One linen closet down

Hello all! How are ya?!

If you were anywhere in�well�the country a couple of weeks ago�you were most likely getting some wicked crazy weather. We certainly did. The temps here have been in the 40�s and high 50�s this week, and we STILL have three inches of ice on our lawn.

The first day or so, I was kinda digging being iced in�by the third day of not leaving (we couldn�t even get out to the mailbox), it was starting to make me twitch. Just a tad.

So I put the twitching to good use. :) We are SO lucky to have a ton of closet space in our house. We have a fantastic linen closet it our downstairs powder room that we use a TON.

Although my before pics are horrendous cell phone pics (bad blogger!), they don�t look too horribly messy, right?:

 

I didn�t think it was that bad either�till I actually started going through everything.

I plopped my booty on the floor and went bin by bin�and I GOT RID OF CRAP. :)

It�s quite amazing how much STUFF hides in those storage bins:

Seriously? This was the stuff I didn�t keep.

Ummm�I really hope the toilet was clean for the picture. Huh.

No really, seriously? That�s insane people! That�s all stuff we didn�t need or don�t use. Taking up lovely storage space. (In the closet and in my head.)

Well, except the potty step�that just got caught up in the mess. :)

You don�t even get the full effect with that picture since stuff is piled high. Here�s what I bagged up from the closet:

The little bag went to Goodwill. The donate bag was full of cleaning rags and supplies that we DON�T NEED FOR GOODNESS SAKES, and that went to a local shelter. The last bag was just trash.

And some of that pile went down to the basement. Crayzay!

After all of that, I actually got rid of one of the bins, and just reorganized the others.

Here�s the after with a real camera:

I know, the whole good camera thing helps the after pics a bit. :)

This helps too:

Smartie me didn�t have lights installed in our closets, and this one is especially dark. I�ve had this little dodad for years and haven�t really used it till now.

DUH. It works GREAT! I lost the back part that you attach to the wall, so I just nestled it into the wire shelves. See, wire shelves are good for something! :)

Let�s take a little tour, shall we?

The top shelf is just extras and our hand towels rolled up in a small bin:

The next one holds a bin for batteries and random toy parts. (I put broken pieces in here so when I find the match, I know where to look.) There�s also a bin for light bulbs:

LIGHT. BULB! Sorry, couldn�t resist the Despicable Me reference. :) Lurve.

This is one of the shelves that gives me little bitty hives cause a bin doesn�t match:

Just go with it Sarah. Breathe. Life will go on. You�ll survive this.

Anyhoo, that odd one there holds all floor care stuff, and the other holds all other cleaning supplies. You can see I only kept the stuff we USE and got rid of or stored the extra stuff that we didn�t.

On the next shelf, we have a bin for air fresheners (cause it is a bathroom) and my Bath and Body Works plug in jobbies that I�m obsessed with. I keep the supply for the house here:

The other bin is for dirty clothing and towels. I learned about two days after bringing the Bub home from the hospital that I needed a spot for dirty clothes downstairs. It works great for random socks and kitchen towels.

Down one more shelf (isn�t this SO EXCITING???) is a bin for the vacuum parts and one for rags:

I had an obscene amount of rags. I mean, it was positively ridiculous. Got rid of half of them.

I�ve always used the back of the door for storage, but I added a couple more hooks � one for covers for the floor broom (upper left), and one for the potty seat on the bottom:

This space is ALL about function over form. :) But I am thrilled that we now have a spot for that seat. Now when friends drop by, they�re not greeted with a bright yellow potty seat. You know what I�m sayin�.

The closet can now breathe again:

   

And the very best part? I was so excited to have it organized again, I finally got rid of the brassy knob and hinges on the door:

WHOO HOO! I�ve had them for a YEAR now�that�s how slow that process has gone. Almost done switching them all out � when I�m done I�ll tell you more about that DIY project. :)

So�have you been decrapifying? Organizing? Loving it? :) I hope so! If you haven�t, maybe a little shindig will get you in the mood:

This coming Monday, come one come all! :) Link up all of your decluttering or cleaning projects. Can�t wait to see your tips and tricks!

 

P.S. There is usually a child proof door handle on the knob to the closet. Because I had just changed it out it�s not on for the pictures. :)

 

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