Happy Tuesday everyone! Is it already Tuesday? And can you believe we are half way through July? This summer is flying by so quickly. I’m still recovering from my weekend. Kenny took the girls camping at the beach so Kole and I had our own party. I tried to hit the Nordstroms sale, but quickly realized that shopping wasn’t in the cards (had a lovely experience with Kole climbing underneath into the fitting room next to me. Good times!) So instead we spent the weekend playing trains, climbing on the backyard retaining wall, and cuddling during Toy Story 3. I love time alone with my little man. Even though his shopping skills have much to be desired. :) A good chunk of today was spent doing endless laundry and cleaning endless sand out of everything my campers touched. It all felt so… endless. But despite the mess they brought home, I am happy to have them back. So is Kole. Now he has four people to play trains, climb the backyard retaining wall, and cuddle during Toy Story 3 with.
Well! Enough about sand and laundry. I’m so excited to share my newly organized craft cupboard today! First some “befores”… because what fun are “afters” without some really awful “befores?” Here are the problems I was dealing with in my kitchen…
Our craft drawer was always a mess. There wasn’t enough room for all of the supplies and with no specific place to put things, it had become a total catch all. This mess was hardly inspiring creativity.
Meanwhile my pots and pans were being crowded out by the girls’ coloring books and art paper. Every time someone pulled out a coloring book it resulted in the whole tower toppling over. (Part of the problem was that we just had TOO MANY coloring books.)
Not to mention that the homework drawer was near impossible to keep organized and I felt like I was cleaning it out every other week. It was hard to keep track of what was Ellie’s and what was Addison’s and I had to really search every time I needed to find something for one of them.
So I dumped out the craft drawer and made a mess in the left corner of my kitchen.
Then I dumped out the coloring books and made a mess in the right corner of my kitchen.
Which resulted in — a messy kitchen.
{And finally, a few “afters”}
After re-arranging some miscellaneous kitchen items around I was able to clear out a smaller cabinet specifically for pots and pans. This cupboard is just right for my small collection. :)
Then I turned the homework drawer into a drawer for
my home decor and time management binders along with all of my random new house stuff. So happy to not have these things piled all over my counter anymore! Notice my new binder cover Addison illustrated at the beginning of Kindergarten. It’s a picture of me and Kenny that says “I love you a whole lot of bunches.” :)
And after much categorizing, sorting, and purging, I present to you our new craft cupboard!
As Kole would say: TA DA!
Organized. Colorful. Functional. A joy to behold.
(Yeah – Kole can’t say all that yet, but we are happy with TA DA) :)
A closer look.
Quick breakdown of how we are squeezing so much into this small cupboard –
Coloring books are lined up vertically.
(Donated over half of them and made a note to self. Self – stop buying the kids coloring books.)
Pink bins hold flashcards, blank cards/envelopes (my girls love making letters), and all of our stamps.
Behind them are a few clear containers that hold random items we don’t use as often.
Things like our crayon holders for when we travel.
This paper divider I’ve had forever. I’m finally putting it to good use to corral the girls’ homework.
I didn’t have any small labels so I just used big, white labels and cut them the size I needed.
Right now the girls’ sections hold workbooks/ pages we are working on this summer. Once school starts this will be a place to keep things they are working on for school. I love that they each have their own section! Makes it so much easier for me to pull out something I’m working on with them.
The bottom two sections hold stencils and paper.
Moving on to the next section of the craft cupboard! Sorry – snore if you’re not into organizing. But if you are, isn’t this fun!? In my book there isn’t much that can top organizing school supplies. Takes me to a happy place like nothing else. It’s why I became a school teacher. I mean yeah – the kids were great… I made a difference… yadda yadda.
Whatever.
I was totally in it for the school supplies.
;)
Crayons and pencils are on top in pencil boxes – easy to grab.
The four clear containers hold the rest of our craft supplies. (Glue/Glitter/Paint, Markers/Pens, Stickers, and the Craft Supply bin is full of random little… well… craft supplies.) :)
Finally! A specific place for everything. Now when the girls want to decorate with stickers they aren’t digging through the drawer and dumping everything out all over the kitchen floor to find them. Amazing the difference a few 2 dollar bins can make.
We’ve had our craft cupboard organized this way for the past few weeks and I can honestly say that it is working so well for us. This has been one of my favorite makeovers for several reasons. The bins are so easy for my girls to pull out and take to the table. They have been making all sorts of cards and pictures and creations because they can easily see all of their supplies. Plus it’s a cinch to clean up! They know where everything goes and it’s so easy for them to toss their supplies in the correct bin and put the bins back where they go so everything stays looking nice and neat. I also didn’t spend a dime. All of the bins I used were leftover organizers I have had forever. (Honestly I think I bought the pink bins at Target before I had Ellie!) It felt good to use things I already had and to free up space they were taking in Kole’s closet. When you feel like you are running out of storage in your home every ounce of space counts! So yes. I am in love with my newly organized craft cupboard. And so happy to share it with all of you!
Enjoy your day! We are off to create!
Not really. It’s late and I’m actually off to bed. But at some point tomorrow…
we will be off to create!
:)
xoxo, Erin
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