{Re} Use That

Heather McKee, our tireless calendar editor and momma to three kids, began a journey that most of us have sought to complete at one time or another, but rarely finish: Getting the House Organized. In Heather’s quest, she began to unearth a plethora of ways to reduce the clutter by very green methods, simply reusing common household items and “trash” to create neat, cute and organized storage. She’s also got some great ideas on creating decorations and fun crafts with items you’d normally throw away or pitch into the recycling bin. We’re happy to publish Heather’s first two posts of her new blog, {Re}Use That, which will be going live in January at its own URL.

| photos and posts by Heather McKee

Fabric Catch-All Boxes

In my ongoing quest to get my house organized, I came across a website that suggested covering boxes with fabric, to create “catch-all” boxes for any room around the house. I decided to start with something for my kids, since they have the most stuff.

I started out with diaper boxes – we already had loads of those lying around, and we’d already used them for whatever we could think of – storage, toy containers, even trash cans.

Using hot glue, I glued all the flaps to the outside of the box (I figured it would add more stability to the edges), then using the handle as a guide, cut a dip in one side.

I hot glued fabric to all sides, including the bottom – making sure to cover the hole in the bottom, so little things wouldn’t fall out. For the dip, cut strips almost to the box, then glue them down. I also made sure to add extra fabric to the back inside of the box, purely for aesthetics.

I repeated all of that three times so that I had a box for each of my kids. The fabrics I chose reflected the child, and contained their favorite colors. I printed out each of the kids’ names in a fun font and ‘laminated’ (use packing tape, cover both sides & trim!) each name. I purchased small Velcro circles – the only new item – and attached them to the box.

The boxes now reside right inside our front door – where each child has easy access to toss whatever they want into it. They put all their papers from school in the boxes, which has greatly reduced the clutter on my desk, and allows me to go through the boxes when I have time.

If you don’t happen to have extra fabric lying around, you can also use paper grocery sacks (let the kids each decorate their own), wrapping paper, construction or drawing paper, newspaper, etc., anything that can be glued to the boxes to make them a little more decorative. The boxes could be used in rooms to hold toys, stuffed animals or socks, in bathrooms for toilet paper, in kitchens for hot pads & towels – the options are endless.

An over-abundance of jars

We have so many jars in our house.

Simply cleaned, we use them to hold pens & pencils, paint brushes, craft supplies, lids for other jars, and flowers in the spring. But there are quite a few ways you can spiffy them up.

Before I do any jar project – I soak the jars in the sink, to get the labels off & clean them really well. Sometimes you have to really scrub hard to get the glue off – dish soap directly on the glue, or Mineral Spirits should help a lot.

For a little more organization to our coloring supplies, I printed out labels for crayons, markers and colored pencils, used clear packing tape to stick them on the side of a jar – and done! Portable, perfectly sized and (hopefully) easy to put them back where they came from.

With the holidays coming up, I was trying to think of an easy, unique centerpiece for when we have the grandparents over for dinner. It finally hit me one morning – I kept seeing tutorials to dress up jars, to make tea light holders. THAT would make a great centerpiece! I had seen yarn or lace wrapped jars, tissue paper, fabric – but I was going to use wrapping paper!

I grabbed some scissors, cut a few pieces of wrapping paper, made homemade modge-podge (equal parts glue & water – can be made and kept around for later use), a few paintbrushes, my daughters – and went to work! We cut out the designs on the wrapping paper, that would fit on the jars and I taught the girls how to decoupage.

We painted glue on the jars, where we wanted the wrapping paper to go, stuck the wrapping paper on & smoothed it out as best we could, and then covered it with glue. You want the paper to pretty much be saturated, that will help it become transparent; but be careful not to tear it. Leave the jars to dry completely, before adding the second piece to the other side. After both sides have dried, add a tea light (I got cheap battery-operated ones) to the inside of the jar.