Barbies, Legos & Crayons, Oh My!

Attack of the Runaway Playroom!

Playrooms can be a fabulous part of your home, but for so many people, they can quickly become a nightmare. Kids aren’t naturally inclined to put things away, and most of the time when a playroom is set up – things either are just sort of set around for kids to play with or the furniture is bought for cuteness factor rather than practicality (not that the two can’t go hand in hand).

When setting up a playroom, here’s some tips:

• Really evaluate your children and their playing preferences. Just because you think the dollhouse is adorable doesn’t mean that it actually gets played with. And if your child never touches the art easel – it’s probably not something that needs to be there.
• Really evaluate your space – it really doesn’t matter how large or small it is – it depends on how it is set up and used.
• Create zones for play and bring all items that belong in that zone to that space. For example if you have a play kitchen, all kitchen items should be in that zone.
• Make items easy to access and easy to put away. In the kitchen zone, open stacking bins are great, as is a small table, and baskets for transporting “food” and dishes. In an art zone, set up the easel, bins for paper & supplies (tall plastic drawers are great for this), drawing table, etc. in one area that has some good light.
• Label each bin, basket and zone. Use pictures if necessary. Kids “forget” really easily where things are supposed to – don’t give them any more excuses than they need!
• Make sure the space is well lit (consider recessed lights), has an open space in the middle to play, and that each zone is not overloaded with stuff.
• Do NOT be afraid to get rid of things. In my experience, most of the time, children only really play with 25-40% of their stuff. The rest? Unwanted gifts, broken things, inappropriate for their age level or interest, and those junky toys you get from birthday party goodie bags.
• Say “NO” to the mother in law who continually brings over gobs of plastic stuff or age inappropriate toys, and restrain yourself from shopping the Dollar Rack at Target. Stop going to all of the consignment sales and getting games & puzzles because they are such a great deal. Are they really a great deal if they are ruined or not used because the kids can’t find them?
• Look at the room from a kid’s perspective. Get down on the floor and see it from their eye level. Can you reach everything? Can you see clearly where it belongs? Remember, everything needs to have a home – and children really understand that when it is your playroom (and household) policy.
• Be creative with storage – think outside the box. Use pop up laundry hampers to corral stuffed animals or balls, use chalkboard & magnet paint for creativity on the walls or furniture, use cubbies & shelving in closets for storage instead of the hanging bar. Don’t get locked into what it “should” look like – as Tim Gunn says on Project Runway “Make it work”.

The main goal when organizing a playroom is to make it a space where kids can find what they want, have an appropriate place to play with it, and be able to put it back where it belongs by themselves. Give thought to what is in the space, and more thought into how to store & access the ever evolving and expanding STUFF that can take over any room.

One final note: this is not a finished product. Children are ever changing, and so are their needs and wants. Evaluate regularly – and be ruthless! Save only the special items and ditch the rest. There are plenty of people out there that will get better use of these unwanted and unused items than you are now.

Visit my Organizing Photos page on A Fresh Space to see slideshows of two recent playrooms I organized.

How Many Bottles Of Salad Dressing Are In Your Pantry?

Pantry Organization made simple…

I recently organized a pantry with a client and she had a lot of bottles of salad dressings & marinades. A lot. She kept buying them because she couldn’t tell how many she already had, and, you know, they were on sale.

I see this often – not just in pantries but all over the house. If you can’t find something, well then, go get another. This not only wastes your money, but your time. The main goal of organizing is to be able to find what you need when you need it. This is especially true for pantries. Who wants to dig around in a bunch of bottles & cans, wondering what to make for dinner?

So here’s what you do with an out of control pantry:

1. Empty it.
2. Sort the contents by use. I usually sort in the following groups:
   • canned vegetables
   • soups and canned foods such as ravioli or tuna
   • prepackaged meals (hamburger helper, mac & cheese, etc.)
   • cereals & breakfast foods
   • condiments & sauces
   • drinks (juices, sodas, etc.)
   • baking (flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc.)
   • staples such as corn meal, bread crumbs, shortening, etc.
   • snack foods and/or kids foods
   • other categories of foods that are particular to your household
3. Discard any items that are out of date, dented or are just not something that anyone in the household likes or will actually eat and then CLEAN the pantry!
4. Replace items in the pantry placing the most used items at body level – where they can be most easily reached, and place other items farther away that are not used as often. Group like items with like. So, in other words, all of the veggies go together and the salad dressings go together.
   Tip: If you are an avid baker, canner or other type of kitchen foodie, consider creating a cabinet or shelf just for this endeavor. I love to bake, so I have one whole cabinet that contains all of my baking supplies including the pans & muffin tins.
5. Use shelf stackers for cans and jars, and bins to corral smaller packages.
6. Consider installing a hanging storage rack on the inside of the door if possible for cans, beverages or spices such as this one.

The re-organization can be done very cost effectively. Bins are inexpensive and the stackers are available on www.stacksandstacks.com as well as at places like Target or Walmart.

Tip: I like to give the kids one shelf or large bin for snacks. Pre-package pretzels or trail mix in small bags or containers, and put in a bin with juice boxes, granola bars, boxes of raisins or whatever your kids like to eat.

Before and after images, click the thumbnails to see enlarged images.

tiny bathroom :: storage needed

Small Bathroom Needs More Storage Space: Check Out My Solution!

I was reading a great post (as usual) by Org Junkie and ended up coming up with an idea for my own post while commenting on hers. She was talking about organizing her bathroom (cosmetics, hair products, etc.). I had tossed out my thoughts on having a small bathroom and our solution to it which I will now share with you!

Our house is less than 1100 square feet. Cute as all get out, but small. We have only 1 bathroom which is 5′ x 8′ including the tub. So we needed to make the most out of the space we have. I did have couple of things going for me:

• I AM a Professional Organizer and can design spaces properly
• My husband is quite handy and is a former contractor and home remodeler – so he’s good with the power tools
• We had to gut the bathroom due to mold under the house – it was down to the studs.

However, these are not requirements for doing this project. Any handyman or finish carpenter can do this, and if you are creative (and measure properly) you can use pre-made furniture or cabinetry pieces and trim them off to look built in. An unfinished furniture store is a good option, and so are big box hardware stores.

I’ve included in the post a shot of the bathroom before the remodel. You can see the wall on the left side is, well, just a wall. The bathroom had a cabinet style sink (ugly) and that was it for storage. You can see from the after photo that we now have tons of storage – simply by building INTO the wall. Yes, that’s right – we knocked out the wall and built between the wall studs. We had to do some extra supporting at the top as we made the shelving system go across the whole wall. We ended up losing only a few inches of floor space.

We’ve also done this same thing in our kitchen/office. Floor to ceiling bookcase built into the wall. An unused space that now holds books and art pieces.

Here’s what to consider when looking at doing this type of project:

• what do you need to store in the space? In ours, we store everything from toilet paper to towels to hair products to bandaids. You may need a place for storing extra toothpaste , hair dryers and shampoo, or perhaps just towels.



• what is the space available? Almost any wall space will do that isn’t being used. It doesn’t have to be a full shelving system like ours, but it could simply be a niche in the wall. We built one into the shower for shampoo and soap . It’s only 17″ x 17″ but holds everything we need in the shower. Our wall unit is 3′ wide but 7′ tall. We decided to use every bit of space we could due to our limited overall storage space in the house.
• how handy are you? If you aren’t great with things like building furniture or measuring or power tools, hire someone who is or it just won’t look that good and could jeopardize the integrity of your wall or ceiling.
• Be aware of what is behind your chosen wall – electrical or plumbing can cause issues with the project. On the plus side, you can incorporate electrical outlets into your shelving unit as we did: my husband charges up his hair trimmer on his shelf with an outlet we wired to the side of the cabinet.

So check out our bathroom:

You can see that the before on the left has just an empty wall space, and the shelves (sorry – it’s hard to get a great shot as the space is pretty tight) in the photo to the right makes all the difference.

I gave a lot of thought as to what we were planning on storing here before we built them and it’s worked out beautifully. We originally considered doors on the upper and lower sections but have since decided against it.

On our shelves, we have the following:

• basket for hair dryer, flat iron & hairbrush
• basket for bath toys for our daughter along with her shampoo, sunscreen, etc.
• basket for husband’s toiletries and his electric razor (this is the shelf with the outlets)
• lower left shelf for bathroom cleaning supplies including toilet bowl brush & dog washing supplies (I made this one taller to accommodate the toilet bowl brush)
• shelf for toilet paper
• 2 shelves for neatly folded towels including a basket for washcloths
• basket on shelf up high for medical items like bandaids, cough drops, rubbing alcohol, etc.
• basket on shelf up high for personal items
• shelf for hair spray and other hair products
• basket for dental items on shelf with nail products

If you are having issues with storage in your bathroom – think about using empty wall space for a built in shelving system. As a side benefit, you can get out your frustrations by bashing at the wall with a big hammer! So win-win all the way around.

By the way, if you live in the Nashville area and need a good handyman, I can make some good recommendations. My husband is out of that business and I can barely get our own projects done – so I’m not lending him out to you! But there are some great guys around here that can easily do this type of project and I’d be happy to refer!

How I Love My Label Maker . . . let me count the ways

I was teaching a seminar on paper management last week, and a gentleman asked, “Why should I use a label maker?” Collective gasp from all Professional Organizers ensued. Seriously, though, there are many reasons, and critical things to consider when choosing and using a label maker. Here’s my thoughts:
Reasons for using a label maker over handwriting:

1. Legibility. No matter how good your handwriting is, it will never be as neat and easy to read as a label made with a label maker.
2. Durability. Labels made with a label maker tend to hold up much longer than a plain written label, and generally won’t smear or run if wet or handled a lot.
3. Consistency. Labels made with label maker have a consistent look and give the project a more professional and finished feel.
4. Fun. Using a label maker is fun – especially for kids – but once you start using one – you’ll find yourself labeling everything in the house or office. I usually draw the line at pets and family members.

Things to look for in a label maker:

1. QWERTY keypad. Some of the “home” or “craft” label makers set up the keyboard with ABCD across the top. Avoid this. If you are used to using a regular keyboard as on a computer, you want a label maker set up with the same format. The ABCD will be frustrating and annoying.
2. Portable. I know there are a lot out there that you hook up to your computer but for convenience sake, I’ve found that the handheld, portable label makers are just easier to use, and you can take them where you need them rather than bring your label making thoughts over to the computer.
3. Crackable tape. Be sure that the label maker tape is the kind that cracks in the middle, not the sort where you have to peel it off. This is really important – if you don’t have fingernails it’s practically impossible to get the backing off.
4. Comfort. Make sure that the label maker fits comfortably in your hands and that where the tape is cut off is easily accessible for you. I had to use another organizer’s label maker once, and where the cutter was located was very awkward for my hand. I would never have known until I tried it. Play around with them before purchase if you can so you make sure it suits you.
5. Only get what you need. Don’t be sucked into all of the extravagant features that you may never use. Most people only use the basic font, in a few sizes, with black print on white tape. The rest of the features usually never get touched. Exceptions to this would be a crafter or scrapbookerwho uses it for more creative purposes, someone who loves to really experiment and play around with gadgets, or a professional organizer. A basic model that has the above listed features is usually all you need.

Two of the more popular brands are Brother and Dymo. Both are good and are comparably priced. I personally use the Brother P-Touch 1280. I’ve had it about 2 years and it does a great job. My last Brother P-Touch lasted about 10 years, then it bit the dust.

On average you will spend $30-$40 on a good label maker, although you can spend a lot more if you choose (it’s not really necessary). Keep an eye out for sales and rebates at the office supply stores. I can almost always find at least $10-20 off either in an instant rebate or one that you have to mail in. Be aware of the requirements, though, for a mail in rebate. I was a bit perturbed with Brother a few months ago because I had purchased a label maker for a client and it had a rebate. I had given the package to my client and was mailing in the rebate (I had only charged her for the price minus the rebate). Turns out I needed a part of the package for the submission so they rejected my rebate. I’m still annoyed about that one.

One last tip: The best way to store your label maker is to place it in a bin along with extra tape and batteries – and LABEL IT!

Using a label maker can make your life easier – when you can quickly find what you need when you need it because it is labeled – you’ll wonder what you ever did without one!

bins can hide a multitude of sins…

I was having a really nice conversation with Chad Hunter today about professional organizing (he’s a graphic designer but wants to know more about my field – which I can totally understand because everyone does). During our chat, I used the phrase “bins can hide a multitude of sins.” I love the way this flows. And it is so true. I use bins when I organize and when I stage.

There are so many different kinds of bins but my 2 favorites are Rubbermaid Totes and Sterilite “holey bins”.

The Rubbermaid bins are terrific because they seal and store just about anything. I recommend these for out of season items, storing things when you have your house on the market and need to declutter, and for garages, basements and attics. They are sturdy and easy to tote and stack. Just don’t forget to label. I highly recommend created an inventory list and placing it inside a large Ziploc bag, or laminating it, then attaching it to the side. At the very least, take a big Sharpie and write on the side. Nothing is more frustrating than digging around in bins looking for what you need.

The Sterilite bins are my favorite for inside pantries, cabinets, on shelves. I use one on the passenger side floorboard of my car to corral miscellaneous items that need to be returned places and to hold my paint swatches and first aid kit. I have one for medicines and one for pet items like Heartguard and flea control in the cupboard over my pantry. Using the basic organizing principle of grouping like with like, one is labeled “medicines” and one is labeled “pets”. One of the best features of these bins which most people don’t know is that the grey handles flip up so the bins can stack. You can label them easily either with a label maker or, using the holes, tie cute labels on.

When staging a home, I always recommend both of these bins. First the Rubbermaid ones to clear out the clutter and store items that won’t be needed while the house is being shown. Once the home sells, they are easily moved to the new home.

The Sterilite bins I use everywhere to conceal clutter in such a way that the home looks neat and organized but the homeowner can still find what they need. One of the biggest problems homeowners face when selling a house is keeping it looking neat. These bins will do the trick. The best deal I’ve found on these is at Big Lots – they always have them in stock unless I am shopping there in which case I have bought all of them. So don’t go there right after me. You won’t find any.

I also recommend having a large bin of some sort hanging around in a central area so if a showing is coming up (and agents are notorious for this: “We’re at the end of the street and wondered if we could come see the house”), the homeowner can throw all the junk (dirty dishes, papers, cat) in the bin and take it with them in the car when they leave.

I had one of my favorite agents, Gennifer Mallard, call me recently to tell me how terrific one of the houses we worked on was looking and she said the homeowner had bins everywhere. There were “too many bins” but she didn’t have the heart to say anything. I said, “how can there ever be too many bins?”