Getting Organized!

With any move, there is a ton to unpack and organize.  But, beyond the normal stuff, there are three areas of the house that I have been intent on getting organized since we moved in: the garage, the kids' "front room", and the basement storage room.  In all three cases, things were scattered about such that either no one could enter the space, or it was so cramped and chaotic that it was unpleasant to enter.

For the last several days, i have set aside time to focus on these areas, and they are now much better than before.  The storage room won't be done until we install shelves, so no pictures there yet, but I'm excited to reveal our new and improved front room Arts & Crafts shelf and the newly painted & organized garage.

The Front Room:

Note the reckless pile of random stuff on the shelves (and bear in mind that there's a whole other box to the right with more arts & crafts to be put out).  I stocked up on storage boxes at Target, thinking I'd return whatever didn't get used, but I ended up using them all!  (Oh, and I love our new rug!)

Notice how I even went so far as to label each box and drawer so the kids have no excuse for putting things away in the wrong place?  Now if I can just find a way to make sure they actually DO put things away at all!

The Garage
No before pictures.  Sorry.  You wouldn't have wanted to see them anyway.  The walls were bare with the builder's construction stripes down each stud.  Now, the walls are painted, the adult bikes are hung, and children's bikes and scooters are easily accessible.  Tools and other household stuff are stored in the awesome workbench that my grandma gave us (that my dad built), and we actually have room to walk all the way around our cars!  Still left to do is installing parking bumpers and hanging the brooms.  But, considering the mess it was yesterday, I'm oh so pleased!