Organised Bookcases

I was still working at organising the study this week and I finished the Bookcases there.

Now I know I have a lot of ebooks on my kindle but I still have loads of ordinary books and that is one area I really find hard to tidy up and organise because I take ages to decide whether or not to get rid of some books.

The bookcases were really out of hand, completely cluttered and such a messy sight that I had to cut down on the number of books and move off a lot of things that should not really be there.

I love these 4 bookcases which we bought over 20 years ago when we were living in America and they are still in good condition after the move back to Northern Ireland and then the move to Belgium and finally back to Northern Ireland again.

Even though I decided to get a white desk 2 years ago I could have been tempted to paint these white to match but either I'm too lazy or I still love the type of wood in the bookcases and I think it truly is the latter.

The 2 bookcases on the left are full length shelved and the other 2 are shelved on top and have a cupboard on the bottom.

So taking them one at a time I decluttered and organised the bookcases and the cupboards.


Working from the left

This is the bookcase which contains our Christian Novels on the first 5 shelves.
They are in alphabetical order by author (yes I'm a bit fussy and like to be able to find my books easily - and now it is even easier without the clutter in front).

The bottom shelf is the hardest to get at so it contains all the bible study books we have had over the years working with youth groups and homegroups and personal ones too.

The second shelf has all my Davis Bunn physical books and then my kindle has the rest.  I have practically every book he has written and was also privileged to be part of his launch team for one of his books last year and got to review it on my blog - The Strait of Hormuz

The ornaments on the shelves are mostly little personal items and from previous blog posts you will know that I love Arks, and I love Bears, and I love Boxes.

The second bookcase continues on the Christian Novels in alphabetical order again for the first 5 shelves.

The bottom shelf this time is full of nonfiction Christian books.

If you look closely at the fifth shelf you can see a thick book (black & white cover) by Elizabeth Elliot who died very recently.  Sorting out these shelves made me want to read a lot of my books again and this is definitely one of those to reread soon.

Also on the 4th shelf are all my Penelope Stokes novels (as far as I know I have all the novels she has written plus her book about writing novels and her book about faith).
My favourite is The Blue Bottle Club which was the first book I reviewed on this blog.

The third bookcase has the top two shelves devoted to Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries and information books on the Bible.

Then the third shelf contains all my Agatha Christie books.
The red hardbacks are my complete Herron Collection of her books including the Who's Who and then there are two paperbacks of the two books that for some reason were not included in the Herron collection.  As you can see they are in two rows - 37 of them with two books in each.

I love to sit with these hardbacked books to reread the Christie stories before I review them on this blog.

The last bookcase has some photo albums of the kids (someday I might tell the story of those and why Linda always goes on about how you can tell she is the third child).

Then it also has some cookbooks and other miscellaneous books that are special to me, my journals from when we lived in America and in Belgium and some Dutch Novels.

The Bottom shelf just has some ornaments for now but I bet that later on it will be filled with other books because I just could not make up my mind about all of my non-Christian books yet.

Then there were the two cupboards under the shelves of 3 and 4

This is what was in cupboard 3 - Stationary but rather mixed up.


At least it wasn't as bad as cupboard 4 where lots of things tumbled out unto the floor when I opened the doors.

There were obviously too many books shoved in badly to the top shelf of this cupboard.


But then of course as Fred always says - I need to make a mess when sorting things out and that is what I did here because I pulled everything out and sorted it all there on the floor and replaced more than half of it.


It is now so much neater and better organised

with the top shelf dedicated to the books that I use to do the Sunday School Curriculum and the bottom shelf for all our Dutch notebooks and grammar books and exercise books.

Notice there is also some extra space on both shelves - wonder how long that will be there!


Well I also got everything out of cupboard 3 and sorted that into piles on the floor as you can see here when I remembered to take a picture half way through the job.

We love notebooks and files and folders as you can see above.


And the finished cupboard didn't end up completely full either.

Now I can see better what notebooks and journals I still have and can get at all the envelopes and files better.


You may have noticed something on the inside of the left doors of both of these cupboards too.

Gripping Stuff:
It is sticky on both sides so it sticks to the door (or other surfaces and then paper or card can be stuck to it.

It comes in sheets which can be cut to any size and I had cut two pieces just a little smaller than A5 size for the two cupboards a couple of years ago.

Then I had used 2 pieces of A5 card and written on them the contents of the cupboards with the intention of marking off things as we used them so that I would always know how many we had of things and where they were but I started that and then got lazy or forgot and after a while it was no longer accurate.
So not too sure what to do about this but that can be a decision I make when the Study is nearing completion.


Besides that small ongoing thought I am really happy with my

An Organised Medicine Cabinet - Organising My Home

Yes I do like to keep my Medicine Cabinet organised so that I can get things quickly and easily.

It is probably one of the best organised things in our home.

But then that kind of storage space is one of the things I enjoy working on when it comes to Organising my home.

I didn't always have a medicine cabinet so I had to think of other easy to get at and easy to keep organised places.

In one house we used part of a vanity unit in the ensuite

and

in another house we used a couple of shelves in a kitchen cabinet

but this time when we moved back to Northern Ireland in Dec 2010 we moved to a house which had a medicine cabinet over the wash hand basin in the back toilet.

Yes a real medicine cabinet just like I always saw in the films and TV programmes - you know they are tall and shallow out from the wall with a mirror door.

Now if this had been our main bathroom I suppose I would have been tempted to think I would need to use it for Bathroom things - but it is in the back toilet.  This is the small room that is off the utility room and I really think it would have made more sense to use the space as a pantry or large storage closet (because you can never have too much storage space and I do not have enough storage space).


We have an ensuite off our bedroom and an ensuite off the guest bedroom as well as the main bathroom so let's face it this back toilet is never really used as a toilet and who wants to have to clean 4 bathrooms and toilets when mostly there are only two people in the house?  -  NOT ME!


Anyway back to my Medicine Cabinet which makes me happy again.


Twice a year I do an overhaul of this cabinet

and because I do it regularly you can see it is not in bad order.



Firstly 
I check all the dates of the medicines etc. and throw out the ones that are past their date.

(NOTE:  A doctor did tell me once that many medicines can be used for up to 6 months after the date written on them but that it is definitely okay to use them up to 3 months after the date.)


I used to have to literally check each packet for the date every time I would do this but now I use my "Things" app on my ipad to keep a note of the expiry dates (typing these into the app when I put the product into the Medicine cabinet) so I only have to go into the app & use my tag of "medicine cabinet" and I get the list and the dates all in one go.

These will each show in my Todo list 14 days before they are up so I normally will be ready and throw them out as they expire and don't even have to do it all at the overhaul.




Secondly 
I do an inventory of the cabinet.


I have the list of all the items I like to keep in stock, shelf by shelf

I had used ( my other beloved iPad app for making lists) the "Pocket Lists" App for making a full list of everything I would like to have here and because I did it shelf by shelf it makes it really easy to go through.


Which means that now each time all I have to do is tick off all the things I can see on the shelves and whatever is left unticked is obviously missing.  This is due to not knowing when the hubby finishes off something or just something being taken out and not returned.

This happened with the scissors - to cut a long story short they ended up in a bin at a foreign airport.




Thirdly 
I make a list of the things that will need to be replenished soon.


In my "Things" App I made a Project list and it just gets changed each time.

Well the list here is not too long this time because on one of my last trips to the chemist I knew roughly what was getting low so had already got some things.



Forthly 
I tidy up what is in the cabinet and decide if I want to make any changes to the position and order of the items.


Sometimes there are different things that have been added if someone needs to have a new medication or you decide to start taking a new vitamin etc.

An Organised Medicine Cabinet in Organising My Home at Sandra's Ark

So the finished cabinet was just a little more uncluttered than to start with and neater.

Of course the few spaces you see will be filled up when I go and get that list of items next week.



You know when you have a cupboard you can easily fill it?


Well I have done that of course and then needed more space so I had to use part of the vanity unit below.

Mostly the things here were really the items that were too large to put in the shallower medicine cabinet or would not sit so well piled up on a narrow shelf so I would have needed another location for them even if the medicine cabinet wasn't filled up.

So bandages etc. in the left hand drawer, extra cotton buds and hand sanitizing wipes in the right hand drawer and the larger heating pad and creams in the right hand cupboard.

And just a wee reminder of my "MUST HAVE" in any kitchen or bathroom

it is

the packet of wipes (and a sponge) in the left cupboard, 

nothing is handier for quick clean ups than wipes.

An Organised Sun Room

The Sun tried to come out on different occasions this month but was terribly hindered by the wintery conditions that kept butting in like winds and rain and sleet and hailstones.

I was tackling the Sun Room but this fact about the weather did not encourage me at all.
Though as I write this the back garden is brightly lit from the sun after another lot of hailstones yesterday.

The Sun Room

The Sun Room in itself did not need much work as there are not too many places for items to be kept.

But a few tips are always useful to keeping it organised.

1.  Think about what you want in your Sun Room
2.  Think about what you want to be able to take outside quickly
3.  Think about how to make things HANDY!

The only cupboard we have in the Sun Room is in the TV unit and it is useful for storing light bulbs which I sorted and made a note of the types we did not have a spare one of.


Also in that cupboard we keep the 3D glasses that the kids got at various times just in case we need them to go see a 3D film sometime - which really is a very faint probability as Fred & I have not ever gone to a 3D film.  Perhaps the kids should have each kept theirs for wherever they are?


Then the other main things in that cupboard are

• a few puzzle magazines,
• Sun Tan lotion,
• Sun Tan wipes
• After Sun Wipes
• and some pairs of sunglasses.

This is a useful spot to keep these as the Sun Room opens out to the Patio and when the sun appears (for the short periods that happens here in Northern Ireland and let's face it we need to make the best opportunity as we can of those short periods of time) we can grab those things on the way out to sit on the Patio or Deck area.


The bulbs were already in a basket but these Sunny Day items were just lying in the cupboard so I got one of my favourite small Lakeland Storage Caddies for these items that we need for hopping out to sit in the sun.
You can see in the pictures above & below that it is ideal in size and that handle makes it so easy to grab.

What else might I want in that cupboard if I am going to use it daily during the next 5/6 months?

Well I decided to add

• a post it pad 
• a notepad 
• and a pen 

 because those are always useful things to have at hand instead of having to run to the study.

PLUS 

there was still room for the three remotes that are needed in that room.

Lastly 

There are two other things that I like to keep in the Sun Room but they will not be in that cupboard.

A navy fleecy throw 

which is very handy if it gets a bit cooler in the evenings 

or even if I just feel like curling up on the sofa to read .

The 4 cushions for the Patio Chairs 

which I keep in a jute type bag pretty much out of sight behind the chair which sits beside the door out to the patio so that any time we are going out for breakfast we just grab a cushion on the way past.  

With our climate the cushions never stay out!

I have already written about how much I love Arks and pictures of Arks last year but now I had decided that some of these may go soon!!! but some will stay here in the Sun Room.  Some of my favourite Ark pictures just match in nicely with the style and decor of the Sun Room.

Here are two on the bookcase that holds most of our CDs



And here is another one above a window

That does not mean that some other Ark decor items will not be found in other rooms in the house of course.

Easy Kids Heart Banner - With FREE Printable

I decided to make a Banner for the PreSchool Age Sunday School Class for Valentine's Day

Of course this could also be simply used as banner at any time of the year and is something a child could make or be helped to make for a friend as a craft at home or at Sunday School.


Basically I wanted something simple & quick to make and for which I would not need to buy extra supplies.


So I came up with this "Jesus Loves Me" banner.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

Computer
Printer
White A4 card
Remnants of Ribbon (or long piece of string)
Staples/Glue
Scissors


The link for the Free Printable for this banner can be found at the bottom of this blog post.




STAGE 1

First thing was to get on the computer
(so difficult for me as I am never ever on the computer - sarcasm here)

I used Ipiccy to make pictures of the hearts with the letters inside them.
Some of the letters are repeated in the phrase so I did not have to do every single letter.

I left the original blank one in case I decided I would like to use the same heart outline for another project.



STAGE 2

This depends on how large you actually want your letters to be.

I felt for the smaller room that it would be big enough to have each heart less than the size of an A6 card so that meant that I could have 5 to each A4 card

Then I used Powerpoint to set out the letters I needed on an A4 sized slide and printed out all the letters involved including 3 blank hearts - never waste space and they can always be used later if not needed now.

STAGE 3

The cutting out was the most tedious part but I normally do that while I'm watching something on TV so not so bad and of course never waste time.

STAGE 4

I hunted through all my remnants of ribbon to see if I would have enough pieces to put together to form a long ribbon to which I could attach all the hearts.
Spacing out the hearts to see how long this ribbon needed to be.

Thank goodness I have a long kitchen table.

STAGE 5

Then I chose the thicker longer ribbon but I could have used the thinner off white ribbon pieces and glued them together behind hearts to make it long enough.


There were 3 reasons for choosing the thicker ribbon
          1.  long enough without having to piece lengths together
          2.  thick enough to not have to be so precise with the glue
          3.  it was actually decorated with little hearts too

Simple Heart Banner Kids Craft - Quick & Easy to make With FREE Printable

So I placed all the letters carefully alongside to get the right spacing before pressing each letter against the glue dots on the roll of dots.

Each heart got some glue in two places (the tops of the curves)

Before I pressed them all unto the ribbon.

As you can see I used glue dots because they make this type of thing so easy, neater & much quicker than using my glue gun.

Don't forget to download your free printable for the "Jesus Loves Me Heart Banner" HERE  if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark


If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.


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Don't forget to let me know if you try it out.