video: episode 1 of Re-clutter!

I've had this idea skipping around in my head for a while, but the recent trend towards minimalism and decluttering really made me want to sit down and finally get this started. I would consider myself a maximalist, since I love pattern and color and being surrounded by things that I love. I feel so much more comfortable in homes where people have poured their personalities onto the walls than in ones that still resemble a model showroom. But I think a lot of people mistakenly believe that organization is only achievable through minimalism, and that's just not so!

In my new series, which I'm calling "Re-clutter" (like, the opposite of declutter) I'll be sharing tips and tricks for organizing and tidying your space without throwing everything out or sacrificing personality. I'm planning on sharing one new Re-clutter episode each month, and I'll still be doing my other videos weekly. I'm so excited about this project and I hope you enjoy it!!

And as always if you do like the video please head over to my channel to give it a thumbs up and (hopefully!) subscribe :)

DIY (ish) lapel pin display case

I keep one of each pin that I design, and originally I had them all displayed on a cork pin board. That was all well and good when I had about 30 designs but now that I'm nearing 200 I realized I needed a better way to store and/or display my collection. Now that I finished this project I think I'm going to do the same thing for my embarrassingly large collection of Disney pins, too!

I found these jewelry cases on Amazon, but really any case meant for displaying rings or brooches should work fine. The fabric in the case has a cork/cardboard like backing that is perfect for securing my pins in place. I just make sure that I attach them in between the rows, not inside of the groove, or else they won't be secure. Each case holds about 60 1" - 1.25" pins, give or take.



Since the pins attach securely into the case, I can choose to display the case upright on my dresser along with my other brooches and jewelry! Or I can stack them up neatly and put them away for safe keeping. I love that the glass lid keeps them dust-free but also lets me see my whole collection at a glance.

I hope this little DIY tip gives you some ideas for how to store your own lapel pin collections! And if you're like "wow, I love this idea, but I need to build a pin collection first" (wink wink) they're buy-3-get-1-free in my shop right here.

a little bedroom update!

It's amazing what a few tiny changes can do to a room! My room feels so much more fresh and airy now, and all I did was paint my bed and add shelving storage underneath. I think the new color makes my room feel SO much bigger! I have a pretty tiny space and having a dark wood frame taking up about 1/3 of it definitely made it feel more cramped.



I pieced together three different sized ikea expedit bookshelves to fit around the perimeter of my bed. They fit so perfectly it's like it was meant to be! ;) I'm probably a total dork for saying this but I'm absolutely giddy about the storage. GIDDY I tell you! I have boxes and they're organized and nothing falls on the floor when I pull them out!! wheeee!! Also, my Dunder Mifflin boxes fit perfectly in the expedit. yay!



While at ikea I found these gorgeous glass cups, too. I got four to hold my various business cards for packing orders and another four that I stashed away for my future house :)  They also had matching bowls so I picked up four of those, too. I want to have mix-and-match dining things so I like the idea of slowly piecing together a collection over time.





At the foot of my bed I'm using the shelving for my records. There's a little space where the two shelving units meet so I'm using that for records I'm currently listening to, and rotating records with fantastic covers on the front for display. It's wonderful to be able to pull a record out to listen without all of the other records falling over lol :)





Lots of Hypatia in this post! Every time I wanted to take a picture she was there lol :)



I've wanted to organize under my bed for so long... I store a lot of stuff under there (I have a whopping 22" space between my mattress and the floor thanks to a tall bed and 6" risers!) but it was just kind of crammed in there all willy-nilly. Whenever I pulled stuff out a landslide of other stuff would cascade onto my floor. But not anymore! :)



It would have been a huge hassle to actually move my bed to paint it, so I painted all of the visible parts and then taped the paint chip to the inside of the frame. I do have some leftover paint, but this way if I ever use that up (or, knowing me, lose it) I can always finish up the job with the exact same color.

my top five closet storage solutions

I just realized that I never got around to sharing my closet/dressing room here! I've taken some photos where you can spot some of it in the background, but I never did a full-out tour post like I intended. Anyway, it occurred to me that some of my organization methods might be somewhat useful so I thought I'd share some storage tips first, then do the whole closet tour shebang next week! :)



1. Use household items to organize. You don't need a fancy jewelry box to house your collections -- you can display your accessories using containers you already have laying around the house! I used a plastic french fry basket from the dollar store, a mason jar and an old melamine chips-and-dip tray to house my brooches and bracelets! And to keep my lipsticks organized I used nail polish remover caps and a jar lid (DIY post here!) It's amazing how instantly a run-of-the-mill item can be transformed into a useful storage container with the help of a little spray paint! ;)





2. At-a-glance storage. Whenever possible, try to store things so that you can see everything at a glance. If you stack your sweaters on top of each other, you'll constantly be rifling through your drawer and messing things up whenever you get dressed. Storing my cardigans side-by-side (and in rainbow order!) helps things stay neat and tidy. It's also a huge time saver!

For smaller items like tights, using a drawer organizer really comes in handy. I use a soft organizer from IKEA so that none of my tights will snag, and I roll them up side by side so I can see all of the colors at a glance.



3. Roll up pajamas in a shoe organizer. I have a weakness for flannel pajama sets (especially if they have cute animals on them) but I never really knew where to put them. I like keeping sweaters, jeans and unmentionables in my dressers so that leaves little room for big bulky pj's! I came up with this solution and it works SO well! I roll up the pajama set and stuff it into a shoe organizer slot. This makes it so easy to grab a top+bottom set in a pinch, and it doesn't take up much room!





1. Closet dividers to store belts and sunglasses. Earlier this year I purchased two closet dividers (or doublers) hoping to use them to hang up shirts and skirts, but they just didn't work out for me. Luckily, they were absolutely *perfect* for another purpose! I needed somewhere to store my (embarrassingly large) belt collection, and this totally fit the bill. I hung the divider from the ceiling using cup hooks, and then used S hooks to hang the belts. Since the dividers that I purchased came in three separate pieces (the two sides and the one middle rung) I was able to take the middle rung from the 2nd set and add another row for my sunglasses! (These are the dividers that I purchased)



5. Stagger your shoes. Finally, keeping shoes staggered (one shoe with the front facing forward and one with the heel facing forward) saves a lot of room! It isn't quite as pretty as having them all facing you, but you can fit a lot more shoes in a small space this way! :)