Rounding up the closets and cupboards

Posted by Laura on April 29, 2009 · 23 Comments

Giddy up! It’s time to show off what you’ve accomplished this month. I’m excited for you and for those that will be inspired by you!

To participate all you have to do is link up below to a post on your site telling us about the closet/cupboard you overhauled. Don’t forget to include your before and after pictures. Remember to use the direct link to your round-up post and not to your homepage. That’s helpful for those of us who might not get a chance to take a peek at your post until later. Also, as a courtesy, if you are going to participate please be kind and link back to this post within your post.

Those that link up before Sunday, May 3rd at 6:00 pm PST will be eligible to win a copy of Professional Organizer, Lea Schneider’s book, Growing-Up Organized: A Mom-to-Mom Guide.

Of course the biggest prize is the newly organized space you’ve just created and the peace of mind that comes with it. Way to go and congratulations!

Finally, I’m always intrigued to know whether or not there were any lessons learned during the course of the month. This can be very encouraging and motivating for others to read as well so please feel free to share in the comments the obstacles you battled and won to get the job done.

Next up……a surface or shelf. Join us!

Filed under Closets, Monthly Round-up · Tagged with closets

Organizing your closet with cubbies…..

Posted by Laura on July 31, 2008 · 20 Comments

When I was visiting my sister I gave her an early birthday gift.

Nothing says happy birthday better than brand new shelves to organize your front closet! Isn’t that something you’ve always wanted for your birthday? lol

I LOVE these cubbies and shoe stackers!! Look at how much room they create. I even have one in my own front closet if you remember. To do my sister’s closet I purchased two of the 3 shelf cubbie organizers and 2 of the shoe rack organizers. Walmart had the best prices and I was able to get all four for $55.00. The baskets we got from the dollar store although Closetmaid (who makes these shelves) has the most awesome fabric drawers to go with these cubbies that are just perfect. Unfortunately they are also really expensive at $7.00 each so we settled for the $1.00 baskets instead. I think my sister was most excited to finally have somewhere for her purse and a I’m outta here shelf! There is even a basket for ball caps and winter hats and mitts.

I loved how this looked so much that I thought we should just leave the door open so we could sit and stare at it lovingly for hours on end. Except they didn’t think that was such a great idea which is so totally weird but whatever!

Speaking of closet organizers….

Posted by Laura on May 8, 2008 · 23 Comments

Remember last August when I went to visit my sister in Ontario and helped her to do this:

(You can see the before pictures here)

Well it turns out that my organizing freakness abilities may have rubbed off on her because just recently in preparation for their new baby who will be arriving next week (yay!) she took this closet:

and turned it into this:

What a difference some purging (ahem) and a closet organizer can make!

Closet organizers are a must in my book and definitely worth the investment although I’m not even talking big dollars here necessarily. Closet organizers come in all different configurations and prices so you can spend as little or as much as you want BUT since you’ve come to my blog you know I’m all about the affordable. So it’s safe to say that if you are looking for the $4000.00 closet solution, you’ve come to the wrong blog. I mean I’m not knocking the $4000.00 closet organizer because I’m sure they are hunky and dorry and the things that dreams are made of but this lady just doesn’t have that kind of cashola. So instead here are some solutions that work for me and my bank balance.

First decide what your requirements are for the closet. In other words what do you want to store in there? Clothes, toys, books, or all of the above? Take your requirements into consideration when shopping for a closet organizer.

Most department stores will sell some kind of basic closet organizer for under $100.00. The one I’ve used a few times in my house and the one my sister used above is this one:

Closet organizer from Canadian Tire $54.99

You can see a picture of my entryway closet with this organizer here, the only difference is the addition of a drawer in the middle. Very effective I must say and if you are super handy (unlike me) you can customize these inexpensive closet organizers to suit your needs without spending a lot of additional dollars. My friend Shari is a pro at this and you just have to go check out the amazing work she has done BY HERSELF in both her daughter’s room as well as the walk-in closet in her bedroom. How’s that for inspiring!

The point is it is possible to maximize space in your closet no matter what the size. Just simply adding an extra shelf at the top of your closetlike my hubby did for instance can make a huge difference.

Or how about this new product I just discovered on the Solutions website which looks pretty nifty for adding extra space at the top of a closet:

2-in-1 Closet Combo $29.95

These closet doublers also look great for creating more space at a great price:

Closet Doubler $13.99

I’m also a HUGE fan of dressers and bookshelves in the closet especially in kid’s rooms. In fact I created a closet library in my daughter’s closet to house all her books and allow her visual clutter to be kept to a minimum. Putting dressers/shelves in a closet also frees up bedroom floor space which for a small room can make a huge difference.

Whether you have clothes, toys or books to store in your child’s closet using cubbies is also a fantastic idea as seen here on The Nesting Diary. You’ll even find the instructions for making the tags to attach to the cubbies to assist children in knowing where to put things away. Love it!

Need more motivation? Check out this picture that appeared in the very first issue of Organize Magazine. All three girls share this closet: