Jars, Jars and More Jars - But Not What You May Think

 

First of all I want to thank you all for your encouragement on my first blog post. It was so fun to read the comments and names of long time friends that gathered here. Your excitement and love makes me want to be better.Thank you for that. 

 

Today I wanted to show you a little bit of my home here in Kansas and how I am attempting to organize my sewing and craft supplies now that I no longer have a dedicated sewing room. It's been challenging and at times frustrating not having everything together and in plain view. This week I purchased a simple organizing unit that I absolutely love and wanted to share it with you because I imagine that there are others out there without the space they wish they had.

One thing I had to give up when we downsized and moved to Kansas was my sewing room (have I mentioned that I lost my sewing room?) If you were a reader of my previous blog you probably remember some of these photos. Oh, how I loved that space. (Stop your whining Suzanne). 

A few years before we decided to move I did a major purge, getting rid of stuff I never used. Then I totally organized the space.

I bought dozens of jars in every size to store my trinkets and doodads and clear plastic bins to house fabric and bulkier items. 

Everything was labeled and in plain view and for the first time in my life I knew what I had and exactly where to find it. Being organized was surprisingly liberating and calming for me and I think it helped me feel more creative. If you've ever thought of doing a major purge, I highly recommend it.

I loved those jars so much that even though we sold almost all of our furniture and brought relatively little with us to Kansas the jars and most of their contents came with us. 

I have my priorities.

Although I lost a sewing room I gained an awesome pantry

so I just repurposed my bigger glass jars and filled them with beans instead of buttons,  flour instead of flowers. Now I have pretty much everything I need for those days when we get snowed in - I'm still waiting for a really big snow storm but when it comes, I'll be ready. We certainly won't starve in the mean time.

I love my jars no matter what's inside them.

So now the big jars had a new home and purpose but there were still about fifty of these little guys that needed to be better displayed for easier access.

This is where that new organizing unit that I was telling you about comes in. Last week while roaming the isles of The Container Store (I do that sometimes. Weird, I know.) I discovered this over the door Pantry Wall Rack from Elfa and thought, hum.....

The cool thing is that it doesn't require screws so it doesn't deface your door and because it doesn't need screws, I didn't need Bill to do the installation!

Helpful hint: Anytime you can keep your hubby from seeing how much stuff you have, the better! Somethings are just better kept to oneself, if you know what I mean. 

The center bracket just hooks over the top and bottom of the door and the shelves are customizable for your specific needs.

The whole thing cost me right at $200 with the additional shelves and those square containers on the bottom three shelves.

Over the Door Pantry unit $200, being able to see all my fun little embellishments in one place, priceless.

Just inside the closet is my Bisley eight drawer storage cabinet 

which houses my basic sewing supplies.

This tiny space is starting to make me feel very happy, I think it will suit my needs just fine.  

Later I'll take you down into our basement/tornado cellar (just kidding - sort of) to show you where the rest of my stuff is stored. Then next time I'll share more Oui yogurt jar ideas. I've received some awesome ideas from some of you so if you've done something creative with your empty jars be sure and share over on my Facebook page so I can share them with you all here.

               

More jar fun ahead!
 

Encourage one another,

AKA "The Jar Lady"

This post is not sponsored and opinions, ideas and photographs are my own. 

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