An Update: The 2 Big Organizing Projects I Wanted to Tackle in 2019

I wanted to tackle two major organizing projects in 2019– our basement and our laundry room– along with three smaller organizing projects. Come see where I succeeded and where I failed!

It’s kind of hard to believe we’re about to say goodbye to 2019! Per usual, the year (and the decade, for that matter!) felt like it flew by!

At the beginning of the year, I made some goals for organizing projects I wanted to accomplish in 2019, and since I shared those goals with you, I thought I’d give a little update to let you know how they went!

3 Small Organizing Goals for 2019

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Before I get to the great BIG organizing goals I set for myself in 2019, I wanted to talk about three smaller ones.

Our Boys’ Shared Bedroom

First, I had said that I wanted to add a display shelf in my boys’ shared room because they had brought in a ton of stuff to their space. I wanted them to be able to personalize their room, but the chaos of it all was driving me bonkers!

Here’s what it looked like before:

See what I mean?!

In June we managed to add a simple, inexpensive wall-to-wall shelf over their beds so they still had a place to display their items, but they also had some boundaries so everything didn’t look so cluttered and crazy.

The shelf did the trick! They’re happy to have their stuff, and mama is happy that it’s at least a little bit organized! 🙂

Related: How to Make an Easy, Inexpensive Wall-to-Wall Shelf

The Guest Bedroom

My second small goal was to spruce up the guest room. I had mentioned the closet specifically, but once I took a look at what I needed to store in there, the current setup was actually the most ideal, so I didn’t mess with it.

In February, I did finally get around to decorating the rest of the space to make it more welcoming for guests. Here’s what it looked like before:

And after adding a headboard, bedding, and some accessories, here’s what it looks like now:

I didn’t do a ton of straight up “organization” in this space, but it certainly feels more “settled” than it did before.

Related: A Sweet and Simple Guest Bedroom Reveal

The Master Bedroom

In our bedroom I had said that I wanted to find nightstands that had storage and were also pretty! I loved our previous nightstands, but they didn’t have drawers, which was more of an issue than I had anticipated.

I moved the previous nightstands into our guest room, and after looking at just about every nightstand on the internet, I found the perfect ones for our space! In July, I also managed to give the rest of the room a little spruce up, and it now looks like this:

Related: A Cozy and Serene Master Bedroom Reveal

So I ended up meeting all three of the small organizing goals that I set for myself. (Though two of them– the guest room and the master– ended up turning into bigger, full room projects anyway!) What about my two BIG organizing goals for the year?

2 Big Organizing Goals for 2019

The Basement

My #1 organizing priority for 2019 was to get our basement in order. It had been on my list for 2018, and I failed miserably. The space was actually messier at the end of 2018 than it had been at the beginning!

So I started plugging away at the basement in January, and though it ended up taking longer than I expected, we finally finished it up in March. It has been awesome to have a neat and tidy storage/workshop space where we can easily find what we need when we need it!

We brought in shelving to store our bins of seasonal decor and sentimental items.

We organized Donnie’s workshop, including finding awesome storage solutions for all of his tools.

And we corralled our DIY supplies in bins on shelving units.

We even still had space for Connor’s hockey practice area!

We may finish the basement with actual drywall and rooms way down the road, but right now it is functioning really well for us in its unfinished state, and we’re happy with it the way it is.

Related: Organized Basement Tour

The Laundry Room

The second big organizing project I wanted to tackle in 2019 was our laundry room. It actually wasn’t really unorganized, per se. The setup just wasn’t ideal.

We just had one wire shelf above our washer and dryer units, and since I’m short, I can barely reach it. I also didn’t love having our laundry supplies on display, so I wanted to bring in a cabinet or two to hide them instead.

Our laundry room today? It looks pretty much exactly the same. Oops.

Goal failed!

It seemed like every time I would try to start planning the laundry project this year, something else would pull me away. And since it was functioning just fine the way it was and it will be an expensive, time consuming project to get it looking the way I want it, I just kept putting it off and putting it off.

While I’m excited to have a pretty AND organized laundry room eventually, I’m okay with the fact that it didn’t happen in 2019. We still have clean clothes and even somewhat un-smelly hockey gear most of the time, so I’d say we’re doing okay. 🙂

Coming up…

So that’s we accomplished (and didn’t accomplish!) in 2019! I have some big organizing goals for 2020 too– see what they are in this post!

I’d love to hear about the projects you accomplished in 2019– let me know in the comments below!

Have a wonderful day!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.