Shelf Genie via Organizing Made Fun
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve come home from the shopping with another bottle of soy sauce or packet of cashews because I forgot about the spare one I already had in the depths of the pantry. Sadly I can’t fit this kind of setup in my pantry in an awkward corner base cabinet, but if you have a full-length pantry I reckon you’ll love these retrofitted drawers to solve all your forgotten food woes.
Hang a shower caddy on an unused spot behind a door or on the side of a bookcase to create extra space for those stationery odds and ends that always get lost in drawers.
Today’s Rethink & Reuse is somewhat selfish. You see, I have a type drawer that I bought to display some family photos at our wedding. I absolutely love it, but apart from a brief stint as an advent calendar two Christmases ago, I’m actually at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it now.
Here are what some clever folks are repurposing theirs for:
Jewellery rack | Tonya Staab
Shadow box | Apartment Therapy
Shadow box | Design*Sponge
Craft supply storage | 26 Letters
Memento coffee table | Zween
These are all great ideas, but I already have jewellery storage and a coffee table, prefer my craft supplies to be kept out of sight and I don’t really have many tiny mementos for a memory box. I would LOVE to hear your suggestions of what I could do with my cool – but currently useless – type drawer.
Hands up who could do with some more storage in the kitchen? Yep, me too.
These fantastic drawers installed into the usually wasted toe-kick space have to be one of the cleverest ways I’ve seen to cheat more storage. They’re perfect for those awkward large items such as baking trays and best of all, they can be retrofit into your existing cabinetry.
Here’s the tutorial if you’re game to DIY it, otherwise ask a kitchen company or your local cabinetmaker.
I’d had these pink box files for some years and they’re really handy, but the colour had faded a lot in the sun and was looking a little drab. Besides, it was the only remnant of pink in the now yellow, grey and aqua office.
They were perfectly functional so I didn’t want to ditch them, instead I covered them with grey fabric for a neutral, classy look.
I used this technique for turning thin cotton fabric into sturdy cloth stuitable for gluing. Getting the flaps to stay put is the only tricky bit but with help from some pegs and rubber bands you’ll be fine. It would work better on a cardboard rather than plastic surface like this, but since I use these files for seldom-accessed items they didn’t need to be super durable.
Cutting out the finger-pulls was going to be a real headache, so I simply stuck on some metal rim tags in the same shape and size. I actually threw out the previous contents of the files and haven’t decided what will go back in them hence the blank tags.
I had the tags, as well as the rest of the materials, already on hand so it was a lovely zero dollar project – and you gotta love that.
I mentioned recently that my new printer doesn’t fit neatly inside my desk drawers like the old printer did. Sigh.
With no printer to accommodate, there was now a huge amount of wasted space in the drawer unit. I went to Ikea to find extra drawers but you can’t buy extras in this size (you can only buy the whole set with the door front like we originally purchased). I do need pull-out drawers for some items like the scanner, but I figured shelves would suffice for most things (bonus: at 20 bucks it was waaay cheaper than drawers).
Before & After:
I picked up a pack of two shelves and they were installed within minutes. Add another couple of minutes to neaten things up and hey presto I have a much more efficient space to organise my paper reams.
Can you believe it’s only three days until Christmas?! Sheesh.
The fact that I have no idea where this entire year went is my excuse for not having given you an update on this project since, um, April. Oops.
So, at long last, here is the famous blue buffet in situ in my office. (Sorry for the odd cropping, it was impossible to get the whole thing in without the filing cabinet creeping in the foreground. Note to self: get wide-angle lens.)
For the first few months it was looking great (so much decorating potential!)… until my printer died. Yes, the one that was hidden oh-so-neatly inside the desk cupboard had to be replaced by this absolute monster. It’s an awesome printer, but see how it’s so enormous it hangs over the edges? And that’s not even fully extended. Here is the beast in all its glory:
Ack! Anyway, ugly techno-stuff aside, let’s talk decorating. I decided to reuse the clipboards that held our wedding menus to display new designs while I mull them over. Thing is, I haven’t really been using them in that way so now they just look boring. I could easily find some cute pieces to pin up, but this is a very hardworking room and I can’t justify a whole wall of impractical prettiness!
The type drawer is another piece reused from our wedding (kindly ignore the awkwardly high hanging – I just used the existing hooks). This time last year I used it as an advent calendar but apart from that I’ve been struggling to find a use for it.
I’m still in love with the awesome colour pop and much-needed storage and workspace that the sideboard offers, but I’m not loving the overall look of that area. I have a few ideas in mind that I need to consider and I’ll let you know how I go!
We recently ticked off a project that’s been on our to-do list for the last four years. Namely, the closet in the study.
From looking at this photo, you could be forgiven for thinking that the problem was with the interior fit-out but that the doors could be kept, but it was actually the other way around. Those doors look innocent enough: neutral and perhaps even nice and modern. In reality, it had a huge pelmet meaning the top 40cm was unusable, the temporary paint job that we applied during the office makeover to cover up the shoddy doors was easily chipped, each door was two-thirds of the width of the closet making the centre third inaccessible and the doors had dropped so that every attempt to open them required a fair amount of upper body strength and was accompanied by a high-pitched ‘SCCRRRRRWWWWWWOOOOOOAAAAAAR’ noise.
Time to get rid of the chipboard shelving, contact paper and scuffed walls.
Tip of the day: Demolition is always a good way to get your fella interested in helping you with a home renovation project.
Here you can see the cream paint that originally featured in the rest of this room, as well as the same light blue that was in the kitchen and laundry when we moved in.
The back of the pelmet was a tad overengineered…
…or perhaps not.
The new robe didn’t require the panels of wood either side so out they came. Unfortunately half the wall came with it and it was right back to the brick so that, plus all the holes and removing the corner round, meant we went through a serious amount of putty.
Ah, what a difference a bit of a tidy up and a fresh coat of paint can do.
The new interior fit-out and doors are done, but I have done zero organising so far, so I’ll be back with part 2 next time!
If you have a walk-in robe or dressing room, well screw you I mean lucky you.
Amp up the glamour and storage by picture rail or using cornice moulding as shoe racks.
From House to Home.
As we gear up to Christmas – and summer here too – chances are you’re doing more entertaining at home.
If you’re like me, you have your platters piled up precariously in a kitchen cupboard, your spare glasses in your office closet, your tablecloths in the upstairs linen closet and your table decorations in the living room cabinet. Having party supplies scattered all over the house is unsurprisingly not the most efficient or relaxing way to set up for a party. Unfortunately, however, we don’t really have any other options due to lack of space.
If you have the room though, consider setting up a party supplies closet so you have everything on hand to set up in record time with minimum stress. Don’t have room to dedicate a whole armoire or sideboard to the task? Even repurposing a spare laundry shelf or underutilised kitchen cupboard would do the trick.
I’d love to know: how do you store your entertaining accessories?
