Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Tutorial: Spring Cleaning!

I've been working on accumulating things for this post for several days now and I'm SOOOOO excited to finally share it with you! In light of the sign ups for my Spring Cleaning Scrap Swap I wanted to share a little inspiration for some fits of SPRING CLEANING!

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I think sometimes spring cleaning can be a little overwhelming for people. There's SO much stuff that's accumulated over the winter, that's in disarray and it's painful to have to sort through everything. I find that there are 3 major questions you have to ask yourself when sorting:

1. Do you need it?
2. Will you use it?
3. Do you love it?


If you can't honestly answer YES to any of those questions, it needs to go. Sometimes it can be painful to let go of certain items, but donating or having a swap with friends can ease that. It lets you know that the item's going to someone that can really use it. Personally I love shows on HGTV like Mission Organization or Clean Sweep because they show simple and fool proof ways to keep your collecting in check. I think one of the biggest ways you can gauge how much unneeded STUFF you have is to look at your shelves and organization bins and drawers. If things are full to overflowing, you have too much. Try and make sure that you always keep "room to grow" in your home.

After cleaning out, you realize how much extra room you have! This room can be used to rearrange your home, spruce up items that need some TLC, redecorate, and finish up unfinished projects. Here's some inspiration for some fresh, spring, colorful rooms and ways you can incorporate them into your home:


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Creating a pleasing color scheme is one way to keep a room focused and pulled together.



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You can create a functional office area even in tiny nooks like this one. Gathering and organizing useful and necessary items can make any area your designated office area!


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I'm not sure what the source of this one is.

Check out this awesome craft studio that's closet size! This is what I plan to do once we're in the apartment. Our hall closet will serve as our art studio! This is great for small spaces and can still be JUST as cute. Plus you can leave your mess out all you want and just close the door! haha


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I'm not sure what the source is of this one either. :/


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To make a space look INSTANTLY more stylish and organized, cover a bulletin board with some creative coordinating fabric! I have an older post here that's a tutorial about bulletin boards and inspiration boards.

Tips for organizing certain items:
*purses: a tasteful coatrack or an over-the-door purse organizer like this:


*scrapping odds and ends: clear bins so that you can SEE everything you have! (You'll use it more.) Plus it's just plain pretty!

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open storage is key!

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*necklaces can be hung on an expanding kitchen rack, cute doorknobs, or hooks for REALLY cheap and look fantastic!

my old room!



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*rings too!

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ALright, well I'm excited to hear about everyone getting to work on their Spring Cleaning! I know I really want to rearrange my dorm for the last few months of school and I can't WAIT to purge purge purge! Making room for new things and simplifying your life is the healthiest thing you can do!
<3
E

4 comments:

mel said...

just a little suggestion for anyone purging craft supplies - if you don't have anyone to give it to - check with your local children's hospital. i know that mine uses all the money that it can for care and research, and it almost broke my heart to find out that they don't have money to buy art supplies for kids.
they really Loved when i donated some scrapbooking papers and gluesticks :)

PaperCameraScissor said...

elaine---wow major inspiration over load. I love love seein all the great ideas.

Mel---awesome idea!

Amy said...

oooh this is such a great post!!!! can't wait to spring clean!!

mel, great advice!!! :)

Katie said...

Great advice! I love seeing other peoples work spaces too! It makes me want to make mine so much cuter :) xoxo