Shop Update: sustain & organize

Sustain & Organize…  That has been my goal this year. It’s sort of an unknown New Year’s Resolution for 2011.  Organizing my less than one year old business, that is constantly growing and changing, has been a new challenge for me. So has learning to find the time to be a shop owner, inventory creator, community volunteer and well most importantly, wife and mom of two!  Oh and can’t forget learning to find the time to be sustainable.  I think it is important to constantly improve our lifestyle choices and expand the ways we can help our planet.  Living and working in the southern United States, it saves time to not be green.  We struggle to slow down and change our habits and ways in a community that doesn’t make green living easy. Change is coming and we are getting new options each year, but we are the South and looking at our history we don’t swiftly change our ways.

In the quest for continued sustainability, I have added a Sustainable Supply Section to our online shop and we have begun upcycling more unwanted new home construction waste!  Gorgeous pieces of hardware, mostly new pieces, are being saved from taking up landfill space!

Upcycled wine cork supplies have been popular choices in this new Sustainable Supply Section as well.  Colored corks, matching corks, synthetic and oak have all been recycled and sent off to all parts of the world for new uses!

With constant organization in mind, we are turning reclaimed cabinet door fronts into Sustainable Bulletin Boards! After receiving a large shipment of unwanted 12″x12″ cabinet door fronts we had to get a little creative. We filled their drill holes, busted out their centers, refinished the frames and added some oak wine corks!  Like all of our products, we offer a DIY version, where you can purchase the kit and glue in your own wine cork design.  I love using my bulletin boards to help keep my family organized. I’m currently working on a new one for our house! We came across a large hickory cabinet door last week.  I can’t wait to get the corks in it! That’s half the fun!

In our next crafty post, I will tell you how to make adorable wine cork thumb tacks!