Have You Heard???

In case you've been living under a rock or if you haven't read about my obsession, The Container Store is offering 30% off ALL Elfa and Elfa installation!

It's been going on since Christmas, so I'm not sure how much longer it will last, but it is one of their best sales EVER!

I re-did the closet in the last apartment we lived in when we were in San Francisco.  It was a small walk-in closet (nothing about apartment living in San Francisco is BIG!)  The Container Store helped me design it and they even installed it!  The whole process was so easy.  We were just renting, but the closet in our bedroom only had 1 rod running the length of it.  That was not going to work for the 2 of us so it was worth it to us to spend the money and upgrade the closet.  I don't have any before pictures, but here's what it looked like after the installation:

I looked at all my photos and counted about 82 pairs of shoes in that closet between the 2 of us!  (You can't see a lot of them in just these 2 pictures.)  Unbelievable!

Being able to more than DOUBLE our hanging space was invaluable.  Also being able to adjust the racks was huge for us since hubby's is 6'2" and his shirts and pants are long and I am 5'2" so nothing of mine is long.  In this closet I had room for everything from our hats to shoes, suits, dresses, pants, coats, etc.

My husband doesn't have a lot of free time so I had the Container Store do the installation.  The guys who came to install it were amazing.  They were so courteous and absolutely knew what they were doing.  The Container Store I shop at doesn't have their own installation team.  Instead they outsource it to independent closet installation companies.  I am not sure if all their stores are like this so yours may be different.  They removed the old closet rod and shelf, patched the walls and started installing.  Before long it was complete and the Container Store had 2 more satisfied customers!

If you are too busy to make it to the store and know exactly what you need, they offer a "Click & Pickup" service where you order everything online, choose which store you'd like to pick it up from and tell them when you'd like to pick it up.  Then when you are on your way, just give them a call and they'll bring it to the curb for you and load it in your car!  How convenient is that?  Just another reason I love the Container Store!

Who Doesn't LOVE to Save!

In case any of you loved checking out Erin Condren's great site, she is offering 20% off on EVERYTHING Valentine's now through January 31!

She has great ideas for personalizing Valentine's Day cards whether you send them out as a family or if your little one has to make them for school.  For Valentine's Day she has special heart shaped labels like these:

How much fun would it be to bake up some heart shaped brownies or one of my favorites - those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey Kiss stuck in the middle - YUM!  Then place your goodies inside a cellophane bag with your heart shaped sticker on the outside - so personal and cute!  Or you could attach the sticker to a Chinese food carton and place all your yumminess inside!

Translucent Take-Out Cartons from the Container Store 

Hope this gets you excited for Valentine's Day - it's only one month away!

My Mecca

The Container Store is my Mecca.  It is a type-A person's dream come true when you walk in that place.  Everything is organized and they have a spot to store all the things in your home, office and garage.  I bet my husband wishes it was more than 1 freeway exit away so I wasn't there so often!

In case you couldn't tell from yesterday's post where I organized the guest bathroom, I LOVE LOVE LOVE their clear shoe boxes.  I store so many things in them besides shoes including toys, medicine, extra toiletries under the sink, batteries, light bulbs, etc., etc.  The list is endless!  They are perfect for everything because they are see through so I can always tell what's in them (although most of them are labeled as well - I know I have a problem!!!).  The boxes also come in a few different sizes (women's, mens', boots, etc.) so you can store different sized items and stack the boxes up on top of each other.  I ONLY buy the Container Store shoe boxes - not any of the imitations I see elsewhere!

Here are a few photos of where I use the clear shoe boxes around my house.  You NEED to get some of these and get your stuff organized!

I use them to store small toys, sidewalk chalk, etc.:

I use them under our sink to store makeup that I don't use everyday, extra toiletries like razor blades, deodorant and dental floss:

 

 

I use them in the garage to store extra light bulbs, batteries and extension cords:

 

 

More storage in the garage for votive holders and table linens:

 

 

Note the Elfa shelving in the garage from The Container Store...LOVE IT TOO!  It helps me keep all the junk in the garage organized and off the floor which is huge because now we can park TWO cars in the garage!

Hopefully you are lucky enough to have a Container Store near you.  If not, you can always order here.