Serious Play

Earring Tree

So, I don't like mess!

When there is a spill in my kitchen, I rush to wipe it up. When there is a clutter of shoes in the entryway, I feel the pull to go tidy them. When the papers and bills of life accumulate on the counter, it nags at me until I deal with it. Even my closet needs to be neat or else I feel unsettled.

For the past few years I have had chin- to shoulder length hair and it is dark brown. This presents a challenge when choosing earrings that will show up in my hair. I am not overly ostentatious, but rather simple. With those criteria in mind, I have accumulated a fair collection of earrings.

My issue was not having a place to keep my earrings organized. However, just before Christmas there were a number of new stores that opened up in the mall nearest my house. Among them was Urban Barn. Now, I am sure that it is not as extensive as the US stores or the online store, but nonetheless, we were delighted to shop the unique items that Urban Barn carries. The very first thing to catch my eye, was a rather large assortment of jewelry organizers, specifically this jewelry tree. As soon as I saw it, I knew that it had to come home with me.

After clearing a respectable spot, my earring tree resides on my bathroom shelf, easy to see and reach. Every morning now, when the time comes to choose from my collection of earrings, I smile to see my organized earring tree.

Thank you Urban Barn!

A Whole Wall

So, I just greatly increased my storage situation.

On the weekend, I made a little visit to IKEA. They really are the masters of storage ideas. Every time I walk through the doors I am dazzled by their solutions.

Since completing the majority of our renovations, I have been slowly redecorating and redesigning the rooms in my home. Currently the target is my basement. Up until now, the room consisted of a sofa, coffee table and TV. I hate to say it, but my husband is perfectly fine with that. When I suggested we add some shelving, he asked why. He thinks the room is fine the way it is, as it has all the elements that he needs!

Even though he wants a 'man cave', I didn't hear him complain when I finished installing the shelves!

I purchased enough of these Expedit shelves to cover the length of one entire wall, at about waist height (I tipped it on its side). I love the way it just corrals so neatly the stuff of our lives. All pulled together in a square white cubby. My garage is about to be lightened of the extra boxes that it has been holding since we began our reno. 

My husband will be pleased with that!

I have not yet realized my entire vision for this shelving solution, but I will keep you posted as it unfolds.

Closet Overhaul

So, since my One Little Word is REALIZE, I thought I had better get started! My bedroom closet has been on my list of Things To Do since forever. Always intending to attack it, I continued to live in frustration. But no longer!

Upon moving into this house, I was thrilled to have a 'walk-in' closet, if even a bit illogically laid out. The issue has always been two bars for hanging clothes that intersect each other (as pictured above). Sean's clothes and my clothes kind of just get squished somewhere in the back of our closet, making it difficult to not only see what is there, but to keep clothes from wrinkling.

The other issue is these tiny built-in shelves. They really are too narrow for anything significant to be stored on them. I ended up just shoving on the shelves unnecessary items that don't seem to go anywhere else. I kept looking at all the stuff and wondering why I even have it in my closet!

Just around the corner is another disaster area. A few years back, I tried to eliminate all dressers from my bedroom, insistent that all my clothing could go inside the closet...it is a 'walk-in' after all. Here, the previous owner installed some more shelves, these a more logical size. However, as you can see, it is a mishmash of more stuff.

Wanting to REALIZE my intentions of days gone by, the other day I decided to just start attacking my closet. I sat for some time drawing up plans of what my dream closet could be. I took dimensions, and redid the drawings. I took out the IKEA catalog and envisioned their closet solutions in my bedroom. I drank three cups of tea while pondering the best solution to my closet woes. And then, I got out the screwdriver and got to work.

 

 Removing the perpendicular bar and shelf really opened up my closet. We have room now for hanging our clothes without them bunching up.

I removed shelves along the side in order to hang my long items.

I categorized my folded clothing into sweaters, t-shirts, jeans, workout clothes, etc. Finally, I went out and bought a few things to help organize...a new laundry hamper, buckets for socks and underwear, hangars that hold a few pairs of pants (this is how I will hang my out-of-season pants) in order to reduce the amount of space they take up and I repositioned the belt hangar that was previously in an odd place.

It felt good to just do it. This has been on my 'should do' list for over a year and I finally did it! 

I wonder where my OLW will take me next...