Thursday, August 18, 2011

Cleanin' Out My Closet - Part 2

I last left off where I had cleared out the badly overstuffed closet of tons of junk, which caused things like stains, dents, holes, and general pathetic-ness of the closet to stand out (like the nails that were the only thing supporting one of the shelves).

So of course I decided that the simple clearing out of the closet was not enough, and decided to get painting!



I went to town caulking in all the cracks, filling the wood holes with wood putty, and slapping some filler in the wall dents/holes. Have I ever mentioned how satisfying it is for me to fill gaps and cracks? Once I get going, I can't help myself and find things all over the house to fill. I guess the excitement just gets to me.


Barley wanted to help, too...

Anyways, after that I just whipped out some leftover paint we had from our hallway remodel and went to town.


And let it be said that it's EXTREMELY difficult to paint in such a tiny space when you're 1) 7 months pregnant 2) wearing a huge gas-mask and 3) the stool you're standing on doesn't fit into the closet. Yep, I had to twist into some pretty interesting positions to get a coat of paint onto the ceiling and back of the closet. And Tom may or may not have about died in fits of laughter.


Anyways, once the closet had a fresh coat of paint (and those awful stains disappeared) I decided that those old ratty shelves had to go, and swung by Lowe's to get some new shelves. For $14 I picked up a new already-white-so-I-don't-have-to-paint-it-too melamine (spelling?) shelf, and had it cut down into the measurements I needed. Easy, cheap, and best of all? Those new shelves are easily wipe-able. Score.




All the junk that was in my "keep" piles then got sorted into new stackable white plastic containers from Target. Much better, right?


But I decided to take things one step further, since it was a little difficult to tell the contents of the containers that were stacked on the bottom. I whipped out these labels (you can download your own right here), popped some text into them, printed and cut em out.



And simply stuck them on the containers using some double-sided tape. Ahhhh, organized bliss!



Now we're able to store things like bed sheets, which previously were stored in the red sofa residing in the future nursery space. And even better - we can actually FIND things we're looking for easily without feeling like we're digging for gold, and knocking random stuff to the ground in the process. I tell ya, this closet now makes my very-pregnant-and-nesting heart sing!

Best of all? The whole closet remodel cost us about $30 total, half which was spent on the new shelves, and the other half on new storage containers. Yep, we're happy and our wallets can't complain, either.

And now for a little before and after action:




What do you think? Have you tackled any organizing in your own casa lately? Anyone else have odd closets (like ours which was filled with stains and had nails supporting some shelves)?


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7 comments:

  1. This looks SOO good. I hate hate hate painting closets. And I don't really even have a very good reason (like a baby belly or mask). ;)

    Doesn't organizing a closet make you feel so good?

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  2. It looks great! I always love a freshly organized closet so that I can find things easy and not dig for them all the time!

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  3. WAIT. Is that a jogging stroller I see in the background?


    Your closet organization is excellent Chels. I especially love the little baskets you used. And the fact they they are still slightly open so it doesn't feel dark in the closet or closed off.

    ~Tia

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  4. Thanks, guys!

    Tia - Why yes, that IS a jogging stroller in the background! Somebody sure has good eagle eyes. ;) I couldn't resist - the one we picked out went on sale, so we bought it a little early (and even took it on a test run already!). So far we love it! Can't wait to actually put a real baby in it, though (Barley wasn't too keen on the idea of riding in the stroller during our walk, lol).

    ~Chelsea

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  5. Ahhh. How exciting. Yes, while the closet is exciting and nice and snazzy, I love the idea of Baby M things! :)

    While I personally am not a baby fanatic, it's still neat to see cute little clothes. (I think I may be softening to the idea of babies, mostly because in healthcare, you gotta see them sometime!)

    Is there anything that you guys need? Are you registered anywhere? Would love to send you guys something. Even if it's via your mom! :)

    ~Tia

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  6. Aw, thanks, Tia! That's so sweet! We're registered at Amazon.com and Target. :)

    ~Chelsea

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  7. My bad, I just realized you replied to my post. Haha.

    Oops! Well a lot of the stuff on Target is out of stock, but the Target store on Colonial has plenty of cute stuff that Baby M needs, so I will be taking a trip there. More than likely with your mom!
    Thank goodness for your mom, we talked all things baby and Chelsea last night catching up. I totally interrupted her dinner, I felt bad. But it was so nice to catch up with her!
    And now that I am living back in the area, we are already thinking of all the wonderful times we'll get to have with the little guy! :)

    Love ya! && please take it easy, no more DIY. Kick up your heels, cause once he arrives (healthy, happy, and chubby) you're going to wish you could sit down and rest. So enjoy it while it lasts. Incubate that munchkin! :)

    ~Tia

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