Master Closet Reveal

The chandelier is up in my closet. 
I am in love! 

It's been a week and my closet is still neat as a pin. 

 If I take the time to organize and decorate a space, I'm more likely to keep it clean. 

Closets and cupboards are my nemesis. 

Most of the outward stuff in our house is neat and organized but be careful opening a door. 

It's scary! 
This is how the closet looked most of the time. 

 This closet has always been disfunctional. 
The upper clothes rack was too high for me to reach so things got stuck up there that I didn't really wear. 
Bill is convinced I am a clothes hoarder.

All four of the racks were full of hanging clothes.

All the shelves had stuff on them and the dresser in our room was stuffed as well.

I had way too many clothes and it was time to purge.

Once it was empty I scraped the popcorn and rearranged the furnishings.

Instead of paint, I papered the walls with this silver and white circular pattern. 

It's different from anything else in the house.

I don't always have tulips in my closet but when I do, it's for a blog post.

The upper rack on the left came down so I won't be tempted to refill it.

Two different towers on each end create a counter-like 

 space in the middle for jewelry, nail polish and other pretties. 

A utilitarian shelf bracket got replaced with a pretty one from Hobby Lobby.

 This started out black but white looked better in this space. 

These are wonderful brackets for only $3.98 each but I don't think Hobby Lobby has them anymore.

Not having a wall of clothes here opens up the space and makes the closet feel significantly larger.

I moved my shoe cubbie and drawers from under the mirror to the nook on the right side. 

 The the laminate storage components came from Lowes several years ago.   

Everything just stacks on top of one another.

 New chrome handles replace the plastic ones that came with the drawer unit.

 

I still have plenty of space on this side to hang my lacey tops.

I love a lacey top! 

Read about my Tiffany blue jewelry boxes here.

All the edges of the shelves got painted to clean things up.

The totes full of off season clothes got lined with leftover wallpaper. 

The dowel from the shelf we installed after we moved in finally got a coat of paint to make it look neater.  

The black screws that we used to hang the brackets got a dot of white paint to make them disappear. 

The chandelier with three bulbs is brighter than what I had before.

I recommend this fixture from Home Depot even though it is acrylic. 

It has a lot of pretty detail and sparkle. 

It's perfect for glamming up a girly closet. 

 Katie

Linking with,
Best of the Weekend 
Share Your Style
Between Naps on the Porch 
Savvy Southern Style 

Source list:

Wallpaper  Allen and Roth White and Silver Wallpaper           $29.98 a roll (2 rolls needed)
White Mirror Style Selections 21.5 x 27.5 White Beveled       
Rectangle Framed French Mirror                                            $29.98
Chandelier 3-Light Chrome Maria Theresa Mini Chandelier      $79.96

Closet Maid 25 White Laminate Storage Cube                         $49.98

Closet Maid 12.12 in Stacking Storage                                    $20.98

Closet Maid 12.12 laminate cupboard                           No longer on Lowes.com

Closet Maid laminate drawer unit                                 No longer on Lowes.com

Lacey top Daniel Raines @ Nordstrom Rack                             $29.97

Jewelry Boxes  Vintage hand me down and thrifted

Jar with nail polish Anchor Hocking 1/2 gallon Heritage 

Hill glass jar with lid                                                               $5. 88

Storage Totes and shoe boxes all from Walmart

Plastic Hangers -Walmart 
Glass jars with silver tops-                   Vintage Avon all thrifted pieces

Linen Closet Organization

I just want to say thank you to all of you that come by to see what kind of "crazy" I've been up to. I sincerely appreciate all my readers. 
I got quite a bit done over Spring Break. I'll be showing you that stuff over the next few weeks. 
I got two big things crossed off my list.

I have been on a kick to clean out closets and cabinets. 

I realized that I had not been as tidy I could be with the stuff you don't see. I'm a stasher.
 Everything looks fairly picked up but in reality something could land on your head if you open a closet.  
I felt like I wasted a lot of time looking for stuff and  moving piles around.

One such area was the linen closet in our bathroom. It has always seemed too small but it should be enough space for Bill and I. The red checked shelf lining was left over from the pantry project. 

I'm completely smitten with it but I can't find it anymore.

We usually get our white towels from Tuesday Morning. 
They had some from Peacock Alley once and they are wonderful. I keep hoping they will get more.

I made the hanging organizer eons ago. 

The pockets hold bar towels that we use to clean the mirrors and vanity. 
It looks really wonky but it has been so practical over the years. 

The country blue hanger for it came from Arlington Memorial Hospital when my oldest was born.  
I made this one when the original plastic pocket tore. 
I've used it organize everything from panty hose to curlers. 
Does anyone really wear panty hose anymore?

We had a lot of medicine that was expired.  I thought we were supposed to turn it over to the pharmacy to be properly disposed of but our pharmacist said to just throw it all away.  

That bothered me but I wasn't sure what else to do. 

How do you dispose of old medicine? 

I have found that if I take the time to make a closet organized and cute, I'll keep it neater. 

Our sheets don't really fit in this here, so they are in the armoire in our bedroom. I'm working on that space too.
What have you been up to?

Katie   
Linking with,
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The Scoop
A Stroll Thru Life   
Savvy Southern Style

Organizing the Island

The cabinet project continues. I am sure that this story is a nail biter. 

I'm so perplexed why we lived with dysfunctional lower cabinet storage for 20 years.

We are all loving being able to actually see what is on the lower shelf of the cabinet. 

It is lighter and brighter, more organized and more user friendly.

The next cupboard on the agenda was the island. 

The island used to be casserole and baking central back in

the days when I actually baked.

Casseroles?

I remember those. 

Cheesy, chickeny, ooey gooey and not good for my husband. 

When he started having to eat better so did I. 
He lost 45 lbs. I lost 10 lbs…
 I'm not bitter! 

The island held mixing bowls, cake pans, pie plates and casserole dishes. 

I tried nesting all these and the front row usually looked pretty good.

Invariably someone would push off one of the top dishes and then the back row would be a mess. 
I got rid of some stuff like the springform pan in which the side didn't match the bottom. 
I'd love to purge more but realistically we need to keep several different kinds of cake pans in the event that I need to bake something.

The stacking storage worked great for the pots and pans, but I knew I needed something else for this cabinet - something bigger. 
Big Lots had this cube system.

It was $29.00.
Playing with it felt like building with Lincoln Logs. 
It wasn't going to fit "as is" so it needed to be reworked. 
Two long end pieces and the three dividers were perfect for what we needed. 
I was able to use the existing screw holes which was key.

This is laminate so it wouldn't have worked if I had to drill new holes. There was a perfect amount of room left for the outlet box.

It turned out to be a great place for the large tin foil and a rolling pin. 

It looks great.

I did a lot of cooking this past week. It functions perfectly. 

Can you believe Bill wanted to get rid of this vintage pink pyrex bowl?

I love this bowl.
It looks so cute with my other vintage pyrex.

The appliance cabinet is also finished.
I used the remainder of the pieces from the cube system for the appliances.


Last but not least, a stacking shelf was a good fit for stuff we only use for entertaining.



This whole makeover only cost $40.00 for all the organizers and $15.00 for the shelf liner. 
 Not bad considering that one new pull out drawer is about $100.00.

 I'm pleased. 
So far things are ending up back where they belong. Everyone seems to think the kitchen functions so much better because now we can see! 
Katie