Monday, April 30, 2012

unusual happenings: new furniture and organization

The Scavenger Hunt is taking a break this week because Ashley's grandma passed away last week.  You can read more about that here.  It's up and running again now, and I'll have new photos next week.

Some of you know that Jake and I decided to spend some of our tax refund money on new living room furniture earlier this month.
Jake has always wanted leather furniture, and I haven't because I think that most of it is ridiculously over sized, pretty ugly, and not very comfortable.  I still stand by those opinions, but I am also happy with this set.  There's an exception to every rule, right?  I probably shouldn't say this because I'm sure that most people can't tell the difference, especially in a photo, but it's bonded leather.  If you do like the look of leather but want something more affordable, it's a great option.

The new furniture inspired me to do some not insignificant organization around the house.
I got these little tables at IKEA years ago.  You can see that they aren't the same color (see the blue one above?).  It hasn't been a problem and still isn't really, but they're both in need of a new finish, so I may sand them down and spray paint them this summer.  For now, I got them dusted and reorganized.

As I mentioned last week, the new furniture inspired me to hang some pictures.  Yep, we've lived here almost a year and still haven't finished that.  In addition to the ducks in the bathroom, we got Jake's med school diploma framed and hung up, I hung up some little prints in my computer desk area, and I added these frames to the dining room.


The two pictures on the left are from an Alaskan cruise.  The collage on the right is from my one of my cousin's bachelorette party and wedding.  Some of you may remember my apprehension about hanging this.  I still don't feel great about it, but I hung it much better than we hung the graduation frame, so hopefully it isn't going anywhere.

I know that I'm not alone with the issue of keeping my craft storage spaces and work areas neat, mostly because aside from my computer desk, they are the areas of the house that I use the most.  I have done a pretty good job keeping up with the systems that I establish, but the problem is that things keep changing.  I've slowly added a lot of non-bead craft supplies to my stash and work areas this year without much thought to the organization.  It was time for an overhaul.
This is more or less the same, just better organized now.  I consolidated some emptier cubbies to make room for the card supplies in the bottom and misc. supplies on the top.  I also put all of my bulk Oriental Trading button collections in the plastic container that's on top of the bookshelf.  I pull those out when I'm doing craft show projects like button magnets and need a whole bunch at once and am not worried about grabbing specific colors from my sorted bins.

One reason that we love our house is the closet space.  I moved all of my big boxes with ULine supplies into the closet.

My light box and sewing machine areas haven't changed much, but again, I got them all cleaned up and organized.  I had lots of buttons pulled for different projects and misc. new supplies sitting out that I got sorted and put away.  I haven't shown any pictures of these in a while so I thought that people would enjoy seeing them.


I am slowly developing an effective system for storing new cards until I'm ready to sort and price (and/or photograph) them.  This is still a work in progress, but I'm getting there.  I'm also still figuring out how to sort paper scraps and misc. project bits that I don't want to discard but won't use any time soon (i.e. a few Valentine's Day components that I didn't use this year).  I've just been piling all of my larger pieces on top of this storage area and letting the small pieces clutter up my work table.  Michael's had large scrapbook bins on sale, and I picked up a couple of them.
That has already made a huge difference.  For now, I'm using up a lot of my smaller project bits and will save the out of season cards for next year or for mixed sets.  I'm sorting the other pieces into small clear envelopes that will easily fit in any of my plastic storage bins.

It is a lot of work to reorganize.  It's definitely a lot less fun than creating, but it's so worth it.  I love being able to find what I need when I need it.  I also love having an efficient system so when I'm ready to take pictures and price and sort items for shows, the process goes relatively smoothly.

Have you done any organizing lately?  If not, start thinking about your next project!

Newest Articles:
Looking for older articles?  Click here!

Where else I linked up today:

17 comments:

  1. I've had leather furniture for decades! It looks good, wears well, cleans easily and I've always found it more comfy than anything else on the market...maybe you will grow to like the look and convenience of leather furniture.

    As for organizing, I am an organization freak so when I go on a binge there isn't much to do but I should think with all your creative projects organization would be essential to keeping everything handy and undamaged. Looks like you've done a great job in accomplishing that...I love neat neat and tidy :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like the way you angled the furniture around the fireplace. Looks cozy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I need to do this so much. It looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the new furniture -- we have leather too and it lasts for ages and looks good if you condition it periodically!
    All my organization is still in my head! But at least I know what I'm going to do! I know you feel good after getting all that done!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My husband loves leather, too. It must be a dude thing.

    You really got a lot done! I think a room always feels more complete after there are some pictures on the wall.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love leather. I have a Lazy boy recliner that is leather on all the seating surfaces and vinyl on the sides and backing. You really can't tell and I've had it for about ten years. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Rose, Looks like everything is looking real nice. Don't worry that you are not finished hanging pictures. One is never finished. Blessings dear. Catherine xo

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love organizing days! We have those little tables from IKEA at our shop!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I bet you feel so much better! I know I have a hard time even working near my desk when it's a pig sty. We're in the market for some leather furniture too....I feel the same way, but it's for M's theater den, so it's all him as far as I'm concerned. Your're right, your's looks much better than what you usually expect to see!

    ReplyDelete
  10. The new furniture looks lovely rose! One is never finished, there is always going to be something you want to add or remove it is a never ending cycle.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the way leather furniture looks but have never loved it enough to want it for myself.
    I wish I could get my craft supplies organized. Every time I try I get distracted with a project and mess it all up again :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm with you on the leather furniture, but I do like what you got. Hubby is happy and that's a good thing. Compromise is a good thing.

    I don't know how you can keep all your crafts in order. I'd be drowning in a mess.

    Have a terrific day. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your furniture looks very nice and comfy! We almost got leather but chickened out because of kitty claw marks. Maybe someday. I need to get my butt in gear and organize things around here and I still need a light box. Wish you were closer so you could come help!

    ReplyDelete
  14. It took us years to finish our living room. We used to have black leather seats, now we have a cream sofa. It seems our rooms are always changing and I'm constantly redecorating. My studio still isn't finished and there's plenty to do out in the garden as well, now that it's finally warming up here.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Getting organized feels so good! I took some time last week to organize some of my inventory and supplies...so glad I did!
    Your new furniture looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  16. uummm....not really, but I need to! It seems like a constant need around here. I do have my paper stuff organized, but it's in a few separate locations in my house. When I want to do paper crafts I have to drag it all out and then put it back. Oh well. I have some of my paper paraphernalia in 3 drawer bins. I have several of these in 2 sizes. Items are organized and I can pull out one drawer only if need be.
    You new furniture looks great! It does feel good to organize one's house!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow, everything looks great! I've been in the process of purging & re-organizing much of my room, and trying to get my family to do the same!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments mean so much to me! Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts, questions, and feedback.