Now That We Are Moved In, It's Time To Organize!!!

 

I still cannot believe that we are finally moved into the house!!! I keep pinching myself to make sure that it is not a dream. However, when I realize that it is in fact true and that all those millions hundreds of boxes stacked around our house are really there, I start to feel like I am in a bit of nightmare.  EEK!!!

 

 

But hey, let's keep it real, I would WAY rather be dealing with "Revenge of the Boxes" than still waiting to get into the house. So whose complaining...NOT THIS GAL! We basically spent all day Saturday moving the remainder of our belongings from the apartment to the casa so that we could have everything in one place (and because Sunday was our last day) and started the long unpacking process on Sunday. We decided to adopt the "snowball method" (thanks to my brother's advise) and get one room unpacked at a time, starting with the most important - the master bathroom and closet.  Matt tackled his clothes in the closet while I started unpacking and organizing all the stuff that was "supposed" to fit in the master vanity. I say "supposed to fit" because we I have WAY more bathroom stuff than any one human could possibly ever need in a lifetime would fit in our vanity.  As evidence, here are all the "Master Bath" boxes that we had in storage (you can't tell from this picture, but the poor tub is full of boxes too):

 

 

 And here is all the stuff that came over from the apartment:

 

Seriously, it is a bit ridiculous! Oh well, onward and upward.  So first things first, I had to come up with a plan of attack. Here is a diagram of our master vanity and the drawer layout:

 

 

As you can see, Matt and I each have six 3" deep drawers, two 8" deep drawers and under-sink storage.  I also have a 1.25" deep drawer over the knee space.  So we have lots of drawer storage and a good amount of storage space under the sink:

However, we do not have a linen closet in our master bathroom. Back in January, I showed you how I organized the bathroom in the apartment and the linen closet played a staring roll in my organization plan. Basically, I stored all of my bathroom products (divided into seven categories) in separate bins inside the closet:

 



Although this plan works flawlessly if you have a handy linen closet near by, it is an epic fail when you try to fit everything under your sink!

So, that meant I needed to head back to the drawing board to come up with a new organization plan for our master vanity. It was a bit cramped in the bathroom with all the boxes, so for Phase #1, I created a staging area in the master bedroom to give me room to see everything:

I first moved all the organized bins from the apartment to the staging area. Then I unpacked all the boxes from storage and added the new products to their respective category:

Now that I could see what I had, Matt and I ran over to Container Store to pick-up some much needed supplies and came back with quite the haul! 

 

Now that I had my supplies and my bathroom products separated into more easily manageable categories, it was time for Phase 2: Go through each pile and figure out what will be kept and what would be trashed /recycled (because nothing is worth donating).  I decided to start with my makeup, because who doesn't love playing with makeup???

As I have mentioned before, I have a serious hording problem with throwing things away, and makeup is no exception!  I had a Caboodle (the same one that I have had since 5th grade...no hoarding problems here I promise!!!), a travel bag (the same one that I took to summer camp for the first time in 3rd grade...okay, so maybe a little problem), a 12"x12"x12" metal basket, a ziplock bag, and two makeup bags full of makeup, as well as my airbrush kit. 



That my friends is a serious amount of makeup!!! As I went through everything, I again separated the makeup into categories: (1) eye shadow, (2) blush/bronzer, (3) foundation/powder; (4) eye liner; (5) lips; and (6) brows:

I also made a trash pile of products that I don't use anymore, that were super old, or that were basically empty (all those mascara tubes that I kept because they had a tiny bit left at the time and now are a dried up mess, yummy)...which turned out to be the biggest pile by far:

Evidently I have kept some of this make-up for over a decade and found some serious gems:

Can I get a "What! What!" for blue glitter eyeliner, blue eyeshadow and hot pink lipstick! They are so money and take me back to the sorority days!  Holla!!!  I planned to store all of my makeup in the center 1.25" drawer because it was the largest drawer (approximately 19" deep by 17" wide):

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the drawer is only 1.25" deep...and all the super cool containers at the Container Store that could work for drawer storage were too deep (the smallest ones that we found were 2" deep).  As I was wandering the aisles looking for inspiration, I came across the drawer liner section of the store and found this soft, thick, white liner that was a bit tacky on each side (not tacky in the sence that residue would get on you, but tacky in the sence that it would stick to the drawer without tape): 

Here

Since I was planning on storing my makeup brushes in the drawer, I knew I needed a liner to protect the inside of the drawer.  And that is when the lightbulb went off!  Instead of trying to use baskets and dividers to store my makeup in the drawer, why not just lay it all out??? Once we got home, I measured the drawer space and cut the liner to size.  Then I started laying out my makeup and brushes in the drawer, starting with the makeup that I use most often (my daily work makeup kit):

I then continued sorting through my "keep" makeup pile and pulled out the other products that I use fairly regularly when I want to mix things up or am going out.  I kept the products organized by category (e.g., eye shadow and color pots, eye liner, blushes/bronzers, lipstick, etc.), fit everything together like a puzzle, and ended up with this:

And I absolutely LOVE it!!!  I have all of my "go to" makeup displayed in an easy to identify manner and because the liner is a bit tacky, everything stays in place when I open and shut the drawer.  This is also good, because it will force me to adopt the "one-in-one-out" method and only buy the makeup that I really need.  I then put all the duplicate makeup I have in a travel case and stored it, along with my airbrush makeup kit (which I use daily, but which didn't fit in the shallow drawer) in one of my 8" deep drawers. 

 

I am so excited that I have jumped my first organization hurdle and love how my makeup drawer turned out!  No digging and unloading when I need to find the products I need, I just simply have to open the drawer and TADAH, everything is at my fingertips!  This little project gives me confidence that I just might be able to accomplish my goal of an organized house with a-place-for-everything-and-everything-in-its-place!  As the late great Neil Armstrong said:

 

Here

Now it's time to keep this ball rolling and to tackle the rest of my bathroom products! But in the meantime, let's take one more look at the "Before and After" shall we?

 

 

 Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you enjoyed it and have a wonderful week!!!