Julie Bonner, Author at Shakadoo

The Master Bedroom – A Place of Rest

What does your master bedroom look like? How does it make you feel when you walk into it? I want you to try this little exercise for me. Write down on a sheet of paper 4 words that describe the master bedroom that you would like to have. Here are some words that come to my mind: peaceful, relaxing, romantic, get-away retreat.

Our master bedroom should be our retreat. It should be one of your favorite rooms in the house. What should it not be? The catch-all room for all the items that have no home. Too many times that’s exactly what it becomes and our dreams for this space get put on the back burner. We create gorgeous rooms for our kids, living rooms that we can have family time in and a guest bathroom that we are proud of. Today, we are focusing on that forgotten master bedroom.

Get the Clutter Out

In order to create your dream bedroom, follow the steps on How to Declutter It!. We want to start with a clean slate. Get rid of the kids’ toys, the items that belong in the garage and storage and that exercise bike that doubles as a hanging rack.

Furniture and Accessories

After you have emptied the room of everything that doesn’t belong there, take a look at the furniture placement. Does it flow? Can you walk around easily? If you have the money to invest in new bedroom furniture, be sure and measure to see how much space you actually have in your room. It sure would be a bummer to pick out beautiful furniture and then realize it’s too big.

If you don’t have the money for new furniture, do the best with what you have. Maybe you could add a few inexpensive touches like pillows, candles or a new bedspread and curtains. Adding the accessories will be the last thing that you do though. Let’s find everything a home first.

Organizing the Space

1. The Night Stand – If you like to read in bed, organize your night stand to where everything is accessible. Keep a good selection of reading material near by and also a lamp. If you like to apply lotions after you crawl into bed, put a decorative basket on top and fill it with your favorite items. Whatever you do, do not overload the top of the table. Only place 2 – 3 items there.

2. The Bed and Un-used Space – I love under the bed bins. They are great for storing sheets, out-of-season clothing and extra blankets. Use the space under the bed wisely. As far as the bed goes, check your pillows to see if they need to be replaced. There’s nothing like a new pillow!

3. The Dresser – This is another catch-all space. It can get cluttered up so fast. Keeping that area clean with only a few items on top, will help your bedroom look so much neater. If you need a place to dump your wallet, keys and change, use a basket. It will keep everything together and it will look much better.

As far as the dresser drawers go, you can buy drawer dividers for your underwear, panty hose and socks. This keeps them all nice and neat and lets you actually see what you have.

Miscellaneous Items

A few other items that might be nice for your master bedroom include:

A nice chaise lounge for reading
A trunk for the end of the bed to store blankets or other items
An armoire for storing a tv if you have one in the bedroom

Well, I hope I have given you all some good ideas this week for getting your home organized. I have been a faithful reader of Shakhammer for quite some time and was honored to be a guest blogger.

Feel free to come on over to Declutter It!. Hope to see you around!

Shares 0

Clutter-Free Kitchen Counters

by Julie Bonner Leave a Comment

One of my little pet peaves is a kitchen counter covered in stuff. What is it about that area that seems to scream, "Please pile things on me!"?

I’ve known people who don’t like to even spend time in their kitchens and when we got down to the root of the problem, it was because of all the clutter, on the counters as well as the cabinets. I promise you that if you take the time to declutter your kitchen, you will enjoy it so much better. Hey, you may even start cooking in there!

Here are a few quick tips to keep those kitchen counters free of clutter:

Decide what items you use every single day that you need to keep out. For example: the coffee maker, the tea kettle, any appliances. Everything else needs to find another home.
Consider buying some under-the-counter appliances. If you use your coffee maker everyday, but you have a tiny kitchen, make use of that space under the cabinets.
Buy a paper towel rack to install under the cabinets or under the kitchen sink.
Don’t let your dirty dishes pile up on the counters. Either put them directly into the dishawasher or rinse the item and put it on one side of the sink. This is what I do at my home. Both sides of my sink are left clear. During the day when we use a dish, we rinse it and put it on the left side of the sink. When it’s time to load the dishwasher, everything is rinsed and ready to go in.
Don’t let mail and paper clutter your counters. This is a whole other topic. Visit my blog Declutter It! to read about organizing mail clutter.

For even more detailed tips on keeping your kitchen organized, be sure and visit my kitchen section and my post "Oh, That Kitchen Counter". Tomorrow’s topic is The Master Bedroom – A Place of Rest.

Picture Source

Shares 0

Creating an Organized Closet

by Julie Bonner Leave a Comment

Yesterday we learned How to Declutter It! and today we are going to talk about closets! I love organizing a closet. It’s probably my favorite "room" in the house. Why? Because closets always seem to be forgotten. Closets are the space where everything gets shoved in every available nook and cranny. Closets are the space in the house that we don’t really think about. Creating an organized closet can free up that much needed storage space.

Here are the basic steps on how to create the closet of your dreams (or as close as possible anyway!):

Decide the closet’s purpose – This may seem obvious but think about some of the closets in your home. Are they a catch-all? For example: Let’s say you are clearing out the hall closet. List what you would like it to hold. Maybe games, crafts, extra pantry items. Decide what the best possible purpose for it is before you do the next step.
Clear out the closet completely – That’s right. Take everything out of the closet and as you do this, sort it into the separate boxes like we talked about yesterday. If it does not fall under the closet’s purpose, it doesn’t belong in there. When the closet is all cleared out, you should have a pile of "to keep" items to put back into the closet.
Decide what your closet needs – Does it need more shelving, a shoe rack, hangers that match and are better for your clothes, a rod, etc. If your closet doesn’t need anything, that’s great. If it does, make sure you measure for what you need, take the measurments and the list with you to the store.
Put everything back in – Now for the fun part. Give everything a home. Make sure you store the most used items where you can get to them easier. Use the shelving near the ceiling for those items you use every once and awhile. As you start putting things away, you may realize another storage item you need. Just measure for it and jot it down on your list. When you first start organizing your closets, it may take you a couple of tries before you have everything you need.
Keeping it organized – To keep your closet organized, follow the same rules that your kids learned in kindergarten: Put everything back when you are finished using it and put it back where it belongs. Those 2 simple rules can help keep your entire house organized.

If you are in the middle or even at the very beginning of organizing your closet and you feel overwhelmed, you can hire a professional or head down to your local home improvement store and ask them tons of questions. They can both help you get that closet organized!

Tomorrow the topic is Clutter-free Kitchen Counters. Remember, for more organizing tips and advice,please visit Declutter It!.

Picture Source

Shares 0

How to Declutter It!

by Julie Bonner Leave a Comment

Okay, so you have identified the problem areas in your home. Now it’s time to figure out how and what to do with all the clutter. This is an abbreviated version of several posts that I have on my blog Declutter It!. There, you can also read about the storing process and how to stay organized.

When it comes to decluttering your home, it is best to follow a process. What I mean by process is going through all the stuff in the room in an organized way and with a plan.

Here is the organizing process according to how I do it. It has worked great for me for years!

1) Sort – You need to know what you have, what’s worth keeping and what’s not.
2) Store – You need to store what you keep the right way. It is important to buy storage containers that are beautiful to you, match your existing decor and are efficient.
3) Stay Organized – Setting up systems that suit the way you think and live is very important. Also learn to manage your projects so clutter has no chance of accumulating.

Today we will talk about the first step, which is sorting. This is the step that takes the longest and is the most overwhelming. It’s this step that makes people stop dead in their tracks, throw up their hands and give up.

I always tell people that for the sorting process, enlisting the help of a friend, family member or even an organizing expert is a good way to make sure it will get done. Remember, most likely you have been accumulating some of this stuff for years. It’s going to take more than a day and you doing it alone, to get it done. It’s okay to ask for help.

The Sorting Process

1) Get 4 big boxes and one large heavy duty trash bag. Label the boxes: To Sell, To Donate, To Relocate, To Keep. The large trash bag is, well, for trash!

2) To start sorting, begin at one corner of the room and work your way around the entire room. Don’t bounce back and forth from one end of the room to the other because that will just get you confused and will make it take longer.

As you pick up something follow the golden rule of organizing: OHIO – Only Handle It Once. Ask yourself these questions and make fast decisions. If you have to think about it too long, get rid of it.

Is it garbage? – If it’s broken and has been broken for awhile then just get rid of it. If it’s in bad shape, get rid of it. You do not need to clutter your home with items that are broken and useless.
Has it been more than a year since it has been used? If so, it goes! Put it in the to sell or to donate box.
Do I use this item in a different room? If so, put the item in the to relocate box.
Is the item actually used and enjoyed in this room? If so, put it in the to keep box.

After you are done with the sorting process, take everything that does not belong in that room out. Take the garbage bag to the trash. Take all the other boxes, except the to keep box, and put them in another room to deal with later. Right now you need to focus on this room and this room only. If you start distributing the items in the to relocate box, you’ll just get side tracked.

So there are some steps for you to follow to sort through the clutter in your home. For more detailed information, please visit Declutter It!.

Tomorrow’s topic is "Creating an Organized Closet". See you there!

Shares 0

Identifying Problem Areas in Your Home

by Julie Bonner Leave a Comment

Have you ever made a goal to get organized? Like when the first of the year comes and you set those New Year’s Resolutions. Or, it’s time for school to start and your kids are out of the house, so you just know you’ll have tons more time to get stuff done.

If you have years or months worth of clutter that has accumulated in your home, it’s going to take more than the statement "I’m going to get organized!" to tackle the problem. It’s going to take a serious step-by-step plan.

I have had clients follow these same steps and have also used them myself when I felt like my home needed some revamping. Yes, I am organized, but I am also human and there have been times I’ve looked around my house and wanted to pull my hair out!

Here’s how to identify those pesky problem areas in your home:

Decide what the room’s purpose is – Sit down with a notebook and pen write down each room in your house. Then write down what goes on in that room or what you would like to be able to use the room for.

For example,let’s say you would like your master bedroom to be a quiet retreat for yourself. You want to be able to go in there after the kids are in bed and watch a great movie or read a book.

Or maybe you want the garage to be an area where you can getaway and experiment with your hobbies. Possibly you would like to actually park the car in there!

Giving each room a purpose is your first step to reclaiming your house.

Decide what’s wrong with the room – For this step you will need to walk around your house with the pen and paper in hand. Write down 4 things that are the biggest headache in each room. This can be anything from an uncomfortable bed to a pile of clothes that has no home.

Does your master bedroom have only a bed and nothing else for storage? Maybe your child’s room look like Toys R Us threw up in there and they are always complaining about not being able to find anything.

Whatever it is write it down, but only write down 4 things. Remember, you’re overwhelmed as it is.

Decide what needs to be done to the room – This is the last step in identifying the problems. You now have written down what you want the room to be used for and what’s wrong with the room. Now decide what you would like to do to the room to help it fulfill the use you assigned to it in the first step. This step is all about dreaming.

Remember that master bedroom that you wanted to use as a retreat? What does it need, besides getting rid of the clutter? Maybe you would love a nice reading chair and a beautiful lamp. Or you the room needs a dresser to put that pile of clothes from the corner in.

As far as the garage that you wanted to use as a hobby area, is it so cluttered with junk that you can’t even walk through it? If the answer is yes, then it sounds like you need some storage. Overhead storage and wall grids would be perfect so that the floor space would be freed up.

Like I said, this step is all about dreaming. You’re probably not going to be able to purchase all these things up front, but at least you have a nice list of ideas in front of you and you know what things bother you about each room in your home.

It’s amazing how purchasing the simplest things like a hamper or a chair can help you create the room of your dreams. It’s all about planning and dreaming when it comes to identifying those problem areas.

Be sure and join me tomorrow when I talk about "How to Declutter It!".

Shares 0