January's Organizing Challenge: Kitchen Drawer Reveal

Hard to believe that we are already at the end of the first month of 2013!!  Hopefully, it was as great of an organizing month for you as it was for me.

With the close of January comes the first reveal in our monthly challenge series...Kitchen Drawers!

Thanks to everyone who participated and emailed us pictures.  I love seeing the transformation.

Here are some pictures from one of my readers:

Drawer #1:

My Thoughts: I love how she removed unnecessary items and incorporated a new container for the serving utensils in her silverware drawer.

Drawer #2:

My Thoughts: You can see how much easier it will be for this drawer to stay organized.

Drawer #3:

My Thoughts: By adding a container here, she can easily access her utensils. She ordered a knife storage unit that you can see here that will keep her knives as beautiful as she has them here.

Drawer #4:

My Thoughts: This drawer appears to have the biggest decluttering! She really maximized the space available in this drawer!I love the placement of her measuring utensils!

Thank you so much for sharing your transformation with us.  It’s exciting to know that we are working together organizing one project challenge at a time!

After putting my tip “When was the last time I used this?” to task, I was able to weed out several items and give my own drawers a less cluttered look!

I knew I wanted to change the contact paper.  It’s such a cheap way to give your drawers a new fresh look!  I had already purchased plenty of paper when I did an “Under the Sink” makeover, which you can see here.

It’s not too late to send in your pictures.  I would love to share them with your fellow “O is for Organize” readers.

And now it’s time for me to announce....

February’s Organizing Challenge:

 Laundry Rooms/Closets

Be sure and tune in tomorrow for ideas on organizing your laundry room.  I will also share pictures of some of my favorite makeovers!!!

 Happy Organizing!

An Update on this Month's Challenge

Kitchen Drawer Challenge Update

We are a little more than halfway through the month and I thought I would check in to see how everyone is doing with this month’s challenge.

I received emails from readers who’ve started working on their kitchen drawers and I’m so excited to see people getting involved.  I thought I would share a couple of them with you today.

Here are some before and after pictures from one of my readers:

This was a Kitchen Utensil Drawer before…

And here is the after…

I love how she maximized the use of the container.  It looks like it was made for the items she has!!

And here is a Junk Drawer makeover:

And here is another follower’s After Photo:

Looks like somebody is ready for “baking”!!

Please keep sending in your pictures to oisfororganize@gmail.com

KITCHEN DRAWER ORG TIP

If you are feeling like you can’t seem to find the time, consider picking a drawer that’s a quick makeover.  Maybe it’s the dish towels and hot pads.  While you are waiting for that pot of water to boil, pull everything out and spruce it up.  Get rid of those items that need to go to the “recycle” box or even the “toss” box. Grab a pen and pad and make a note to pick up a couple of new ones next time you are at the store.  By the time you’re done, the water should be boiling!!

Happy Organizing!

Introduction to our 12 Month Challenge: January

I mentioned yesterday that I have some new ideas to share with you and today is the beginning of one of them. Starting with January, I am introducing “Twelve Month Challenge” and here’s how it works:

Twelve Month Challenge is about working together and sharing ideas, while organizing projects throughout the year. The beginning of each month a new project will be introduced and whenever the project it complete, you can link up to our Facebook group page here and send in your before and after pictures. Don’t worry, if you just want to send in the “after” shots, that’s okay as well. 

Feel free to drop in any time during the month and share your ideas with all of us. We'll share some ideas at the end of every month.

Okay, so let get started...

January’s Challenge:

KITCHEN DRAWERS

Where do you begin?

1. Start by deciding what your objective is. Maybe you want to relocate things to a more logical location. Are your cooking knives located near your chopping/slicing spot in the kitchen? Or, maybe you just need to do a good cleaning and reorganizing of your drawers. For some reason, it just seems like (even with labels) things seem to jump around from drawer to drawer.

2. It's always good to purge items that you never use. Take everything out of the drawer and with each item, ask yourself "When was the last time I used this?"  If you've gone a full year without ever using it, chances are you probably don't need it.

3. Make a list of items that are worn out and make a goal to replace them this year.

4. This is a great time to get your handy dandy portable vacuum out and give the drawers a good cleaning.

5. Get creative with storage containers and/or drawer lining. You can search your favorite websites to see what's available. Don't forget about thrift stores. Just remember to measure all of your drawers before you head out the door to make your purchases.

Don’t forget to take lots of pictures if you are interested in sharing your hard work!

Here are some recent ideas I found on Pinterest that might get you motivated: 

Image originally from www.archiproducts.com



Image originally from: www.marthastewart.com



Image originally from: www.marthastewart.com