ll be adding it (as a label) onto jars so I know when I stowed stuff in there. Oftentimes I’ll find a jar of gravy in August from that turkey I made at EASTER!
Then there are those jars that may have been sitting there for 5 years or more…only God knows why I would horde like that. That’s why the chalkboard label will do wonders for me.
While we’re on the kitchen remodel slowly happening…I decided to upgrade my stainless steel cookware and get Cuisinart. The $540 13-piece set was marked down to $199.99 at Bloomingdales. It was an upgrade sale I couldn’t pass up. Now, I have to find a lid organizer at Target!
I also ordered Tools of the Trade Basics 7 piece utensil set. I had the OXO brand plastic utensils that I’ve been meaning to switch out for stainless steel. Luckily, I saw these and noticed I would have the added bonus of getting rid of the big plastic bucket my mom bought for me years ago to put my cooking utensils in. This little carousel creates more space on my countertop.
I bought these for $25 the other day. They’re now on sale for $9.99. {I definitely am within the 14 day order rule and can get the price adjustment. With my added 20% off, the set is now $7.99.}
So I not only upgraded everything, but I also added more space to my countertops. That was something I didn’t think was possible!
That’s been the whole purpose of remodeling. It’s not just about getting rid of stuff (very little stuff is being sent to charity). It’s about organizing everything and making sure that everything has its place. Most importantly, in order for organization to work…it has to work for you! It’s designed to make your life easier.
Also, this whole process has been designed for me to break loose from the old ways in life and embrace the new ways.
The motto for this remodel has been “Make it better today than it was yesterday.”
2. OPRAH’S REMODEL. Have you seen the latest issue of O Magazine? This month’s issue is all about remodeling every little aspect in your life to make it better today than it was yesterday.
Martha Beck’s article on “How to Accept Your Shortcomings – Accepting Your Flaws” she uses drawing a circle as an example of how no one is perfect, but we can erase our mistakes and fix what isn’t working. In a way, it’s like a life plan on how we can change what we are today to make it better…and something that works for us…making our choices the right choices for ourselves.
From focusing on your shortcomings that you are not happy with, this month’s magazine gives you suggestions on how to change just about every single aspect in your life that you are not pleased with. It helps you look at the emotional sides of your dilemmas, as well as create a plan for now and going forward.
I always like to see how I’m doing financially by taking a look at what people suggest on how to make my financial situation better than it was before. When I see that I’m doing all of those things already, it makes me smile. It reminds me that I’m on the right track.
Then there are those things in life that I’ve gotten off track with…they show you how to get back on track.
Remodeling isn’t always about remodeling your home or office. It is and always will be about remodeling an aspect of your life that you were not happy with…and you’re making it into something you will be happy with.
While many of the articles appear online at oprah.com, I highly recommend getting this month’s issue. It will help you remodel every little aspect in your life that you need help with.
3. ORGANIZE MISSION CONTROL. One odd thing is that my office is being remodeled at the exact same time that my home is being remodeled. It’s kind of weird…although inspiring.
It’s interesting to see how everyone around you is organizing themselves and how inspired you can become to tackle all of those organization projects in your office that you’ve been putting off for months…sometimes years.
My boss had one of the worst offices in the entire firm. I say “had.” You should see how the stacks of paper on his desk all of a sudden headed to the trash and shred bins. It is the cleanest any of us have ever seen his office. There are people that have worked with him for almost 30 years and have never seen the likes of this cleanliness.
While I’ve been boxing up stuff and organizing my own area, he literally came in and dumped a whole office worth of paper into the trash. It was literally unbelievable. It is the most talked about thing in our office right now. The unbelievable has finally happened. His office looks AMAZING!
Hey, he even inspired me to get rid of some of my clutter hidden under my desk. I sent all of those binders to office services. I’ve shipped out so many documents to storage and to the file room. I even started picking up storage organizers to clean up the paper clutter on my desk. It’s amazing what a whole office can inspire you to do…to make your workspace more efficient than it was the day before.
Now to order all of those Martha Stewart Tiffany blue desk organizers to pretty up the space…
You can start organizing your own workspace by first getting all of those files that don’t need to be there off of your desk. Loose papers? Gather them up and put them in a storage container for your desk. Just sift through the papers as you go along and organize them. Put them away in folders. We’ve been designating between an hour to 4 hours for our office remodel.
It’s a lot of work, but it is designed to help us become more efficient. We also have carpet coming in and offices being built…so there’s a lot going on. Either way, it’s forcing many of us to look at our clutter…and just get rid of it.
4. A NEW STORAGE LIFE. For those of you who follow this blog, you may know that I have a bit of an obsession with handbags. I have a collection. I built my new bedroom storage around that collection.
As I’ve read through so many organization blogs, I’ve noticed that they tend to all talk about putting baskets and containers up for various errands like dry cleaning, library books, etc.
I keep thinking…that is not practical at all. I put everything into…you guessed it…handbags or recyclable totes, but I’m a little clever with how I do it.
For things going to the library, I have a blue bag from Positano, Italy that I keep on the front door handle in the living room. When I finish a book or a DVD, I put it in this bag. The bag matches the decor of the living room, and I can grab it on the way to the library. Since I check out DVDs more than I do books, leaving the bag in the living room is the ideal place, because that’s where the TV is.
For magazines, I dump them in the yellow leather tote bag that matches the living room pillows. That bag is sitting right next to the front door. When I have a moment to sit down and read them, I can just reach over the side of the couch and pull one of the magazines from the tote bag.
For dry cleaning, I keep them in a green recyclable tote bag on the closet door. I put the wire hangers in the bag along with all of my clothes to be dry cleaned in that bag. It’s easy to pick up and carry to the dry cleaners. It takes out a step of putting it in a basket and then taking them out again to take to the cleaners. Just put them in the bag, take the bag to the cleaners…and you’re done!
A new feature I just instilled deals more with my New Year’s Resolution…reading 52 books (26 of them are classics) this year. While I’m well into the list and closing in on completing it, I’m nowhere close to reading 26 classics. So I grabbed my big Tiffany blue Lacoste tote bag and dumped as many classics as I could into it and put it next to my nightstand. The mission…read those books!
So far, this new way of storing the classics until I read them has netted me 1.5 reads this week. In other words, I finished reading Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” and I’m currently working on Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.” I’m keeping it within the French Revolution era right now.
By seeing these books displayed this way and not just on a bookshelf, it has actually encouraged me to read more classics. Who knew? I think the key here was the Tiffany blue.
5. SET GOALS. I am really in love with my new chalkboard. I created this last weekend using an old dining room table top. It was so easy…you can read the tutorial from earlier this week.
The purpose of this chalkboard is to create a visual board so I can organize the chores around the apartment. I can put my financial goals up and the things I need to do. I can put up my meal/exercise schedule. I can create GOALS for myself on this chalkboard.
This chalkboard sits right next to the front door. I see it every single day. I see it when I leave. I see it when I sit down to watch a movie. I see it when the cat sits at the door, screaming to be let out.
Quotes on the board…it forces me to dig through a journal I’ve been keeping that’s filled with inspiring quotes and put up a quote every week of words that make my mind and my hear stir.
This chalkboard is my life list designed to help me make today better than it was yesterday. This is my personal goal board designed to make organizing my life a simple, easy and doable plan.
I’ve been recommending to everyone that they should put up a chalkboard next to their front door as a reminder of things (especially if you are a forgetful person). It helps you in so many ways.
Some people have notebooks with lists. I used to. I found that it didn’t necessarily work for me…even if it was just the grocery list. But to put all of the lists into one place…this chalkboard has been a godsend. I’ll still write the grocery list down on the notepad because I can’t take the chalkboard with me. For everything else in life I need to organize…that goes on this chalkboard that I upcycled from an old dining room table top. I think the fact that I know I created that chalkboard really makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something good. It’s no wonder why making it into my goal board makes me realize that I can accomplish all of those goals…just like I accomplished making a chalkboard all by myself. 
