Pretty Organized: Clear Glass Jars

Something about having our things beautifully organized has a very calming effect on me.  Beyond the obvious joy I get from organizing a small piece of the chaos in my house, when that organization is also presentable it brings me to a whole new level of pride.  The simple beauty of storing my fruit in a large clear bowl pretties up my countertop and makes the act of storing fruit seem a deliberate part of my kitchen decorating scheme (okay, one of the only parts of my kitchen decorating scheme). 

A pretty organizational tool I love is the clear jar.  Mason jars are readily available and very inexpensive; I picked up six half-gallon jars for around $12 at my local hardware store.  Because our kitchen has limited cabinet space, I decided to put some of our pantry items right out on the counter in these large jars.  Cereal, rice and pasta look pretty in them.  And since “permanent” marker cleans completely off of glass with a little rubbing alcohol, I can transfer directions or other information right onto the jar and get rid of the cardboard container.  I also store long spaghetti or fettuccine pasta here in a taller jar from IKEA.  They are displayed on a lazy susan to make accessing any jar a breeze. These storage containers come with a few added bonuses.  The jar seals prevent these pantry items from going stale much better than their original containers.  And I really like the idea of keeping my food away from plastic wherever possible.  

I also put clear jars to work in an even more economical way in my multi-purpose desk/scrapbook and craft area.  Here I am really low on space, since this area is located directly behind my couch at the back of my already cramped living room.  Someday I’ll be happy enough with it to show you the entire area – but for now it is still a work in progress.  However, my latest clean-up looks quite nice and inspired this post to launch a series of posts called “Pretty Organized.”

I keep any scrap of ribbon that I could possibly use again.  I used to keep them all in a black photo box, like many of the tools in my work area, but I found that they were out of sight, out of mind there.  On a related note, my daughter loves the jarred peaches at Costco.  I got them because I am trying to minimize the BPA-lined canned food items we purchase, but they come in wonderful pint-sized jars that even have ½ cup graduations on the sides.  A little Goo Gone and the label came off nicely, leaving a very pretty clear jar.  I separated the scrap ribbons from my box into four jars of somewhat related colors, and now not only do the ribbons look very nice on my living room wall, but I’ve also used scraps for projects now that I can see exactly what I have. 

I also re-purposed an old rotating spice rack with clear glass jars as embellishment storage for small brads, buttons, grommets, and flowers.

I’ll definitely be using clear jars in other areas of the house where things are pretty enough to do double duty as organized decoration.