Tidying

There is something about January that makes me want to organize and clean.  My Expedit (old version of the Ikea Kallax) was looking a bit haphazard and disorganized.  There wasn’t much I could really pare down but I did get new storage boxes (Bigso boxes from The Container Store) to replace the Ikea boxes I have been using for well over a decade.  They were looking a bit worse for wear.

Not to mention I lost the lid to one of them behind the shelving and there is no way I can retrieve it.  We’ll get it if/when we move…

Here’s a before.  I tried to keep the lighting the same because nothing irritates me more than before and after pictures where the after has been edited and filtered to save its life.  It’s hardly a fair comparison.

Yikes.

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting the Ikea Billy cabinets with glass doors because I really like the look but I don’t think I would get the same level of organization that I do with my Expedit unit.  Those drawer inserts are fabulous.

I love the new storage boxes.  I was fully intending to get white but when I went into The Container Store the pink jumped into my cart.   They are a neutral blush color.

I think switching up the storage containers by moving the green bins to the top row makes it all look less cluttered.  I did remove some of the decor type stuff but left all my jars of buttons and other notions and my collection of Eiffel Towers.

I tried to pare down some of the books but had a hard time getting rid of much.  I do have two copies of Trish Foley’s “The Natural Home” so I removed one (if anyone wants it let me know by commenting.  First come first served).

I’m going to have to get rid of a few more if I want to add any new books.  These are all my decorating, gardening and craft related books.

The rest of the office still needs attention.  I don’t even want to talk about the closet in here.  When we first moved in I had Rick install deep shelves for me but I can never keep them organized.  Anytime I want anything I have to pull out half the stuff to get to it.  It’s a weird shape.  It’s basically a four foot by four foot square that was added to one corner of the room and then the corner that sticks into the room was lopped off and a door put in.

I’ve seriously considered enlisting the help of a professional organizer to make some sense of it.

Come to think of it, our guest room closet is also a hot mess and could use some professional help.  Has anyone ever used a professional organizer?  Is it horribly expensive?

For now I’ll just tackle the areas I can manage on my own.