What could be simpler than this???

Branch Bookshelf – Simple, Stylish and Easy! The Branch Bookshelf - at lunuganga from wokmedia.

The designer wanted to take something of the feeling of the flooded environment home. “We took the image of partially submerged trees and translated it into shelves that have both the qualities of the overgrown lake that surrounded us and the quietness of European furniture.” 

Easy to make on your own also!?!?!

 This very modern, contemporary, and flexible system package can be assembled in the configurations in the product images shown or any other configuration you might like. All of the shelves and units can be repositioned virtually any where in the system by simply lifting and moving.

White or black shelves and plexi sides.

Found at Funktion Alley:  Funktion Alley is an independent Swedish company that was established in February 2006 in Malmö.  ( There is that Sweden influence again!!)

Mistakes happen in life. It is an unfortunate fact.

What we all need to do is:

• 1) Learn something from each and every mistake.
• 2) Take responsibility for the mistake and make any amends needed or possible - even if a heartfelt “I am sorry” is all that is possible.
• 3) Move on and let it go.

  It must be my upcoming trip to Sweden, Norway and Denmark that has kismet bringing a lot of Northern Europe design to my attention lately. I was perusing Demakersvan, a Dutch design house and their renovated studio in Rotterdam when I came across Drawerment. (Please see the official stats at the bottom of this post.)

This is made up of a bunch of second hand drawers from old office furniture installed into white MDF boxes - very simple. THINK of the possibilities!  A wall of these would made very nice storage with great visual and conversational interest.  

I could see this in several configurations - you could even make a desk out of it on a wall.

AUTHOR: JAROSLAV JUŘICA
YEAR: 2008
MATERIAL: MDF, 2ndhand drawers
DIMESIONS: different sizes
Drawerment is a composition of drawers collected from old office furniture. The installation enables viewers to find their own story in it.
In 1993, Tejo Remy designed the iconic „Chest of Drawers”. He assembled different kinds of drawers into an accidental and dynamic composition. I took this idea apart and let the drawers fly free to find their own position in the corner of the room.
See more here

Many people say the words, “I HAVE to get organized” with slumped shoulders and a sigh. It is viewed as an unpleasant task or something that needs to be tackled and fought through every time. Believe it or not, organizing can be fun and take loads off of your shoulders!

Being organized does not mean just getting rid of things but about being able to find and use the things that you do have.  Organizing is also not just about having pretty, matching containers to put all of your stuff into.  However, it can be soothing and make you more content when things do in fact match, look good together and are attractive.

It’s not a requirement that you go out and spend a lot of money for things to be visually appealing and efficient. There have never been more organizing shows, magazines, websites and books out there on the market than there are now.  They can give you an unlimited source of ideas. However, just because you see something in a magazine or store, it doesn’t mean that you have to buy that exact product – some of them are pretty pricey. There are tons of DIY creative alternatives!!  (We talk about a lot of them in this blog - check out the archives!!)

For example:

1) Paint Cans: Rather than spending lots of money on round containers meant specifically for organizing go to your local hardware store and buy empty metal paint cans. You can then decorate/label them using any number of techniques from stickers, to paint pens to hot gluing little items on the sides to indicate what is inside. You can use the paint pens to make ‘labels’ on the cans to indicate what each one holds. Or you can buy brass labels that you can gently bend then hot glue onto the can or simply print out a plain computer label to stick on Cans like this have an unlimited array of uses. They can be as colorful and crazy or as simple, modern and sleek as you want to make them.

2) Shoe or Check Boxes: Another great option for fun, easy and reasonable storage is to decorate shoe, check or other cardboard boxes.  You can cover the boxes with Contac-type paper which will not only be long-lasting but will help to reinforce the boxes as well. Wall-paper and fabric work also. From there, the possibilities are endless.

3) Colored Containers: Right after each holiday, brightly colored storage boxes colored appropriately for the holiday are available for a small percentage of their original cost. You will save yourself tons of time, effort and energy by being able to see immediately  the bright colored boxes. Use a red one for paid bills and tax returns, green ones for office supplies, orange ones for blank paper etc.

4) Clear Jars: With one glance, you will be able to see where everything is and even better, how many you have left.  Pens, clips, paper clips, small post-its etc. (I did one office with the client’s set of antique jars in row above her desk. Very pretty and very functional!)

5) Containerize: Does your desk look like a disaster? Is it filled to the brim with pens, pencils, clips and other miscellaneous debris? Containerize! In the short time it will take you to sort things into like categories, you can have a relaxing, orderly space. One box for writing stuff, one box for clips, one box for personal accessories and so on. With the incredible selections out there these days, you’ll be able to find something that will fit into your desk and area space and still allow you to have everything within reach.

With just a little change in your thinking, you too can turn your organizing projects from a unpleasant task to fun!

  For my wonderful Readers who live in Montana:

Vaughn Community Garage Sale Summer Celebration Day!

Multiple garage sales throughout the town of Vaughn

Saturday June 28th, 2008 

Items include:

Antiques,

Appliances

Office furniture,

Home furniture, Household items, Pampered Chef,

Nursery Trees,

Office supplies,

Tools,

Small truck topper,

Post hole digger,

Farm equipment,

etc etc etc.

Plus:

Vaughn Fire Dept open house,

Cascade County Sheriff’s Dept School Resource Tent,

Face painting,

Food and drink specials

Mark your calendars & come out to the valley that day!  The stores & bars will all have specials going! Great Fun!

If you live in Vaughn, want to have a garage sale on June 28^th and want to be included in the big, joint, “Mega Garage Sale” ads in the Tribune and the Consumer Press: Send or drop off $10, for each garage sale address, to ReAnn Rothwell by June 25th- be sure to include your address & contact info.

If you have questions call ReAnn Rothwell: 965-3441, 107 4^th St., Vaughn, MT 59487  

See you here!!!

 Another great Microsoft Gallery template that I have used for several different things is their annual school attendance worksheet. If have a need to keep track of a person’s time through-out an entire year, then this is a great little Excel one-page for one-person worksheet.

I am currently using it to track a group of volunteers. I simply went into the headers and changed the information that I needed - Volunteer name instead of student name, Spouse’s name and telephone number instead of parent’s information, etc. Then I printed the worksheets out and had each volunteer write in their information.

Now when a volunteer works on a day, they simply write their hours in under the correct date.  Then at the end of each month, I simply add up how many hours each of the 10 volunteers logged in. (If I wanted to, I could input those figures into the worksheet on my computer and have it track a worksheet for each person.)

This worksheet could be used to keep track of annual employee hours, volunteers, specific jobs or projects, kids (of course) ….anyplace where it would be convenient to track and be able to see attendance or hours for an entire year.

 To file receipts is a breeze, especially if you use Quicken or QuickBooks accounting systems. (I use QuickBooks for both personal and for business.)

After entering the receipt information into the computer, I use a simple cheap manila alphabetical file to file the receipts. I purchase these wherever they are the cheapest.  I only use one file for both personal and for business — one file for the whole year.

We have saved so much money with this system. This spring we had dead plants that had a money-back-guarantee from Lowes. I just went to the L’s for that year and pulled the correct receipt.

One time the lawn mower repairperson said if we could prove the lawnmower was purchased from him, the repair was free. I simply located the two-year old purchase in QuickBooks, found the year, located that file, and easily located the receipt. Saved us money again!

I keep every receipt because I never know which one I will ever need. Of course, every year is labeled!!!

Some times, you have an item, a job, a project, an article that you just do not have the time, energy or tools to do today. Or it does not need to be done until later. I use my Google and my hard calendar to keep track of those things. I schedule out time in my calendars for that project or to read that article. Then, in my filing cabinet, I have one folder for every month of the year. Into the corresponding month’s file goes the paper work pertaining to the particular project.

 At the beginning of that month, I take that folder out and look through it. Later in the month when I have dealt with everything I wanted to, I put the folder in the back so that every current or upcoming month is in the front folder. 

Dates to remember (like birthdays) are on a sheet for that month and can just carry forward from year to year.

   “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind

 Do you have a day filled with interruptions, phone calls, crisis and other things that are out of your control?

One way to make your day a little less hectic is to take those things into account and to control what you can. Microsoft Templates has a nifty Controllable Time Worksheet that I would like to highly recommend. (Excel 2003 or later needed.)

It has a simple system for taking into account those daily uncontrollable activities and allowing you to see the time you have left and can use to get done what else you need to get done.

Use this template at the end of each day to list the items on your to-do list with priorities and estimates of your controllable time to complete them. A great way to Get Things Done!