This post and project are sponsored by Lowe’s Home Improvement.
Welcome to the attic! This is where we have been storing Holiday decor, bins of family keepsakes, lampshades without lamps, and all our dirty little secrets… In all honesty, this has been a clutter crutch in our home since moving in, and it has been desperate for some time and attention. We’ve never had a large space like this for storage before, and over the last 18 months, I’ve found myself saying, “put it up in the attic” more than I should have! One thing led to another, and we found ourselves with a mound of stuff, desperate for a good purge and some organization. So we did exactly that and relied on our local Lowe’s for all our organizational needs!
Before
After
And Lowe’s had everything we needed to get an organization system in place for an affordable price! As you can see, the floor could hardly be seen, and now there’s more than enough walking space!
Before the fun organizing part, Chris and I spent a weekend going through absolutely everything, and we sorted every bit of decor, sentimental pieces, and random crap into two piles; “keep” and “don’t keep.” We were absolutely ruthless with what we decided to keep and let go of because we wanted to change our lives with this big project! Spoiler alert: we changed our lives.
Here’s what the keep pile looked like before doing any organizing!
Progress
After
Bins | Shelves | Work Light | Label Pockets | Cards
I could only imagine what everything would look like, stored in these clear bins and stacked on shelves, but I didn’t know it would look this good!
Organize vertically
I wanted to walk into the attic and be able to see everything all stacked up at eye level. I also wanted to be able to pull out a bin without having to lift off the bins atop it. This is where these heavy-duty utility shelves saved the day. They’re substantial enough to hold these heavy bins without warping, and I love that each bin fits perfectly within a shelf, so nothing gets stacked!
Use clear bins for visibility!
Somebody asked me if I planned to use colored bins or clear and I’m very team clear! Although being able to see through can look more visually cluttered, it’s so nice to be able to see the inside contents. I’m completely prioritizing function in a storage space like this and luckily the clear is super lovely and cohesive.
Label everything!
Aside from looking through the bin, I got these self-adhesive pockets for labeling the boxes. It’s one thing to create an organizational system, but labels allow anyone to be able to jump in and find what they’re looking for. I wrote on these cards and easily slid them in. I love that they’re big enough to be able to clearly see and read, but they don’t take up too much space on the bin.
Maybe it’s the DIYer mindset, but at one point, Chris and I had this idea that we could build our own shelves in here. And while we could, relying on Lowe’s affordable organizational section allowed us to be able to accomplish this project from start to finish in just two weekends. And we couldn’t love it more. We even have some growing room, although I’m in no hurry to build our collection of attic goods.
What size bins did you get?
We used the 15 gallon
Thank YOU. In just two weekends…music to my ears! We need to get to work!
I am in awe of such a well organized, and dare I say beautiful space! Question…where are the pumpkins?
Most of the pumpkins are in bins but a few are on the top shelf
Oh good, the Halloween pumpkins made the cut! I have a version of this, except my ‘attic’ is the size of a porta-potty. A lot of hard choices had to be made. We moved from 4-bedroom two story with full basement (all that storage!). I even had empty cupboards. We downsized to two-bedroom condo with the tiny storage in the basement. Vertical rocks.
Looks great as with everything you guys do. I wish I had the money to organize my garage and/or attic like that. That kind of organization is not cheap , I checked. Lol.