Rubbermaid - Adventures in Organization

Kitchen Cabinets: Paint by Number (kind of)

Even though our kitchen cabinets were in decent shape, we wanted to change the color. Here is the "before" shot:

 

We were not going to spend the money to buy new cabinets, so our options were painting or staining. Although our original plan was to stain the cabinets darker, we quickly changed our plan to painting them once we realized the inner shelves and "skeleton" of the cabinets was made of particleboard, (which can yield inconsistent results if trying to match them to a stain from what I read online). I will give props to Eric (husband) because the organization piece of this story was all his idea. To my pleasant surprise, I got home one day to find all of the doors and drawers not only off of the cabinets, but laid out and numbered! 

 

He used tape to number each door and each drawer with a number. Then he drew a diagram so he knew which door/drawer went in which spot in the kitchen. I thought, "Wouldn't we know where it goes just from what shape and size it is....and memory?" but evidently he had found (and read) that this was the way to go to ensure that you put your kitchen back together correctly. Makes sense, right?

 
 

 

Here are the drawers laid out in the living room before we moved them to the garage. You can see a small dark square on the side of the drawer above (on the white side). That is the piece of tape and there was a number on each piece of tape. Once he got them all numbered, we laid them out in the garage for priming and painting. 

After laying them in order, we put the piece of tape on the 2x4 that was under/next to each door. We had to make sure that if we picked up a door that we put it back in the right place by its rightful number. The picture below - primed and ready for paint!

 

The biggest pain was taping off all of the cabinets. It was worth it to not have to worry about being careful on the edges, but it took some time! (All that blue is the painter's tape...and sorry about the blurry photo...)

 

When talking to a pro at a paint store, he suggested using a paint sprayer to paint the doors/drawers. He said to have someone do it for us or to get a sprayer at a local home store. We took his advice and bought one, and it proved to be an excellent investment for this project! I have no doubt we will have plenty of other projects where it will come in handy. (In the photo below the paint holster is not attached yet...)

 

After the doors and drawers were painted, we put our newly-painted kitchen back together, with the help of our numbers and diagram, and also added new hardware. It makes a huge difference - and now I can't wait to save up for new countertops to match our cabinets! 

 
 
 

 
  
 

  

Q&A with Melissa Smallwood - Professional Organizer

Melissa Smallwood – Falling Waters, WV – www.organizedlifebydesign.com

1) How long have you been a professional organizer?
This has been my full time profession for three years. 

2) What inspired you to become a PO?
I am your typical (recovering) Type A personality and realized that many people don’t come by organization as naturally as I do.  I love to help people (I have a social work background) so helping people create order in their lives was a natural progression for me.  I had worked with the elderly for years after college.  I started out as a PO helping elderly clients downsize and my business took off from there.

3) What is the most common organizing project you’re hired to do?
Home office projects are the most popular, followed by kitchens and time management consulting.

4) What is the most common organizing challenge people have?
We live in a society of excess.  Many people just have too much stuff without giving thought to creating a place for everything. 

5) If you had to pick ‘your’ biggest organizing challenge, what would it be?
I am not good at keeping my make-up organized.

6) What one tips would you give to people who are trying to get organized?
Remember that you don’t "get" organized in one day.  It is a process so be patient with yourself.

7) How can potential clients get in touch with you?

• Email me at: Melissa@organizedlifebydesign.com.
• I on Twitter as: @multitaskingme
• My blog is: www.multitaskingmama.com
• My facebook fan page is: http://www.facebook.com/multitaskingmama.

Organizing Doesn't Involve HUGE Projects

Well, I guess the title should really be: Organizing Doesn't (always) Involve HUGE Projects.

Here at Rubbermaid, I have learned that being organized is a process. You can do huge, time consuming projects (like organizing your closet or pantry or garage or attic...you get the picture) and be organized right when your done. BUT, if you do not keep up with the systems you put in place to be organized, the space will go right back to being unorganized in a very short period of time.

That is why I challenged a couple of our bloggers to do a quick organizational challenge (which I actually got this idea from Angie at I Organize You...and my mother!). I would love for you to do this too! I told them to take a few minutes and walk through their homes. Pick up anything that is out of place and put it away. Seriously, if you could do this even once a week, those huge piles of unorganized stuff will no longer exist.

Here's how the challenge went:

Megan:

As I wandered around the house looking for things that did not belong, I did find a few random things here and there that were an easy fix, sort of speak, to put away. However, there was one thing that made me laugh out loud. Why did we feel the need to keep the box to our flatscreen TV? And furthermore, keep that box folded up and behind the bed in one of our guest rooms? OY! I’m not sure why it wasn’t folded up, out of sight at least...Now it is where it belongs: in our recycling bin.
The total time of my scavenger hunt: 47 minutes.

Megan's random box!

Sam:

Last weekend I cleaned out and straightened up our utility closet. Due to that action, I had a bunch of miscellaneous stuff  that didn’t belong in the closet, that I thoughtfully put on the counter to deal with “later”. Of course as the work week started, I didn’t do anything with it accept look at it disapprovingly every time I passed by. You asking about it made me get in gear, and I put all the leftover party supplies away (basket on top of my kitchen cabinets), bunch of it went into the Goodwill pile, and the Miracle Gro and chemicals (Jon is a painter) went to our outdoor storage area. Countertops clean in about 10 minutes. It rocked!

 

Sam's counter tops before the organization!

So what can you quickly organize?

How I organized my Coat Closet / Shoe Closet

Sometimes what seems like a large project ends up being a simple quick task. For a long time I've been bothered by my entryway coat/shoe closet. It was always cluttered and we could never find what we wanted quickly. It was also a blackhole for hats, gloves and other miscellaneous items.

 
But this past weekend I finally tackled the project. You're asking right now... what made you finally decide to organize this closet. The answer is I had finally hit my breaking point. It had snowed this weekend and my son couldn't find his gloves and hat. We looked all around the house and couldn't find them. I was convinced they had to be in the closet. So, without giving it much thought, I decided it was time to tackle this project. (BTW, His gloves were in his sister's jacket. We still can't find the hat.)

Using the organizing skills I've acquired over the past few years I knew exactly how to handle this project.  I started by removing everything in the closet and sorted it into piles of similar items.

I had a pile for hats, one for gloves and scarves, one for purses and bags, and then I sorted all of the shoes into matching pairs.

Once all of the contents of the closet were removed and sorted into piles I began the purging process. I created two additional piles. One for items I wanted to donate to Goodwill and one for items that needed to be thrown away (bent and broken hangers fell into this category). After the purging process was complete I had about 50% less stuff that had to go back into the closet than had been pulled out of the closet. NOTE: In my opinion getting rid of stuff you no longer need is the most important step in getting organized.

With the purging process complete I was almost ready to start putting everything back into the closet. Before I put anything back I took a minute or two to think about what wasn't working well in the closet and ended up coming up with four key things that needed improved.

1. The closet was poorly lit
2. Hats and gloves were not quickly accessible
3. There were too many coats
4. We still had too many shoes

I solved each of these problems very easily

1. I went to Lowe's Home Improvement and purchased a $9 light and mounted it on the side wall using 2 screws.
2. I decided to keep all of the hats and gloves in a bag that would hang on the inside of the door
3. Coats that were not worn frequently got moved to a less used storage closet.
4. Since it was winter I put summer shoes into a clear Clever Store tote and moved them into the garage.

Solving those four key issues were simple but very important to the long term success of keeping this closet organized.

Once the lighting was installed and the summer shoes stored away I put everything back into the closet, took a step back and smiled at my completely organized closet is less than 1 hour.

 

Once again, another area of the home that's been improved with just a little bit of effort.

Space Saver Drainer

One of the most commonly requested products we have in Consumer Services is the #8354 Space Saver Drainer. 

For those that are not familiar with this item, it saves counter and storage space, and drains directly into the sink with no tray required. It has two built in silverware drainers and space for 14 dishes.

To purchase the #8354 Space Saver Drainer (and other Rubbermaid products), please contact our Ohio-based Everything Rubbermaid Store for pricing and shipping costs.  They can be reached by calling 330-264-7119 Monday through Friday 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM ET.

For additional information on the Everything Rubbermaid Store, please visit their website at everythingrubbermaidstore.com.  They also offer products for purchase at http://stores.ebay.com/everythingrubbermaid01

An important side note: this item is not currently sold in any other retail stores.