twoinspiredesign

I’m always looking for clever ways to wrangle items in my house. So, thought I’d share a few of my recent favorite organization tricks I’m using right now or have come across and definitely plan to use!

This idea of using a deviled egg platter to store jewelry is something that I’m definitely going to do. I’m sure my mom or grandmother has a deviled egg dish somewhere that I could have. These days I don’t think it’s common to take deviled eggs to gatherings so they likely have one laying around (or is it still common and I just don’t have a clue? Maybe it’s so retro it’s hipster??) But I think this is one serving dish that was a staple on brides’ registries at one time. How nice to display jewelry on a family heirloom. It’s not doing much good collecting dust in your cupboard.

Style At Home

Have a bunch of ribbon thrown into a drawer? I would imagine some of you also have a paper towel holder that you no longer use and maybe you’ve tossed it in the garage sale pile. Well, check out this idea…

Real Simple

This is such a great and easy way for a child to see which coloring book they want. And what a perfect size holder to hold markers. Let’s face it, kids don’t need a ton of writing utensils at one time. This is a quick item that you can sit out at the dinner table without getting ALL of the art supplies out.

Real Simple

I am usually drawn to the cosmetic/bathroom aisle at Container Store (I know, weird right?) One day while looking at cosmetic organizers for Tessa  (remember this post?) I came across this organizer and thought it would be perfect for solving a dilemma in my kids’ bathroom.

Container Store

I was so tired of seeing toothpaste tubes all over the bathroom sink, wet toothbrushes in the sink or in the drawers where they could never dry out and listening to my two children argue over whose toothpaste it was they found on the floor.  That’s where this cosmetic organizer came to my rescue.

Kids’ Bathroom Tray

Now each child has his/her own space for their toothpaste and toothbrush and someday spot number three will be for William but for now it holds my daughter’s detangling spray.  I also love having a spot for the nail clippers–until now it seemed these were always lost.

This is the area that I stumble over to every morning and while it looks fine–I thought it might look a bit more put together if all the items were corralled.

Amy’s Drink Station-Before

It looks a little more put together. The tray was purchased here.

Amy’s Drink Station-After

Any favorite or out of the box organizing trick?

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Like Amy, I’ve been slowly tackling my design to do list for 2013. One of the bigger projects that I’ve decided to take on is redoing by powder room (yes, I know, this wasn’t on my original New Year’s resolutions list, but did you really expect me to stick to that slim thing?!?) Here are a couple of shots of our powder room as it currently looks (potty and all.)

Tessa Powder Room

Tessa Powder Room

We haven’t done a whole lot to this room since we moved in. I knew that I didn’t like the overall look of it, but decided that we would live with it for a while and focus priorities elsewhere. I did, however, change out the original lighting (there used to be these really ornate iron sconces that didn’t go with the modern faucet and sink at all) for these sconces from Restoration Hardware. I also painted the walls a dark grey and put in a modern contemporary roman shade (original there were wood louvered blinds) and that graphic print did a lot to change up the room.

Now, I’m ready to start taking on the bigger project of redoing the whole thing. Here are some inspiration shots I’ve started gathering (btw, I’m pinning all of these and more to Pinterest so you can also follow me–or Amy.)

I know I want a clean, bright, relatively contemporary look but with classic features. I like the idea of doing simple shaker cabinet in grey and a marble (or quartzite for more durability) top. I know a pedestal is more traditional for a powder room, but with three kids, storage is at a premium and if I can suck out a place to store hand towels, tp, etc. then I’m going to do it!

via Pinterest

Wick Design

Adore grasscloth and think it would be great in the bathroom–my only concern would be wallpapering the entire wall…with three little kids and a dog, don’t think grasscloth would be the ideal solution.

Pinney Designs

A more practical solution would be choosing a wall covering only on the top half of the wall. I’m looking at taking down the wainscoting in my bathroom, but my husband really likes its practicality (fancy that…) so I might replace it with someone more like the shot below. Also love the light in this shot.

Elizabeth Reich via Houzz

My other option is doing tile up part of the wall–definitely easy cleaning with kids!

via Pinterest

Four Brothers LLC

I’d also like to consider a square sink and this might be a good option if I have to keep the faucet plumbing where it is.

Buchman Photo-Toronto

And finally, definitely want some kind of statement mirror

House & Home

Just some initial thoughts I’ve been mulling over. Oh, and last consideration is maybe mixing it up and using brass with the grey-driven palette–little less expected than chrome or nickel.

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I know that I’m going to get comments on this one that say: I thought this was an Amy post (or more likely–OMG, how could anyone accept drawers like that?!) Well, no, it’s Tessa and yes, you’re right, kind of unacceptable so I actually took it upon myself to organize something without Amy hounding me…now, she did help me with a trip to the Container Store, but the initiative was all my own.

This is what I’d open every morning when I opened my bathroom top drawer to put my makeup on:

Cosmetic drawer before

Or the bottom drawer to dry my hair:

Hair brush drawer before

The situation just got more unruly the deeper in the drawers I got…seriously gin and goggles? What, just in case I want to get drunk and go swimming in my tub?

Cosmetic drawer discovery

And yes, that is a bag of rocks, shells and what appears to be a missing sock from our last trip to Nova Scotia.

Hair brush drawer discovery

But, I’ve got this under control. Not scared a bit, I started to apply all the rules Amy has taught me: empty, purge, organize what I’m keeping. Oh, and make sure you have a bag handy for garbage…I didn’t realize how much makeup I had that was old, cracked shadows, blushes, separated nail polish–it really didn’t require being brutal because it was so obvious what I had to throw out! (Like I said, I’m coming clean!)

Emptying and Purging

Then, off to the Container Store (yes, Amy came because she seriously can’t help herself!) and we talked through the options of what would work best for storage. Of course the bathroom/cosmetics aisle was a natural place to start, but we then ventured over to the kitchen organization section and realized that very similar organization options were slightly cheaper and actually sturdier.

This is a terrible picture, but basically, we took the measurements of the drawer and then laid out three different options. Yes, that’s a silverware holder–hey, it’s perfect size for eyeshadows, brushes and lipsticks!

Cosmetic Storage Options

In the end, we chose a few individual storage pieces from the “Linus” kitchen line and I ended up here!

Cosmetic drawer after

Everything is organized by makeup type and has a place: nail polish, lipstick, tools, blush and brushes and shadows. I have a medicine cabinet that I’m able to keep things like lotions and deodorant so all of those things were transferred to the cabinet. The beauty of these kitchen organization pieces is that when they’re placed on top of one another, they don’t move around so as my drawers open and close, it all stays in place, but I can have layers of storage.

Amy had the great suggestion to keep my everyday makeup in a separate container that can be pulled out easily and doesn’t get mixed up with the loads of eye shadows and blushes that I seem to have a need for (although anyone who sees me would wonder why I have all this!) Now, no digging through the drawer every morning to find what I need–just pull out the little basket and voila, the few products that I trust to make me look semi-presentable!

Everyday makeup organization

In the end, I decided to just purge and organize the bottom drawer and keep it focused on hair products (yes that meant losing the bag o’ shells and socks!) but didn’t invest any money in bins or anything because it didn’t feel necessary.

Hair brush drawer after

Even if yours aren’t half as bad as mine were, I promise, you’ll feel like a new person if you clean out your bathroom drawers! Good luck…

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