Closets, again?

Have you seen any of the beautiful closet makeovers online or in magazines?  You know, where all the containers match, the walls are papered, stenciled or painted, and beauty abounds.  In the closet.

Truth be known, I love these.  I would be ecstatic to open my closets and have them look like they belonged in magazines, but it is impractical.  The reason we have closets is to hide and store things not pretty enough to be out in the open.  Well, all of our closets needed some help, so I have been barreling through them one at a time.  I didn't wallpaper the closets or buy tons of matching baskets {though it was tempting}.  I did borrow bins and baskets from elsewhere in the house, and used some Ikea boxes that had never been opened. 

This was not a makeover in the fashionable sense.  It wasn't dramatic; it was a common sense organizing.  Here were the guidelines I gave myself:

1.  If we don't use it, get rid of it.

2.  Organize by type and use, even if it seems unconventional {and some of it will}.

3.  Don't spend any money. 

I included a list of what was contained on each shelf, but feel free to just look at the pictures {I mean, they're so very inspiring, she says in jest}. 

The linen closet

before

top shelf - blankets and pillow

2nd shelf - master closet sheets and random pillowcases and mattress pads

3rd shelf - spray paint {!}, candles, and other random things

4th shelf - Ella's sheets, lightbulbs

5th shelf - empty storage boxes, child safety stuff

bottom shelf - lightbulb bin

after

top shelf - blankets

2nd shelf - Ella's sheets

3rd shelf - all other kid and guest linens, candles

4th shelf - lightbulbs and travel pillow

5th shelf - extra pillows

bottom shelf - nothing

Hall bathroom

before

Top shelf:  toddler potty, random items

2nd shelf:  Extra soaps, shampoos, etc., first aid, medicine

3rd shelf:  hand and body towels

4th shelf:  more bath linens of various types

5th shelf:  bed spread, extra bath mats

bottom shelf:  humidifier, mop, clothes hamper

after
top shelf:  toddler potty, bedspread, extra bathmats
2nd shelf:  extra shampoos, bottle soaps, medicines, first aid
3rd shelf:  extra toiletries
4th shelf:  empty
bottom shelf:  hamper and mop

Master bathroom

before

Top shelf:  travel sized bin, extra toiletries

2nd shelf:  random stuff

3rd shelf:  random stuff

4th shelf:  random stuff

5th shelf:  unopened Ikea boxes

bottom shelf:  bleach and squeegie

after
top shelf:  hand and bath towels
2nd shelf:  Master bedroom sheets
3rd. shelf:  bins containing hair, nail, and makeup products
4th shelf:  Hair tools, travel size bin
5th shelf:  extra toiletries
bottom shelf:  leftover unopened Ikea boxes

I know they aren't pretty, but they are very user-friendly now.  If I had any tricks to help you with closet organization, they would be these.

1.  Put things like sheets in boxes.  They look much neater that way.  I used clothing boxes that they {used to?} give away during the Christmas shopping season.

2.  Use a label maker.  You'll notice some things are labeled and some aren't.  That's because my label maker broke.  It was very sad. 

Maybe in the future I'll beautify the closets.  At this phase of our lives, however, we are in constant transition with growing kids, and making permanent storage decisions isn't practical.  Looking at the pictures above, I might just raid Goodwill for some more baskets, though.  An "after" shot should look a sight better than these do....