5 Ways to Repurpose Luxury Candle Jars

In a recent post, I talked about how much I love luxury candles.  I mentioned that a bonus is that they often come in beautiful jars, so once you burn them up and finish enjoying their wonderful scents, you can repurpose the jars and use them to store various items.  Below are five ideas:

1. Makeup brushes and beauty tools:

Hanna's Room

2. Q-tips and cottons:

L: Trendenser, R: Skona Hem

3. Fresh flowers:

dear lovely

4. Office supplies - including pens, pencils, scissors, and paper clips:

L: Lonny, R: The Beauty Lookbook

70 Percent Pure

5. Small plants - something I hadn't thought of until I came across these images:

tutorials >> L: A Pair and a Spare DIY, R: Luxirare

My Stylishly Organized Drawer

I recently gave one of my drawers a little makeover with a clear organizer and a roll of duct tape. I used the organizer, which I picked up from Ikea, to separate all my items. It has lots of little compartments that make it easy to designate a spot for each thing. When everything is in it's place, I can quickly find what I need.

As for the duct tape, I used it to create a stylish drawer liner.  3M has a great snake print tape from their new Expressions line that can be used in a lot of creative ways.  Kelly of Fabulous K recently used it to cover a photo frame and Megan of Honey We're Home used it to cover a mousepad and a tray.  To make my drawer liner, I simply measured the bottom of my drawer, cut a piece of poster board to size, covered it with strips of the duct tape and then fit it inside the drawer. Super easy. Looks great and as a bonus, it helps protect my drawer.  If anything spills, I can easily wipe it off. This is what I see when I open my drawer now:

What do you think? Not too shabby huh?

If you're thinking of using snake print tape for a little project of your own, use this coupon for $1 off.

This post was brought to you by Office Depot.  All thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed here are my own. Thank you for supporting Arianna Belle sponsors!  

A Beautifully Organized Linen Closet

In this beautifully organized linen closet from the home of Shari of Turnstyle Vogue, larger items like bath towels and blankets are neatly folded and stacked, while smaller items like washcloths and hand towels, which can easily get mixed around and make things look cluttered and messy, are separated and contained in labeled baskets. Sheets are also housed in labeled baskets, which is a smart idea considering sheets (especially fitted sheets!) are a bit more time consuming to fold in a way that makes them look neat and tidy.

Beautifully Organized Medicine Cabinet

The bathroom medicine cabinet tends to be a place where many of us store everyday essentials like our toothbrush, face wash, cotton swabs, etc. Since we access it frequently it's nice to have set it up in a way that's functional and looks good too. The best way to make this happen is to get rid of all the products that aren't being used. You know what I'm talking about - expired cosmetics and medicines, bath and body products once tried and didn't like. Doing this frees up space so it's not so crowded in there and makes products that are being used, easy to find. Once you get rid of the clutter, you can optimally organize.

You can group items by type (e.g. all oral hygiene items on the lower shelf) and arrange by frequency of use (e.g. put less used products on upper shelf). Use containers as needed. A pretty tumbler (2) makes a nice toothbrush holder, canisters (1) are great for cotton swabs and cotton balls, and small "drawer organizers" (3) are perfect for corralling smaller items.

If you're short on space, use acrylic risers (5) to create an additional shelf, and take advantage of the unused gap between the cabinet door and the inside shelving by adhering magnetic pods (4) to the inside of the door. Pods are great for holding all the tiny things, like bobby pins, lip balm, etc., that can tend to get lost.

Hope you found these tips useful!

top image: instyle magazine

How Maggie Organizes Her Bathroom Cabinet

The How I Organize series, which gives us a peek at how others organize their homes, is back! I've got some fabulous participants lined up. First up is my friend and Seattle-based interior decorator, Maggie of Maggie Rose Interiors (who just launched a new e-book!).  She shares with us today how she organizes her bathroom cabinet:

Our apartment has no under-sink storage, but it came with a generously sized cupboard in the corner near the door. It's not the prettiest thing to look at, but it holds a LOT of stuff! It's nice to have everything at eye-level instead of getting down on your knees on the bathroom floor to dig stuff out from under the sink. 

The top shelf (out of my reach!) holds infrequently used items like beach towels, a small tub for soaking, and back-up bulk kleenex. The next shelf holds back-up toilet paper (we keep 3 rolls in a glass vase near the toilet so guests don't have to scrounge), once-in-a-while beauty and health products, travel supplies in a shoebox, and our first aid kit (blue bin on the right). The third shelf from the top holds towels (holds up to four plus our two in rotation), hand towels, cleaner, and the heavy kitty litter box - I wish there was a better place to stash that, but the litter box is in the bathroom, so it makes sense. The bottom shelf is the most frequently used and easiest to reach. I have a basket for everyday items (hairdryer, etc), occasional items (feminine products, curling iron), and the basket on the right holds all the washcloths. It's not uber-glamorous but it IS uber-functional and I can find everything quickly. Maybe someday I'll get around to painting or wall-papering the inside, but for now, it does its job!

Godmorgon Makeup Organizer

Loving the this little box from Ikea.  So perfect for organizing a makeup drawer. It compartmentalizes and gives a home to mascara, lipstick, nailpolish, etc. so they're accessible and easy to find. Here it is in action:

image credit: Style at Home via Marcus Design

Hair Dryer & Curling Iron Storage

Loving thismountable acrylic organzier for stowing away hair tools and keeping them from creating clutter in the bathroom. This one also looks like a good option.

image credit: domino

Trays for Controlling Bathroom Clutter

If you like having your products out where you can see 'em, (as opposed to inside a cabinet or a drawer), consider using a tray to contain them. They look so much neater in a tray than when they're spread out everywhere, and, especially when the product packaging is pretty, can look like a beautiful little vignette.

Also, since a tray gives you boundaries to work with, it can help you edit down your products to just what you actually use on a regular basis.

image credits: 1-photography by lucas allen for domino via brides ; 2-into the gloss

The Stacking Componibili

Compact in size, and made of plastic, the cylindrical "Componibili" Kartell unit is a stylish option for adding storage in a small bathroom. Although it was designed over forty years ago, it looks just as beautifully modern today as it did back then. Perfect for hiding unattractive grooming supplies, feminine products, extra toilet paper, and other items that might otherwise visually clutter the space.

image credits: 1-photography by melanie acevedo as seen in domino , 2-marie claire maison via kartell