I was originally drawn to Morgan's blog because of the some amazing parties she had helped to throw, but stuck around for much more than that! She shares all about her family's adventures with remodeling & decorating their home, parenting, crafts, and even some fashion. Plus she's always ready with a fabulous tutorial. I also love that Morgan sticks to a budget with her projects. Fabulous designs and parties are even more impressive to me when they are done with a realistic budget.
Morgan was kind enough to share with us where she stores all her goods, and to explain her systems.
Here's what Morgan had to say:
I'm honored to be here today as a guest of Sandi's! My name is Morgan
and I'm visiting from Pepper Design Blog - a little project of mine that
focuses on the remodeling of our family's 1930's home plus a collection
of parties, projects and people that inspire me. I'm delighted to share
my organizing tips today since I've recently finished arranging my home
office's bookshelves.
I work from home nearly full time as the marketing director of a company
that's located on the other end of California, so I find it absolutely
essential to have a base at the house that will help me stay on top of
all of my projects and deliveries. The funny thing is - my home office
does that but primarily functions as one giant craft room (shhh -
don't tell the boss). While I keep file cabinets and folders full of
marketing work, I have reserved 80% of my shelf space to carefully and
cleanly layout painting, knitting, sewing, felting and so on craft
supplies. These are the things, after all, that really need that
designated 'home' or they begin to take over!
You can read all about our little house transformation and how we turned
the old 70's kitchen into an office and guest bedroom
here (don't worry, we relocated the kitchen elsewhere). Though I must warn you it is still 'in progress'.
But let's get down to organizing and my tips for creating a peaceful
space: 1. labeling, 2. boxes, bins & baskets, 3. functionality, 4.
room to breathe.
Labeling is my best friend when it comes to
organizing a space. For me, it's important to clearly identify a home
for each object or I definitely won't remember where to find my hem tape
or beading pliers in a snap. I keep a little handheld labeling machine
nearby for my file folders, but I find a simple printed label from the
computer will do just fine for my boxes and bins.
Speaking of boxes and bins, there are plenty of killer deals to be found
on these super helpful organizing tools if you create a habit of
consistently checking the sale racks at stores like Target, The
Container Store or office supply stores, plus online perusing on those
great deal sites. I picked up the brown boxes and metal baskets on my
shelves at
See Jane Work, the fabric floral boxes at a killer price on
One Kings Lane,
the white magazine butlers and file bin at West Elm on, and various
filing bins on sale at Home Depot and Target. Having an office that is
also pretty helps to remind me to put everything back where it belongs
at the end of the day (well... I try).
Jars, baskets and containers serve their purpose well on an organized
shelf. I keep spools of thread, wrapped up bunches of ribbon and even
frequently referred to paint chips in unusual vessels that I've found at
garage sales and while thrifting.
My last and final tip is to organize your shelves with two ideas in
mind: functionality and breathing room. It's important that the objects
you use most often are at an easy reach and are easily accessible. When
it comes to styling, I often have to remind myself to allow the objects
to 'breathe'. You don't want too many books, high boxes or baskets
smashed in next to each other - seeing a decent amount of wall space on
each shelf is okay.
I'm no organizing guru - in fact my family would probably laugh if they
heard me offering advice on the subject! But from one
mom/colleague/blogger to another, I'm learning as I go :).
Thanks, Sandi!
Find Morgan here:
