Purge: The Entryway

Living in an older home means making the best out of minimal storage. In my house, there are no walk-in pantries, walk-in closets, bathroom linen closets, fabulous closets in the bathroom or spacious garages.

But my house does have one amazing storage feature going to it: double entryway closets.

That's right. Eat your heart out.

Since they are pretty much the only storage we have on the main floor, they are used often, for a hodge-podge of items and get messy quickly – so of course they were on my purge 2014 list.

Closet 1: The coat closet

Before:

I wanted to maintain this closet as a seasonal closet. I went through it several months ago and donated a lot of items, so this time around it was mainly about organizing. I even brought Audrey's coats and snowsuit down from her closet, to join in the fun.

After:

And I even have room at the top of the closet for additional goodies.

Closet 2: The pantry/storage/cleaning closet

Before:

This is the closet that I've had difficulty closing on more than one occasion. As you can see, things just sort of fall out when you open it. This is our catchall closet, and while I didn't want to change that – I knew there was a bunch to say goodbye to.

First off, I knew we had a lot of cleaning supplies, but holy geez.

Once I ditched some of those, I decided the shelf of cleaning supplies needed some order.

I know a lot of people keep kitchen and bathroom cleaning supplies, well, in their kitchen and bathrooms – but until Audrey is older, I'd prefer them nice and high up with all the other cleaning products.

I'm really happy with the new system, and I think it will be easy to stick to, as everything has a home...a very obvious home.

Other items that received containers were items I had in bulk: light bulbs, small light bulbs, baking decorations and Yankee candles.

After:

And a terrible iPhone photo of an angle I cannot capture on my camera:

I love that my brooms and mops are now hanging up. Now I don't have to worry about a random broom attacking me. You can't see it but a broom and two dust mops are hanging up on the frontside of the closet.

Such an easy weekend project that made such a huge difference.

You are my cupcake

Seriously. I can't believe it took me this long to do this...or that I had 5 half empty baking cup containers.

Spring Organizing (Closet #2)

The office closet had gotten out of control:

It was my giant junk drawer. But not anymore.

I did a thorough clean sweep on this closet – going through every piece of paper in it. Check out the rejects:

But it was totally worth the effort:

And since I got rid of so much paper, I rewarded myself by adding more to my "mini paper store" stash:

Spring Organizing (Closet #1)

After my medicine drawer rant, I decided my drug turf in the linen closet could use some serious decluttering (hello, Tylonel from 2007 – I'm talking to you). Well, at least that's what I intended to do. But when I opened the linen closet, I discovered what an embarrassing war zone the entire closet was.

The embarrassing war zone:
So, I emptied it:

Then decided I had nothing else going on, so painted both the walls and shelves:

I picked green because it's bright, but more importantly, because I had a lot of this paint leftover from the hall bath.

Then came Target. I promise this trip started off innocent. I had a prescription to pick up, which apparently earned me a $10 Target gift card since it was a new med. So I mosied over to Target's storage area, and that's where things took a turn. I stared down 2 bins for at least 20 minutes. Yep, I just stood there and stared, while trying to visualize my super narrow linen closet and what would fit. I'm sure I looked awesome.

Anywho, on to the after...

I am so happy with it. And other than some (okay lots) of expired medicine and 1 pair of sheets – everything is back in there. Yet I somehow have much more room! I love organizational magic tricks. :)

And now some less awkward angle shots:No more searching for a special medicine. Things are now grouped into 6 categories: first aid, cold, aches, allergies, Ashley's and other.


And since I'm still on organizing mode, I've decided to tackle 3 more closets – the office and the 2 in the entry way.

Container Store love

When I was at The Container Store in Dallas (yep, Kansas City does not have a Container Store, and yes, it makes me sad daily), I splurged on all things organization.

I found these fabulous acrylic stacking trays that I'm now obsessed with, because you can add/remove the dividers to your pleasing. I wish I got more than one while there. But at least my cosmetics drawer is finally organized:

Before:
After:

Closet facelift

I love having a finished basement; the only issue is the lack of storage.

In the first house, the basement wasn't finished – so it was 100% storage. In the current house, well, it's basically the exact opposite.

So where did everything that didn't fit in the storage area end up? The third bedroom:


Yeah, it's slightly embarrassing. But I didn't want to pack up all my extra accessories, so I didn't have a lot of options. Until I remember the closet in the guest bedroom:

The closet now:


I'm really happy with how it turned out. Brent and I just used the cheap ClosetMaid gear, and quickly discovered that while it's the cheapest – it still cost a good chunk of $$. It was totally worth it though, because now the third bedroom is crap free.

While organizing everything, I found my cat ears. I decided to put them on Macintosh – he wasn't a fan.

Design Time: "The Organized Home"

I didn’t know I could be insulted by a “design” book, but apparently, anything really is possible.

I was so excited to read “Real Simple: The Organized Home.” I had visions of numerous photos of organized closets and drawers dancing in my head. But apparently, this organization book is only half about organization.

The other half? Room basics. That’s right – in case you couldn’t figure it out – basics for the family room include a sofa, coffee table, side table and TV. And this book covers room basics in every freaking room. It was rather insulting that they had to tell me a room basic for a bedroom is a bed. (I cannot make this stuff up).

Sure, the other half of the book was the wonderful organizational photos I was craving, but by that point I was too frustrated to even enjoy them. And sadly, I didn’t learn one tip from this book.

So, skip the book – and embrace these top 6 organization photos:

The great debate – new vs old

New houses are not my thing.

I grew up in a Cape Code built in the ‘50s, and it was love ever since. When Brent and I started our home search last year, and he suggested looking at new houses, I may have looked at him as if he suggested barbequing a kitten.

I’m not morally opposed to new houses, and I don’t judge those who buy them. But I do judge those who buy new houses when they brag about the fact that it’s new, like that somehow makes it better.

There are pros and cons to both new and old houses. Newer is not always better. I think kitchen appliances are the perfect example of that. My oven is more than 40 years old, and I’m rather positive it will outlast any “new” oven in a new house today. Also, newer constructions don’t automatically have hardwood floors underneath their carpet. And I haven’t even gotten to that thing called character.

Granted, I definitely make sacrifices living in an older home. My master bathroom is tiny, and there definitely isn’t a huge Whirlpool tub waiting for me at the end of the day. The thing I’m the most jealous of though are the kitchen pantries – just a tiny difference of who people lived then and now.

Brent and I love to go to Costco, but we always have to watch the amount we buy because of space. But, I’m excited to say for $37.99 we added a lot more room for food. When I was working on my cleaning-closet makeover, I mentioned wanting to get something for the back door. Well, I finally did, and I love it.

I bought this ClosetMaid masterpiece at Home Depot. I am so excited to go to Costco again, so this shelve can be put to even better use.

Ugh, I realize that was a terrible transition into what I bought. It all sounded way better in my head. Promise.

The Upstairs – Chapter 4 (the office closet)

Well, my plan of switching the office and the third bedroom is finally coming together. This weekend Brent and I focused on organization – especially the dreaded office closet.

Before:
After:
I'm excited to say that I didn't spend anything on this closet update. All the ClosetMaid gadgets in the closet now, were things I've had. I started collecting ClosetMaid accessories in college, and haven't looked back since.

My favorite part of the closet is using the shoe rack for a paper organizer.


The paper-obsessed graphic designer in me, thought it was a must to organize my Neenah paper not only by style but paper weight.

I want the office to be a room I enjoy going in to, not a place the stresses me out – and a clean and organized closet is a key part to that.

Closet Case: Chapter 3

My mission was to get more space out of my hall cleaning closet, and that goal has definitely been met. I even have room to add more things without it getting too cluttered.

Before:
After:
Look at all this extra space!

And I finally got to use my labelmaker:

At some point, I would like to add a pantry-type shelving to the back of the door. But that won't really be necessary until I stop spending the food budget on the house. :)

If you are interested in the organizer or storage containers I bought – they are all from Target. I am obsessed with the polka dot accessories their RE line currently has.

Closet Case: Chapter 2

The painting part is done.

I was debating about what color to paint the closet, but in the end I decided on the gray that's in the entry way. I'm rather excited to no longer have crayon artwork everywhere in there.

Before:
After:

Closet Case: Chapter 1

Originally, I wanted to hold out until the summer to start working on the hall cleaning closet. But after acquiring more Costco cleaning musts (I kid you not, we haven't owned a sponge for the last month), I decided it was time.

I love the fact that we have 2 closets in the entry way, but I could love them even more if I was taking advantage of their full potential.

Look at my cleaning closet – see all that wasted space? It breaks my heart.


So what's the plan? Clear it out, paint it and then organize it to utilize all the wasted space.

A Day of Organization

One thing I can't stand are messy drawers, closets or cabinets. I have spent many Sundays in my childhood organizing my closet or desk. I find the concept of organizing to be very calming.

So it's only natural that I started my organization process (even though I'm no where close to unpacked).

For the Socks
I have too many socks to keep track of, so I love these sock organizers from The Container Store. This things take up little room, yet each divider holds about 10 dress socks. And yes, I do realize that I have a lot of argyle socks.




Jewelry Organizer on the Cheap
I just can't do jewel boxes. There are not enough little compartments for me, and all my necklaces get tangled – it's just no good. My favorite thing very jewelry organization is ice cube trays. These things are amazing and cheap. I have one drawer for all my bracelets and necklaces, and another drawers with my earrings. It is my favorite thing ever and it basically costs nothing.

Photos galore

What Brent and I have been up to, photo-style.

The Mess of Boxes
While there is still a lot of box madness, it's nowhere to where it was.


Contact Paper is Evil
It's official – I hate contact paper. I just lack the coordination to not have the contact paper end up all stuck together. Thankfully, my mom did the majority of it.

While I never want to see contact paper again, I am so happy I did it. The paper in there was hunter green (shocker), and it was just way too dark.


Towel Happiness
I still don't understand how the previous owners survived without towel rods in their bathroom, but this honey-do was on the top of the list.


I bought another hand towel holder to replace the nasty plastic one in the hall bath, but that bathroom is a whole other story (hopefully that bathroom will be finished tomorrow).

Goodbye Cookie Monster
I love that I have 2 hall closets in my entryway, but I hated the "cookie monster" carpet they were sporting. Fortunately, there was hardwood underneath. While the hardwood isn't in the best condition, it's still a wonderful improvement. My battle wounds from tearing out the carpet were totally worth it.



Kitchen Organization
While I'm thrilled to have a pantry, my issue is that it's long and narrow. I had a similar issue in the Fairway house, and I would end up buying food I already had because it would get lost in the back on the cabinet and I'd never see it again.

My solution to this are these cool cabinet drawers. And I thought for $20 each, it was totally worth it. I'm so excited to be able to find my food easily. :)