I'm an Organizing Junkie...

...but you'd never know it if you'd seen my guest room a week ago! Let me explain...

About 3 months ago, our guest room became our junk room. In the winter, we use the gas logs in our living room as our main heat source to cut down on heating costs. Because we don't have guests all that often during the winter months, we close the heating vent and door to the guest room so that we're not heating unused space. So, not only is that room about 15-20 degrees colder than the rest of the house, it's also the place where things get dumped. After all, I'm not about to go spend any length of time in there to put things away!

Over at I'm an Organizing Junkie, there's a 28 day organizing challenge going on for the month of February. There are some prizes and stuff, but I simply used my "enough is enough" mentality to motivate me to sign up. Here we are at the end of the month and I'm proud to say that our guest room is officially a guest room again!

Over the past couple of months, I've been doing some serious purging in order to create a simpler environment and also to get ready for an upcoming yard sale. I didn't have enough boxes to store all of the "get rid of" things, so our once somewhat inviting guest room became this...

(before)

It's ok...you can cringe (I did every time I opened the door to throw something else in there!). Those big piles are yard sale/to be put away/don't know what to do with you items...and yes, there are even some Christmas boxes and decorations still couped up in that room. Ugh. I knew it was pretty bad, but when my husband walked by one day when I had the door open to throw something on the pile, his I didn't know it was THAT bad! remark confirmed my deepest fears!

So, after acquiring some boxes, I began the daunting task of battling the piles (and the cold!) in order to restore some sanity in this room. You can kinda see that the room had some pretty good 'bones' already...decent furniture, nice curtains and linens and tons of organizational containers. After about 3 hours of boxing up, dusting, organizing and cleaning, that horrendous mess turned into this...

(after)

A little more inviting, huh?

I didn't get a chance to paint and I need a few more photos or artwork to complete the space, but I'm extremely pleased with the results! A few candles, photos of friends and family, magazines and extra towels make this room super cozy. This is finally a room that I'd be comfortable inviting guests to stay in.

Here are some alternate before and after views from the 4 corners of the room.

(before)

(after)

(before)

(after)

(before)

(after)

Now, we come to the closet. Before the guest room became a junk room, this closet became the place to dump things and shut the door so no once can see them". Then, the closet overflowed and...you know the rest of the story. Here's a glimpse at the before:

And thanks to some old bins, boxes and space bags (storing extra pillows under the bed!), here's the after:

I've stored like linens in containers (twin sheets, duvets, etc), have all of my gift wrapping items stored according to type (extra gift boxes, tissue paper and gift bags and a gift wrap container back in the corner of the closet) and there are a couple of crates on the bottom shelves that contain items purchased to give as gifts.

No, it's not my most spectacular organizing transformation ever, but for a few hours of work and no additional money spent, I'd say I pulled it off!

Here are some questions posed by the gals over at I'm an Organizing Junkie to help summarize the whole experience.

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

The hardest part, for me, was getting started. I knew it was going to be a huge project and I had a hard time finding the motivation to get going. Obviously, I was able to overcome it...thanks to some help from Diet Coke and the new Lady Antebellum album :)

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

I was able to implement containers for like items...such as like linens, gift boxes, guest towels, etc. After purging a great deal of things, I was able to store most of the rooms extra items in the closet...and was still able to shut the door!

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

I have about 10 boxes of items ready to be sorted and priced for a spring yard sale! I love when organizing projects yield money!

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?

I used an old white plastic shelving unit in the closet. With a closet rod and simple eye level shelf, the closet doesn't lend itself to storage of any sort (except clothes!). By adding the shelf, I was able to create multiple levels of storage. In using the containers to store linens and gift wrapping/giving supplies, I'm able to have a set boundary for how many of each item to keep on hand. When the bins get full, something's gotta go! Overall, I believe keeping the main surfaces and floor space of the room clear, will allow me to see any little thing that's out of place and cause me to take immediate action.

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?

I believe I was able to clearly define the space for its intended purpose (a guest room) and create adequate storage for items overflowing from other areas of the house (such as linens, gift wrapping, etc). The room is well organized, allows for easy up keep and is, overall, a welcoming space.

-Sarai