Closet Makeover!

So while I patiently wait for Marc to finish moving his stuff into the office so I can do that final reveal, I got a bug and decided to makeover my closet.

I have the only walk-in closet in the house and I NEED it. (I don't have a dresser and any other storage.) I *used* to be somewhat of a clothes horse. Here are the nitty-gritty "befores":

Ugh. 

Here you can see the worst two things:

Left: the dreaded 2-pat shoe shelving. 

Right: the "black hole" closet corner.

 

It took me an entire hour to empty this closet out. The contents filled the entire bedroom!

And it took me even longer to paint. Not only does beadboard suck to paint, I started using a VERY bright leftover orange paint. I realized not quite quickly enough that it looked horrible. So I had to start over with some other leftover paint (SW Backdrop) and paint over 2 orange walls. That sucked.

I had to hurry to reinstall and reassemble the closet system before Franca went to bed because this thing is loud when it goes back together.

During her bath, I made a little "floor plan" showing my changes to the layout.

What? you don't make floor plan diagrams with your kid' dirty clothes, clean toothbrush, ibuprofen shoe shelf, a bar of soap for a door, and tweezers for a window?

Hmmmm, I do.

I decided to just go all-out and solve some of the biggest issues with this closet. Here goes:

Issue #1: too much stuff.

I filled this entire portable crib (where G sleeps because all of Marc's 

office stuff is still in "her" room) with stuff to go to goodwill.

Issue #2: Too much "furniture" for such a small floor space.

 

I separated the shoe shelf and then mounted the taller piece on to the wall AND 

I made a place for my jewelry box that Franca can't reach.

Issue #3: The Black Hole

I rearranged the hanging space to eliminate that black hole at the 

corner of the closet. The upper hanging space isn't completely easy 

to get to, but it holds my wedding dress and scuba suit. 

Not really everyday items.

Here is the finished product!

(Sorry, it is really hard to get good photos of such a small space!)

Neat shoes and purse hooks above the door!

Room for a small stool to sit on and use to reach the upper things.

AHHH. That's better!

I do still need to get a better system for the belts and scarves that are clogging up that bottom row. Suggestions?

The most astounding thing? I now only own 39 pairs of shoes! Down from a high of +73 pairs.

I think Marc is a little jealous. His closet is a pit and Franca's is pretty horrible. This didn't take me long, so I might be motivated to do their closets an afternoon next week.

The best thing about this all? It was TOTALLY FREE! I didn't buy anything. We had it all in surplus parts and paint. Well, I did have to get a little creative when I realized I didn't have a full size roller and couldn't leave a sleeping Franca to go buy one. Oh well...

<--------this is how we roll. ;)

Enje Roller Shade Mods

Marc bought these Enje roller shades from Ikea, oh let's say over 4 years ago. We just put them up in the renovated office. Before I do a full office reveal post (we are *almost* there), I just wanted to share some minor, easy mods I did to the shades.

Lots of really awesome bloggers have used and cut these shades to fit. (Manhattan Nest,  Door Sixteen, The Brick House)  Sadly, the trim on our window doesn't allow us to mount on the inside, so we had to go with the outside mounting. (I hate so much of the dumb trim work on this house!)

Here are two small modifications I did:

The blinds come with these big, ugly warning stickers about the cord being a  strangulation hazard. I was tempted to peel them all off, but after I patiently tried, I decided it would take me over 30 mins to get each off completely. We have 7 windows. I don't have 3.5 hours to spent peeling stickers.

Before - Big ugly sticker.

The stickers are located on the bar at the bottom of the shade. This bar is removable. So I just removed the bar and flipped it around. It's not perfect, but the stickers are almost all hidden from view!

After - No sticker!

Along with the warning about the strangulation hazard of the shade cord, Ikea also has a big, ugly piece of plastic that is used to anchor the cord to the wall to prevent a kid from getting their head in there and strangling. Marc thought we didn't need them, but being a worrying mom I didn't want to do without them. I can totally see Franca standing on a piece of furniture to get up there to the cord.

I did not like the look of the big ugly plastic piece though, so on a trip to Home Depot I picked up a package of eyelets for $0.98. I screwed them into the window trim, opened the eyelet slightly to let the cord in and BASTA! cord is contained and not a strangulation hazard!

No more big ugly plastic! Just tiny little eyelet. Best of all, no strangulation!

It's also very nice not to be on display anymore. I love my neighbors, but Marc and I both work a lot at night. Pre-Enje shades, it was like being in a big lantern for all to see.

Dollhouse: I bit the bullet.

I finally got busy on the dollhouse and ordered some exterior improvements.

Thank you to the commentor who suggested miniatures.com. That site is the bomb! And thanks also to the one who suggested dollar stores. I tried 2 with no luck. ;(


I ordered a large working double window, 2 small windows, a front door, roof shingles, siding and gutters.

I keep saying "we" when I talk about this project, but then don't let Marc have any input. It is terrible, but I figure I'm the one with the dollhouse-playing experience (or at least experience that I will admit to!). So there.

I started demo tonight. Exciting!

Adulthood

Adulthood: Not always what it is cracked up to be.

Our 4 year old, $600 dryer needed a new $300 main computer board. AGAIN!
(First time was under warranty so we didn't pay for it.)

We would have just had it fixed, but we didn't trust that it would not happen again in 6 months and we would be out the full cost of the dryer. So we decided to just sell it and get a new dumb one. One that more closely resembled a tank.

Here is my rant:  Does everyone else not remember that our parents had the SAME washer and dryer the WHOLE TIME they were growing up? These things used to last 20 years. Now you are lucky to get 5 years.

 I  don't need 50 choices on how to dry my clothes. I don't need my dryer to steam my clothes. (Seriously. What exactly am I doing in my clothes that they need to be fumigated?)  In short, don't need a dryer smarter than I am. 


I need a machine to blow hot air and spin.


No computers. No triple sensors. No flux capacitor (ok, that I made up).
But honestly.
Hot Air + Spin = dry clothes - $300 repair.

So, Franca and I did some post-nap scouting yesterday. We spotted a very alluring $699 Maytag 2000 series fancy-schmancy one at Sears for $399. Oh the lure of the deal.... But no. Stay focused. Tank. I need a tank. None of the other 3 places we tried had much either on clearance or of the tank variety. Bummer.

Franca and I convinced Marc to accompany us today back to Sears where we spotted a very basic tank. The Kenmore 6002 on clearance for $396. It's exact twin sat three feet away marked $459 on sale from $528. Apparently, someone had opened the wrong box and now they had two of these on the floor, so they put one on clearance. Hmmm, not having to dispose of a box and save $63? SOLD!

I'm feeling pretty good about this new pairing. The previous set looked like brother and sister and now there is a little exotic laundry romance happening down there. Hee hee.

I was going to add that the new dryer reminds me of my childhood, but that just felt weird after that last sentence up there.

Anyway, now I'm headed down to dry the 4 mattress pads and 4 sheets for Franca's crib. (Does anyone else's kid go through spurts of peeing through the already-up-a-size special nighttime diapers? Geez! At least she's hydrated I guess.)