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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Master Bedroom Redo: Closet Makeover

What is that, you ask? Is the title of this post really "Master Bedroom Redo"?

Why, yes, it is.

I tell ya, there's nothing quite like coming home to a broken clothing rod that's spilled your stuff everywhere to prompt a sudden and utterly complete overhaul.

So yes, we are embarking on an exciting new journey: completely remodeling our Master Bedroom.

But first, let's take a look at where all this started: The Closet.

After coming home to a wreck of a closet, we grudgingly admitted that yes - it was time. We'd been planning to remodel the closet, as well as the rest of the bedroom, for awhile now, and we both agreed that since the rest of the house has been mostly remodeled (or at least updated), that is was time to begin work on the bedrooms - and the "Master" topped the list.

So, it was time to begin the remodel - whether we really wanted to or not!

We began by emptying the closet of anything and everything - and placing throwing it into the studio...

... and that isn't even all of our clothes!

Once the closet was empty, it was time to do our favorite thing - demo!

Okay, so there actually wasn't much demo-ing to do, but it was still fun.

See how happy Tom is? Well, maybe that's more of an evil grin...

So we ripped out the wood lining the closet (that held up the shelf and wooden clothing rod), and then Tom got to work.

I think he's really getting the hang of this electricity stuff.

Yup, he worked some serious electric-mojo and installed us a brand new closet light. Why is that such a big deal for us? There was nothing there before. No light. No switch. Which wasn't very bright of the builders (pun intended!).

So we're pleased as punch about our brand new light - although we admit that we didn't really need a track light in there, but after considering all our other options (and Tom insisting he would only install a light that didn't require him to climb into the attic), this one turned out to be the best fit for the best price. We love that it comes with 4 bright adjustable lights - so we can angle them just right to make sure every dark nook and crannie is lit up. Yup, our closet is stylin' now!

Then we did the boring stuff - patched, sanded, and primed.

Then a coat of paint later...

And we had ourselves a nice, bright, new and neutral closet. I had debated on getting some really punchy and fun paint for the closet, but cheap was the name of the game and we happened to have leftover paint from the hallway - so Valspar's Desert Fortress it was. (Also - painting a closet is a pain in the butt, so we opted for a nice neutral so we wouldn't have to repeat this again anytime soon!)

Big difference, huh?

Next, we needed somewhere to hang our clothes, and stash our shoes - so we spent a couple days installing a closet system...

But, before I do the big reveal, let's go back to what the closet looked like the day we bought it:

Plain, boring, dated, and those DOORS annoyed the heck out of us - we couldn't get to our clothes at the same time!

And now (drumroll please) here's our closet after alot of sweat - and very little pocket money!

A big improvement, no?

The closet system was a must - unfortunately we couldn't do anything too fancy or elaborate (even though we wanted to!), so to maximize our less-than-5-feet-wide-closet-space we chose a system with two rod levels, a wire shelf on top and a thin shelving system down the middle, effectively splitting up our space.

Can you guess which side is mine? :)

We did the math - installing two levels of clothing rods doubles our clothes hanging space and the system also adds a whole entire new shelving system - all while keeping the floor and top shelf space as we had them before. We're pretty sure we've about squeezed all the space out of the closet as we can - although we already have plans to install belt hooks and purse hooks along the walls for even more ways to stash our stuff. (note: our clothes are still chillin' in the La Montana de Ropa in the studio and other various places for now until the bedroom redo is complete!)

Budget Breakdown:

Light fixture: 40$
Light Installation Supplies: 3$
Paint: Free
Rubbermaid Shelving System Kit: 65$
Extra Clothes Rod: 10$

TOTAL: 118$

That's not too bad for a brand new closet, organization system and wired light!

And just to make Tom happy, let's take a look at that light once again:

OFF

ON

We're so happy with our closet! We have future plans to install new bi-fold doors (so we can both get to our clothes at the same time) and a few other things to up-the-ante on the efficiency factor of our new closet.

Let's hear it - what do you guys think? Are you likin' the looks of our new closet as much as we are? Anyone else do a fun closet makeover recently - and maybe you went a little more bold on your paint choice? Are you as impressed as I am with Tom's incredible electrical skills? Stay tuned and follow along for future updates on the rest of the Master Bedroom Remodel!

Linking Up To: Trash to Treasure Tuesday

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Disaster Strikes

Sometimes #@&! just happens.

Like when we came home last week to find our previously tidy and organized bedroom closet like this:

Yes, the solid wood clothing rod snapped completely in half.

Which may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I had crammed as many clothes as possible into that teeny-tiny space (notice the absence of "we" in that sentence? Yeahh...).

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? Bring on the closet remodel!

Have you guys ever taken a disasterous situation and used it to your advantage? Ever come home to something that just makes you stop dead in your tracks? Have you done your own (or even a friends'!) closet remodel and have any advice or tips for us? We'd love to know!

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