Weeeehellll. We made it! Today is Day 5 of the #OrganizeThis challenge. Finally, finally, we get to the sit back and toast ourselves portion of the week's activities. Well, I guess there is a smidge of work to be done first...

This week, you've chosen a space and determined what it needs to do to make your life better, cleaned, prepped and purged that space, assessed your storage needs and purchased/scrounged/DIYed accordingly, and actually started putting things away in your new system. Today is the final - er, almost final, which we'll discuss in a minute - step. Labeling.

If you're new to Once & Future Home, you may not realize how strongly I feel about labeling. So let me tell you: I feel strongly. Even if you live by yourself, or organized just your own drawer that no one else ever goes into, labeling will act as the super glue that holds your organizational efforts together. And if you live with other people, labeling will act as the threadbare rope just barely keeping this leaky raft afloat. Trust. Here's a secret, though: Labeling is a bit of a pain, and I hate doing it. After all the blood, sweat and tears of taming a space, now you gotta take stock of it all and sit and label? And maybe make them not look like a kindergartener with his dominant hand in a sling scrawled them out? It's tough.
 

Still, take the time - especially when you're dealing with anything whose contents you can't see. It makes getting the right bin easy, and it takes the guesswork out of where something goes when it's time to put it back. And "putting it back" is the aforementioned metaphorical glue. But, before you invest in a Silhouette to make Pinterest-perfect monikers for every surface in your house, take a breather. Live with your organizational methods for a bit to make sure they're up to snuff. Especially on a compressed timeline, but any time,  you may find that you need to tweak your systems to reflect your daily routines, or when you realize that your toddler has taught himself to open doors and everything with a chemical component now needs to be repositioned. Whenever I first complete a project, I use temporary, easy labels to start. A strip of painter's or masking tape with the contents markered on will do. Once you've decided you're in it to win it, by all means, break out the Cameo. But until then, your beta labels will keep things organized. And if you never get around to the fancier labels, the utilitarian ones will still hold down the fort.

Anyway, let's get back to my project for the week: The Craft Closet of Doom.

Ugh, I hate to quote a certain someone, but this place was a disaster. If you remember back to Day 1, I had some pretty high expectations for this small strip of space. I needed it to hold blog stuff, craft stuff, including projects in progress, office stuff, and random decor items that aren't in rotation at the moment. (Lots of art. I collect a lot of things I want to frame, and I needed a space for that). All of that was in there, actually, which is why it looked like that. So I emptied it out, rethought the placement of a few things (including pulling out the spare computer monitor and sewing machine, and keeping them in the office space) and sorted what was left into the bins I'd collected for this purpose.

My first attempt at organizing looked like this. Not too bad, and certainly a vast improvement. But I realized pretty quickly that I needed a revamp. First, I moved the white bench/shelf thing on top out to use in another space, so I had some rethinking to do. Second, I had tried to be clever and make use of all the vertical space above the closet rod, but in so doing, I ended up with stacks of those tall white bins that needed to be shuffled about, musical chairs-style, for access. That was obviously not going to work. As I said yesterday, organize for your very worst self. Not for the self who's willing to grab a step ladder and carefully haul down four bins to reach the one she strategically placed furthest away, all to toss in an errant pompom garland. No. Do not organize for her, because she does not exist.

But after a swing and a miss...I crushed it, right? Let's take a moment to talk about my, erm, custom shelving units in here. In case you can't tell, I shoved a bunch of castoff furniture in here to cobble together some shelves. And you know, it works. It's not pretty. But it is doing the job.

Sure, these benches are ugly, but they provide reasonably roomy storage, and I've even managed to make use of the space between them by sliding in drawer organizers from IKEA.  I've been preaching about grouping like with like, and you can see that principle here: Paint supplies are all in one zone, with paint brushes, rollers and trays taking that sliver of space between the benches. I used baskets to corral spray paint, and clear decorative paint cans to hold small samples of paint, acrylics, fabric paints, and more. Containing these items thusly not only makes things more tidy that a big lose pile of tiny paint tubes, but it also makes finding what you're looking for easy. Rather than have to comb through a shelf through of paint in the dark recesses, I can pull out a basket to choose my selection in the light.

The white metal shelving unit to the right wouldn't fit length-wise in the closet, so I turned it sideways, and now it fits. I'm using it to store my most-frequently used items, and I am so happy with it so far. These stacks are all quite short, so I never have to move much out of the way to get to something. I can pull a box out if I need it for a project. If I just need to toss something back into a box, the narrower ones have fronts that open, and the shoe boxes have lift-the-flap lids, so tossing something I've used or found into a box is a cinch. My fabric supply fits neatly on the bottom shelf, and can easily see what I have.

Bringing the other tall white Trofast bins down from the closet shelf was a great move. Now they are super accessible, which is good, because I use them all a lot. My in-progress projects, special craft materials, wood scraps and drop cloths all hang out in the lidded bins, and I threw all the stuff I need to "repair" into the gray box at the top. "Repairs" consist almost entirely of things that need new batteries or a dab of super glue, so the box works well for those. On the top shelf, I'm now storing a couple easy-pull down baskets that hold my gifts, gift wrap and mailing supplies. Larger and less-frequently used art materials - think foam batting and poster board, and party decorations also live on that shelf. I did not use every last square inch of space up there, but it is so easy to retrieve and return things. My sister-in-law has so many kitchen cabinets that she literally does not have to nest her bakeware. That's right: she can has, like a cake pan and a bread pan in each upper cabinet. She never has rearrange or nestle or shove everything in real fast and snatch her fingers out before she slams the door shut. That's a kind of luxury we'll never see in Brooklyn - but this is downright luxurious, and I am loving it!

Photography equipment goes on that top shelf as well, and if you scroll up, you can see that I also hang my tripod and light deflector on an 's' hook from the closet rod.

Here's a quick and dirty shot of our hallway office nook. We carved this space out to serve as our home command center, and it works pretty well. With the closet opposite the desk, and now functioning so well, it's almost like having a real office space! Soooo, that's the story, morning glories. I hope your five days were fruitful and inspiring. Even if you have a ways to go, share your pics and progress with us, along with any questions, below or in the #organizethis 5 Day Challenge Facebook page. And if you're looking for more personalized organizing guidance, please drop me a line or let me know in the comments. I'd love to work with you!

Thanks again, and have a great weekend!