Stylish Small Storage

One storage item I can never have enough of are stylish small containers. They can tidy up piles of change, become a home for your car keys and sunglasses, or add some pizzazz to your room. Here are four of my current favorites! 

One (psst click me!)   

Secrets? Gluten? Calories? I'm in! Jonathan Adler's porcelain canisters are amazing! The perfect place to stash some sweet treats.

two

Use these little bowls to stylishly store your loose change or keys by the front door!

three

I'm always on the hunt for stylish jewelry containers and these handy boxes do the trick.

four

I dream of HAY trays. They are fun, funky, and functional. You can build your own design and  arrangement by nesting them inside a larger tray. 

K xo

Makeup Hack: Foundation Frustration

Hi guys! Are you ready for some Spring cleaning? 

I have been tackling a personal organizing mission, going through my bathroom items! Storage in UK bathrooms is far less than what I have been spoiled with in the states. 

As I was going through makeup, hoping to discard bone dry foundation bottles and too dark creams (I can't tan to save my life), I realized that one of my number one used foundation bottles had TONS of hidden product still inside that the pump was no longer able to push out. 

As an organizer I believe in decluttering and not holding on to items that you do not need, but seeing this trapped makeup that I use every day at the bottom of the bottle drove me crazy! 

Instead of tossing it right away I decided to try to extract what was left and use it all up before moving on to the next bottle! How many of us throw away makeup products because we think they're empty? I know I've done it! 

-First step is to try pumping out all the makeup normally (if your bottle has the small push pump). This will easily clear out anything that you can use straight away. 

-Next, can you turn the bottle upside down? Maybe balance it on its cap? This will bring all of the liquid product to the cap. Be aware that when you unscrew or open the top you could have a lot of product come rushing out! I wouldn't wear your nicest outfit while doing this. Trust me, because I did! 

-After a few hours all of your makeup will have settled to the bottom and be easily accessible once you open the cap. I had my bottles rest overnight. 

-Now take your small travel screw top container, like the one pictured above (you can by these at any drug store), and open the lid. 

-Loosen the lid of your makeup slowly and place the open bottle over the new small plastic container and shake that baby out! I even rested my makeup bottle over the container so it could drain all of the liquid makeup out. Give it a few taps if you need to.

-Tip: use the pump to scrape out any excess makeup that is slow to come out of the bottle. Don't be afraid to use your fingers!

Tadaa!! You're finished! Now chuck that empty bottle in the trash and enjoy a few days more worth of makeup! It's a bit of work but if you're using an expensive foundation or just want to get what you paid for, like me, it's worth the extra 10 mins of work! I'm sure you can do this for any liquid beauty products such as lotions and foundations.

Do you have any makeup hacks that you use? Comment below and let me know! 

K xo

Digital Organizing Machine

June 5, 2015

Technology obsessed.

Most people today are. We have our laptops, our music players, iPads, and cell phones attached to our hands 24/7.

Have you ever thought about whether these pieces of technology were organized and functional? You know how slow your phone works when it’s clogged up with thousands of pictures and messages! It’s as important as ever to think about being digitally organized. If these devices are an important part of your life you want them to be working fast and clear of digital clutter.

Here are some tips to help us minimize those pesky digital headaches!

Cell Phones:

-PHOTOS: Sync photos to a desktop/laptop computer or external hard drive at least once a month. Thousands of photos will slow down your phone and also consume a lot of the available memory. Before you sync, think about going through the photos on you phone and deleting ones you don’t wish to keep. It will make organizing them later a lot easier if you have less “trash” photos!

-MESSAGES: Do you still have messages from 2011 in your cell phone? Don’t be ashamed, I did too! It was only upon syncing my phone that I realized all these texts take up a LOT of space! There can be multiple megabytes worth of space taken up by old text messages. If they aren’t needed for information or sentimental purposes delete the whole stream! You will be amazed at how doing this will clear up space and help your phone run faster.

-APPS: Some apps store info on your phone, like a picture editing app or a messaging app. Once again go through and delete any unneeded messages and photos and clear up some space!

Laptops:

-DESKTOP: This is the main screen on your computer where all those icons and folders are! How does your desktop look? Do you have twenty miscellaneous folders and pictures scattering the screen? Try condensing those folders and file pictures into appropriate folders as well. If you screen has a clean look you will be more motivated to get some work done and focus on the task at hand.

-PHOTOS: I’ve been on a mission to organize thousands and thousands of photos on my computer. Filing them into folders as you upload them can really help cut down on disorganization. Delete anything you don’t need! Those pictures will take up a lot of space on your computer so having the important stuff in order is key. Have all of your photos in one or two places on your computer, whether it’s in iPhoto or a separate folder on your desktop. You don’t want to be searching for a specific photo for an hour!

Happy organizing!

 K xo

Closet Talk

May 7, 2015

How is your relationship going? Having a rough patch? Avoiding the mess?

I’m talking about your relationship with your closet of course!

You should love your closet and all the goodies you keep in it. When you look at your closet it shouldn’t make you want to stay in your pjs all day because the task of finding “that” shirt you wanted to wear today might take you hours to actually locate. (If you do hang out in your jammies all day, because of a non-closet related reason, that’s all good. I do it too!)

So, do you and your closet need some therapy to get back on the right track?

That’s what organizers are here for! My dream is to have you open up your closet and feel relaxed, happy, even excited! Closets can be fun, but most importantly should be functional. If you can’t find your work clothes ten minutes before you leave, or that top you wanted to wear on a first date, it’s going to be frustrating!

Creating more space is also important. The picture above are some of the bulky (but beautiful) wood hangers that I used for a closet makeover. All of the clothes hangers in this couples closet were wood, but to make more space for hanging clothes we found a compromise. Isn’t that what relationships are all about?

On her side we used the thinner felt hangers that have become so popular, and on his side we used the more masculine wood hangers! This created more space for hanging her clothes and still kept around the hangers he preferred.

You can buy the thin felt hangers in so many retail stores now! Places like Target, Marshall’s, Home Goods, and even on Amazon if you want to shop online. They come in almost every color so you can also spice up your closet space by adding some color.

I wish you and your closet a long and happy relationship!

Contact me if you have any questions!

K xo

Wrapping Up The Mess Pt 1

May 5, 2015

RIP Tissue paper…

Torn tissue. Sad squished bows. Crinkled gift bags.

Who else knows this situation all too well? Unfortunately I do!

As an organizer I know you probably envision everything in my house to be lined up and orderly. I won’t lie to you, most areas are, but wrapping items have always been a sore spot for me.

I have tried keeping everything nice and neat. I place tissue paper inside gift bags, place those gift bags inside a nice plastic storage tub, and tuck them away in a cabinet. Somehow everything still gets crinkled, ripped, or lost!

During the NAPO conference I spotted something that caught my eye. A product that seems to make all your wrapping paper headaches disappear. The Wrap iT! A clever product that has fun pockets and an area for all the big and little things. Best part is, you hang it up and you’re done! Being conscious of space is part of what I do and I love that this product takes a large amount of wrapping paper, craft supplies, even toys and books and condenses it neatly into one package.

I’m sharing my unorganized dirty little secret with you because i’m looking forward to receiving my Wrap iT and transforming the clutter! See, even organizers have personal projects we work on.

Stay tuned and I will try the Wrap iT and see if I can banish my wrapping paper blues for good!

K xo

Shelf Awareness

March 7, 2015

Since moving into a new house I have been under attack.

I am constantly battling a pile of boxes, displaced objects, and ridiculous amounts of trash. If you looked around right now you might say I should wave a white flag, but I’m not defeated yet! Here’s the thing about moving, it’s a long process to find everything a home and then to actually get it into place.

Being an organizer with a mild case of OCD I do crave for things to be in order, and quickly. Thankfully it’s only been three weeks since our belongings arrived from the states and the house is already looking completely different (in a great way)!

Choosing a starting point and working from there can help alleviate some of the stress of moving or redecorating. I’ve focused my energy on the main floor of my home which consists of an open plan living room, dining room, and kitchen. This is the area my family spends the most time in, so it made sense to start there!

My husband Jonny and I have a pretty large book collection, which has been piled on the ground for weeks. We knew we wanted a book shelf but weren’t sure what exactly we wanted. After a few visits from carpenters about possibly building a built in shelving unit we just knew the end result was not going to be aesthetically what we like. One carpenter proposed a very heavy built in with curved edges and thick shelves. All I could think about in my head was an 80’s Florida-esq piece of furniture. Definitely not the modern and sleek vision we had hoped for.

Enter Vitsoe! I had walked by the showroom on Duke Street many times but never stopped in. Finally Jonny and I popped in and were welcomed by Sebastian who explained the whole system to us. Basically it was love at first sight (with the bookshelves, not Sebastian of course)! The Vitsoe 606 Universal Shelving System is a dream. It looks amazing, it’s functional, and it was way less money then the quotes we had received for a built in system. It was a very quick and simple process to get started, Sebastian organized a site visit at our home to check our wall and make sure the plan for our shelves would be precise. Then about two weeks later the installers came out and got started!

The installation process blew my mind. Jeff and Alastair arrived early and got straight to work. I had imagined it being an all day affair and got settled in at my dining room table to get some work done. About an hour later I looked up from my computer and it was almost completely installed! All in all it took about an hour and a half and we had our perfect dream bookshelf.

The service at Vitsoe is amazing. From visiting the showroom to the actual installation process everything is simple. If you have a space in your home where you need more storage, functionality, or just want to add some flair, the 606 Shelving System could be the perfect option for you. Making good use of every space in your home can make organizing a breeze! Now I have a beautiful shelving system to start filling in!

If you have any questions about the shelving system in our home or how I’m going to tackle organizing the books and knick knacks please let me know. Ok, i’m off to go nerd out on books now!

For full information on Vitsoe visit their website…and they ship worldwide! https://www.vitsoe.com/gb

K xo