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 Craft Armoire

While we lived in Hockessin in Delaware, U.S.A for 3 years we we very fortunate to find some very useful good pieces of furniture which we still have after 22 years and are still in great condition even after being relocated to Belgium for 6 years in between.

One of those items is my Craft Armoire.

But organising is always a problem with crafts.

So

How Do You Organise Crafts?

How Do You Organise a Craft Armoire?

Now when we bought it originally it was a Computer Armoire and that is how we used it during our 3 years in America.

Of course it suited well as a computer armoire for then because of the large computers and keyboards of the 1990s, the fold out desktop was great and the ability to close the doors and hide everything was a great asset but later when computers did not take up as much space I was able to take it and use it for my crafts.

Again the doors were great for hiding the mess within but eventually it really was time to organise it successfully

because even though I tried over the years it never really got much better than this

Yes I had a lot of containers and bags and tubs to keep things in but they were shoved in tightly together most of the time and so it was not very inviting to actually use the crafts.

Still there was the fact that I could just shut the doors and try to forget about the mess and that is what I would do until the next time I needed something.

So last September I decided it was going to get the proper overhaul it needed and it did which you can see here in Too Many Places!

Over the past year it has remained the same - so it must have been a pretty good job and today I thought I would explain more about how it is organised.

How to organise a craft armoire:

CONTENTS:

A.  Top Left Shelf

Embellishments - some wooden, some card, some plastic in containers with compartments and handles for easy lifting out and in and taking to the kitchen table when I need a large surface to work on as in Easy Kids Heart Banner
Small items like this have to be kept separated for ease of use - no point in having to hunt through a box of mixed up items every time.

Punches - these are in two boxes, one for the smaller individual picture punches and one for the larger corner and edging punches.

B.  Second Left Shelf

Wooden Stamps - various pictures, words and sizes kept in compartment boxes and can clearly be seen through the clear lids.  The smaller purple boxes are double sided so hold two lots of stamps.

Clear stamps - various designs and the holders to put them on for stamping.

Stamp ink - various colours, clear for embossing, and cleaners

C.  Third Left Shelf

Plastic Lidded Containers - variety of craft materials for making projects for Christmas and other times of the year.


Two black & White Lidded Cardboard Boxes - I keep larger rolls of ribbon in one and coloured string in the other.  Although these were made especially for the purpose of storing ribbon I think I would like to get something better in the future.




D.  Fourth Left Shelf

Embossing Trays & Stencils 

This shelf is not as deep as others so it is a good choice for these larger or longer flat stencils which would get pulled and twisted if they were mixed in with other heavier objects.

I have the large Fiskars Embossing tray that will hold up to 12x12 sheets and also the smaller Fiskars card embosser.

E.  Fifth Left Shelf


Paper Cutter

This shelf pulls out so is ideal for the paper cutter to have a place of it's own.

F.  Second Bottom Left Shelf

Larger containers fit better on this shelf


Blue cantilever style container - double sided sticky tape, velcro dots, glue dots, craft scissors etc.

Blue tool box style container - lollipop sticks large & small, glue sticks for glue gun etc.

G.  Bottom Left Shelf

Deep Scrapbooks

Boxes of Papers & card 

Because it is at the bottom I thought it more natural to put some heavier things there and things I would not want to lift out so often.



H.  Large Castors

I know this is not storage and not crafts but this is a great thing that my husband decided was needed very shortly after we got the Armoire all those years ago.

We do laugh and say that Fred would like everything to be on castors but definitely in this case it made such a difference for all the times we have moved the armoire as we moved house and also makes it so much easier for cleaning around, behind and underneath it.



J.  Armoire Doors

These doors are great in that they have those special hinges so that the doors will open right back beside the actual sides of the armoire.
(you can see what I mean better on the left side)



K.  Top Right Shelf

Magnetic Memo Pads - these are also items that I have made and materials for making more

Magnets - these are laminated card magnets that I have made and also materials for making more

Bags - a box containing a variety of cellophane bags

L.  Second Right Shelf

Cards & Envelopes - these are ones for use with the kids in church

Greeting Cards - some cards that I had made previously

Black Roll-up Cases for Calligraphy Pens and Markers

M.  Third Right Shelf

Blue Expander Files  - sticker, paper embellishments, cards & envelopes
(I hope you like the labels.  I love to label things even if others laugh at me!)

Various Boxes of Special Themed Embellishments - ones that I have got for special scrapbooks I intend to make




N.  Cubby Holes

I keep some rulers, hole punches, long stapler, staples and odds and ends in these. 

This is the one area of the armoire which is under utilised and I should rethink it better.




P.  Fold Down Table Top

This is so handy as an extra workspace when sorting out things for our Sunday School and of course it is right beside where the paper cutter is kept! 




Q.  Bottom Right Shelf

Scrapbook Albums - these are ones I have bought over the last 5 years and intend to work on when I get some more time!!!!
(guess if you had frequented my blog before you will know how much I Love Arks)

Clear Plastic Box - a box for storing 12x12 scrapbook papers flat.

R.  Filing Drawer

This is the one part of the armoire which is not used for my crafts.

It still contains files for various things from over the years but may be changed later.

I do like to be able to open this craft armoire and see something that is properly organised

A to Z of Organising our Home!

A little Round-up of things we say, do or use during the organising and housework in our home.

A  -  Accidental Reducing of Articles 

The times when you accidentally break some plates or mugs and they just have to be thrown out.

Funny how I used to be annoyed; now unless it is something special, I just think

 "that's another one of my 365 items to be decluttered in 365 Days"   -   smiley face.

B  -  Beautiful Clearouts

When you get rid of those items in the wardrobes that were there because you had paid money for them and thought you should get the most time out of them but really thought that you didn't look good in them or the wife thought the husband didn't look good in them and he hadn't realised it yet.



C  -  Careful Clearouts

Those times when you are supposed to empty out a cupboard and sort everything out and then return only some of the things but in reality you return all but maybe one!

Now I would never do that!!!!



D  -  To the Dump!

A good phrase in our house because it means something is going out of the house, garage or garden and it is more than can fit in the bin.

E  -  Easier Housework.

Yes there really are some things that help me along the way.

I use them for many, many tasks because anything that makes the work easier and done more quickly is a bonus for me.

F  -  Fred????

There are so many sentences that begin with this word when it comes to the organising of our home and mostly the answer is

"I don't know!!!!!"

G  -  Garden Shed Sort out.

Well in our case it was a bit more than that - Plus we made a video.

H  -  Helping each other?

Where is it?

I don't know.

But you had it last.

No, You had it last.

No I didn't.

Yes you did.

Well where did I have it?

I don't remember.

I  -  Inside & Not on Top of!

You know when you have designated a good drawer or container for an item and the husband comes along and just sets it down on top of the container, or the kitchen worktop.

Enough said!

J  -  Just a Little Time before Bed

That's the time I keep saying I will just do a little tidy up in the bedroom and Fred just laughs - well he has known me for all these years.



K  -  Kitchen Organising

The one place I do like to seriously think about before I move into a house and designate areas to specific tasks.

The Tea & Coffee corner being the top priority of course.

L  -  Leave me some space to sit down!

The words I have often heard when in the middle of sorting out something and I have cluttered up the entire room.

There was an entire table covered as well as the couch.

M  -  The "Man Drawer"

Yes I wrote about that last year, there is one in our kitchen but still his "things" end up in other strange places.  Plus I'm always asking the question "What is that thing?" about most of the things in the drawer.



N  -  Nowhere to put it?

That is definitely not what you hear in our house!

More like - I know I had decided where those were to go but I've forgotten again.

A to Z of Organising in our home? well trying to not fail at organising!

O  -  Opening the Post

Should mean exactly that - you open it and deal with it.
You know - throw it out, respond to it, or file it away for future reference.

In our house it gets opened and looked at and then put back in the envelope!!!



P  -  A "Place for Everything"

Yes I wrote about this one before too.

And we really will get there one day, I'm sure.

Well pretty sure.

Well really hoping!

Q  -  Quite a Productive Day

This is how I feel when I have managed to actually get more than half of my day's ToDo List completed.



R  -  Remembering.

Okay I know that certain people on reading this will just laugh and say:
Some hope!

Yes I may be always saying I forget things but I do have a few things that I need to remember when cleaning the house and not just the fact that having a coffee does not get the house cleaned.

S  -  Spread the work on Spreadsheets.

I have my Organising and Cleaning Schedule for the year on a Spreadsheet.

Fred & I both love Spreadsheets.

Trouble is I could easily get distracted away from the organising of the house once I get on the spreadsheet because it is on the computer.

T  -  Take Time for the Tedious Things Before the Coffee.

The thing we hate to do but often gives us the most sense of satisfaction when we actually get round to it is one of those tedious things that just have to be done but I can always think of another word -

procrastination and it goes well with coffee.

U  -  Unusual Uses for Simple Products.

There are things around our homes that don't only have to be used for one purpose.

We need to be a bit more imaginative and find other uses for them.
Which can actually be more interesting than using them!

V  -  Very Good Ideas

Unfortunately those are the ones that I have when I am in the middle of doing something else, or just about to fall asleep and I'm sure I will remember them because they are so good but then I have forgotten them the very next day or hour or even in 5 minutes time.




W  -   Do Without It?

The Housework?          Yes! Please!

But what about those things in the Kitchen that you just feel you can't do without.

They may be small but they are so useful.

X  -  Xtra Special Days 

The times when you get away from the house for a really enjoyable time and are completely refreshed and ready to tackle the house again.

Those breaks are xtra important in the better weather because the sun is tempting you, or in the cold dark weather when you need something to brighten up your day, or just any time because you can always find some excuse.

Y  -  YOU didn't put it away AGAIN!

Those times when we get fed up because something is not in the place we actually do have allotted for it because neither of us have put it away yet again.

How will we ever be organised?



Z  -  ZZZZZ when it's all done.

Or when we are just too tired to do any more.

Just kidding with this one because it is never done and I would claim to be tired at any time to get out of the housework and on to the funwork.



But there is always

to keep me going.

Do you have any great ideas to add that just keep your house organised or are you more disorganised like me?