:: studio organization

Well hello there, I've been trying to get this post done for two days now, but things just keep coming up & I haven't been able to sit at my computer for more than a couple of minutes. So seems like today is finally the day that I get to share my organized studio with you. My whole house is under the gun when it comes to de-cluttering, and my studio was high on the list. I finally took a break from the other rooms to tackle this project so I thought I would share with you. I'm so excited to see the surface of my desks that words can't even explain. See that tufted chair, that tufted chair is for visitors, won't you come and have a cup of coffee or tea & knit & chat with me, I would love to have you now that my room is presentable.

Here's where you'll find me. Rocking away with my coffee by my side & my knitting needles clacking. Look at my bookcases would you, I totally reorganized them....again.

This seems to be an ongoing thing with me, the organization of my studio. I'm hoping this time I've found the formula that will stick. I purchased these kraft paper photo boxes from Michael's to organize all of my supplies a little better. Before I had things in miscellaneous tins & cracker jars....I like this way much much better, it's all nice & neat and labeled too, be still my organizing heart. The boxes are on sale right now 50% off, so if you choose to go get some I thought I would share my labels with you here

 

Call me crazy, but I have my yarns organized by the colors that can be seen & their surroundings. I have the neutrals on the bookshelf closest to the french doors because they work with the rest of the house when you look into the room from the hallway. I have the greens, yellows, reds & oranges closest to the windows and the yellow chairs because they work with the artwork & furniture on that side of the room. Everything else is in the middle, and I guess they work with the rest of the artwork in the room....folks, this is how my mind works when I organize...crazy huh.

This is the view above the desks, a collection of vintage & some of my own artwork...mostly thrift store finds, I love old oil paintings & paint by numbers. My colored pencils, pens, & paintbrushes are on the left shelf, and all of my buttons & baubles are on the right shelf.

This is my working corner, not too terribly long ago I rearranged the room and put my round table in the corner which I'm now using as my computer/work area, now both desks are open for drawing & crafting. So, just envision me in this chair right now.

I hope you've had a wonderful week. I hope to share more of my organizing adventures with you in the near future. Here's a look at all the stuff I purged from my house today. Not including about 5 more bags of trash. Say it with me....NO MORE HOARDING. I can't tell you how good it feels to be rid of this excess stuff.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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:: little chairs & a bookcase update

Okay, Okay,

so if I had to tell you what my favorite find from the Country Living Fair 2011 is....

I think it would be my collection of vintage children's chairs.

I think they are especially adorable.

My original plan was to mount them above my table in the keeping room

and use them as 3D artwork & little shelves.

Well, with the addition of some other items in my spaces

I decided it would be too much 3D stuff.

Honestly I also didn't want to have to put any holes in the chairs in order to hang them.

SOOOOOooooo,

I decided to display them on top of the bookcase instead.

This is the built in desk in our Keeping Room off of the kitchen.

My collection of butterflies I cross stitched used to reside up top,

but I did a little switcheroo and put them on the desktop to hide cords & 

ridiculously placed power outlets....seriously....

don't even get me started on that subject.

Okay....who puts a power outlet and a phone jack at the very top of a desk?,

shouldn't they be down low where you can hide them with your things more easily.

Okay, sorry rant over...but this is a serious pet peeve of mine....builders need to consult women.

My goal has been to really simplify things in my house,

I could possibly be a closet hoarder....I seriously can see the usefulness in too many things.

I simply turned all of my vintage books around to show their paper patina and vintagey goodness.

I really wanted to pull in some of the aqua color I'm loving,

so I pulled out some vintage aqua ball jars,

and some old electric insulators as well.

Okay, so I'm not going to tell you about every little thing up there,

but I will say this....there are only two things up there that didn't come from a thrift store or yard sale.

Here's a shot of pretty much what it looked like before.

Lot's of color huh and a little busy too.

I tell ya, bookshelves aren't easy.

I've messed & messed with this thing over the years,

but finally I'm pretty happy with it.

I think it's the simplicity that I love.

Another shot at some point in time.

See the mess, this spot is nearly impossible to keep clean.

It is the dumping ground for everyone's everything.....UGGH.

Do you have a catch all space like this?

Or do you have a bookcase that gives you a fit?

Well thank goodness I've finally gotten this one under control.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

P.S.  I just want to say a big HELLO to any new friends and followers.

I try to find time to respond to all comments, but I'm really not very good at it.

I really do appreciate the time you take to leave them for me,

and know that I'm trying to get better ; ).

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:: home coffee bar

I'm so excited to share my new coffee bar with you.

I found this really great shelf at Hobby Lobby 

and I knew instantly it would be perfect here.

I also knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

So, here it is in all it's glory....my new coffee bar....I love it.

I love the height it adds to this side of my kitchen,

and I love the retro industrial look of the shelf.

I simply pulled out my white coffee mugs & saucers

to fill the awesome wire baskets and hang from the hooks.

I had a small collection of vintage coffee pots looking for a home

so I added them along with my letter E...glad to finally have some display space.

When the kids go back to school this fall I will be painting the red walls,

I think it's going to look even better against the new light walls.

I think I may also paint the chest a nice gray color

and add some really cute vintage knobs.

What do you think?

I'm also trying to decide on one of these new coffee makers.

I'll save my old one for parties & get togethers.

I'm really leaning to the one on the left

it had the best reviews and its 14 cups.

I would love to see a fancy schmancy

stainless steel espresso machine on my bar,

but the reality is that I would be too lazy to use it,

if it came with a barista that would be a different story.

So what do you think of my coffee bar?

If you have one of these coffee makers and love it

or hate it I would love to know.

Sorry for the not so great photos,

I can't find my tripod thingy for my camera.

Well, now you know what I'll be doing the rest of the day...

searching....scouring....scrounging....

for that thingy.

Happy Monday 

{ peace, love & hugs }

Carrie

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{ pantry overhaul }

Welcome to my Pantry...

Now, this is how I like my pantry to look, under control and well organized.

Every so often though I have to give it an overhaul, because as you probably well know, 

things never seem to make it back where they belong, especially with children in and out.

We did pretty good the last time I organized, so we'll see how long it lasts this time.

Why Oh Why, can't it just stay looking like this forever?

I keep all the pretties on the right side of the pantry in front of the door,

so this is what you see when the door is left open...which is most of the time.

I purchased the clear containers from the dollar store after I moved in 6 years ago.

They have served us well, but eventually I would like to switch them to glass when the kids are a little 

older and can manage them easier { plastics make me a little nervous these days }.

I purchased each of the larger folio baskets at Target yesterday for $14.99 each.

This was very much a splurge, but I was really sick of my pantry and ready to get it back under control.

The baskets up top are also past purchases from target, and are for entertaining, the large round one is

for chips, salsa or guacamole { a must at our house },  the top rectangular basket holds rolled up

cloth napkins, and the basket below is divided to hold silverware, or plastics.

This is the business side of the pantry where I keep all the not so pretties.

The very top shelf is where I keep my serving and entertaining bits.

The shelf on the left below I have all of my baking goods and spices.

Below that are all of the canned goods from the grocers, and the next 

shelf down holds my larger boxed items, in the small baskets below

I store things like smaller packets of hot cocoa, microwave popcorn,

instant oatmeal, and ramen noodles { the kids & I love them }.

On the floor I have my large stockpot, a box of all occasion cards,

an old make-up box holds all of my cake decorating supplies,

then I have my large containers of vinegars, for cooking and cleaning.

The trash bin is for larger recycling items that won't fit in my other bin.

Then of course no pantry would be complete without the baggie organizer.

I try to always take my own bags to the market, but I'm pretty much the only one who

does, and I'm not perfect so we always end up with a collection of plastic bags.

So, what do you think?

I wish I had taken a before shot, but I had everything out on the counters before I even thought about it.

Well that's one thing off my list with what feels like hundreds more to go.

School will be starting soon, so you'll see many more projects in the future.

Boo Hoo, this means vacation is truly over.

* peace, love & hugs *

Carrie

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{ studio design }

I can't believe it's already Thursday, the weeks are 

flying by these days because I am so incredibly busy.

Spring has given me so many new projects to work on.... gardening,

keeping up with the lawn, making outside spaces clean and relaxing, re-organization, 

cleaning out closets, yard sales to get rid of the clutter, and the list seems to go on.

With so much to do I can hardly stay focused, and I am constantly overwhelmed.

My best friend gave me some advice the other day, 

she told me that my problem is that I have too many things going on 

and I'm trying to do a little bit of everything at once, 

she said I need to stop and focus on one project at a time. 

So I'm taking that great advice and for today, 

I'm going to be working on organizing my studio.

Right now it's an awful embarrassing mess.

My studio is functioning not only as a supposedly creative space,

 { which is totally uninspiring }, but as a storage and shipping space for my etsy shops.

There is just way too much going on in this one room.

My bestie suggested that I make my studio my creative only space,

an idea that I wholeheartedly agreed with.

image - container store

I purchased some wire shelves similar to this one above in white 

at target the other day on sale for $36.00 each { I had been watching them for a while now }.

I had the idea that I would put these in the garage for storing all of my shop & shipping items.

Best part of all is that my sweet best friend said she would come help me 

put them together this afternoon as it takes two people  

{ I can't continue to wait for papa to help me },

Thank goodness for best friends....I love you Koo Koo.

I spent a little time this morning looking for inspiration images for my studio.

Most of them are full of fun colors, as this is something I already have in my studio.

I also have dark wood shelving and desks that I'm not interested in painting

so I know that my studio will differ somewhat from these below.

I'm really interested in more storage ideas as my studio is mostly organized.

{ just don't pay any attention to all the stuff boxes and detritus on the floor }

I have a lovely little corner desk that I'm thinking of setting 

my long unused sewing machine up on, for fun sewing projects.

I'm loving all the fun colors in this space.

I'm loving the curtains and red pendant lamp in this room, and the idea of adding some sort of 

paper to the backs of my dark shelving to help lighten things up... that's definitely doable.

This one is a little busy with all the boxes, but I love the stacked fabrics.

More stacked fabrics, and that chair is the same color as my vintage knitting chair.

I love the maps rolled up in the corner in that really cool container, perfect for wrapping papers.

The paints on the shelf are what caught my eye in this photo, and more color.

I love everything about this space, very pottery barn-ish, again with the white furniture

that's not really an option for me.  I do need a rug though, and I'm still deciding on that one.

this is more of a kitchen setup, but I like the neatness and organization.

This one is another favorite, 

I'm in love with the mason jars on the wall, 

that great aluminum yellow chair, 

the pendant lights the walls....everything.

Well anyhoo, lots of great ideas to get me going,

I'll be back later when I have it all put together to share photos.

*peace & love*

Carrie

images found here.

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