January Roundup: Crafts Projects to Help You Get Organised

2015 is now in full swing, and festive excess has long been abandoned in favour of January thrift.  The global DIY community has therefore been looking toward ways to get their lives back into order.  With that in mind, we thought we’d concentrate on the projects which help to get your life and home organised.

This coffee table from Live from Abi Road merits inclusion on the grounds of its practicality – it can be wheeled away when not in use.  More extraordinarily, the table was put together in a matter of mere hours using power tools and some leftover palo wood.

The watermark emblazoned across the top of the table is actually a monogram from the carpenter and his wife's (that's Abi) wedding, created using “a really strong brew of coffee”, a paintbrush, and no small amount of patience.  After a few layers, the effect was complete.  The effect in the end is somewhere between a watermark and a coffee stain, which, as it happens, was exactly the intention.  It’s this sort of personal touch which would be impossible without a little DIY!

Pipe-based shelving solutions are enjoying something of a renaissance, particularly among DIY circles.  This media console benefits from that industrial aesthetic, and looks strong enough to take a l lot of weight.

The creation of this television stand required a considerable amount of galvanised piping, and it is this which constituted the bulk of the budget, the only other materials being a couple of planks of spruce and some wood stain.  According to Brittany at Pieces of Page, the wood might have benefited from some sanding – but that wasn’t the effect she was going for.  We think the results vindicate that decision!

This improvised purse, courtesy of Mandi Johnson, is the latest addition to craft blogging phenomenon A Beautiful Mess. Mandi has transformed an old copy of The Girl Scout Handbook – though any sufficiently thick hardback would probably have served equally well. She ripped out all of the pages, lined the inside with linen, attached a magnetic snap mechanism, and took pictures of the entire procedure.

The creation of the purse, according to Mandi, took a matter of mere hours – so there’s nothing stopping you from repeating her feat. All that remains is to select a book: something which you never want to read, but want people to think you have read, would be a wise choice!

It’s a common complaint among collectors of all things, whether they be stamps, football stickers or crystals: once the collection swells to a certain size, it becomes too large to display properly without the aid of a display box. We particularly enjoyed this creation from Critters and Chaos whose collection of crystals had started to get out of hand.

It began as a simple compartmentalised  wooden box, before being upcycled; the interior is now lined with felt, to stop the crystals from rattling around inside, while the exterior is covered in a coat of green paint, along with various paper butterflies, swans, eggs and flowers.  The result is something truly unique.

As difficult it is to get your own collection in order, the problem is altogether more complicated if the collection in question belongs, not to you, but to your infant son. This is precisely the situation Los Angeles-based blogger Bernice Bonilla from Crafty Lofty found herself in: her son’s toy trains found themselves strewn across the floor when not in use.

Inspired by a train rack she’d seen on Pinterest, Bernice enlisted the aid of her obliging father, and together the two of them threw together this charming shelving system. “I thought this would be a great way to show him organisation” she says of her creation, which is painted a rather fetching shade of Thomas-the-tank-engine blue. Whether this dream is realised, however, is another matter entirely.

There is reason for optimism, however – for there do exist some children who actually like “to be able to organise things”. And it’s one of these that inspired our last item, courtesy of Rebecca over at Prairie Pepper.

As part of her son’s birthday celebrations, Rebecca likes to create gifts for everyone who might attend his party. Having last year created personalised capes for each of her son’s friends, she this year elected something a little more practical. Using a selection of variously coloured towels, Rebecca created travel bags, so that all of the children might have something to carry their possessions in.

Rebecca elected to use craft ribbons rather than zips or buttons –for the sake of both cost and simplicity. Her blog details precisely how she went about creating the bags; the procedure is actually quite simple, and is an ideal entry point for those looking to get into the world of sewing.