Thursday, April 30, 2009

Organizing Our Hallway Closet

After getting deeper into the blogosphere earlier this year, I was feeling quite inspired by the organizing whirlwind out there. Everyone seems to be into the organizing spirit.

I love it.

I just don't do it very often because it takes so much work and energy I normally do not have to spare on something like organizing. Years ago before Fibro, loved it. Now I love it in spirit, hate it in body.

So on January 30th, I started a project that took a lot of time and energy, but it was well worth it. A dear friend and coworker, Sherah, took me around to local resale shops, Good Will, and a nifty store around here called Deals. It's all under $5. They had some pretty spiffy storage containers that I fell in love with.


Looking back now, I wish I had done a few things differently... like measure the space, really search for the right containers instead of just grabbing what I thought I liked best because it was the first set I laid eyes on, and colorize.

That's right. I did not measure the space so that I would know how wide the containers should be or how they would fit next to each other [did not work out the way I envisioned]. I did not ever see any anywhere else that I preferred, but I did wonder if I'd looked a little harder, would I have found something I liked better and worked more effectively for my strange space? I did not match colors super well either. {sigh}

But despite my mistakes on it, I'm still super-duper happy with it.

And given that I got sick right in the middle of it, I'd say it's not too shabby that I finally finished it about 3 weeks later in mid-February.

BEFORE: (yes, it's embarrassing....)

You can't tell completely, but this is one funky closet. It goes over our stairs to the basement, so it gets deeper and deeper at each level. It's very oddly designed. There's not a whole lot you can do with it, but I think I did a pretty good job.....

AFTER:

(And yes, now we intentionally buy smaller packages of toilet paper and paper towels.)

Come on, let me hear all the horrahs!!! :)

TA DA!!!! :) I'm happy!! What do you think? It is soooo great to be able to go in, grab a container or an item, and not have to rummage around for forever to find something or ultimately give up trying to find it! [I found a lot of things at the bottom of some layers in here that surprised me! Like, "ohhhh, that's where that was all this time!" Doh!]

And yes, next time I will not buy containers with jagged edges so that my labels actually STICK!

Have you recently organized something and would like to share it with others? Check out the I'm an Organizing Junkie blog, and join in on today's post.

Organizing Blog


HAPPY ORGANIZING!

9 comments:

Hopewell said...

Nice work! Glad someone else agrees that buying in bulk isn't always worth it if you can't store it neatly and out-of-sight. Otherwise it's just "visual clutter". Great job!

Christy said...

Great work! Finding the perfect container can be difficult, but you did great with what you found. Congrats on "reclaiming" your closet!

Abbie said...

I looked at your before pics and was like - OH MY! I think you did a great job organizing! Doesn't it make you feel a little lighter after! And I love your colored containers! Great finds! I came over from OrgJunkie. Thanks for the great post!
Abbie

Sherah said...

Wow Rochelle--Lovely job! You even have a container for mini-Kleenex? That is totally impressive ;) I'll try and remember the whole "ridges and labels don't go together" thing for our next trip!

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

Great work. I love all the bins and labels.

Kayren said...

Wow, Rochelle! Those before pictures were something else. That was really a big job to tackle. And I'm with Sherah...mini-Kleenex get their own bin? That's a lot of mini-Kleenex! I think you did a good job with what you had considering you didn't specifically plan.

Love that you used your labelmaker. It's one of my favorite things.

SnoWhite said...

awesome job!! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my recipes -- I hope they are enjoyable for your family.

Patricia said...

what an amazing transformation!

Rochelle said...

Thanks everyone for your wonderful and encouraging comments!!

Sherah & Kayren, you girls are so funny. Yeah... I guess it is pretty crazy to have a full bin for mini-kleenex, but what can I say, I have crazy allergies and we are always overflowing with kleenex! :) So yes they needed a bin. But I'm glad it gave you a chuckle. :)