Handpicked | Home Organization Tips

If you're getting ready to do some serious spring cleaning this year, here's some great organization tips to get you started :)

1) Craft room Supplies - Great for kids craft supplies as well!
2) Flip Flop Organizer - This is what I need to maintain my flip flop obsession ;)
3) Auto Measure Spice Rack - So compact and practical!
4) Bathroom Rack - Great idea! Never would have though of this.
5) Pot/Pan Organizer - Wow, this would really help!
6) Mud Room - Gotta keep all the jackets and shoes near the door.
7) Office Command Center - Keep it all in one spot!
8) Pantry Chalk Board - Great for keeping track of what you need to buy at the store :)
9) Lost Sock Station - Finally! No more missing socks!

Our Home, Re-invasion | Day Five - baci's Studio

The day you've all been waiting for (I might be exaggerating just a bit here, lol!) is finally here - the unveiling of baci's studio!!  It isn't 100% finished, but really what room ever really is :o)  Let's get right into the kaleidoscope of colors (with a focus on olive, red and dark purple) with the pair of slipcovered Pier One chairs I have in the room - they are not only cute, but comfortable, too!  One thing I'd love to buy is a small red table for in between the chairs to put bridal magazines on.

Normally, my desk is full of things and I found that when I needed to pack up boxes to ship out to clients I didn't have the space so I bought this high-top desk with drawers to hold all of my packaging supplies and it's ended up serving a dual purpose as the intern desk, too!

The two frames on the desk will eventually be hung, but I'm waiting to finish one more before doing so.  The one on the left is a framed love note written on a calendar from July 1975 - we found it inside one of the pockets doors when we moved in.  It's so sweet that we choose to frame it - Ilario sometimes says to me, "Thanks, Carla, for being my wife," because that's what it says :o)  He's just so funny, isn't he?  Lol!  We turned the frame on the right into a bulletin board for all the sweet notes and announcements I receive from clients - it's a great boost of confidence on those "why do I do this again?" days.

I bought the vintage looking card catalog organizer at Hobby Lobby and I not only use it for organization on a regular basis, but I've used it to display paper beauties at shows, too!  The chair is from our kitchen table and I've been on the lookout to replace it with a cute stool. . . if you find one, let me know :o)

My gorgeous Olive Manna (LOVE that shop!) baskets hold more packaging supplies. . .

. . . and this Hobby Lobby basket with a lid hides extra reams of basic printer paper.

Also from Hobby Lobby (I may have a slight addiction), this metal bin holds things on it's way to the shredding station. . .

. . . and this little beauty from the Target gardening department holds everything that can be recycled (which is a lot considering paper is our business).

When you enter into the office from the living room, the first thing you see is this amazing vintage poster for a local charity softball game that we purchased at a Wine & Wishes Benefit a few years back - we framed it and I fell even more in love :o)

I found the perfect red chair at EuroLife Furniture in Columbus - it adds just the right pop of color!  I keep Carl handy at all times, right at my feet :o)

Continuing with my other addiction:  Ikea - we bought several bookcases that can be converted into corner units and/or cabinets.  They have truly been amazing - I'm able to display all sorts of prettiness like past invitation suites and hide away all the things that aren't so attractive like files and office supplies.  Oh, and yes, I organize my books by color - I have a problem, people!!

A close-up of a shelf's goodness - one of our favorite engagement photos taken in downtown Charlotte by the lovely Brandy J Photography, the stationery suite from our recent 1970's Style Chevron Shoot, a vintage clock from Hobby Lobby and my favorite - a painting of Morris by my friend Alaina.

Another vintage typewriter, this time a find by my grandma (it made an appearance at the J Style Bridal Event) and two more of my favorite invitation suites - one from Abby and Bri's Birthday, as well as the invite from the Bright Star Shoot with Arielle Doneson Photography (being published in a VERY big blog soon - squuuueallllll!!).

A few cute mirrors I picked up at Hobby Lobby - originally intended for the living room and we ended up loving them in here instead :o)

Another bookshelf/cabinet - this one displays pretty boxes (can you believe I found these at WalMart?) full of extra envelopes, assembly pieces, shirley | edith cards and craft supplies.  It's also home to a few Abby Rose Gift Sets, sample paper books and some mementos from Katie and Kevin's wedding last July.

Last, but not least - organization heaven - two Ikea ALEX Drawer Units side-by-side with Martha Stewart Adhesive Bookplates to dress them up a bit.  These babies are full of so much paper that it would make normal people cry!  Topped with a handy dandy scanner so I can send clients sketches, my See Jane Work business card organizer (being a stationery designer, I just can't throw them away!), Target folders and holders, as well as my heavy duty paper cutter - I love these drawers :o)

Sadly, it's come to an end - hopefully we'll have the basement up and running by the end of the summer so I can show you all the magical things we've done down there (a girl can dream, right?)!

Any questions about where I got anything or input on how I should have done something?  I'd love to hear it - we love comments and emails (info@bacidesigner.com)!!  Thanks for joining us on our Home Re-invasion Tour :o)

Our Home, Re-invasion | Day One - Reorganization

Three short years ago, we moved into our current home - it was quite the arduous process, but in the end it was all worth it and we are completely in love with it.  This is what it looked like before we moved in:

The poor thing had been empty for an entire year, needless to say we had a lot of work ahead of us :o)  This is what the lovely lady looks like today (like, literally today - I just ran outside and took a picture!):

We ripped out the bushes because they were a) too close to the house and b) they were causing our basement to get wet; we also got new windows and a new, darker roof, plus painted our door red.  Up this summer:  new siding and landscaping (I'm sure our neighborhood would appreciate that over the weeded barrenness that we have now).

We've also done a bunch of things inside so I thought I'd have a little Home Re-invasion this week on the blog.  If you remember, I gave you a taste of Before and After of our house here, here and here.  Today we'll start with the reorganization that's been going on these past few weeks in our bedroom and basement in preparation for the garage sale we had last week!  Then we'll move on throughout the rest of the house, ending with the unveiling of baci's studio :o)

Up until about a month ago, my clothes were in both our bedroom and the guest bedroom - the clothes I wore most frequently resided in our bedroom, my dresses and jackets lived in the other room.  This didn't make getting ready when we had guests that convenient. . . and it typically required a lot of me running around in my underwear trying to figure out what I wanted to wear.  This needed to end, and if we ever want to turn that guest bedroom into a nursery we really should have space to put a baby's things.

The main problem was lack of space - our house was built in the '50's and amazingly it does have a lot of closets, unfortunately, those closets aren't very useful because they are long and narrow.  Ilario even has his very own closet (in the hallway - God bless him!) and I still didn't have the room for all of my clothes (which I love dearly, but I swear I really am good at purging so I don't have that many).  I also realized that our dressers were tiny, like meant for a child tiny.  So when Jami and I were in Pittsburgh, I bought a beautiful new adult-size dresser and armoire.  Bam, just like that I was able to combine my two closets and everything resides in my room now (Ilario is still banned to the hallway, but I promise his closet is nice - he can walk in it)!!

Moving everything into one room has been amazing - I sorted through everything and was finally able to organize my clothes by color.  Nerdy, I know, but do it - it's truly life-changing!!  When shopping I now know what I have and in what color, so I don't purchase things already in my closet :o)  This is what my closet looks like now - a dream would be to have all the same hangers, but that would be a lot of hangers to replace!  Someday. . . 

 Confession:  I did move all my winter clothes (like sweater dresses and wool pants/jackets) back into the guest bedroom closet, but I promise once the basement is up and running I'll store them down there.

Using a tip from my sister-in-law I bought a pretty two-sided shoe organizer and I now store my belts and scarves it in - seriously, another life-changing moment :o)

All of our sweaters and pajamas (yes, even Ilario's) now live on the shelves in the armoire.  I haven't been able to utilize this to it's maximum ability because it's been too hot, but I know it's going to be awesome come winter-time.

And in the hanging portion of the armoire, I now have all of my sleeveless tops and jackets (organized by color again!) at the top and my pants and skirts on the bottom.  So lovely :o)

I even bought drawer organizers for the new dresser - no more sorting trying to figure out what socks are black.  A serious win in my book!

Taking my bedroom organization overhaul one step further, I used a pretty silver tray I found in my uncle's stash of goods on its way to the flea market to hold my hair tools.  I placed a small wash cloth under it to protect the dresser from the heat.

I also bought a fun silver tray from TJ Maxx to hold all of my makeup - once again life-changing!  I now know what I have and it's easy to get to - before I was storing it all in a grungy makeup bag.

I have all my necklaces strung up in the closet so I never have to waste time untangling them and all my other jewelry stays nice and neat in pretty boxes on top of the dresser.

Next up:  the basement!  It's currently horrendous.  We went through EVERYTHING (like a whole crap-ton of stuff ranging from baci goodness to holiday décor) before the garage sale and now it all needs placed into labeled clear tubs.  Now that will be heavenly once it's done :o)