The Cutest Project Budget Folder

It is lots of fun doing projects big and small.  With the big projects,  there is always the budget. I think some of the fun of doing projects is to see how cheap you can do it for but for it to still look fabulous! Well for me anyway.

Now I think this is the cutest budget folder ever! I just had to share it. Jen from               iheart organizing definitely knows how to make things look cute, pretty and just plain fantastic. ENJOY! Have a look here.

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How was that?  Did you enjoy that as much as I did? How do you manage your budget on projects? Do you keep an exact budget or just a rough idea?


Organized By. ..Renee

The Extraordinary Made Out Of The Ordinary

I'm blown away some times by how creative people are. Here are a few ideas of things made out of very ordinary things.  Now they are definitely extraordinary. I love seeing things that have either been recycled or they were just plain boring and then given a new lease of life and just look beautiful.

Im totally in love with these shoe hangers I found on Epbot. I've always hated wire coat hangers. Probably from those wardrobes that are messy and the clothes are sort of hanging up on bent wire hangers. You get the picture.  But how cute are these? To look at how these pretty hangers are made have a look here.

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This is probably the prettiest tin I have seen come out of one of those boring tins you can buy in the $2 shops. Tina Grey did a fantastic job making it come to life.  To see the whole process have a look here.

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Jen from I heart organizing made these wonderful boxes for keeping all her office clutter under control.  You will never guess what they are. Go over and have a look here

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Another great idea from Jen at i heart organizing. She is a clever lady. Once upon a time these were boring old cardboard boxes. Look at them now! They are gorgeous! To see how she did it look here.

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Great job! I cant wait to make the shoe hangers. I hope you had fun looking though these and you got some great ideas to organize your home and make it pretty. What have you created that was once ordinary and has a life as something extraordinary? Please share!

Organized By... Renee

Office Overhaul Part 1.

I was so excited today.  I finally got my desk. I've been looking for one for a while now.  They where either perfect style and not so perfect price or just the right price and really wrong style.  But after looking at more desks than I can count, I put up a post on a Facebook buy and sell page that I wanted to buy a desk and the perfect desk came my way.  Yay!!

I gave it a good clean and polish.  It came up great!

So now I can finally organize all my office bits and pieces. I have only done the top draw so far. I lined the draw with pretty paper.  I arranged the containers in the draw. They are clear so the paper is visible on the bottom.  These are the same sort of containers that I have used in my ensuite and the girls bathroom. They are really versatile.  

So I've started putting a few things in the draws. I've got lots more sorting to do before it's finished.  So just a short post this time.  I will keep you posted as it all unfolds. 

Organized By... Renee

Artwork Projects

Originally I wasn't going to do a blog post about this.  But I thought why not share it with you all. So please forgive me for not having any pictures of the process. I'm very new at this whole blogging experience.  I'm learning a lot as I go. This lesson is take pictures of EVERYTHING even if you think you won't need them.

I'm slowly working on different artwork to take the plainness away from this place. At the moment it's pretty much white walls everywhere. So one idea I saw ages and ages ago was a crayon canvas.  I loved it.  I thought that would look great in the playroom. 

So that is what I tackled first.  Now this is the first time I have ever attempted any artwork of any kind. But I was surprised how easy it was.  I bought a canvas and five boxes of crayons from the $2 shop.  And got to work.

I took off the paper on the crayons.  Then organised them in a rainbow across the top of the canvas and glued them on with a hot glue gun.

Next part I recommend doing outside.  Get the hairdryer out and melt. I was actually amazed how good it looked.  Someone has even told me that they would pay money to buy it. Im wrapped! I think my daughter was just as excited as me when it was finished.

The other thing that I've done is a growth chart for the girls. So when I move I can take it with me. And I wanted it to be decorative as well.  I got the wood board from the hardware store and it already was the right size. I gave it a light sand.  Then came three coats of vanish.  That took a while because I could only do one side at a time.  I did the back so there was a good surface to use the 3m command picture hangers so it would all stay on the wall. So this whole process ended up taking about 2 weeks.  Finally when it was finished I did the measurements.  I just used a black permanent marker. Then once that was finished I attached letter box numbers. And it's done.  I was so proud of myself for doing this one.  Im not really the best at painting things. Well I suppose I haven't done much painting before.

 I have a couple more things that I want to paint so watch this space.  How about you? What do you love or struggle doing?

Organized By... Renee

Homemade Snack Box

Awhile back I saw this great little box that someone had created.  I thought I can make that and doesn't cost much. It's so in versersatile.  However many compartments you need.  So I decided to make one for snacks because there are always snack packets floating around my pantry.

So I found a carton that is pretty solid ( not one of the flimsy ones). Also got some cardboard to cut up for the dividers.  I cut the top off the box. You could make it as deep or shallow as you like depending what you are using it for.

In the first picture you can probably see the line around where I've cut around to give you some idea how far down its cut.

Next I cut up the cardboard for the dividers. 

Next I covered it all with pretty paper. It has to look pretty doesnt it? I used a glue stick and just cheap old wrapping paper. I found it's easier to cover the box with two long bits of paper crossed over. But glue the bottom in first otherwise if you start at one end it's a lot harder to keep it straight.

I also covered the dividers. I covered it with one peice of paper folded over one of the edges so when its all together it looks neat and tidy. 

Once everything was covered and trimed I cut slits in the dividers. Half way up one and half way down the other. I used sissors for this.

Then came the best part, putting it together. I slid the dividers together.

Once all the dividers were assembled I put it in the covered box.

I made up a label. I just wrote on some coloured paper and cut it out with some sissors. The kind of sissors with the funny shaped edge (not sure what their proper name is). If you can help with this I would love to know. I laminated this and stuck it on the front.

So there it is! This is not a 5 min project, well not for me anyway. It took me about an hour or so. But I loved doing it. It was lots of fun. I do love how easy it is for my daughter to get a snack out. How do you keep your snacks from floating around your pantry?

Organized By...Renee

Love That Laundry

There is something about white and blue that reminds me of clean, fresh laundry. The colours are clean, crisp and fresh. So of course that's what I want in my laundry. 

Since I moved in here I've been eager to get the laundry organized.  The only storage is under the sink. I needed more but wasn't sure what to do.  I can't go putting up shelves as I rent. I don't think the real estate would be very pleased.  Then it came to me.  I would get one of those freestanding pantry cupboards. There was space next the washing machine. So I bought a flat pack and it's been sitting in my garage for a while now.  Finally the other day it got put together.  Once it was in place I nearly did a happy dance.  So much storage.  And then when I move I can take it with me. So the before picture is pretty bad. But I didn't have anywhere else to put anything. So it just got dump on top of the washing machine.

So I thought about what I needed to keep in this cupboard. And this is how it turned out. On the top shelf is shoe cleaning things to the left. Then in the basket on the right is spare clearing things like toothbrushes and microfibre clothes. Then under that is my cleaning caddy that I use to carry all my cleaning stuff around. It works great. Next to that is my iron. Next shelf down is laundry detergent etc. Behind that is a container with stock like fabric softener etc. Next to that at the back is the bleach and in front of that is prewash spray and laundry soaker. On the bottom shelf is buckets.

I only made labels for the top baskets. I made them plain blue as there is lots of details on the baskets. And of course I laminated them and attached them to the basket with a pretty ribbon.

So there is a much more pleasant laundry to work in. I actually like being in there. Is there a colour or smell even that reminds you of fresh clean laundry?

Organized By... Renee

Kids Bathroom

OMG! The kids bathroom. Where do I start?  This I think is one of the hardest rooms to keep organized. Firstly every night after the girls have had a bath it's like there has been a water fight in there.  Second my one year old loves to empty this cupboard on pretty much a daily basis. I don't mind as it keeps her occupied for a while. So to keep my work load down I keep the bare minimum in here.

I have thought about this cupboard for a while now.  I wasn't sure how to 'attack' it. The cupboard is the same size as my en suite.  Its quite shallow and doesn't have any draws.  So one great thing is that stuff doesn't get lost in the back.  I came in to get the girls bath ready and I looked at the mess which was getting worse each day.  Ok I'm sorting it out.  I can't take it anymore. I thought if I have a container for each sort of thing it should be pretty quick and easy to clean up every day.  Ok I'm pretty embarrassed to show this before picture, but yes this really is what it was like.  Yes that's a broken towel rail, the girls stool in the sink and dollies dummy.  Im hanging my head in shame.

Ok so I clear every thing out of the cupboard and on top.  I had a look around at what I had in the way of containers.  I lined up the containers. I have one for toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Next is a brush and comb. Beside that is the part I like the best.  I didn't know what to do with all the hair ties.  Then it came to me.  I was given this utensil holder years ago.  I've never used it because I don't like lots of things on my bench tops. But always kept it. One of those things that will 'come in handy one day'. This actually has. So I filled it with the hair ties.  It looks so pretty. And the I just hang the hair bands over the top. And if I need one at the bottom its easy to pull it out thr side. For smaller things like hair clips and elastics, I put them in a baby food container. This keeps them away from little mouths.  On the other side is tissues and toilet paper.

On the bottom shelf is moisturizer and body wash. Then in the little basket is shampoo, conditioner, and baby balsam. So my plan is that when the cupboard gets emptied and I have to clean it up.  All I have to do is throw the items in their containers and put them back in the cupboard. There isn't much in here so it should only take a minute. Anyway we will see how it goes.

Maybe that's the secret to keeping things organized with kids around.  Keep it simple and don't have a lot of stuff. What's your secret to keeping things organized with young kids around?

Organized By... Renee