As the House Turns

I've been rambling for a few weeks now about changes and switches we've been doing in our old house. Remember this post about the wonderful sewing closet Mr. T built for me last summer? At some point it went from looking wonderful to looking like this:

real life is not always pretty!

My wonderful sewing closet had turned into a...gasp...junk closet! Truth be told, I wasn't sewing too much and when I was it was bigger projects that required the use of the dining room table. I would take everything I needed out...and then shove it back in. Since it looked like this for a while we decided to "downsize." I went through all of everything in the closet and made some decisions. We had two coat closets we merged into one and turned our other coat closet into this:


With all of the switcheroos going on, we now had an empty closet. Here is what it looked like:

not entirely empty, but you get the point.
this wood was given a coat of stain and a new life in the cloffice!

It was the perfect size and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! Stay tuned...

Rachel :)

From Coat Closet to Cloffice

Spring is officially here which has lead to fruit basket turnover at our old house. We have done away with the wonderful sewing closet that Mr. T built last summer. I'll post more about that later. There are two other closets we have, both of which were terribly packed and full of...stuff! We took some time, sorted and condensed, and were able to move what we needed into one closet. The rest of the stuff was packed and put into our newly organized attic while some things were packed and sent to Goodwill. It was a super easy decision on what to do with our empty extra closet...turn it into a cloffice!

I wanted a space for my sewing and other crafty supplies. Brainy Smurf and Smurfette wanted a homework area. Mr T wanted a spot for the family computer so we would leave his office alone. Ummmmmm...that's a lot of stuff crammed into a 4 foot x 2 1/2 foot space...watch out! We had to dig deep for this project and we were on a serious budget. I started shaking paint cans, trying to find the one with the most in it. We settled on Restoration Hardware Silver Sage. It's the same color we have in the Master Bedroom, but we didn't have to buy paint! I also had left over chalkboard paint from this project. We recycled the the wood from the former sewing closet and I managed to find a few old cans of stain and polyurethane in the shed. We were set!

 

before

 

 

We started by taping out the chalkboard area and cutting in with the wall paint. Mr. T put in side boards for the desk to lay on. He measured and cut the old desk, then I sanded and stained. We wanted to leave the old shelf in the top of the closet along with the old iron clothing rod. When we were ready to put it all together, the desk went in first, then the shelf, and the cubbies up top. I went through all of the items in the previous sewing area and had to get rid of a lot of fabric. No worries though! I saved what I needed and got rid of the fluff! The cubbies and top shelf are devoted to my sewing machine and supplies, fabric, and craft paint. The desk is just for the kiddos. I mounted a bulletin board with their practice schedules on it along with some fun family photos. There is a hanging organizer on the opposite wall with plenty of notebook paper and rulers. I keep a pencil jar stocked with sharpened pencils for homework. Under the desk I have a large drawer set on wheels filled with scrapbooking materials. In the center is a woven basket with wrapping paper, tissue, and gift bags. On the right side is a 3 drawer organizer with more sewing supplies. All of this is super organized, but hidden with a skirt I made for the desk. Our new area is family friendly, super organized, and we love it!

top of the shelf...all of my sewing stuff

Mission accomplished!!! Sewing closet + homework desk + family computer = one very efficient space = one happy family!

Rachel :)

 

"The One with the Secret Closet"

Do you remember this FRIENDS episode...

Chandler discovers Monica has a secret closet which is always locked. When he finally gets it open, he discovers a terrible, messy pile of junk...

Chandler: He-he-he-he-he. You're messy.
Monica: No, you weren't supposed to see this!
Chandler: I married Fred Sanford!

Do we have any Monicas in the house? Who out there has a catch all closet? You know...the place where everything that doesn't have a place lands? My catch all closet is the closet in our den. There are no shelves, no clothing bar...nothing. It was just an empty space when we moved into this house two years ago and it didn't take long to fill it up. Holiday decorations, boxes that I never unpacked, books, art projects from the kids...you name it; it was in there. I always had great intentions of cleaning and organizing it, but it never seemed to happen...until last summer...

The kids were gone for a few days, so Mr. T and I took it apart. Unloaded everything. Unpacked everything. Threw everything some things away. Then repacked what needed to stay and put the rest where it needed to go. Mr. T took measurements and we were off to the hardware store. You don't need mad carpentry skills to build a great space, just a few ideas, a little bit of $, and the ability to put it all together! Who needs an expensive, name-brand closet company when you can build one yourself! After the wonderful employees at the hardware store cut our wood we were on our way!

I wish I had taken a before picture...it was pretty much like Monica's secret closet. I now have a fabulous closet/office/sewing nook that holds everything from fabric to art supplies to computer cables to wrapping paper. It rocks my socks!

 

Mr. T did such an awesome job putting it all together...I am happy because I have a place to sew and get creative. He's happy because I'm not pulling out stuff and tossing it everywhere. Smurfette is happy because now it takes me no time to whip up a cute costume like this:

No worries for all you "frou frou" girls out there...Marlene will be back tomorrow to talk about things that sparkle...


Rachel :)