My Mudroom | Organizing | New Gingham Wraps & Candles

Since school has started, I've sort of reclaimed this space as my own.  During the summer is was the dumping ground of everything.  It is still where we stash coats, shoes and bags, but I've majorly decluttered it this week.  I've also updated my inspiration boards, and re-organized my packaging supplies so I can make quick gifts.  I spent a little bit of time just fluffing it this morning and making it feel like a room that I wanted to spend some time in.  

This is my favorite fall color palette.  The medium grey with burnt orange and wood tones.

I love the light streaming in from that huge window we repurposed from our old house.

This design works so great, because you can't see my desk clutter from the kitchen : )

You can read this post to see inside of these cabinets to see how I organize and use the space.

I keep all of my work samples, ribbons and packaging in the baskets above.

These boards change every season and help me get a visual of the collections I'm putting together.

My desk is never complete without lots of Grey LePens.

To the left of my desk, I keep my ribbon spools, and in the basket above, I keep all of my Cello Bags, Treat Bags, and boxes.  In the drawer to the right, I keep a stash of tags.  Keeping everything in this spot helps me throw together gifts easily.  

The basket goes up on the shelves above - easy to get the mess away!

Here, my stash of tablets, le pens and tags.  The tablets make great gifts, so I often tie them up with a LePen for an easy hostess gift (with a bottle of wine).



Cello Bags (3 sizes) and Treat Bags (Kraft & Glassine)

I also keep a stash of Kraft Boxes with Krinkle.  I can always come up with a cute gift at a moments notice with all of this supplies handy.

Velvet Pillows >

We love our pegs so much.  I love them empty, and they even still look nice completely full and piled with things.

We repurposed the French doors in here from our old house.  It is so nice to be able to open them up wide on pretty days.

The pegs lining this room have so many uses - from jackets, to bags and wraps, they also hold cleaning supplies.  They go around the entire perimeter of the room.

Shop Market Tote Bags

In the Pantry 

Shop all Home Keeping Essentials >

To see the rest of our home, visit here >

My Office Space... in the Mudroom : )

How long have I been talking about spiffing up my office space?  It is safe to assume that it was before we even completed construction, I'm sure.  After living in the new house for 8 months, I've finally gotten around to it.  There is nothing like the fresh slate of a new year (and very cold/boring days) to get you motivated to organize.

While I worked on this I started thinking a lot about my homekeeping/organizing philosophy.  I think it basically comes down to having less stuff.
A lot of the time I find that my pretty things, my feel-good things are being out-shined by the abundance of not so pretty and not so nice things.

For instance, I now have a glass full of grey Le Pens on my desk (see left, next to the peony).  Before the reorganization, I had those same pens in my drawer... along with about 10 other junky pens, pencils, (and crayons!) that just found their way in there.  I couldn't even appreciate the 12 nice and neat Le Pens because they were jumbled with the randoms.  This idea can be applied to your kitchen drawers (you reach for the same wooden spoon every time, so why are there 8 others to choose from?!) or your closet (like that pile of jeans... when you only wear the top two pair).

During... : )

Take some time and get down to the pretty.  Weed out the things that make your pretty ugly.  Donate those things - they might be someone else's pretty.  Don't just fill your empty spaces with the non-pretties - then those places become dark holes in your home.  Get them out of the house.  Set yourself free ; )   Don't be afraid of empty spaces, sparse closets and drawers where you can see the bottoms.  Give yourself some breathing room.

Here is how I did just that in my office :

The biggest addition was the inspiration boards.  I didn't have anything before and our invitations, snippets and photos just started leaning up against the basket, then stacked and sort of lost.  Bulletin boards aren't a new idea, but I do think they are hard to find - good ones.  I wanted mine to blend in with the walls - letting just the inspiration stand out.  

I bought these two simpletons at target ($8/each) and painted them Navajo White to match the walls.

My office is also Mr. Darcy's room, so close by treats are necessary.

Everything in here is very neutral (white walls, white built in, baskets, etc.), so that it can transform with each season of the store.  Right now, I'm in Valentine's Day full swing but in a week or two these colors will be swapped for blues, whites, pale yellow and springy greens to inspire my Spring collection.

Inside the drawers I have bamboo organizers found at Costco.  These were a set of 2 for $15 - much cheaper and nicer than anywhere else I've seen.  We have these in almost every drawer in the house.

Did you notice that my laptop is plugged in!  When we were planning the house, we had outlets put into drawers to be "charging drawers" in my office and the kitchen.  I really don't like seeing charging ipads, computers and phones all over the house, so this gives them a home.

I really don't like seeing charging ipads, computers and phones all over the house, so this gives them a home.

I LOVE this.   If this wasn't charging in the drawer, it would be on the desktop, then things would've started piling on it... and I probably wouldn't open it for weeks : )

This is where my wireless printer lives along with the most amazing paper file/shelf thing ever.  I found it at Ikea - the shelves slide out, it is powdered coated in ivory with cork lining each shelf.  I had a major paper/label issue under here before, so I'm just THRILLED with this.

More pretty : )

This ribbon holder was also and Ikea find.  Beware, the rod that comes with it is too big to hold ribbons from my store (and most others...) so I put a dowel rod in that has a smaller diameter.  Love how this holds so many!  This space is used for store photos (because of the great natural light from that big window), so it needs to be fairly blank and easy to clear off when I need to use it.

This is my paper/stationery drawer.  I keep my stack of notepads, tags, envelopes, stamps, stampers, etc. in here.  It makes it so much easier to get a letter in the mail now that this is all organized.

This is also where I store my camera, lenses and chargers.

Underneath, I have a file holder for all of the other papers that used to be by my printer, and wholesale catalogs for products.  The sheet is used on the big window when I need to defuse the light I secure it with those binder clips in the drawer above... very sophisticated photo production studio around here  ; )

You can see why this is my happy place.   The window features some hearts that Emma decorated.

Of course, the indoor garden bench (that I talked about on Saturday) is my favorite part - or was, until the rest of the office was finished.

Such nice light in here.

If you are unfamiliar with the layout of our house, this gives you perspective from the kitchen.  It is just far enough out of the way so I can emerse myself in work and remove myself from the dirty dishes in the sink.

Behind me is the artwork wall and Mr. Darcy's area.

 In the shelves above, I can stash things that would otherwise want to pile up on my worktop.  When they get too out of control, I can take 10 minutes and put things away in the basement where I keep all of my samples.

This is my keyboard area - complete with full to-do list and playdoh cookie gifted to me.

Ever curious (and skeptical...) Mr. Darcy.

If you think for a minute that every inch of my house is as put together as my office is this morning - think again.  : )   Real life is happening in the rest of the house, but it is nice to take a little break and treat myself to this space that is fresher, happier and full of pretty things.

This space refreshes me, inspires me.  And in a couple of months (or...two weeks, days?) when I find it cluttered (as I'm absolutely sure it will), I won't feel bad or guilty for it - it is a hard working space and sometimes that means mess and craziness to get the job done.  I'll take an hour, clean it up and put it right back together.