Adobe walls? How cool! Lazy Gardens, it sounds like your new home is turning those home organzing gears at full speed. That's fabulous. I'd love to see more pictures. The metal towel rack as a lid holder is brilliant. And lovely to look at too. Please keep us posted and upload pictures of your progress. Thank you!

ooh, don't you hate it when something is one inch off? I've been tempted in those instances to figure out how to just cut a little divot out of the back, or the top, if nobody will ever see it.

Will you be able to use the doors from the other cabinet?

Someone I know was moving into an apt. w/ no cabinets in the bathroom and was going to buy one of the over-the-toilet cabinets that have legs. I always think those are smaller than most people need.

Oh, I wanted to say, you're so smart to focus slowly on infrastructure. It's true that some people (like, me) can add storage when instead they should purge belongings. But it sounds like you don't have anything, so you'll need something.

Wow, it does sound like you've given up a lot of storage from your old digs. Your house sounds cool though- have to agree that adobe walls sound awesome- so it sounds like you get to be creative in figuring out less-than-traditional storage solutions.

Love the pan lid rack idea- that looks nice! Too funny about the orphan lids- where the heck do those come from?

It sounds like you have a great plan to work at it slowly and let it evolve to be a well organized home.

I have NO CLUE where the orphaned lids came from. But they are at the thrift store now, along with three stray coffee cups from an old set and some duplicate utensils. When I unpack a box from Phoenix I pull out all of the similar items and cull the duplicates.

I'm going to keep the old bath cupboard for a while and see if we can install it in the utility room or laundry room. It's a nice SW style cabinet, but 24" wide with 2 shelves isn't enough.

Here's the lid holders, on the side of the cabinet. Because of the face frame, the pull-out holder is far enough away from the side to let me install the towel rods.

I went for frameless cabinets, but I have to say that one of the advantages of the face-frame construction is that tiny little nook there.

Lazy_Gardens, your house sounds like it makes you truly think about what deserves to be in your home and what you don't need. Sometimes I wish our house put more pressure on it than it does. DH is one of those who often laments that we don't have enough space-- of course the other side of the argument is that we have too much stuff.

talley-sue-nyc, I hadn't thought much about the benefit of frameless cabinets versus those with frames, we always just had whatever came in our pre-owned house :) What is very funny about this today is that I just received a package in our cluster mailbox that fit through the frameless back of the box (for the delivery person), but would not come out of the framed front that I could access. Too funny that this happened about 15 minutes ago while I was contemplating this thread. With the help of a small knife, I did get everything out- contents in one piece, the box not so much.

lazy-gardens, that is an excellent use of inexpensive towel bars to hold lids. I've even mounted them on the doors in my old house (had very wide doors under the stovetop area). They were thick framed doors from the 50's. In my bathroom I installed TP roll racks under the sink that align with the plumbing side.

P.S. Losing a 16 foot wide bookcase would be HORRIBLE for me! I just figured out a way to add 91 linear feet of storage in a closet while only losing 1 foot of length from the room. When seasonal items are behind doors, it keeps the clutter to a minimum.

I used to live in AZ -- had to triple the wardrobe size and home care gadgets when we moved to the North Country! Needed separate winter/summer/rain versions of coats, shoes, boots, etc... Went from one lawn blower to snow blower, lawn mower, chainsaw, and all sorts of gardening tools. Add in lake/water equipment, and it keeps growing and growing.

I look forward to more of your organizing tips. (I do miss adobe!)

quasifish said, "your house sounds like it makes you truly think about what deserves to be in your home and what you don't need"

Yes. One issue is that this house was built in 1880 or so with the usual lack of closet space, plumbing, etc. Another issue is that it was the "second home" for a few years, so we're merging two households. I made a lot of AZ charities happy before we left, because the criteria for moving things was so high. And I continue to get rid of duplicates as I find them here.

Here's the latest tiny upgrade; adding one shelf to use the wasted smidge of space above the baking sheets (cleats nailed to the sides with a board cut to fit as shelf). It holds the glass baking dishes and the smallest muffin pan

That's great how you utilized the space in that cabinet- it's maximized, but still very organized.

How is your ongoing organizing going otherwise? The house sounds nice, but with it's challenges! :^)

It's not going much at all ... both the SO and I have had a series of "colds" and bronchitis since mid-January. Nothing serious, just one after another :(

I did organize the tea cart where we store all the teabags, making drawer inserts of Foam-core for the different brands and got rid of excess storage jars.

I also cleaned, sorted and organized the freezer. It still needs defrosting, but I can find things, and the shelves are labelled.

Next is to label the tea cart's drawers with the varieties - have the label holders and screws, just need to apply them.

Plumber comes sometime this week for a THREE TOILET UPGRADE (be still my fluttering heart, finally toilets that reliably flush instead of the anaemic first-generation low flow ones). He/they will also clean up a rats nest of pipes that was abandoned when the washer was moved - it's ugly and in our way.

Then I can make some custom-fit storage shelving for the utility room, which will get a bunch of boards out of there and into use.

Sorry to heat that you have been sick and that is putting a crimp in your organizing.

I dropped off on my organizing before the holidays and really haven't gotten back to it for a whole bunch of reasons, which means that the front work room is a huge mess of clutter that has collected in there. Soon enough though.

At least you got some things cleaned and organized, no matter how small a task it is in the overall picture- it all adds up!

Plumbing is one of my least favorite subjects... actually a favorite as long as there's nothing to talk about and it just works like it's suppose to :^) I hope your plumbing appointment goes great and you get those upgrades and no problems come up.

We have a tiny utility room (really just big enough for washer and dryer), but we've maximized shelving in there as much as possible- it's my favorite room for storage because that's really one of the main goals of the room.

Any more updates, Lazy Gardens?

The slab is poured for a 8x12 storage shed, which will clear the workshop of non-tool things such as out of season clothing, bicycles, etc. !!!!!!!! Then I can build things.

Several more boxes of duplicate and unused things to the thrift store.

Keep up the good work, Lazy!

I have been adding pullouts to some cabinetry in our house. Our 6' bathroom vanity is actually two 3' units - so the side without a sink had room for a drawer above. Then I added a pullout to the cabinet below, to keep that space more organized.

Here's the pullout - the front of the new drawer is above (with the round pull):

I also made some changes to a cabinet I use as a workbench, in the laundry room. The existing pullout sliders broke, so when I reinstalled the pullout, I moved it up, and added another one below. Now I have a drawer for all my small bits of scrap lumber!

Lazy Gardens you're not living up to your name there is nothing lazy about what you been up to. This is a lot of work! We have been talking about adding a storage shed. Do you like yours? Would you do something different if you had to do it again?

We have not YET got the shed ... slab poured, but then the %^@#! manufacturer who had accepted the order abruptly cancelled it. It seems they don't install in this state!

So SO had to start over. New manufacturer, shed being installed next Thursday. I'll let you know how we like it.

The shed! I HAVE A STORAGE SHED! 8x12!!!! I did a craptastic paint job on the inside with leftover white primer to make it a bit lighter, and the SO is busily building a bike hanging spot with a shelf over it. He found an ingenious way to keep the bikes from smashing back and forth. Pics to follow, after the tool noises out there stop.

Then we'll pull all the non-tool stuff from the workshop and (tiny) garden shed, I can move my gardening stuff from the workshop into the garden tool shed. It's going to be lots of shuffling for a while, but definitely worth it.

Woo hoo! Congratulations! Can't wait to see the pictures!

Are those lids hanging on the inside door cast iron lids? They look like they might be something like Le Crueset Are they really secure in there? It looks like a lovely solution, but it would make me cringe evertime that I opened that door that one of them was going to slip out and fall on my foot. It looks like there is enough room between the door and the bar for the lid to fall through if it shifts in position.

I mean, it looks great, but...............ouch! Is it really safe? That would do some real and lasting damage to your foot.

Be safe.

Gertie - That first picture is not my kitchen. It was the inspiration for the picture that has the glass lids on the towel bars, with the lid roll-out next to it. They look reasonable secure, because the knob is hooked over the bar and gravity holds it down.

Yes, they are secure enough inside the cabinet, near the floor of the cabinet as you used them. I don't think that I would ever put them on the inside of a door that swings like that. It is dependent on the heavy lid not shifting. It looks really dangerous. If the focus of the gravity that is holding them in shifts, that same gravity will bring them down, fast.

If those are Le Crueset lids, they look very heavy for the door, too. Sometimes these photo shoots don't represent reality. I am relieved to hear that this is not your photo shoot!

The way you used them presents no danger of them falling out.

The shed has 2x4 studs, so we built a shelf across the back that uses the bike hanging 2x6 as one of the supports. Bikes will swing toward the wheel side when hanging.

Shelf above is 3/8 plywood, holding lightweight camping gear.

Just a cheap bike hook right in front of the 2x4 at the rear of the shed. SO framed in the 2x4 with some stray 1x8s to hold the wheels and keep the bikes from swinging. He attached a bit of 1x2 to the stud to widen the slot to fit the tires. You could use shorter chunks.

You can see rear wheel held stable. And we have room at the sides for shelving to hold storage bins!!!!! I'm going to have shallow shelves behind the bikes to hold the bike pumps and tools and helmets.

And I'm off to move more stuff to its best storage spot. I got all the non-garden stuff OUT of the teensy garden tool shed, and am moving all the remaining garden stuff INTO the garden shed.

When SO comes back, he's building shelves along both sides of the shed and I can REALLY go nuts on the tidying up.

Here's the shed, almost empty. We put garage floor matting on the floor (the manual says not to, but we're on a slab, and then elevated with vents, so I'm not worried about condensation.

That's a brilliant setup! I especially like that you can add some shallow shelves there.

Quite an awesome set-up you've got going on! When DIY minds get creative they can fix a lot of problems!

And the plumber came. We have THREE new low-flush toilets, and THREE fewer huge boxes cluttering up the place.

He took the old ones, and the two that still meet code will get re-installed in one of their many charity fix-up projects.

Federal Brace guy ... you have some NICE stuff for shelving. You are so on my wish list :)

the best part of installing toilets: the boxes go away! That's the best part of finishing lots of projects around my house. Not only do I get the benefits of whatever it was, but I get rid of the guilt, AND I get rid of the boxes.

Neat bicycle rack lazy gardens. Not having enough storage is something we have lived with for years. It's only while preparing to move now that I have convinced dh to get rid of stuff. It is so wonderful living in a house that isn't full of clutter. But no closets? That would be hard. Are your bedrooms big enough to put some wardrobe cabinets in?

AnnKH, I sent you a message.

The bedrooms are big enough for wardrobes, and one bedroom has custom one flanking the window. An upcoming project is to build a closet wall for the other bedroom to replace the tacky 1960s one we ripped out.

After I build shelving for the utility room, which is waiting for the ski storage rack to get here so I know exactly how deep to make it.

ARRRRGH ... size issues again! Ski hanging thing arrived. Doesn't fit modern side-cut powder skis, especially ones for a tall man.

So I upcycled/repurposed the rack into a machete and weed whacker hanger in in the garden shed. It works well. I's pose a picture but it's raining.

So what will you use to hang your skis?

I'll make a rack of dowels and 2x4s that precisely fits the skis - I'm building a shelf unit out there anyway, so it's not a big deal.

I was hoping to eliminate the fiddly part by buying the rack but the SO's skis are ginormous.

Something like this - we have a roof support post that divides off a niche that's just the right size for skis on one side of it.

ooh, clever! I like those foam collars; I wonder where they got them. It looks like they were a tiny bit small for the dowels.

I guess they're probably American Girl pool noodles.

(Did you know that they make Nerf darts from Barbie pool noodles?)

(Actually those are tube pipe insulation,, available at Home Depot. They're less than $2 and come in different diameters.)

Small steps, and I hope no backsliding ...

Got all the seed starting done and all the seed starting stuff back in the gardening Tool shed until I need it again in late January.

No progress on ski rack or storage shelves because ... plumbing and urgently needed outdoor stuff happened. Like leafy greens planted, walkways finished before too much rain fell so we have dry pathways to parking and the workshop.

Now I'm cleaning bookcases of the stuff that landed on them and making better use of them. Why the SO had a bin of granola bars on there I have no clue.

The workshop "path" is a work in progress. Eventually I want it to fill the entire area like this, with some plants between the stones along the edges.

Beautiful!

UPDATE!!!!! SKI STORAGE DONE!!!!!

And what a difference it makes.

The overview, partly done. The rear shelf unit used to have a cheap
bookcase for storage. New shelves are about 21 inches deep. The top shelf at the rear is for the big cooler we use for shopping trips.

A detail of the shelf construction - basically just "ladders" of 2x4s to hold the shelves, with framing nails - based on a design of Ana White.
They are stabilized by a board nailed at the rear of each shelf that prevents racking and keeps things from getting shoved off the back.

Shelves are wider now. I was using up scrap plywood and had to piece them together,

http://www.ana-white.com/2014/09/free_plans/easy-economical-garage-shelving-2x4s

Detail of the ski holder. I have added an over-the-door hook to hold the poles.

And the unit, plus the new freezer, showing ski storage rack and the (totally accidental) space for the step stool. Over the freezer is the ideal place for the Costco quantities of paper goods: bulky but lightweight.

Perfect! I'm in the process of customizing garage storage, never thought to make a rack over the freezer!

I love those "(totally accidental)" spaces that show up. It's like God is directed them, sometimes.

I had a plumbing pipe sticking into the back of my kitchen cabinet. My remodeler built a box around it, w/ a clip on plastic cover. I was lamenting the 4" loss of space, and then I realized I could set my knife sharpener on it. Which meant it was easy to grab over the pans in front.

POT RACKS!

I'd been looking for some to fit a certain space, just over 36 inches wide and finally found these. Two racks on the wall moves all the Cuisinart saucepans to the wall, and the cast iron stuff to where the saucepans were in a cabinet and NO MORE SKILLETS stored in my stove.

• Pot rack expands between 24 1/8" to 40" long
• 1 3/8" tall, extends 1" from the wall

https://www.rangekleen.com/products/cw6011-pot-rack-oval-black-enamel 

Looks great and will help keep things organized in your kitchen :-).

Thanks for continuing to post your progress. I check in regularly :-)

I loved my pot rack but I got rid of all of my pots. Half of them went downstairs to my son and nephew's Suite the other half got donated.

Now I have 2 fry pans and 4 pots. The 2 fry pans generally sit on the stove. We use those everyday. They're the no stick kind plus they can go in the dishwasher so those are handy pots. The other pots and up sitting easily in my empty cupboards. I got rid of a ton of stuff when we moved and now I even have empty cupboards. :-)

Hooray for empty cabinets! I've got some empty space now as well. So strange and wonderful.

Ended up with commercially made metal wall shelves in the garage and the spacing didn't work out for a rack over the freezer but at least there are a couple of bins on top rather than things that could fall behind. If something can fall behind it will and if you make a stack it will fall over so I avoid them at all cost. I am not happy that the space between dryer and freezer is unassigned, someday inspiration will strike.

My garage is done. Had a great time making hangers from scrap wood for that big stuff that won't fit on shelving. Best was solving 2 issues at once. Needed a way to store garden tools and had a wood box without a job. It was originally for computer boards, about 8" square in cross section and about 30" long. I turned it on its side and cut slots through what used to be the sides to hang long handled tools. A slot cut through one side now top holds the loppers upside down and I used scrap hardboard to make dividers that conveniently slid into the board slots. That helps support the tools and made some little spaces for my gardening shoes, pruners and gloves. Used a couple of shelf supports without a job to hang it on the wall.

Kathy -

Pics?

AWESOME!!!!

It's amazing how much a wall can hold, isn't it?

Kathy, that wall is a thing of beauty!

Thank you. Before most of those things were slotted between shelving units and would catch on the shelving uprights. It worked but this is better.