Project Organize

Yes, I call myself organized but these first few pictures will prove otherwise. We have an area upstairs that we call "the loft" although it is basically just a bedroom minus one wall. It has a closet that we store everything and anything inside. It is the catch all closet and needed some work as is evident in this picture...

And here is a close-up of the madness...

It is amazing what you find when you go through a closet. I found a small file box full of index cards, one for every one of the people invited to our wedding. It was in ABC order and listed everyone's address and reply. Why do I still have it after 7 years? That is a good question. I threw it away along with tons of other junk that was just cluttering up the closet. I love getting rid of stuff. It feels so good.

I found a treasure of mine in the closet too. The one and only trophy I have ever won. I was so proud of that thing for years. Who am I kidding? I'm still proud of it.

That's right, it's a spelling bee trophy. I won it in 5th grade. Such a proud moment. Hey, I didn't play sports so spelling was my thing. Pretty pathetic, huh?

So, we got to work. I emptied out the closet and we began to give it a fresh coat of white paint. It was already looking better...

However, "the loft" was not looking so great since I unloaded the entire closet into the room. Yikes...

We had some wood leftover from a sandbox project so Jason used that to construct shelves for the closet.

This is what our garage looked like during the organizing of the closet...

So, it was finally completed and here is the after picture...

We got rid of a ton of stuff in this process which makes me so happy! We only bought the orange stuff that you see plus a little extra wood for the custom shelves that my amazing husband built. It was a cheap project that has made a world of difference already. I loved going through the house and finding stuff I could use to make the closet functional and pretty...

I had spray-painted some black cardboard magazines holders awhile back. They weren't working for me in the closet so I just cut fun scrapbook paper to fit the front and I liked them again...

Also, the story behind the messed up #'s on each shelf is this...I used sticker outlines of the numbers as stencils. I painted the numbers with black paint. When they had dried, I went to remove the stickers. Well, it turns out the stickers worked too well and they did not want to come off. So, after some work to scrape them off, the numbers were left looking crazy with scrapes and marks all over them. Well, what do you know? It turned out that I liked them that way so I did not bother fixing them. Gives the shelves some character.

Oh, and I love me some scrabble tiles so they had to be included...

I had saved a couple soda bottles from my son's birthday party (which I will share about soon) so they are proudly on display in the closet now...

We used a little wooden shelf from the basement on the bottom to add more shelves to hold computer paper and my trusty iron-on transfer paper. We also set the charger for the camera and video camera on top of the little shelf so we can just throw in the battery, plug them in, and close the closet door. I love it.

Now every time I open the closet, I smile instead of feeling overwhelmed and crazy. It's a great feeling to be organized. And anytime is the perfect time to tackle that closet that makes you crazy. You don't have to spend money to get organized, just a little elbow grease and time and it is well worth it!

So, go forth and get organized my friends! Also, join me in checking out these link parties for some inspiration and fun!

Happy Tuesday!