Stylish Organizing Solutions

Cleverly thought out, items of everyday life can morph into interesting, useful and beautiful organizers.

I have a few rules about my "organizing tools". First, they must be simple, yet beautiful and of course - functional. Second, they must seamlessly work from room to room, closet, cupboard or drawer throughout the house. Finally, they must serve more than one purpose.

Before getting started on any organizing project, I look around to see if there is anything interesting that I already own that I can use. Some of my collections often become handy organizers.

For example; Last spring my husband had a medical emergency, ended up in surgery and after a week in the hospital came home with a double fist-full of prescriptions! Not used to having pills as part of his daily routine, I quickly needed some way to keep them organized and easily accessible.

On my kitchen table I keep an old, white enamel roaster, (part of my collection of vintage enamelware). It had previously held fruit or veggies for the week or maybe Paperwhites during the holidays. But, it was perfect for corralling his prescription bottles. I repurposed it and now store vitamins and his prescriptions in it, reminding us to take them everyday.

Here are a few other ideas to get you thinking;

• Vintage crocks; Kitchen workhorses in years past, these containers work beautifully to organize whisks, wooden spoons, spatulas and ladels. Instantly these everyday kitchen essentials now become works of art when sorted, organized and simply contained.
If you tire of them in the kitchen, crocks work just as well for decanting powdered soaps in a laundry room, make a perfect, small waste can in a powder room and of course are essential to making sourdough starter or pickles - their original and intended use. 


• Clear glass cylinders; Although not vintage, I seem to have a lot of these containers in various sizes. Recently I used a few to organize my sewing notions. Thread of all colors, sorted and stored make for a beautiful, colorful display. My buttons, bobbins and various pins are also now contained in smaller cylinders, making them easy to access and use.
In the future, my glass cylinders may hold cotton balls or Q-tips in my bathroom; matches by the fireplace; or a bunch of flowers on a kitchen window sill.


• Vintage rubber stamp holder; Originally, I used mine in my spice organizing video but it also works beautifully in my office holding paper clips, push-pins, binder clips, etc., All are contained in small jars that spin around for easy use and now reside on my desk, making for an interesting, useful display.
The holder could easily be put to good use in my kitchen or sewing area. 

There are so many storage solutions now - it's big business. While I do have my favorite go-to organizers, it's easy to get carried away. Start first with what you have, you never know what clever, stylish solution you may come up with.