organized paint + free printable's

most of us suffer from this issue - paints cans stacked away in the garage or storage shed....

i knew this would be a "top of the list" organization project long before moving into this house. with the painter here for a month and the amount of paint left behind, this was bound to get tackled right away. truth be told, i wanted to do this project in my previous home...and the home before that. but as we know, organizing or sorting through paint isn't a priority. by the time you get around to it, can you even open that crusty can lid?

in my case, my painter left all of this (and more) smack in the middle of the freshly painted garage last month. when he left, i neatly stacked it on these shelves to get them out of the way for the movers...

i made myself a promise to get ahold of this job right away. then i made good on that promise yesterday and have to admit, it was a whole lot easier and stress-free than i thought it would be. as easy as picking up the paint cans yesterday morning and knocking out the entire job yesterday afternoon. took me about 2 hours total, including a quick label whip-up.

oh yea!

i found the quart-size paint cans at home depot for only $3 each...

look at them all shiny and sitting pretty on my garage work table...

i also whipped up some pretty labels with the quickness...

even created a blank version...

and printed them (4 to a page) on full sheet labels...

to get this job done, i emptied the shelf and stacked the paint near my work table...

to make the job even easier, i also made sure the additional supplies needed were on hand...

supplies needed:

* empty paint cans
* labels (print for free below!)
* pen
* paper cutter
* small paint brushes
* paint can opener
* paper towels or old rags (to clean your hands or workspace)

starting with the first can...

i filled it with paint...

completed the label and applied...

hammered the lid on tight...

finally, i added a swatch of paint to the lid. this is optional...

done!...

there were several cans of the same color/finish paint. those were combined whenever possible. there were also many cans with very little paint remaining. or cans of paint that looked "off". yes, already! this is the time to sort it out and get rid of anything you wouldn't use anyway - whether good or bad.

i quickly repeated the process until i was done...

now my paint is easy to locate when it comes time for those touch-ups. and those touch-ups will be happening soon. between the 3 movers loading items into the house and 3 little people doing a good job being little people, there are already quite a few touch-up areas in the house. all i need to do is grab a can, shake it up, and touch-up. done.

...well, sort of! ;-) i still need Martha in my life.

when the job was complete, i used the same cardboard carrier that came with the cans to corral my paint stash...

and stacked them neatly on the same garage shelf...

can you believe the space saved by condensing?...

pure heaven for this organizer!

the remaining paint is being disposed of in the appropriate city location. in the meantime, i walk past that shelf and fall in love a little deeper each time...

if you'd like to fall in love too ... or just be happy to have organized paint in your life ... you can print the simple labels right here...






...and maybe tackle your paint stash today or this weekend! enjoy!

in case you missed how these paint colors look on an actual wall (we all know that helps a ton!), i shared my interior paint colors right here!

have a great weekend, peeps!

(i linked up with iheart organizing, tatertots & jello, it's overflowing, thrifty decor chick, a bowl full of lemons, 
savvy southern style, org junkie)

move-in recap: the finale

this morning i'm working on a big organization project in the garage. yup, it's a messy job that requires a garage location. can't wait to share soon! so i thought today i'd share the final move-in recap post. if you missed the two previous installments, here is the first and the second. 

at this point of move-in, i had 1.5 days to unpack as much kid-related stuff as possible before my little people pulled into their new home. anything kid-related had to be unpacked because school didn't begin for another 2.5 weeks. which meant i needed activities and toys to keep them busy around the house for a while. i had all day saturday and part of sunday. knowing this limited amount of time, i buckled down, asked family and friends to give me a break, turned on the coffee pot and blasted my motivation music. 

did i mention these were the first 3 boxes i clawed through the house to locate?....

yes. the coffee maker. the wine opener. a bose stereo. all 3 are a must-have for me in order to function daily unpack a home. 

and did i ever need the motivation (and caffeine) in the playroom! i spent a good amount of time friday tearing through boxes and sorting items for keep / donate. this is where i started on saturday morning...

the toys you see are those that made the initial cut to stay. the quantity has since changed as more items have been donated. and even more will make their way out of the house after a new wall system arrives in a few weeks. really excited to share a playroom update later this month!

i spent saturday morning sorting through and organizing all of the toys...

while sorting, i ran wash/dry loads of couch slipcovers...

here was the final set-up by the end of saturday morning. the green circus tent shelving contains arts, crafts and games - anything the kids need to ask to play with (think small pieces, play-doh, etc)...

our mesh bins survived the move, but many are now mis-shapen due to packing.

:-(....

no, the playroom didn't look this tidy for long after the kids arrived!

after the playroom was set-up, i tackled all 3 kid rooms. son #1...

those are lego's tucked back on the far right. we are so re-organizing those!...

the room of son #2...

his room has changed quite a bit already. his bunk bed went up last weekend. 

and finally the girlie's room...

keep in mind, this was mom's initial set-up. the rooms have changed a bit since and will continue to evolve as the kids each put their own fingerprint on the space. already have some fun ideas in the works!

once the kid's spaces were completed, time to tackle the kitchen...

boxes and boxes! paper and paper! so much paper i had to share a photo on instagram as the night wore on...




that paper pile created at least 15 large, completely full trash bags. all of the packing materials, boxes included, have been picked up once a week from lovely craig's list shoppers. for free! ;-)

watch your head, knees and elbows...

by saturday night, most of the kitchen was unpacked. a lot of my kitchen is on garage shelving. where it will live until the kitchen remodel.

sunday i tore into part of the living room...

set up the patio table in the screened-in porch...

in case you've been reading a while and wondered where the rest of the patio set landed? it's right here on the front porch...

and as i waited for my people to pull in, i tried to create a little order out of the garage chaos...

no, you can't walk back into that far right corner yet. yes, i get itchy and start shaking a lot little when i walk out here each day. but i know exactly what's back there and exactly where it's going. more on that soon!

far left side has looked like this off and on since move-in. the packing material is never-ending. the day i don't see a cardboard box or piece packing material in this house is the day i open that $100 bottle of wine i've been hiding away for months....

then came the moment i had been waiting for. the moment i dreamt of for weeks. the moment i dreamt about when we purchased the house and could envision the kids living here and loving it. this...

they made a b-line to the swing set. who couldn't predict that! then they made their way through the house to find their rooms and beloved toys that had been packed away for months and months...

this is all the payment i'll ever need for months and months of debating over paint and carpet colors and working with contractors and crunching numbers to make the messy jobs happen before move-in and dealing with packing and unpacking and movers and dirt and dust and pool renovations. this little thumbs up was payment enough...

are there still a few boxes around the house? yes, but only in the guest room, which is my staging area for wall hangings and random decor...

and a few remaining boxes in the garage. more importantly, the move-in process is pretty much a wrap. i can't be happier to have this phase behind me.

although i've been back home in california for a full month now, i haven't left arkansas behind. there is a lot to miss about living there. that's a post i've been composing for months and one i'll share someday. just when i think that post is complete and ready to be shared, my memory is jogged and i want to add something else. there was simply too much to love about living there. too much!

thank you, always, for reading along on this journey. now i live in the house, get a feel for how life flows inside of these four walls, and dig in to set up those organization systems. i've also started thinking about the kitchen remodel and have a loooooong list of projects to tackle. can't wait to share it all!

have a great day!