A Lovely Little Break!

I decided to take a week off between ending my last job and starting my new job, and it was a great idea! Its been a great opportunity for me to get my bearings on life again! Its been a lot like a stay-cation. I have been able to catch up on sleep, spend time with friends, fit in a few extra workouts and time to get the house organized!

Edward and I spent Saturday swapping out winter and summer clothes. Its hard to believe that it took until the first week of May to put away our winter coats (Polar Vortex - grumble grumble)! I also was able to go through all my clothes and decide what to donate. Thanks to my weight loss over the past year, I was able to get rid of THREE trash bags of clothes! (And this isn't the first time I have donated clothes this year either!) I decided to take it a step further and make the storage in our bedroom more functional. I started out with reorganizing our linen storage. I grouped together all of the bath towels in one place, all of the blankets in another, etc. Hopefully this will make it easier to find things when I need them. Now if only I can find my missing bath mat...

I tackled my closet next. Most of my closet was pretty organized, but the way I stored my purses and gym bag was less than ideal. And by less than ideal, I mean they were just laying on the floor! As most New Yorkers know storage in older buildings is not so fantastic. I wasn't really maximizing the vertical space in that part of my closet, so I knew that would be part of my solution. I did a little brainstorming, consulted with my friend Gretchen, and took some measurements. I decided that a cube bookshelf would probably work best in the space.

The before:

The shelf from Home Depot:

The after:

A little side-by-side action: 

I made a quick trip to Home Depot and picked up the shelf and some cloth drawers, all of which are from Martha Stewart's collection. The shelf went together in about 15 minutes thanks to my handy dandy drill! I was able to place my most frequently used purses and some other bags in the cubbies. They contain my belts, ballet flats and sandals. The belts were hanging and the shoes were stored under my bed in a basket. The basket on top was a "street find" in my old apartment building several years ago. Someone was getting rid of it and I was happy to rescue it. Its the perfect spot to keep my over-sized gym bag. I'm fairly certain this setup will be a lot more functional for me. It has been great so far and is obviously much easier on the eyes!

I'm hoping to do some more organizing this week and I hope to be as happy with it as I am with this update! Do you have any spring cleaning or organization projects in the works? If so, please share in the comments! Happy spring cleaning friends!

- Ashley