Rubbermaid Bento - Before and After

(Click on any photo to view a larger image.)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was notified by Rubbermaid that I was a finalist in a contest I entered on their website and as my prize I received a set of Rubbermaid's new organizational boxes called Bento. All I had to do to qualify for the first prize was organize an area of my home and send them a photo of it.

Much to my surprise, it was much more difficult for me to do this than I would have imagined. Because I had to photograph the final project, I was conscious of the fact that the Bento boxes had to be a prominent feature in the photo. This is where it became difficult. The boxes, as wonderful as they are, are not optimally sized for the kinds of things I needed to organize, namely my crafting area. The two smaller sizes worked out well enough but the two larger sizes were a bit more problematic. In order to work around this, I actually ended up doing an overhaul of my space, moving things from one side of the room to the other, rearranging stuff and actually throwing out a lot of things that had really outlived their usefulness to me. This was a great thing for me. In the process I was able to place those items that I use frequently within reach, consolidate some of my supplies so like items were together instead of scattered around the room, and in general make my work area more functional. It was something I had wanted to do for quite a while but kept putting it off. Being forced to do it was actually a good thing.

Here are before and after photos. Now that I see the difference, I realize just how scary my craft area looked. When my son saw the newly organized area, his reaction was "Wow!". Coming from him, that says a lot. What do you think? Please comment below and give me some feedback.

I will soon be posting my 'after' photo on the Rubbermaid website as per the conditions of the contest. Winner to be chosen based on votes received so I'll be posting the voting website here as soon as voting opens. I hope you will all choose to vote for me and help me win the $500 top prize. Thanks.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

UPDATE: The votes are in and I placed in the top ten out of 50 finalists. My third prize winning included a prize package full of great new Rubbermaid products. So essentially I won a box of goodies, took a picture of what I did with it, then won another box of goodies. Not too shabby.