Meet My New Best Friends

Every January, I get the organization bug. I pore over those gorgeous January magazine covers showcasing pristine, organized spaces. I soooooo badly want to be an organized person who keeps an organized home. I long for a place for everything and everything in it's place. But alas, my closets and drawers are usually crammed with junk and we can never find what we need when we need it. I often throw up my hands and say "This is what it's like when you're a creative person with two kids and a lot of hobbies." But I know in my heart that I can learn to be more organized and that if I work at it, life will be easier for everyone in my family.

In the past, I've roamed the aisles of The Container Store and Target searching for the miracle cubby, shelf or system that will change my life. At times, I've spent a fair amount of money on these items... only to have the system fail and the plastic wind up in a landfill.

But now that I'm exercising my creative muscles, I'm finding that I am capable of CREATING the system that works for me. I can actually design something to fit my needs and then make it. And you can do it too!

My theme for the month of January is get organized and do it with what you already own.

We live in a rowhome in the city of Chicago. Our space is very vertical. We have three living levels but they are quite narrow and storage is almost nonexistent. In the past, I've used my home's layout as an excuse to stay disorganized. But I'm leaving that mindset in 2010 and am embracing the possibilities of storage in unexpected places. Like behind the doors... and in the pantry... and on the walls. 

Yesterday, I was looking at a small pile of shipping boxes, waiting to be taken out to our recycling bin. I studied the cardboard and thought... "What if I added a little mod podge and fabric? What could I come up with?"

And that's when these little guys were born.

Believe it or not, I actually have enough cardboard to make a third small box and will share photos of that one soon.

I am planning to make a bunch of these and use them in drawers, under cabinets and in my pantry to separate items and make them easier to find. These boxes are not hard to make and are quite economical if you use shipping boxes you'd otherwise throw away or recycle. You can make them whatever size you want and can cover them with any fabric you like. Custom storage is a beautiful thing. I'm working on a tutorial to share with you in the next few days. 

Isn't storage sexy?  :-)

What are you doing to get organized in the New Year?