A Closet Makeover

A Tale of Two Closets

This week’s featured makeover shows off a project we see all too often- the extra closet… with oh so much potential, but currently the bane of our organizational existence!

This hallway closet in question serves a family of four, Mom & Dad, and their 2 adorable young sons. As is often the case with shared spaces, it seemed that each family member saw the closet serving a different purpose… and weren’t shy about utilizing it the way they saw fit! Certainly not overnight, but rather in time, this wonderful extra closet turned into ground zero for cleaning supplies, tools, sports equipment, packing peanuts, assorted toys, art supplies, cycling gear, holiday items & artifacts… you get the idea, and I’m sure you can relate. In the absence of a clear system- not only for “what belongs”, but where it belongs– a “system” of chaos emerges, and nobody seems to get what they need from the space 🙁

The challenge was on, to design an organizational system catering to everyone’s needs, and in a way that’s easy for everyone to follow (even little ones are often great helpers once they know how!)

Rolling Up Our Sleeves

As always, the first order of business was to “get sorted”. The challenge in this case was how much stuff crammed atop the closet’s high wire shelves. Coupled with the floor being crowded with an assortment of items that made stepping into the closet nearly impossible, you can imagine our trepidation as we gently starting pulling things out. It looked as though if we moved one thing wrong, we may cause an avalanche down on top of us!

Not to be deterred, we got each and every thing off those shelves & off that floor, and found an ideal closet space awaiting us!

With the closet emptied, we arranged all it’s contents on the kitchen table. Next step, I started grouping items (“like with like”). As I did this, our client started spotting items she didn’t need to live in the closet. 

With all the contents sorted, it was easy to find new, more suitable homes, for a lot of what had accumulated in the closet.

• Spare electrical parts and infrequently used household sprays moved to the garage, though collected in a bins rather than loose.
• Expired art supplies, like dried out paints were trashed while the good supplies moved into the kids’ art cabinet (a project we had tackled in September).
• Out-of-season sports equipment, along with other infrequently used stuff headed off to the basement.

After we purged or relocated the bulk of the closet’s contents, the pile of things to return to the closet was actually quite small. All in all, we needed just 5 different clear bins to get the closet back in shape.  

Order Restored

We took a step back to assess, and it was shocking how much room was still leftover, and better yet, how much light now filled the space!  With all the extra space we set out to uncover items lurking down in the basement or otherwise out of the way that could use a closer home due to frequent use. We made room for a stash of paper towels, Kleenex, and toilet paper up from the basement storage so that fewer trips downstairs were necessary. 

One remaining order of business- purchase and install clips (similar to this 5-Position Wall Organizer) to hold the mops and brooms flush against the empty right wall for easy access.

With two people, the closet overhaul took less than 2 hours! While we wrapped up, our relieved client admitted what we hear all too often- it was the kind of project she never would’ve found time to have tackle solo.

If you’re looking for a little help getting a hall closet under control, you know how to find us! And who knows, you just may be our next featured makeover!