organized dogs

i love having a place for everything and everything in it's place.  really, who doesn't?!

when we built the house, i made sure to have cabinets put above the dogs kennels to store all of their things in the mudroom.  we have high maintenance dogs so they have a lot of things!

this is my favorite organized space in the house.  it came together exactly as i had picture it in my mind.

here is their space... (please ignore the mess on the counter, our foster came with a lot of extra things that i was trying to find a place for)

and here is how it is organized...

i bought these bins at Target in the kitchen section.  they fit in the cabinets really nicely.

starting from the top right is:

• foster clothes, misc extras (like extra leashes, booties, etc.)
• jackets, toys/treats
• medical, necessities (like their collars, doggy bags, etc.)

the other cabinet is used for random stuff for the house.  it holds the first aid container and a sewing kit.  the girls overnight/dog park bag.  Lily has a few things that also got a bin too.

makes me happy to be able to easily find things in the cabinet.  and it looks much nicer than having random things all shoved in a cabinet :)

organizing my nail polish obsession

i have been wearing nail polish for as long as i can remember.  i love it and wear it every day.

over the past couple of years, my collection has grown a lot and i was running out of room in the previous storage solution i had...

it couldn't even contain it all!

i went on a hunt at Target to find the perfect storage solution.  i had Starla helping out and she found this container...

typically it looks like it is used for crafts, but this was perfect!

on the bottom, i put my cotton balls, nail polish remover, and tools.

on the top, i put all my nail polish and arranged it by color and types, and my files.

after using this a few times, i realized that it was easier to arrange it with the nail polish on the bottom and my remover and such on the top.  this is because i can leave the nail polish part of the container on the shelf in my bathroom cabinet, and just remove the top to carry with me.

the reason i chose this solution is because i wanted a container i could move around.  i always do my nails while i'm watching TV, sometimes in the kitchen, the living room, or our bedroom.  i saw a million different great ideas on pinterest, but none of them worked for me.

eventually i would like to add some dividers, so things stay separated.  i already have the nail polish separated by color, but would love them all divided out.

bathroom pantry cabinet

A bathroom pantry cabinet?  Well, really in a kitchen it would be a pantry cabinet, but it's in our bathroom.  It really is our linen cabinet, but I still call it the pantry.  Not sure why, but it confuses my husband.  Haha!

Isn't it a beauty?!

Anyways, I LOVE how spacious it is, and I haven't even used all of the space in it, but thought I would show how I keep it organized.

top of cabinet

Top shelf:  First bin holds my blow dryer, hair spray, and straightener.  Second bin has "Misc."  Things like cotton balls, Qtips, or anything that doesn't really have another place to go.

Middle shelf: Kleenex and toilet paper.

Bottom shelf: The shoe box containers hold stomach and cold meds, each in their own containers.  All the other meds are in the bin.  My favorite part is that I can keep my toothbrush plugged in, in the cabinet, so that it's not sitting out on the counter.

bottom of cabinet

 Top shelf: Towels.

Middle shelf: Nailpolish container (which you can see is overflowing).  Wash clothes and coconut oil.

Bottom shelf: Scale.  Bin full of "Extras."  Things like contact solution, toothpaste, body wash, deodorant.  I like to keep an extra on hand so we don't ever run out.

I used the bins in our previous house in the linen closet, and they are super helpful at keeping this organized.  I try to keep things that we both use in the linen cabinet, and then we keep our stuff in our separate vanities.  I was shocked to see that I had so much leftover space in the cabinet, but that's how I like it.  I hate clutter so this has been helpful for keeping everything away and in it's place.

Check out the full bathroom here

Kitchen organization

This project has made me so happy!  It wasn't anything that took too much time, and wasn't super creative either.  But we definitely needed this change!  So we had been getting more and more things to hang on the side of our refrigerator.  And I HATE clutter.  It was definitely creating A LOT of clutter, so the pictures had to go! At the same time, we had a very bare wall behind our kitchen table, so I knew this would be the perfect space to put something, anything that would move the pictures off of the refrigerator.

I was so happy when I found a magnetic dry erase board at Michael's which I could use a 50% off coupon with.  Got the board for $12!  This way I could move all the pictures to hang on the board, PLUS I could write my daily tasks on here, so my husband could even help out around the house.  And it's amazing how much it has helped us!  I used to use a household binder for my daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, and it worked awesome.  But while I'm in school I need him to help me out around the house.  When I'm done with school in May (FOREVER!) then I can do it all myself again, but until then, this board has saved my marriage life!

Much better!