The Loft: Organization

One of my top priorities these days in anything I am doing to improve my home is organization and storage.  We have plenty of space in this house for the two of us but finding places to store things can sometimes be a challenge.  As far as organization...it just makes me happy.

 

Our new Ikea desk has a top drawer to the right and was pretty much a hot mess after we put everything back in.  So obviously I was on the hunt for some reasonably priced but stylish organizational tools and finally came across the Martha Stewart stack and fit collection at Staples.  They are perfect because you can customize them to fit your needs (by the way, although it may seem like it - I actually am not a spokesperson for Martha.  Her stuff just always works me.  All opinions on this blog are mine and I have not been asked to review every product she has ever came out with...maybe someday.  Ha ha ha). 

The desk itself came with an insert that rests on the top of the drawer where we store our pens, pencils, scissors, etc which is nice because we don't have to have them sitting on the desk.

Now, moving on to the Expedit. We purchased baskets to fit on the bottom row because we knew we wanted to use the top for books.  It took me a while to decide what to put in the baskets but one day it finally hit me!  I needed somewhere to store all of our gift wrapping supplies!  I had been seeing all of these amazing ideas on Pinterest for storing those items in big elaborate over the door hanging devices but we just didn't have that kind of room so this worked out great!

 The first basket holds all of the extra gift bags and tissue paper

 The second basket is for gift boxes

 The third basket is for gift tags, ribbon, and gift card boxes

 The final basket is a little random but this is where we are storing our extra extension cords and timers for our lights.

 Hope you've enjoyed my little organizational tour and come back for more tutorials from The Loft!



The Loft

So, we have a loft in our home.  When we first came in and looked at this house before we decided to move in I thought the loft was soooo cool.  I just liked how it was open and there were lots of windows around so it was bright...however I quickly discovered what a freaking eye sore it could be!  Blahhhhh.  Enter exhibit A.

There it was, in all it's glory right when you walked up the stairs.  NOT CUTE!  So we left it this way for a good 5 years until finally it could be stood for no longer.  I got the itch...you know the one where your like "ok we aren't moving any time soon and I am so sick of looking at this and since we aren't moving any time soon I should probably like what I am looking at every day so I'm finally going to quit complaining about it and do something about it, itch."

 

Here are the steps I went through:

 

#1.  First things first - get rid of the junk!  Whether that means actually getting rid of it or donating or just putting it in storage for now, get the stuff out of the room that is not neccessary, not being used, shouldn't be in there in first place etc.

 

#2. Next, I wanted to decide on a color scheme.  I had been toying around with the idea of going with a black and white/neutral color scheme throughout the house but knew I wanted some accent colors to go along with it.  Since I redid the linen closet with the teal color I definitely wanted to incorporate that and I also just really liked the idea of adding a bright yellow so that part was decided on.

 

#3. I needed more seating in the loft desperately so we set off to Ikea and went with the Expedit shelf and decided we would turn it on it's side to make a big bench but still be able to use it for storage. 

 

We also picked up a white desk, chair and a two tiered Expedit Shelf for more storage. 

 

#4. Accents and Decorations.  I don't like to set out to find specific things at specific stores because that never ever works out so although it makes for a long process over the next few months as I was out and about I would just find things or ideas that would work perfectly in the loft and I would pick them up as I found them.  The room came together so smoothly this way.  Stress free and easy - just the way I like it! 

 

So without further ado...here is the unveiling of the loft.

 

   I love it! I think it will be a constant work in progress but I am so happy with how it is coming along.  The canvas above the desk is a picture we took when we were in Hawaii 2 summers ago and we have decided to make a collage of canvas' from other trips we have taken so we will hopefully constantly be updating that. 

 

Come back over the next few days/weeks for some tutorials on projects around this room and let me know what you think!

 

Also, just as a side note we also have this ledge on the landing in our stairwell that we updated as well as part of the loft redo...

 

Before:

 

After: