Chic on a Shoestring Decorating: Organizing a Junk Cabinet


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Organizing a Junk Cabinet

I'm so excited that I have enough cabinets in my kitchen to have a "junk" cabinet.  In my old kitchen I only had enough cabinets to cover kitchen essentials plus one skinny... I'm talking 3.5 inches wide made to hold only about 3 wooden spoons tiny drawer that we used as a junk drawer.  Not only do I have a junk cabinet in this kitchen but I also have a junk drawer... because who doesn't need more space for their junk?

My junk includes, cameras and their various cords, candles, batteries, receipts, coupons and other random items.  So this is great, right?  A whole cabinet for all of these odds and ends that should probably be in my office (but I am way too lazy to walk to the office everytime I want to take a picture or get a coupon... I have kids and I'm cheap, I take lots of pictures and always am digging around for a coupon!) So, it is most excellent that I can stash them in my kitchen where they are oh so handy! 

It is great... until your cabinet ends up looking like this....



Yikes... now it looks like junk. and who can find anything in there?  Me... but not my sweet hubs.  He rifles through it looking for something and leaves it looking even worse. 

This used to be a common occurence with our medicine cabinet until I came up with this complicated organizational system of baskets with labels... (I'm being sarcastic here in case you couldn't tell)  You can see what I did here

It has worked extremely well in our medicine cabinet so I thought why not try it in our junk cabinet too? 

I went to the dollar store because I'm a big spender and looked at their fine array of storage type baskets.  They really have a large selection but most of the sizes all seem to be wider at the top, skinny at the bottom.  I didn't want that shape because it doesn't hold very much and wastes precious inches in my junk cabinet between the baskets.

I ended up getting these baskets because they don't waste as much space when they are next to each other,  they are pretty deep and they leave about 2 inches behind them to stash a few things.  I couldn't find any baskets that were the same depth as my cabinets but that's what you get for a dollar. . 



I used leftover ribbon and tags that I had from my medicine cabinet to fancy these up a bit.




After all the junk was sorted into the appropriately labeled baskets I decided to get rid of the cookbooks because they took up too much space and they make these things called book shelves.  In my organizing frenzy I even cleaned the bulletin board. 


Here it is with the new "complicated organization system". 




Now, if we can just keep it this way.  The project ended up costing me $9 bucks.  Definitely a small price to pay for some much needed organization. 




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Always Nesting
All Thingz Related

16 comments :

  1. Great idea! I did the same thing in our living room, using baskets to hide Playdoh and markers and such! I love baskets. I know I will post about that soon! :)

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  2. Great job! I will probably do this in a few days...you have inspired me...medicine cabinet too. Why do men rifle through things when they can't find them? We have the same problem. When I hear him searching for something I just cringe.

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  3. Love it and that it cost $9!! I did not see any baskets as cute as those at our dollar store!! I will keep watching!

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  4. nice work- i love a good organized cabinet!
    http://dollfamilyzone.blogspot.com/2010/04/diy-2-craft-room-in-cabinet.html

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  5. Well done Kate! Ii is well worth $9 to get a cupboard looking that great! Organised and pretty! xx

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  6. WOW! Looks great, Kate! I just reorganized my coat closet, which is also a bit of a junk closet but couldn't find baskets that didn't cost an arm & a leg! I will have to check our dollar store - I didn't even think of that!

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  7. Oh, Kate!!
    I just took befores of my kitchen cabinets and have been trying to decide what to do with all the "stuff" in there.
    Perfect solution!
    Goodbye, Clutter!
    Hello, Dollar Tree!
    Thanks for the ideas!
    Blessings to you as you make your home!

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  8. Wow I love how all the baskets look. Anything to make a person more organized is definitely a huge bonus!

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  9. Woo Hoo! Your cabinet turned out awesome!

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  10. WOW! Kate this is fabulous! Great job!

    I'm so sorry about your sofa. Your son is a cutie pie. I have no ideas at all for you about how to remove the marks. Bummer.

    Have a blessed evening. ~Melissa :)

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  11. Wow nice job! I love baskets myself! Those tags are so cute! *Visiting from Woohoo! Wednesday*

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  12. Great idea!!!

    Looks wonderful.
    I'm working on organizing my class/craft/studio.
    Cut my room in half, so now for seom purging!!

    blessings

    barbara jean

    PS Came over from All thinz related.

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  13. I'm gonna have to find me some of those baskets!
    Thanks for sharing @ Anything Related!

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  14. I have seen these at the dollar store. I like the tags you put on them. Great organizing! Stopping by from Tatertots and Jello Party.
    -Mama E
    www.homeandheartsblog.com

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  15. Those baskets are adorable, and they make the space look so.much.better. I love the tags! Yay for getting organized.

    I'm visiting from TDC's par-tay.

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  16. I love this! It's pretty and who doesn't need organization in their cabinets? The tags just add the perfect touch of sweetness to the baskets. Great job and thanks for sharing.

    Di

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