Tag Archives: closet

Organizing a Small Closet, With Room to Grow

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Katie | 1 Comment

If you’re a regular reader, you may remember Mary from when she widened the doors to her bedroom closet, making it much easier to store and access the contents in her small closet. But in her new house, widening the doorway to her bedroom closet won’t really help that much. It’s tiny and its location under the eves of her 1920s bungalow leaves no space to tear down walls without major reconstruction.

Mary uses this closet, her husband uses an armoire outside the room (left by the previous owner) and they share a dresser. But still, it wasn’t cutting the mustard, her closet was an unorganized mess.

For help, she called on Laine Hardman owner of Tidy Up Professional Organizing. She remembered Laine from previous posts on DIY Del Ray. Since Mary is also a friend of mine, she let me photograph the process and write a post about it, hoping her experience might be an inspiration to others.

Like many older Del Ray homes, the closet is small — in all, it is 58 inches wide by 75 inches tall. The door is 28 inches wide and the closet expands to the left and right 15 inches on each side. Before getting started, Laine took some measurements. The shelf at the top is only 11 inches tall.

The first step was to take everything out, making piles of things Mary wanted to keep, donate, get rid of and the things that didn’t need to stay in the closet.

Then they organized by type (dresses, tops, etc.), taking a complete inventory of Mary’s wardrobe.

With a clean slate, Laine talked with Mary about her needs — space to hang dresses and tops, storage for shoes and larger boots and a place for workout gear.

For the consultation, Laine brought some supplies Mary might be interested in and a notebook with her arsenal of organizing secrets. For example, these shelf dividers are great for keeping stacked folded clothes in line. She recommended Mary put the workout wear and sweatshirts on the shelf in the closet and use the dividers to keep everything tidy. (These would also be helpful in a linen closet.)

Another secret, hangers! If you are low on space, forget those clunky space-hogging plastic and wooden hangers.

Instead, Laine suggests these super slim non-slip hangers to instantly increase your hanging space. There are also versions for pants.

You can see that for every one clunky plastic hanger, Mary can now fit 2-3 of the skinny hangers.

On the back of the closet door Mary had been hanging scarves. They agreed it made more sense to put a shoe rack on the door instead — ideal for storing Mary’s collection of flats and sandals, with room to grow.

And on the back of the bedroom door, Mary found a decorative rack to store and display her colorful accessories.

The glass accent knobs match the vintage knobs on the closet door.

It’s always great to use what you already have. Mary had three of these wicker baskets that she could use at the bottom of the closet to store boots and shoes that won’t fit on the shoe rack on the door.

An important part of any closet organizing project is decluttering, saying goodbye to the things you never wear anymore. Why keep something in your closet that you haven’t worn in over a year. Letting go feels so good. With Laine’s support and some friendly nudging from me, Mary said adios to the tops, pants, dresses and shoes she didn’t need anymore. Someone else will love them more.

In about an hour or so, the closet was in much better shape. When Laine left, Mary had some homework and a list of additional storage suggestions, which she immediately went out to locate. And later that day, the closet was complete!

Here are some tips I gathered from the organizing session:

Clear everything out and make piles of things to keep, donate/sell and upcycle/trash.
Organize by type (shirts, dresses, shoes) and by season (Spring dresses, Winter dresses, etc.).
Use storage and organizing tools that make sense for your space — bulky hangers might look good in a large closet (or if you are trying to stage your home for sale), but they take up too much room in a small space.
Before you purchase new storage bins, check to see what you already have in your house. If you aren’t pressed for time, browse Freecycle and Craig’s list (or our local MV Big Flea) for freebies and discounts.
Be strong and don’t be afraid to let go of the clothes that no longer fit or you haven’t worn in eons — invite a friend over to help make those decisions.

Do you have any secrets for organizing and maintaining a small closet? Have you used the super skinny hangers or shelf dividers? We’d love to hear your tips in the comments.

If you need additional help with an organizing or storage project, contact Laine through her website, Facebook or email.

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Posted in Small-Space Solutions

Tagged closet, organizing, storage

Completing a Closet to Office Makeover

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Katie | 1 Comment

Back in September, I converted the closet in my sons’ shared bedroom into an office for my oldest son, Jack. I was able to rescue a curbside castaway table and repurpose half of it for the desk. (I gave the other half away to a DIY Del Ray reader who completed a similar desk install.) Jack was ecstatic when the desk was finished, rushing home from school to do his homework in the privacy of his own office, working on top-secret presents during the Christmas holidays.

But I wasn’t done yet, there was still the issue of storage and lighting before I could call this hack a success. Finally, five months later, the office transformation is now complete.

For lighting, I added a desk lamp connected with an extension cord to the outlet behind the dresser outside the closet. I also found a bulletin board on Freecycle for the left wall where Jack can proudly display cherished mementos such as certificates of achievement and sporting event ticket stubs.

On the desk itself, Jack keeps a box full of art supplies and his oatmeal can of colored pencils.

Along the back wall, I hung one large shelf and two ledge shelves for Jack’s growing collection of football action figures. I had purchased the shelves from IKEA a while back for other projects, but never used them. His favorite figure, of course, is Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III of whom he has an action figure and a football card.

In this photo, check out the odd way the manufacturers characterized former Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre (#4). All the other football figures are wearing their full jerseys, pants and cleats, but Favre is sporting a half-shirt, layered shorts and what appears to be tennis shoes. Why Brett? Why are you showing off so much skin? What did you do to deserve this? (Yes, that’s Justin Bieber behind RGIII.)

The final storage necessity was a place to store books. Previously, the kids’ books were stacked on an ugly particle board shelf in the room and scattered throughout the living room downstairs. After weeding out the “baby books” and videos and either freecycling or passing along to friends with younger kids, we had more space for the books the kids actually still liked to read. Adios Wiggles, it’s been real!

I’ve been working on a similar decluttering project in our basement, and in doing so, cleared off an entire bookcase that was the perfect fit for underneath the desk. Jack and his younger brother Calvin were adamant about organizing the books on their new shelf themselves, which was just fine with me! (Note ugly particle board shelf, below right.)

In the end, I think they did quite a good job — I can tell where they get their organizing genes.

And best of all, now we can get rid of the ugly particle board shelf that stood between the closet and the dresser.

To make it more convenient for the boys to read when they are downstairs in the living room, we’re using this old soda crate as a book caddy. They can keep their current reads in here, just as long as they don’t spill out onto the floor. You gotta keep the clutter phobes happy too.

So for little to no money, and after a fair amount of decluttering and reorganizing, this tiny and useless closet where stuff was lost and forgotten has finally been transformed into a functional and organized workspace. Tada!

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Posted in Living with Kids, Small-Space Solutions

Tagged bedroom, closet, dumpster dive, freecycle, kids, office, organizing, small-space solution

A Dining Table’s Repurposed Life

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Katie | 3 Comments

Ever since Leslie turned her daughter Ana’s closet into a work space, I’ve wanted to do the same with my son’s closet. But the thought of shopping for wood, measuring, realizing the walls are crooked and the boards don’t fit, re-measuring, re-cutting, drilling and finally installing was not something I wanted to do again. But then something heppened — a random curb alert cell phone pic from Leslie prompted me to change my mind.

Who could refuse this free table in a brilliant kelly green color? I sure couldn’t. Leslie was nice enough to pick it up in her station wagon and deliver it to my house. Since I don’t need a dining table, I figured the wood could be used for some sort of project and that’s when I remembered Jack had been asking for a desk in his closet.

The table was made with leaves, so by removing the sliders underneath, I could separate it into the perfect size for a desk. My original plan was to attach the table top to the sides of the wall like Leslie did, but the closet was 36 inches wide and the table top was only 34 inches. Instead, I decided I would use two of the legs for one side and then secure the other side of the table top to the closet’s back wall with a cleat screwed into the wall. My handy pal Mary helped troubleshoot this conundrum.

But before I could get stated, I had to take the table apart. Easy peasy.

The table had some rough cracked edges and I sanded those to make them nice and smooth.

I wanted to keep that grassy green color that originally attracted me to the table. I took one leg to the paint store, had it colored matched, and bought a quart in a glossy finish. Two coats for the top, sides, and legs and she was good to go.

Now, let’s head on up to the closet in question. Here’s what we were dealing with — a teeny tiny 36-inch closet in an 8×10 shared bedroom. I removed the closet door, which was always in the way, and stored it in the basement.

It was easy to clear out the closet – at ages 6 and 3 the boys don’t have hanging clothes, and most of the closet’s contents got the old heave-ho or were better organized elsewhere. For the dingy walls that probably haven’t been painted since the house was built, I went with bright white simply because the bedroom is a dark gray and I didn’t want the closet to be dark.

Helpers quickly came out of the woodwork. This one declared “I’m done” after 5 seconds of rolling — somehow I knew that would happen.

A little over an hour later, the entire closet and trim was a crisp white canvas.

To soften the floor (and to cover up my paint dribbles) I bought 3 carpet tiles (Flor’s Checkered Past) and used a box cutter to fit them in the space.

Then the tricky part: getting the desk in the closet. While I sat under the table, juggling it with my head, Leslie and I secured the legs. We also had to hold the table level while determining where the cleat on the back wall should go. More helpers jumped at the chance to help out in this critical moment — passing me the level, drill bits, extension cords, screwdrivers, bottled water – each one cheering me along and holding their breath that this would actually work. I’m not sure why I am smiling, this was pretty uncomfortable.

After one miscalculation, we finally got this beast installed. Jack tried it out for size.

Ana jumped at the opportunity to help him decorate.

And we oohed and aahed from all different angles.

All in all, this project took about 6 hours — this includes table repair and disassembly, painting, light construction, and cleaning mixed in with being lazy, eating lunch, and taking breaks to enjoy a 70 degree, low-humidity Del Ray day. Since the table was a curb-side freebie and I already had the chair, my only expenses were the carpet tiles and the paint, all under $100.

But we’re not done yet. Though the table is sturdy (its weight helps with that), for added stabilty, I need to attach the top of the desk to the wall cleat (most likely with a couple flat head screws). We’ll also be adding shelves, a bulletin board, and figuring out lighting. I’ll just continue to gaze at this project for now. My, that green is pretty.

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Posted in Build It, Living with Kids, Small-Space Solutions

Tagged closet, desk. kids

Open Wide: A Simple Solution for the Closet Crunch

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Katie | 3 Comments

We talk a lot on this blog about how to maximize storage and functionality through decluttering and smart storage containers, but sometimes the solution to your storage woes is a simple change to what’s right in front of you — your door. Take Mary’s “master” bedroom closet with a single 20-inch door. The closet behind this door is actually pretty wide, but this teeny tiny door made it impossible to access the closet’s contents.

Mary knew that if the doorway was larger, it would be much easier to see what’s in there and keep it all organized. With her husband away for the weekend, Mary took matters into her own hands. Armed with a crowbar and sawzall, she ripped off the molding and cut a larger opening for the doorway.

Working for a home contractor, Mary understands it can be tricky to hang a pre-hung door (put it in wrong and it won’t shut properly). She also wanted to make sure the hardwoods underneath the new opening were as seamless as possible. So for the next step — reframing the doorway, installing the door, and patching the floor — she hired out a professional.

With the doors installed, Mary set out to better organize the closet she and her husband share. Using the space planning tool on Kraftmaid’s website, she designed shelving to custom fit her closet’s size and her storage needs.

What’s great about the Kraftmaid site is after you are done, they provide a list of all the materials you will need, available at Home Depot. Mary placed an order online from Home Depot and picked up the supplies at their store. This means no hunting the aisles of Home Depot looking for parts and no waiting in line — it was paid for online and available from the customer service counter.

Finally, Mary painted the doors and hung mirrors on each one. Although Mary didn’t gain any extra square footage in the closet, the fact that she can open the doors and access everything in plain sight makes a huge difference. And, it looks great to boot!