The shelf that cleans itself

We all have space to call our own. From a great big house with a bazillion rooms, to a tiny dorm room, we all have the same issue: How to organize the space we have with the stuff we have. If you have areas in your home that are habitually in complete disarray, no matter how often you pick them up, then most likely the space is not organized to fit your habits, lifestyle, and stuff.

One such space in my house was the back entrance. We call it the fake utility room because it is a non-purpose room. It is too small for a washer dryer or even a bench to take off shoes, yet it is the hub of our household. We go in and out the back door to the garage, taking stuff with us and leaving stuff behind. And it was ALWAYS a complete disaster, stacked with all kinds of clutter. When guests came, the back entrance was off limits. Sometimes people still came through there and I cringed with embarrassment. 

I've blogged before about a wonderful book called, The House That Cleans Itself. It helps the common person, born without natural "clean house" genes, keep her home presentable and workable. I used the principles from that book to organize, once and for all, this back entrance to our home.

First of all, I took a picture of the mayhem. I am sorry to say, I actually swept and picked up before the picture because it was SO bad, but you really aren't supposed to. The purpose of taking a picture of the mess is so that I can easily see what our family's natural habits are and what things need a home in this space. The idea is to not require a change in habits when you re-organize a space. Busy people on the go can't maintain the change and clutter piles up in no time flat!

The picture above it taken from the hallway that leads to the living room and bedrooms. To the left is a doorway to the kitchen. The door straight ahead leads to the garage. There are very narrow cabinets on the wall on the left that hold inside tools (hammers, screw drivers, nails) and between them is a strange little light with its own switch. The white cabinet on the right is where I keep my craft supplies. You can see an outline of a wood shelf/end table beside the craft cupboard. I put it there in an effort to stop the clutter collection, but it was too small and didn't work. Where all that junk is piled on the left, was a small sink unit that I had Jeff take out a couple of months ago. We never used the sink because it was always piled with stuff. On more than one occasion, the garbage disposal backed up into the kitchen sink on the other side of the wall and flooded the little sink that was perpetually full of stuff. Talk about disgusting. Something needed to be done with this area!

I made a list of what needed a place for this hub to run smoothly. My list won't be the same as yours would be, but it will give you an idea of how detailed you need to be when you are organizing. If you are not this thorough, you will be faced with the same clutter problem in the same area in less than a day -- take it from me. I've "organized" this space dozens of times over the last 7 years and it never stuck because I wasn't working with what was inevitable.

• shoes (about 10 pairs of adults shoes, 10 pair of children's)
• seasonal hats, gloves
• loose change
• car keys
• recycling (cardboard, milk jugs, cans, glass). Containers are 14" wide and about 20" tall.
• Camera bag and extra camera supplies
• outgoing mail
• library books and movies
• Give away items for charity
• items that need to be returned to the store or given to a specific person

My concern was to do this project for as little money as possible. I thought about getting a long dresser to put there, but I couldn't find one I liked for less than $100. With all these things in mind, I drew up a shelf with the specific dimensions needed to accommodate all this stuff. I also had some existing plumbing coming out of the wall to work around. I needed the recycling area to be a big enough to not over-flow and the shoe shelves out of sight, but accessible for my little ones. 

I am thankful daily that I have a husband who can do projects like this. He completed the shelf within a few days of me giving him the plan. Why did I take so long to do this? Jeff was resourceful enough to find some lumber that sat unused in the barn for the last 20 years. So far, my shelf was free. I used paint leftover from a different project and I bought baskets and fabric at Joann's with coupons. The total came to $20.

I really like the color of the shelf and think that it will wear well. I also really like the fabric I found at Joann's. It pulls the shelf color together with the strange lime-ish green of the walls (I wasn't in the mood to repaint the walls, so I worked around them).

The colors also work with a shelf I already had that now holds outgoing mail.

The baskets are for the seasonal hats/gloves, returnable items, and charity. I also have space for my camera bag and supplies.

Behind the curtains hung with tension rods, are the shoes on the left and recycling on the right. So far, my children think it is loads of fun to put their shoes behind the curtain when they come in the back door -- I hope that lasts forever and ever.

On top of the shelf is a place for loose change, car keys, cell phones. The wicker tray is designed to contain the inevitable piles of other stuff.

 

This is the view walking in from the garage, a much more welcoming sight as you enter our home. Please, come through the garage now. I don't mind!

The House That Cleans Itself doesn't actually clean itself. It just makes it easy to maintain instead of turning everything into an all day, frustrating project. With my functional shelf, sweeping up and doing small de-cluttering can be done in no time. Plus, I smile every time I walk through this space now because it is so pretty.

I am inspired now to work on other areas in my home that aren't working. I hope you are too!