Here’s a taste of my fake decorative touches (and after viewing some of these items more closely, I think I need to clean my house and maybe toss a thing or two out):

I bought this little cage for $1 at a garage sale.  It’s the perfect place to stick my fall festivities:

And don’t look too closely at this little darling –the dust will make you sneeze.

I need a tutorial on floral arranging 101, but here’s my best shot:

This is actually a Christmas decoration I bought 75% off at Hallmark.  The red berries and pears make me happy, so it gets to stay out all year long!

Garage sale:  $2  (And it has feathers!)

The only thing fake about this picture is the foliage, because our love is the real thing!

As I searched my house for all the fakes, I started to turn introspective as the apron hanging in my kitchen began to mock me.  

I won’t even discuss the look my drawer full of padded undergarments gave me. 

 But when this sign hanging in my living room waved it’s finger at me:

I love filling jars with seasonal items.

Just stick me in the container aisle with a glass of sweet tea and I’ll be happy for life.

Even though I put my OCD to good use and live in a fairly clean, organized home, I still battle clutter.  And toys. Everywhere.  

And so, I’ve attacked these areas with a plethora of containers!  

Isn’t it amazing how three matching boxes (Ikea $2.50 for 2) in a row look so swell?  Inside those boxes?  Hundreds of unorganized photos dating all the way back to my ‘fro.

Inside this modern secretary desk (from Ikea)? None ‘o you beeswax.  It’s a mess.

Here’s three more matching baskets that hold all the junk fine linens that won’t fit into my dining room hutch. Looks like it’s time to clean those out.  I have no idea what’s in them.

I love this little basket with a handle.  I don’t have enough kitchen drawers and every time my kids dig in the silverware drawer for a pencil or glue, my head spins around in circles and I would foam in the mouth.

It wasn’t pretty.  At all.

And so, I hung the basket over my vintage shoe drying rack, now being used as a kitchen catch-all!

And all the books and papers and stuff that collect on my kitchen counter?

I stick them in this red wire basket.  Because what exactly is better than a basket that is red? Not much, my friends.

(Try not to judge me by the title of that book, Making Your Children Mind without Losing Yours. It’s summer and I’d like to keep my mind. Enough said).

This little gem was found at Canton, the world’s largest flea market and heaven on earth for people like me.  It’s a reproduction and not the finest of furnishings, but each box comes out 

and is the perfect toy holder, dontchathink?  It makes me very happy.

I love this giant garage sale basket.  It stored my hubby’s dress shirts that needed to go to the cleaners until I confiscated it for more toys.

And this?  Oh, my!  My hubby rolled his eyes at this idea (yes, he did)! I’ve turned this antique laundry basket into a container to hold an extra quilt next toour bed.  I also toss all the fancy throw pillows from my bed into at night, so Alice the Cat, won’t feel compelled to lay on them. I think I would grab this basket if my house caught on fire and roll it through the house throwing things in it.  

That’s called an Emergency Plan.  You’re welcome.

Even tiny baskets can help you gather similar items.  My remote control basket comes in handy.

I’m throwing this one in for just for fun.  Because I’m not so obsessive that I have to organize my bread, but don’t you just love this little red box?  I found it at TJMaxx for $5.99 and thought it would make the perfect bread box.

I like to think of this as the mother of all basket-organizing.  She is great and mighty:  The Ikea book shelf.  I went back to Ikea every month for about a year to buy baskets for this thing.  This piece is quite an investment.  But since our playroom doubles as our TV room, toys fit nicely in all those baskets.

So, baskets and boxes are my tip for great organization.