DIY Drop Zone Storage Cabinet with Drawers

Has the new year sprung the organization bug in you?  We all yearn for a fresh start at the beginning of a year, and the best place to start is by decluttering our home.  Clutter is perhaps the #1 enemy of any household, and the best resolution is to have a designated spot for every little thing.

DIY Drop zone storage cabinet with drawers 1 | Classy Glam Living

My ideal situation would be to have a designated storage space for all items, and they would be put back to where they belong after each use.  Again, that's the ideal, and our home is far from that.  Our entrance by the garage has long been a drop zone right after we walk through the door.  Sometimes clutter would find themselves extending beyond there and onto our coffee table and kitchen countertop.

DIY Drop zone storage cabinet with drawers | Classy Glam LivingDIY Drop zone storage cabinet with drawers 2 | Classy Glam Living
DIY Drop zone storage cabinet with drawers 3 | Classy Glam Living

I can't begin to tell you how the addition of the drawers cabinet at our drop zone has brought me sanity!  It has stopped incoming clutter right at the door and into the drawers.  Instead of a messy drop zone, it's now a gorgeous little nook.  Inside the drawers are notepads and stationery, folders for mail, battery organizers, etc.  It's the little things that make life easier, and I know where to find them when they're needed.  I'm sure I can organize the drawers better, but at least the mess is now out of sight. 

Again, I have to thank the Mr. for whipping up this little guy.  As mentioned in this post, finding the right cabinet at the right budget, style and dimensions was almost impossible.  I tried not to go too wild with the design of this piece...  I do want the Mr. to say "yes" when I have another build!  You can check out the design inspirations here.

DIY Drop zone storage cabinet with drawers 4 | Classy Glam Living

Okay, enough of my rambling...  here's the video of the DIY process of this storage cabinet.

I was so glad we found alternate legs for the cabinet, and they go with the overall style much better than the thin legs.   

DIY Drop zone storage cabinet with drawers 5 | Classy Glam Living

What do you think is the worst culprit for clutter around the house?  How do you deal with clutter coming into the house? 

You can shop the rest of the decor accessories at the drop zone cabinet nook right here:

Drop Zone Unit - Design Board

I left off my previous post with the difficulty I had in finding the right storage unit for our drop zone, and our most feasible option would be to DIY a unit from scratch.  I'm confident it shouldn't be a problem for the Mr.; you can check out his previous builds here

The Mr. doesn't take on a build lightly.  I had to show him that I had at least tried to shop around for a unit, but my options are constrained by size and budget.   I really wanted this storage unit to blend in with the existing style of our main floor, and the elegant look of these mirrored cabinets are exactly what I'm after. 

All from Wayfair

All from Wayfair

However, as mentioned in my previous post, these are around 28-32" high, which I think is a bit too low for the 9' ceiling.  I also prefer to have all drawers, so I turned to dressers with drawers instead.

Unfortunately, dressers are usually 18-20" in depth, which would be too deep for that little nook by the window.  I wanted to keep the depth at a maximum of 15", so that the storage unit doesn't protrude too much beside the window.  See the nook right by the window, our current drop zone:

Drop zone makeover | Classy Glam Living

And that was when I turned to my last resort...  I made a MAYDAY request to the Mr. to PLEASE build a 3-drawer unit for our main floor's storage!!  Thankfully, he's all game to build another piece of DIY furniture 😁

The pros with going DIY custom route are:  1. it would be in the exact dimensions for the nook, 2. done at a fraction of the price of an actual furniture piece (if I could even find one).  The cons?  Well, it'll have to wait for the Mr.'s availability...  when the hockey season is over and he is free from his coaching and chauffeuring responsibilities.  

I was so excited for another DIY furniture piece and immediately went on Pinterest to check out design inspirations!

Design Inspirations

The colour combination of this unit was my jumping off point.  I love the grey unit with gold hardware.  It'll tie in with our kitchen decor!

This is such a beautiful piece from Ethan Allen.  The details surrounding the drawers and the legs are absolutely gorgeous.  Those ring pulls also reminded me of a set that the Mr. loves (more on that below).

The side profile of this unit highlights the elegance of this unit.  The top and bottom rounded edges give this unit a sophisticated touch.

Yes, I know this is a vanity, but the design is totally "buildable" by the Mr.!  I'm loving the frame at the face of the unit, enclosing the drawers.  

Hayburn & Co

Hayburn & Co

Combining the above design elements, can you imagine the finished product with this lion ring pull (the Mr.'s most favourite hardware ever)...

with these legs...

Or are you a visual person like the Mr.?  Well, here's a summary design board I made for him:

Drop zone unit design board | Classy Glam Living

I just can't wait for hockey season to be over, so that the Mr. can start on this project!  I see a light at the end of the tunnel; the day is near when our clutter will have a home!

Small Space + Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Now into the second week of having moved in, we're still unpacking.  Well, we took a break after we've unpacked the essentials, and continued to unpack once the crown moldings were installed.  It was a nice break from all the boxes; afterall, there's no point to decorate just to have them be in the way for the crown installers, right?

We couldn't wait to decorate the entryway once the crown moldings were installed!

We couldn't wait to decorate the entryway once the crown moldings were installed!

Unpacking may be an endless task, and I'm embarrassed to admit that, for a family of 3, we just have so much stuff!  I didn't realize we were such hoarders - it took our 4 movers 7 hours to move out of the rental and into our new house.  It's true that we don't have much furniture, as one of the movers said, but we have a lot of STUFF.  As a result, I'm always looking for more storage space.

Then, as I was browsing for organizing methods, I learned about Marie Kondo, a celebrity organizer in Japan and author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  It sounded magical for sure, so I delved into it further and read the e-book in one go.  

This isn't a book about cleaning, but more of decluttering by ridding of things that don't "spark joy" in us.  It has a spiritual undertone to it, and in essence, it's more about a lifestyle change.  That by knowing what you love, you become more grateful to your possessions, gain the ability to be a more decisive person (through the decluttering process), and make positive changes in life.

It's definitely an eye-opener and timing just couldn't be better!  We're in a smaller house now, and it's ridiculous to still have so much after rounds of purging.  We're at the best time to start with a clean slate as we unpack the boxes!  This is the easiest way to declutter all in one go, as Marie Kondo stresses.  Purge the unwanted, then store the remaining in its own place, to minimize rebounding back to clutter.  Afterall, "tidying is not the purpose of life."

Little did I know, I was actually already following the Konmari method's order of decluttering - starting from your least emotionally attached items:  clothing, books, papers/ documents, miscellany, and lastly, momentos.  

I first learned about the capsule wardrobe after we moved into our rental last year, and have subsequently purged bags after bags of clothes.  The essence of a capsule wardrobe indeed goes hand in hand with the KonMari method - keep and wear what you love, or "spark joy".

Gosh, this was embarrassing...  I've nothing to wear...

Gosh, this was embarrassing...  I've nothing to wear...

For the next category, books, I've finally gotten rid of my textbooks from university...  seriously, why did I even keep them?!  As for novels, I only kept the ones that are classics - and I consider my Harry Potter collection a classic :-)  I got rid of several boxes of books from this purge.

I'm currently tackling the miscellany category, and our biggest collection is undoubtedly home decor.  We love all the home decor and accessories, and I was all for a layered look in our previous larger house.  Though it's true a layered look is a feast for the eyes, too many home accessories would just make our current smaller home look cluttered.  Not to mention, having too much stuff out also makes it a pain to clean, and encourages procrastinating on cleaning (speaking from experience here). 

Our front hall table at the old house.  Layered look is "out" at our new house.

Our front hall table at the old house.  Layered look is "out" at our new house.

More and more, I find myself loving the clean home decor look of the instagrammers I follow.  They've shown me that I don't need a lot to make a space look comfortably lived in and welcoming.  Having some blank space lets the eyes rest easily on single objects and devour their beauty.   If I only display things that I love, I would opt to take better care of them with proper cleaning.  I can totally relate to Marie Kondo here:

"Human beings can only truly cherish a limited number of things at one time  As I am both lazy and forgetful, I can't take proper care of too many things.  That is why I want to cherish properly the things I love, ..."

So, I'll be purging some home decor items that don't "spark joy" this week.  Does a bowl with ratten balls on my coffee table spark joy?  I think I'm over that phase.

And onto momentos...  I'm a sentimental person, and naturally a hoarder of birthday cards and any occasional cards.  When we moved from our old house, I've purged all Christmas cards from previous years.  Sorry good friends.  And now, I'm more than ready to rid of the birthday cards I've collected over the years.  Though I still have a special box for all the cards the Mr. has given me since we started dating =)  Yes, that sparks joy in me, forever.

"Souvenirs" from our recent Europe vacation - "sparks joy" - KEEP pile.

"Souvenirs" from our recent Europe vacation - "sparks joy" - KEEP pile.

This is our third house, and third time must be the charm.  I hope I've finally found a way to put our house in order!  It's been liberating to purge and I haven't been browsing online stores aimlessly.  My goal in following the KonMari Method is to have less, and buy less; spend less time in perfecting a layered look and more time enjoying our uncluttered house.   I'm sure the Mr. will also breath a sigh of relief for not having to build racks after racks for storage after all this decluttering!

Have you taken on the KonMari challenge?  Have you stay decluttered without rebounding back?