Sticky Storage - Magnet Strips

When I organized my medicine cabinet like a year ago, I got an idea, there was some wasted space due to different sized toiletries. A magnet on the wall inside would hold the metal items nicely. I tried every magnet on my frigde to try and repurpose, all failed.

Then after organizing my spice cabinet, I started looking at magnetic spice racks. Over at Mod Podge Rocks  recently I saw she attached magnets to baby food jars to stick to the fridge. (We actually do Baby-Led-Solids AKA Baby-Led-Weaning, and do not feed Ellie baby food, she feeds herself real, whole foods, but we get baby food on WIC so I put mashed veggies and meat in soups and we eat the fruit.)

At heaven (Ikea) today I remembered the magnetic spice rack idea and looked around for a metal backing for magnetic jars I imagined exsisted. I found some magnetic knife holders instead. (they also come in fun colors)

I was pretty sure the baby food jar lids would stick, and at only $2.49 it was worth a shot, I'm sure I could use them in my craft room for scissors or to relocate knives or something. (they were small, so I bought 5)

Someone on FB tonight asked about bathroom storage and I re-read my medicine cabinet post and at the magnet on the wall part, I had an aha moment! Those little knife racks would work! So For $2.49ish + like 10 minutes (most of which were spent opening the package) I had a little more storage in my medicine cabinet, which is great because we have since added the baby's toothbrush holder in that space.

The back of the medicine cabinet is not real sturdy, so I couldn't screw the magnet in. I thought of my darling, command hooks strips.

Without the screw holes being used though, there was a lip in the back of the magnet. The Velcro picture hanging strips came to mind. They were perfect sized and filled in that lip.

I just stuck one side to the magnet and other to the wall, clickety click, we were installed!

Add the metal tools and tada! Extra space!


Before:
 
After

oh and I had to check, yes, baby food jar lids DO stick to the magnet, even through the packaging.

If I dont get to make my spice rack soon enough for you, check out Mod Podge Rocks, or Just Home Made, or The Little Apartment, who uses Goo Gone for that pesky lable glue that has been driving me nuts.

Ive FALLen in Love again this year.

(i totally cheated and bumped this post from last year, life has been nuts lately, I do intend on getting back into blogging my life and home, soon.)

Fall is my favorite time of the year. September 1st rolls around and I pull out my fall decor. October 1st-ish (or whenever i feel like it) the Halloween stuff gets added. November 1st-ish the Halloween gets put away and any Thankgiving specific decor gets added to the decor.

here are some pictures of some of the Fall only stuff:

I had 2 little punkies and the gourd in the middle, but one of the punkies got moldy, so I had to toss it out. During my recent Gift Wrap Organization project, I found the gold/orange bow and thought it was too Fall-y to pack it away, (I love it too much to gift it anyway) the vase was from some flowers we got at our wedding, and the flowers (silk) were purchased on clearance at Walmart for .75/10 stems, intended for our orange/blue wedding, but they were too fall-looking for the wedding theme, so I didn't use many of them in the wedding. The cloth was purchased to cover an ugly air-conditioner I had in my old apartment.

COST: $1.50 for the 3 real veggies(one was tossed out). $0 for the vase I already had, $0 for the flowers (they were in the wedding budget), $0 for the reused bow, $0 for scrap fabric from before (was like $1)

This cake stand/punch bowl was my favorite bridal shower gift. Purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond (although I'm not finding on their website today) Here is a similar one from Bloomingales. Its super versatile, has a divided tray under that turns upside down to be a flat cake plate when the domed lid is also inverted. it can also be covered with the domed lid with the divided tray as it is in the picture. Since I got it, it has been a fruit bowl, a cookie/brownie tray, candy bowl, and during the glorious days of summer, tomato bowl. Hasnt been either a cake stand or punch bowl yet, go figure.

In the bowl are faux punkies, I was disappointed when one of my real ones got moldy already this year, thats never happended to me before, usually they last from beginning of September through Thanksgiving. So after Halloween, I snagged a bunch of these little moldless punkies and gourds for .75 each on clearance. They will pay for themselves next year when I don't buy real ones. There are more of those non-wedding flowers in there too. And of course, underneith, some candy, not Halloween candy, just candy, I am pregnant with a sweet tooth. This would great with a bowl of red apples, silk flowers and leaves too.

Under the bowl is a faux suede placemat bought on clearance a few years ago for $1. I have more of them in other places in the house.

COST $6 for the faux punkies, everything else was from before.

This is actually the back/top of my bedroom armoirs, covered in a blue bedsheet. I really like how it hides the back of the armoires from the living room (were in a loft, remember). I also gives a "wall"/"mantle" area for decorating. The daisy picture(free at a yardsale, $10 walmart poster frame) is hanging by a chain (hidden by the scarecrow pik) and a 3M command hook from the other side. I love the little dangly leg guys in the middle. They make me happy every year.

COST: $0, I already had everything from previous years. The scarecrow pik was, I think, $0.25 on clearance. The little dangly leg guys were under $1 each, also on clearance, The candles were in a set with 3 small ones also for, I think, $3 on sale.

BTW, The picture frame was this:
but it was out of place with all the other fall decor, so with some handy Scotch Double sided tape, a leftover wedding flower ripped from its stem, and some silk leaves it became this (temporarily):


Happy Fall!
Im linking to: It's A Blog Party's Days of Thanksgiving Holiday Party and Cottage Instincts Make it for Monday