Thursday, February 3, 2011

Organizing and Revamping

 

This week I have been reorganizing...everything really. 
It occurred to my last week as I was being bothered by an unruly shelf, that if I am a scientist and an artist, I should really also be an inventor, if even in very small things. And so, this week I set about reconfiguring things in small ways and solving problems in the most well designed ways(both functionally and artistically)  that I could think of on short notice. (Yes, it's true...we have guests coming and that is part of the sudden motivation.)
     In the bathroom, we have some built in shelving which once had doors (probably before I was born). For hours I tried to decide which fabric I would choose to sew little panels to cover the least used (most filled) shelves in a decorative way...but finally I came across some woven striped dish cloths we had never used. I hammered them up, and they are not revolutionary, but the bathroom looks much more tidy without exposed bottles everywhere.
    For the bedroom I am contemplating shoe storage options (let me know if you have some great ones), and considering one of those cloth over the door shoe racks. I have always considered them ugly, but I was thinking I could probably make one in a small amount of time, using some sturdy recycled khakis and some fabrics I would like to see every day. We will see if that goes anywhere.
      Now that the shop is open (check out the grapefruit marmalade added today), the blog too will be receiving a new look. So say goodbye to this one, and look forward to a little less *ehem* clutter, and a little more fun.
    And finally, (you may laugh) I did something about the plastic grocery bags that were slowly spreading through the kitchen cabinet like The Blob. Again, I considered making something, like one of those fabric bag holders, but just didn't have space for something floppy. So, I tore the wrappers off of two empty oatmeal boxes (the 42 oz ones) to reveal their simple cardboard brown, and decorated them a bit before stuffing them full of an unbelievable number of plastic bags. So even though it may sound silly, I though I would share with you how oatmeal boxes turn out to be quite attractive for storage.


 We make a lot of granola and hot cereal around here.


 

 ^This picture makes it look a bit like a cup of coffee from a cafe.^

So, simple and silly? Yes. 
But helpful too.


5 comments:

  1. Okay, those revamped oatmeal boxes are beyond cute. I am suddenly inspired to decorate some, even though I have no idea how I would use them.

    And I want to see pictures of ALL your projects!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A host of mine on Peterborough once taught me a trick for keeping plastic bags. It may not work for you since your containers are now jam-packed, but I love it. You pull the bag out so it's in a kind of line and tie it in a knot, then throw it wherever you keep them. That way when you need one, you just grab a knot and untie. They don't get tangled up or stick to other bags that way. I like it :>) Good luck with your innovations!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did think it was a Starbucks cup at first! They came out really cute - great idea! Bags are taking over the floor of my pantry, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I too thought they were coffee cups. I thought you were getting into the coffee cup sleeve market. Did you know that they call beverage sleeves to keep cups hot or cold "coozies" in Oklahoma? It probably once was "cozy" but it got warped due to the OK twang. Interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  5. these are so cute. I have a couple on hand too, hmm... my list of to do's gets longer every day :)

    ReplyDelete

I love comments. So tell me what you're thinking!
(If you comment on older posts I will see them too and do my best to reply!)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...