It’s one thing when you’re assembling one small thing, but when you’re assembling an entire wall of bookshelves (like I’ve done a few times recently), that big stack of ironclad boxes can seem pretty daunting! This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

I’ve broken nails, given myself cardboard paper cuts, and said a few choices words @#*$! while trying to open IKEA boxes. Not only is it extremely frustrating, it also adds a lot of unnecessary time to an already time-consuming process! I’ve seen recommendations that you wedge a screwdriver, a pocket knife, or a putty knife between the flaps to open IKEA boxes, but watching the videos of these methods you can see that none of them are smooth and easy. With each of these sharp implements you run the risk of damaging the furniture inside, the floor below the box, or worst of all, your fingers!

I’ve heard people joke that IKEA should include instructions on how to open IKEA boxes. It’s funny because it’s true! But guess what?! I’ve actually got the instructions and they come straight from an IKEA employee. On a recent trip to IKEA, my husband spotted an employee opening boxes at lightning speed so he went in for the details. The employee showed him his very special tool… wait for it… a plastic lettuce knife!

If you’ve never used a lettuce knife before, it’s simply a lightweight, serrated plastic knife. Lettuce browns quickly when the leaves are torn or when sliced with a metal knife. An inexpensive lettuce knife is ideal for prepping salads because it’s serrated edge is sharp enough to provide a clean cut, and the plastic keeps the lettuce from turning brown. Additionally, these knives won’t damage counters or non-stick surfaces and they’re safe for fingers (making chopping lettuce a great task to delegate to kids who are eager to help in the kitchen).

The same characteristic that make a lettuce knife great in the kitchen apparently also make it the perfect tool to open IKEA boxes. The serrated edge slides easily through the glue between the flap and you don’t risk any damage or injury in the process! Watch this video to see just how easy it is…

This makes opening an IKEA box so quick and easy that I can’t believe this tip isn’t more widely known! I don’t know if all IKEA employees are taught to open boxes this way, or if we’ve just got some really clever folks at the store here in Denver, but either way, I’m so glad we learned this little trick! I’ll never open an IKEA box any other way!

Ok, now that your boxes are open, I guess you’ve got no excuse not to assemble that furniture! Sorry, not sorry

The post How to Open Ikea Boxes the Easy Way appeared first on Blue i Style.

I like to make simple changes to our decor for each season and holiday, so I have quite a few pillar candles, tapers, votives, and tea lights in various colors. Over the years, as I acquired more candles, I added them to the boxes until they were overflowing. Each time I pulled a box out, I would get frustrated digging around for what I wanted, and then even more frustrated trying to tetris all the other candles back into the box so I could fit the lid on again.

Finally, enough was enough. After considering a few different candle storage ideas, I came up with one that’s working great for me. But, since everyone’s space is unique, I’ve also rounded up some other smart ideas for how to organize candles, which you’ll find at the end of this post.

My Candle Storage Cabinet

Earlier this year, we installed IKEA Billy bookcases that wrap around the corner of our living room. The bookcase doors are glass on top and solid on the bottom – creating lots of new, enclosed storage space. I knew right away that I wanted to use one section of enclosed shelves to create a dreamy candle storage cabinet.

The first challenge was finding the right storage containers. The bookcases aren’t particularly deep, so I took careful measurements and did quite a bit of looking to find storage bins that would fit well. I discovered that these iDesign Kitchen Binz (affiliate link) were the perfect solution. At 10 inches deep and 6 inches wide, five bins fit perfectly across each shelf.

In addition to these clear bins fitting nicely on my shelves, they have several other benefits that make them ideal storage containers for candles:

• Not Too Big – My old, lidded boxes were large enough that lots of candles got stacked on top of each other and I often found myself digging around looking for what I needed. These smaller bins, with fewer candles in each bin, will be much easier for me to keep organized.
• Clear – Whether it’s a specific color of style of candle I need, the clear bins allow me to quickly find exactly what I’m looking for.
• Stacking – These bins are stackable, allowing my to make the most of my shelf space.

How to Organize Candles

1. Gather. As is the case with any organizing project, it’s best to start by completely emptying your space and then sorting everything out. In this case, that meant emptying out my old candle storage boxes. I already had all of my candles in one place (it just happened to be one messy place), but if you have candles hidden here and there in various spots around the house, gather them all into one spot.
   
2. Purge. Next, it’s time to decide what stays and what goes. Storage space is precious, and there’s no point in organizing something that you’re never going to use again. I tossed any candles that were damaged, nearly used up, or in a color that no longer matched my decor.
   
3. Sort. Then I was ready to start sorting. Initially I thought I might organize my candles by type – pillar candles in one bin, tapers in another, etc. But once I had everything spread out in front of me, I realized that – for my purposes – it would be better to sort them by color.

Since I use different colors in my decor for each season, it’s very convenient to grab the bin with all of my orange and yellow candles in the fall, or the bin with all of my red candles at Christmas.

When deciding how to organize your candles, think about how you use them throughout the year, and create a system that will make it easy to find what you need, and equally easy to put them away when you’re done!

After sorting all of my colorful candles, I moved on to my large collection of white candles. Since I had more than would fit in one bin, I decided that for these it did make sense to sort them by type.

These clear stacking bins turned out to be perfect for votive and tea light candle storage. I filled one bin with my battery-operated votives, and stacked a second bin on top with all of my wax votives. Then I filled a third bin with all of my white pillar candles and tapers.

Finally, I used a few more clear bins to store my small candle holders, my jar candles, and my scented wax cubes.

Since I primarily use candles in candle holders for my decor, I don’t actually have that many jar candles – just a few from Bath and Body Works in my favorite seasonal scents that I replace as soon as they run out. But if you have a lot of jar candles, my friend Melissa has the perfect candle storage solution for you!

Leave Room to Store Candle Holders

I always go back to my 10 key steps for organizing any space – and #4 on the list is to consider how your needs change throughout the year. As I swap out my seasonal decor, one of the biggest problems I always run into is where to store some of my larger items when they aren’t in use – like the candle holders from my dining room table.

I really love these chunky black candle holders, and I leave them on our dining table most of the time. But at Christmas time I swap the candle holders for Christmas trees, and when we’re hosting a party, I often move the candle holders to make room for trays of food or other decor.

I’ve learned the hard way that it’s not that easy to find a spot to tuck 11 large candles holders out the way for a night (or a month). So when I planned out our candle storage cabinet, I opted to leave the bottom shelf empty to provide a convenient spot to store my oversized candle holders when they aren’t on my dining table.

There’s no best way to store candles, and no right way to organize them. What works best for you depends on the type of candles you have, the quantity, and what space you have available for your candle storage.

More Candle Storage Ideas

How to Store Candles When Your Shelf and Drawer Space is Limited

My biggest piece of advice for organizing when you’re short on space is to take advantage of every available nook and cranny, and one of the most commonly overlooked storage spaces is on the back of your closet doors.

I have a hall closet that I use to store most of our holiday and seasonal decor. A shoe bag hanging on the back of the door holds some of my faux flowers, but the pockets are also the perfect size for holding pillar candles!

Click Read More to see 15 other unique ideas for back of door storage throughout the house!

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How to Store Jar Candles

If you love scented jar candles, then you've probably discovered that they present a unique storage challenge. Ideally you want to be able to see the labels on each candle to know what scent it is. On a shelf, you'll only be able to see the labels for the front row of jars, and in a drawer, you'll only see the lids rather than the labels.

Add to that the fact the glass jars are fragile... Candles aren't cheap, so you want to both store and protect them. My friend Melissa, over at Polished Habitat, came up with a perfect solution!

Continue Reading

Store Birthday Candles in Your Baking Drawer

Birthday candles are one of those items that seems to multiply around our house. Each time we buy a package, we never end up using all of them (you don't need 12 candles when you're celebrating an 8th birthday). But none the less you wind up buying more when the next birthday rolls around.

A few years back, I created an organized baking drawer to keep everything we need for cupcake baking and cake decorating all in one convenient spot. I used three ceramic ramekins {from the Michael's dollar section} to corral all of my birthday candles into one spot.

Now I can quickly take inventory to see if I have enough candles of a particular color or size before buying more.

This quick little organization solution also encourages us to use up our extras. What kid doesn't love to blow out candles? Use them to celebrate the last day of school before winter break, a great test score, or just because!

Click read more to get all the details of this organized baking drawer.

Read More

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My kids have aged into more challenging puzzles, so we donated most of their “little kid” puzzles. They recently got quite a few new puzzles for Christmas and birthdays, so I decided it was the perfect time for me to show you my favorite storage solution for kids’ puzzles.

This is the stack of puzzles that I started with. That black box actually had five separate puzzles in it, and I knew it was going to be a mess with the pieces all mixed up if I didn’t do something about it soon!

This post contains some affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

Years ago, I saw someone suggest storing puzzles in gallon-sized Ziploc bags and it sounded like a great idea, until I tried it. I liked that I could see easily see the puzzle pieces inside, but the bags were floppy and slippery, making it really hard to efficiently store them in a basket or bin without them just ending up in a pile.

Additionally my kids had a hard time securely closing the bags, so puzzle pieces would end up spilling out and I’d find myself reorganizing them over and over again.

After this experience, I went on the hunt for a similar – but better – way to organize my kids’ puzzles. I purchased and returned a few different options before I finally found these pouches that work perfectly because you can still see through them, but they are stiff enough to hold their shape, making them much easier to store and organize!

Purchased individually, the best deal I’ve found on these pouches is at The Container Store, but if you want to buy them in a larger quantity, you can get a great deal on sets of 16 or sets of 24 with a variety of rainbow colored zippers Amazon.

I’ve found that the Letter Size pouches are perfect for storing all of our jigsaw puzzles. The ones I’ve shown here are between 100 and 500 piece puzzles, but 1000 piece puzzles fit in these puzzles just as well because the pieces are smaller.

The larger legal size pouches work great for storing wooden kids’ puzzles and some larger preschool puzzles.

This is a quick and easy organizing project. Start by cutting the picture off of the front of the boxes.

Place the puzzle photo in the front of the pouch so that you can see which puzzle is inside at a glance, and then store the puzzle pieces behind the photo.

It’s easy to see how much space it saves to store jigsaw puzzles in these pouches. So much thinner than in the box!

Once you’ve transferred all of your puzzles from their boxes to the zippered pouches, you can file them into a basket or bin.

I love a good before and after, so here’s a side by side comparison to prove why this is the best way to store kids’ puzzles!

The puzzles fit perfectly in a basket, but let me show you where we are actually storing ours. The kids have a play table in the basement with a storage space built in under the table that’s the perfect size for our bags of puzzles. We’ve had this table for ages, and it’s no longer available where we bought it, but here’s a similar table.

Even though the sides of the storage bin under the table aren’t very high, you can see that the bags stay upright on their own – no flopping over like you’d have with Ziploc storage bags. This makes it so easy for my kids to flip through the puzzles to find the one they want to work on. And the zippers make it easy for them to put the puzzle away when they are done.

Here’s another fun side by side, space saving comparison…

This is a really quick and easy organizing project. It only takes about five minutes to transfer a stack of puzzles into the zippered pouches.

Looking for more tips to organize kids’ stuff? Check out these posts!

The post How to Store Jigsaw Puzzles In Less Space appeared first on Blue i Style.

A while back, I gave my laundry closet a major makeover, and while some of the big DIY projects are the first to catch you eye – like the green cabinets above the washer and dryer – this space is actually full of quick and easy organizing hacks that you can complete in about five minutes each.

This post contains some affiliate links. If you buy something that I recommend, you pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

1. TRANSFER DETERGENT INTO CLEAR LAUNDRY ROOM CANISTERS

I transferred my laundry detergent pods and my OxiClean powder into two large, glass canisters {and added washi tape detail to each}. Not only do these canisters add a little style to the laundry room, they also allow me to see when I am running low and need to add these laundry necessities to my shopping list.

I made sure to place these canisters in the far back corner of the deep countertop, far out of reach of little hands!

2. Use a Pretty Basket as a Laundry Room Lint Bin

Since our laundry closet doesn’t allow space for a garbage can on the floor, I used to pile lint up on the counter before finally carrying it all to a trash can elsewhere in the house. When planning our laundry room makeover last fall, I came up with a more function {and more stylish} solution.

I found a black and white striped, lidded jute basket that I was totally smitten with, and I realized it would be a perfect as a lint collector. Now I just fill up the basket each time I do a load of laundry, and then empty the lint to the bathroom trash down the hall when the basket fills up.

3. ADD A TOWEL RAIL FOR HANGING CLOTHES

Before our recent laundry closet makeover, I had a clothing rod high up in the back, left corner of the closet, but I’m short and I couldn’t easy reach that rod, so it rarely got used. I wanted to find a better solution {one that my short self could reach}, so I opted to add four bar towel holder to the inside of one of the closet doors.   

Not only does this towel rack on the door work great for hanging up clothes as I take them out of the dryer, and the four bars also work well for items that need to hang to dry. I was able to get rid of my bulky, folding drying rack, and now when I have a shirt that needs to line dry, I can just drape it over one of the rods of the towel rack.

4. KEEP EXTRA HANGERS IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM

This one isn’t so much an organizing “hack” – but it’s one of my favorite laundry room organizing products, nonetheless, and it’s so inexpensive! I keep a plastic hanger stacker on the laundry room countertop and fill it up with the empty hangers out of our closet so that I always have plenty of hangers on hand for clothes coming out of the dryer.  

5. USE LIDDED JARS FOR SPARE BUTTONS & MENDING

All of those spare buttons and little packets of thread that come with new clothes can be hard to keep track of. I like to use inexpensive lidded glass jars to corral these small items, as well as other mending related supplies, like scissors, thread, needles, and pins.

I also use four more of these same lidded glass jars to contain small laundry supplies. You can read all about what I keep in the other jars in this detailed laundry closet organizing post, and you can get the DIY details of the black and white stripes that I added to the jar lids in this post. 

To maximize storage space in our small laundry closet, I installed an Elfa mounting rail from to the back of one of the doors, and attached three Elfa Utility Large/Deep Baskets. Four of the lidded jars fit perfect in each basket, and I use the top basket {out of reach of the kids} for bottles of stain removers and sprays. 

6. USE A BABY WIPES CASE TO STORE DRYER SHEETS

The baskets on the back of the laundry room door have plenty of room for most of my laundry/cleaning products, but I had to get creative when it came to my dryer sheets. The box that they come in was too big to fit in the baskets, so I searched around the house for a smaller container that I could transfer some of the dryer sheets into for easy access. I came up with a travel sized Huggies baby wipes case from the nursery that is perfect for the job!

This case holds quite a few dryer sheets at a time, and I can just flip open the lid and pull them out one at a time.  I keep the larger box of fabric softener sheets in the linen closet, and just refill this handy plastic case as needed. Here are some similar refillable cases…only prettier. 

7. COLLAPSIBLE LAUNDRY BASKETS TAKE UP LESS SPACE

Laundry baskets can take up so much room between use, so I got rid of all of my bulky plastic baskets, and replaced them all with the collapsible mesh laundry baskets. I keep a couple of these baskets in our master bedroom closet {tucked behind our hamper} to make it quick and easy to carry clothes down to the laundry closet, and I stash another couple in the space between the washer and the wall in the laundry closet, ready for use to carry clean clothes to the appropriate rooms.

These collapsible laundry baskets are plenty to big to hold an entire large load of laundry, and they pack a whole lot of function into very little storage space!

The post Five Minute Laundry Closet Organizing Hacks appeared first on Blue i Style.

This post contains some affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

The post How to Make Old Wood Drawers Slide More Easily appeared first on Blue i Style.

CLEAR THE CLUTTER ON TOP

Choosing a nightstand with interior storage is the best way to keep the clutter at bay. If you don’t like the heavy look of a fully enclosed nightstand, opt for a style with a combination of open and closed storage, like a drawer with an open shelf below. Storage within the bedside table allows you to keep the top clear and free for some simple decor. 

If you still need extra storage, a decorative storage box is perfect for keeping small items organized but out of sight. The small box on top of my nightstand holds a few mementos that have sentimental value. Stacking a pretty vase on top of the box helped me add some needed height and scale to my nightstand styling.

DIVIDE & CONQUER: ORGANIZED NIGHTSTAND DRAWER

Think About What You Really Need in Your Nightstand Drawer

When organizing with divider trays, keep like things together and make sure everything has a dedicated spot. It only took me a few minutes to fill these trays with my nightstand necessities, and now I can find what I need, and I’ll be able to keep it organized.

CONTAIN IN STYLE: USE BASKETS ON SHELVES

The post Quick Tips for an Organized Nightstand appeared first on Blue i Style.

I speak from experience! I used to just have two Christmas wreaths, but over time, I’ve added to my collection and now also have sets of front door wreaths for spring, fall, Halloween, and more. I used to use wreath storage bags in the garage, but I recently came up with a clever organizing hack that is saving space while keeping my wreaths in great shape.

This post contains some affiliate links. If you purchase something I recommend, you’ll pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.

Wreath storage bags are great for keeping the dust off of your wreaths, especially if they are stored in a garage or unfinished storage area. I used storage bags for years, but as my collection of wreaths grew, I found that the bags weren’t protecting some of my more delicate wreaths. I considered switching to solid wreath storage boxes, but purchasing as many as I needed was going to get pricey, and they would take up a lot more room in my garage. Plus, I was also having trouble finding an option big enough for some of my larger wreaths {like my DIY monogram wreath}.

I started considering other options and came up with a creative and inexpensive solution! I recently turned an extra closet in our house into a prop closet {more details on that coming soon}, and I was able to use the wall space on the side of the closet to add wreath storage hangers that hold more than a dozen wreaths.

I purchased some flip up tools holders and Scott installed them on the wall of the closet. The holders only cost about $6 each {they were much cheaper at the hardware store than on Amazon!} and they install quickly with just two screws each {just be sure to use anchors if you don’t hit studs in the wall}.

Each holder is long enough to storage four bulky wreaths, and the shape keeps the wreaths from falling off the end. I love that when they aren’t in use, the holders can flip up and fold flat against the wall.

I offset four of the tool holders in a zig zag pattern down the wall, allowing me to use all of the wall space from floor to ceiling.

Unlike wreath bags I was using previously, hanging the wreaths prevents the feathers and twigs on my more delicate wreaths from getting squished or broken. It can be really hard to find 24 inch and 36 inch wreath holders, but I am able to easily store my over-sized and odd-shaped wreaths from these flip up tool holders.

Of course, you may not have an extra deep closet with adequate wall space to install wreath holders for storage, but these flip up wreath hangers would also be perfect on the wall of a basement storage room or in the garage.

If you are storing wreaths in a space where they are more likely to get dusty or dirty, you could use these flip up wreath storage racks in combination with wreath bags. Use the handles on the wreath storage bags to hang them from a flip up tool holders mounted to the wall to clear up valuable shelf space!

MORE WREATH STORAGE IDEAS

There are lots of other great Christmas wreath storage containers available. I personally prefer the ones that you can see through so that you can quickly find the one you are looking for.

The post Inexpensive Wreath Storage Idea appeared first on Blue i Style.

KIDS’ COMMAND CENTER SUPPLY LIST: 

• Magnetic Strips
• White Animal Head Magnets
• Gold Animal Magnets
• Translucent File Boxes
• File Folders
• Command Picture Hanging Strips

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My friend Melissa came to visit last month, and when she asked me for our WiFi password, she was met with a blank stare. Since it’s saved on both my computer and phone, I never have to type it in and honestly had no clue what it was. I assured her that when Scott got home, he’d be able to tell her. Well, Scott came home from work, and about 10 guesses later he had to go and reset the password. About an hour later we were finally able to get her online so she could finish some work, and I realized that we need to make it easier on us and our guests.

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