Organize & Inspire [Home Organization Ideas]

I have adored Traci ever since I first stumbled across her blog (and the cafe shelves she made herself) back in 2009.  Since then, Beneath My Heart has grown and grown and Traci is now spreading her talent to a second blog,  Organize & Inspire!

I am so excited to follow all of the great organizational ideas she will feature!  Clever ways to organize are always my some of my favorite (and most needed) ideas!!  I am heading to Ikea tomorrow to pick up a magnetic knife rack after seeing this bathroom organization idea she featured.

Magnetic Knife Rack Bathroom Organization from Darkroom and Dearly

Instead of hanging it on the wall, I am going to secure it to the front of my drawer so the tweezers, clippers, and bobby pins don't end up buried in the back.  The drawer is super shallow and I have yet to find a basket that will fit in it, but this magnet should do the trick!

You can check out all of this tip and all of the great home organization tips that Traci features over at Organize & Inspire.

8 Great Uses For A Business Card Holder

8 Great Uses For A Business Card Holder from Sew Many Ways

Scarf Hanger [Organization]

Scarf Organizer by From The Desk

Portable Gift Wrapping Station

Portable Gift Wrapping Station from Two Shades of Pink

DIY Magnetic Wall

Magnetic Sheet Metal Wall from Landee See, Landee Do

Oven Rack Jewelry Organizer

Oven Rack Jewelry Organizer from Just Sew Sassy

DIY Garage Storage [Organization]

Garage Organization from Designed to Dwell

Organization Before and Afters

If you need some organizational inspiration, head over to Apartment Therapy.  They have links to some great before and after photos of everything from the pantry to the junk drawer.

And you know nothing motivates like a good before and after!

Magazine Rack

If you are in the mood to get organized for 2011, you might like this magazine rack that Andy made:

I love the hook that she hung decorative keys from.  I actually think it would make a great place to store my mail when I don't have time to go through it, and a couple extra hooks and it would work for actual keys instead of just decorative ones.  A multi-tasker!

You can see the tutorial for this magazine rack/mail holder/key ring over at Poppies at Play.

Magnetic Linen Board

We have a little bit of a calendaring/message dilemma in this house. In our old house we had a big desk calendar that hung on the side of the fridge. It was out of the way of everyday sight, but easy to see and use. It really was in the perfect place. In this house the fridge has no open sides and the front ins't magnetic. (Which shows you how desperate I am for a good space for my calendar because I would put it on the front of my fridge if I could!)

The only place it is really going to work is going to be a place that is out in the open, so I am going to have to go for something functional, but hopefully a little pretty. Which is why this magnetic board from Fern Creek Cottage caught my eye:

Gorgeous frame, functional space, magnetic, but still really pretty:

Bet you never thought linen fabric could be magnetic.  The trick is whats under the pretty fabric.  You can check it out HERE.

Soup Can Storage

We have all seen these handy dandy soup can organizers:

Very handy, but also super pricey.  Instead of investing a small fortune for some of these, Amy from Then She Made came up with this idea:

She used an empty soda fridge pack, prettied it up with some patterned paper, and you have the same concept for a lot less money.  I am wondering what you could do with some fabric and mod podge.

You can see how she made this one HERE.

Key Ring Card Holder and Car Star App

This idea from Martha Stewart is pretty brilliant:

If you have a ton of extra cards in your wallet (other than your drivers license and bank cards) you can punch a hole in the corner and keep them on a key ring that you toss in your purse.  Library cards, gym card, shopping cards, all together but not taking up space in your wallet!

If you have an iPhone, Blackberry, or Droid you can also use this app:

Card Star lets you enter the numbers from your cards and keep them all on your phone.  They even generate bar codes that can be scanned.

Both ideas are pretty nifty.  And my wallet can use all the help it can get!

Pretty Pantries

There have been a lot of posts about pantry organization floating around.  I think the epidemic started with this gorgeous pantry makeover from House of Smiths:

And then Beth from The Stories of A to Z joined the party:

Both of these posts got me excited to reorganize my pantry, and then I did.  And I still had way too much stuff to ever make it cute or functional.  So I decided to go back to ogling over other pantries online.  Ogling over things online is what I do best!

Se lets ogle.  ogle over pantries with cute paint jobs and  fun doors like these  from Country Living:

Ogle over pantries with a couple hundred dollars worth of organizational supplies.  My pantry is the size of the pantry in the above picture, but with about 100 times more stuff in it!  It is pretty shallow too, so I am actually thinking I might have to fork out the moola and do something like this:

Ogle over butlers pantries:

and colorful butlers pantries:

Even hidden pantries:

And even magical pantries:

 One of the model homes near our house had a pantry that stretches the entire length of the kitchen AND the space under the stairs.  It is my dream pantry.  I hated the rest of the house, but the pantry might be worth it.

Until then, I might have to pick up some cute bag chips like these to disguise the clutter with cuteness:

Yarn Letter Basket Labels

I saw this picture on Someday Crafts:

These cute baskets from Peace, Love, & Crafts reminded me of the cute flavor of the day sign made from Divine Twine.  But I don't have any Divine Twine.  But i DO have yarn!  And yarn would be an appropriate thing to use to label your craft storage!  And cute too!

You can check out these cute yarn labels HERE.

Doll Closet

I was looking through some ideas featured at Making the World Cuter when I found this idea from das Sushi:

What is it?  If you have little girls, it is a necessity:

Pull pack the curtains and you have a closet for doll and Barbie clothes.  I might not make mine as big, but I am not trying to think of a place to hang one of these babies from Ikea to use as a Barbie closet:

Maybe on one of the lower shelves in Lou La's closet.

Clothesline Calendar

The Shabby Nest featured a project from Freckled Laundry that I am really excited about:

Her organization station is great, but the part that I love, the part that I NEED, is the clothesline calendar:

She uses the clothespins to hold reminders of events and even bills that need to be mailed.  I could even hang coupons and gift cards for places I know we are going to visit on that day so that I don't forget them!

You can see how she created this organization station HERE.

Back To School Organization

I am trying to figure out where in my house I can use this idea that I saw on I Am An Organizing Junkie:

I need a couple of hooks for backpacks in mine, but I love the three baskets stowed under the bench.  I think I need those to toss all the items that belong to my three kiddos that get left upstairs.  Right now I use laundry baskets and those just aren't cute!  And if the kids are at school when I am picking up I can hide these until the get home.  That is if I find a spot and a bench!

Mason Jar Storage

Another fun use for Mason Jars:

You can use hose clamps to secure the jars to a piece of wood and use it to store all sorts of things.  Office supplies above your desk, scissors above your craft table, wooden spoons in the kitchen.  So many fun ideas!

And if you don't want to make your own, you can buy some from Old New Again on Etsy:

She even sells a super cute coat rack version:

Mug Tree Organization

I don't drink coffee, so I really don't have a need for a mug tree in my kitchen:

But that is okay, because I have found some clever uses for them online!  Like storing scissors and ribbon at All Sorts:

Scarves and jewelry:

And even hanging mugs on them and using the mugs to store things (like pens):

Do you have a mug tree lying around?  What could you use yours to organize?

Shoe Storage

I am not a huge shoe person, but if I were I think this would be a brilliant way to organize/display them:

Too bad the same idea won't work to organize my flip flops!

I found this image at Say Yes to Hoboken, but the original idea of hanging the heels on decorative molding came from Living Etc.

Are you a shoe person?  How many pairs do you own?