Move-In Ready Closet Part 2

…and that is why a woman’s closet never seems to be big enough! Space is always needed because we never have something to wear, or we can’t find the right shoes! Designing my closet was rather easy because I was under the illusion that I didn’t have much clothes and I was going to have plenty of empty space to add to my wardrobe later. A soon realized I had way too many clothes and a shopping spree is totally out of the question! Here is my closet:

byLisandra

I went with two Billy Bookcase (the same one we used in my husbands closet) which I used for jeans, shorts and tank-tops, I decided not to stack them because I wanted as much hanging space as possible.

byLisandra

I have tons of sandals and no matter how I organize them, it’s never a clean look. Hanging sandals in a closet rod never occurred to me, here are two similar ideas I found:

Using infant size hangers

Using wire hangers

I loved the first idea but decided for regular adult size hangers instead, it seemed more cost efficient since the package brings 20 hangers for $1.18. Aesthetics are important if you are looking for a clean designer look, a standard white rod will work and look perfect.  Don’t waste your money on heavy duty or wooden rods, since you are hanging sandals weight is not an issue, of course, if you happen to run into a sale go for it! Hanging your sandals on a rod not only keeps them visible and organized, it also makes use of that empty space underneath your clothes without making it hard to vacuum or clean the floor! Here’s my take!

byLisandra

So how about my other shoes?! Remember the ClosetMaid Horizontal Stackable Organizer I used on my husbands closet? Affordable and nice looking solution for any flats, sneakers or small boots.

byLisandra

And of course, what is a girls closet without heals?! There are cool ways to display your heals, some require space and some make good use of space:

Use a Bookcase (by withloveveronique.com)

Use Crown molding

Both are great ideas. If you have the space: a bookcase would work, if you have the cash to spare: molding looks awesome! In my case I loved the idea of the molding but I wasn’t trilled about buying a plank of molding for $25 for shoes (if you have some left-overs go for it!). I decided to go with good old Brass-Plated Cup Hooks. At $4.46 for a pack of 25 it was a reasonable price that worked for me. My dad (my always on call and hands on handyman!) had the great idea to open up the hook a bit more to make it easier to hang all sort of heals. We used anchors to make sure the hooks would stay put on the dry wall, you really don’t want your heals falling down on you! He even made me, my own reach pole with an old wood broom stick and a brass cup hook! I don’t really use my heals all that much so putting them up on the wall was a great way to use the other wise empty space, it’s kind of hard to keep up with a two year old when you are wearing 3 inch heals! They are also great to hang beach totes on top of the closet door!

byLisandra

Scarfs falling all over the floor are a thing of the past with an Ikea Cable Management rack! It’s all about shopping with an open mind!

Our laundry came with a single shelve, we took it down (I have other plans for that space stay tunned!) and re-used it as a second shelve for my closet. All I had to do was get new wall brackets and for $10 I had another shelve for purses and beach wear. Diaper boxes are great for organizing and I will be covered them with fabric later on. I finally found my fabrics among all my bins but I’m tackling bigger projects first.

byLisandra

So there you have it! A tour around my closet!

byLisandra

byLisandra

byLisandra

byLisandra

Remember that at the end of the day, you can take any idea out there and make it work for you and your budget, shop with an open mind and you’ll be surprise with what you can achieve!  I’ll see you next week: A Toddler’s Room to Grow!

Move-In Ready Closet

It’s been almost a month since our last posting, and I will say it’s been a very long and exhausting one. Long story short: our closing got delayed, we had a fully loaded U-Haul truck parked for 8 days and it  wasn’t until yesterday that I was able to actually put some of our clothes in our dressers! It’s been a tough couple of weeks but we are here to stay and ready to share with your our projects! Here’s our new home!

Now, called me naïve but I had this idea that since it was a brand new home it was just a matter of a few personal touches here and there. For me, “Move-In Ready” meant exactly that! Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way complaining but it was sort of a surprise that most new houses don’t even bring towel or toilet paper racks! And so there went our first couple of days in the house… The closets in all the rooms came with a single ClosetMaid shelve, as sturdy as they are, one shelve is definitively not enough and can totally rob you from precious space. Take my husbands closet for example:

It’s an ackward space to take pictures of, and it looks a lot bigger on paper than what it is in person, but I needed to make sure it fitted all his stuff so he wouldn’t invade my closet, that meant we had to use every wall and empty space in the closet. There’s many things out there that can work as closet organizers that won’t break your budget, it’s a matter of having an open mind and “looking” around before you buy. I found that internet web searches didn’t help much with this, simply because in-stores sales usually don’t end up in the web.

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IKEA vs ClosetMaid Cubes

• Yes, IKEA furniture can sometimes be time consuming to assemble, but their “cubes” took me literally 20 minutes to put together.
• ClosetMaid units can be found pretty much everywhere you go and they are very inexpensive. They come in different sizes and can be found anywhere from $9.97, one thing to keep in mind is that they are stackable so one might not be enough.
• They are both made of composite wood yet IKEA’s is way stronger and durable.
• ClosetMaid stackable units are design to fit most closets but their inner shelves only have a nice smooth finish on one side. It might not be a deal breaker for some people but it’s hard to miss the unfinished composite wood side on the upper shelves.
• Price wise IKEA is a bit more, but you are getting a stronger more durable unit. It also depends on which furniture line/style you choose. We went for the BILLY Bookcase because it was on sale ($24.99) and it was sturdier than cubes.

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Our first stop was creating more hanging space. We carefully removed the “half shelve” (not to damage the wall) and installed two rods with a separation of about 45″ apart, my husband is 5’11” so it was perfect for him.

There was still a good amount of space between the original shelve and the roof, so we added another shelve rack of six feet ($8.97) right above it. P.S. All folding and hanging was courtesy of my husband!

Though you could stack IKEA units, we needed the hanging space so we decided to just use one BILLY Bookcase. I found some really nice fabric boxes at the dollar store and used them to store socks, they add quite a manly elegant touch to the cubes! We also bought two ClosetMaid Horizontal Stackable Organizers (each $9.97) and used them to organize some of my husbands shoes. You will notice the Overnight Huggies box on the top shelve, diaper boxes make great sturdy organizing “baskets”, all you have to do is cover them up with a fabric of your choice. For now they’ll remain like that because my fabrics and supplies are still boxed up, we’ll be doing this later!

What is a men’s closet without a tie rack?! I saw this Pin and fell in love with how organized and elegant all the ties looked!

bycedarhillfarmhouse

Look closely though, it’s mainly a piece of wood with nails and plastic “tips”. I already had wood and paint in the garage, and we had plenty of nails, I bought ClosetMaid Caps for $0.97 and a rubber coating spray ($3.98) to coat the nails prior to glueing the caps on. The spray safeguards your ties incase the nails rust, plus it makes for a smooth surface for delicate fabrics. Then I painted it with a Semi-Gloss white paint I had, once it was dried I glued the caps with E6000 (steal and rubber might reject other glues). 

They whole project literally cost me less than $5 and it looks awesome!

byLisandra

Closets are one of those places you can’t avoid in your house! A well organized closet will save you grieve later on, and the best part is you don’t have to pay top dollars for somebody to make it for you! Here are two other great ideas that I wasn’t able to incorporate in the closet but they might prove usefull to you!

Jeans on Shower Hooks

by BHG

Next stop my closet!