Spring Organizing Idea

What is it about this time of year that makes us want to organize, clean up, and decorate our surroundings? Maybe the newness of everything just wakes up the "nesting instinct" in us? I, for one, have been really busy lately and haven't had time to do a lot of projects around the house yet (there is yard work to be done, a front porch that needs to be torn down and re-built and painted, a side porch that desperately needs painting, plus there a few rooms in the house that I'd like to redecorate....) So while all of these projects sit patiently waiting for my attention, I found something simple to do in my studio to organize a bit.

(Actually I should clarify- I found something simple that my husband could do for me to organize my studio..... and really, if you have a very busy schedule and you want things done- that's the way to go.... delegate, delegate, delegate!! And I should say that I won't be part of the re-building of the above-mentioned porch- but I'm sure I'll be in on the tearing down and painting part. Fun.)

So here is a simple project that you could do, or you could talk/bribe a loved one into doing for you. I used to have lots of spools of ribbon and ric rac piled up on my desk. For a while they were pretty, all color-coordinated and neatly stacked. But as the stack got bigger, it started to take over and it wasn't cute or pretty any more. I had space on the wall in the little hall leading into my studio that was not being used and I wanted to put my spools of ribbon there.

Hubby went to the home improvement store and got some pretty curtain rod holders (the kind that extend out from the wall and with a "U" shaped opening for the curtain rod to sit on). Also, we needed some sort of dowel to put the ribbons on- it had to be narrow enough to go through the little holes in the ribbon spools, but sturdy enough so that it didn't sag in the middle. An extendable metal curtain rod (1/4" diameter) fit the bill.

He mounted the curtain rod holders onto the wall, about 22" apart (you don't want them to be too far apart, or the curtain rod might sag). Place spools of ribbon on curtain rod and place on holder. Pin or tape the ends of the ribbon in place on the spool. When you need ribbon, you can cut it from the spool without having to remove the spool from the holder. If you want to remove the whole spool, just lift one end of the curtain rod and pull off the spool(s) you need.

Now all of my ribbon and ric rac is organized, and it looks kind of pretty too!

Happy Spring Organizing!