Closet Organization

Last week I posted my home goals for 2012, and while quite lofty, it was nice to get some encouragement that maybe it is possible to achieve most, if not all of those goals this year.  Thank you all so much for that.  In the last week we've made some progress on a few of those goals including:

• ordered an area rug for the living room space - it ships soon, I am giddy with anticipation
• ordered our barstools and pendant lighting to create a functional 2nd eating area in our house
• continued work on the garage, only to discover we have a termite problem that is being treated today

So while we've made some progress on making decisions, nothing is quite yet complete so I thought I'd talk a bit about the kid's closet systems that I showed you last week.  I had a few friends email me with several questions about how they work and cost, etc, so hopefully this is somewhat helpful.

After doing a lot of research online and in store, we found that the best quality and most customizable DIY system was from Martha Stewart for Home Depot's line.  We loved that the lining came almost all the way to the ground, creating that true custom look, there were endless configurations available, 3 different color choices to choose from, and the cost was mid range; not as high as custom closets, but not so cheap you doubt their quality.  We first designed each closet online with their awesome design tool.

You begin by choosing your closet type, either walk in or reach in, and then enter the width of your closet.  It spits out a design that they think would be right for your space (coincidentally their design is also the most expensive, but that's okay, they're trying to upsell).  You can see the price for each design in the bottom left hand corner.

The drawers are quite nice, but since each kid has their own big chest of drawers, we deleted the drawers and went with more shelving.  We also did some adjustments to the type of hanging configuration we wanted.

This is essentially what the closets each look like, but we wanted to add one of those nifty laundry baskets to our design, so we went to add accessories.

That laundry basket added $50 to the total, but still within budget and it's probably the feature we love the most, so well worth it.

When your design is complete, you simply click on the Kits Needed tab to show you a list of all the items you will need, which you can print up to take to the store and shop, or you can order online and shipping is free.  The espresso pieces are all available in store, but most of the white pieces were only available online for some reason.

Syd's closet was the first one Art installed and because the walls weren't quite plumb, he had to add some shims, which took a bit more time.  Installation on Syd's closet was about 6 hours total from start to finish.

Taylor's closet went much quicker and only took about 3 hours.  Both closets though did require some cutting with a standard table saw, so beware, depending on the size of your space, some cutting will most likely be involved. 

As a frame of reference, this is what Taylor's closet looked like before the installation:

The bars were not functional for a kid's wardrobe, with not enough bottom hanging space that she could reach.  The shelves were spaced very far apart as well, so not maximizing all the available space.

And after:

Shelves are perfectly spaced apart for maximum storage space

and shoes fit perfectly in a row, with some room for her growing feet

our favorite part of the entire system, eliminating the need for a big bulky hamper we previously had

tip: if you have a young girl, get one of these to avoid the tangled masses of jewelry.  I picked up this one at Marshall's, and while not the cutest in the world, it was cheap and functional, saving me hours of having to untangle necklaces she collects from goody bags and craft projects.

Syd's closet is in the espresso wood and is just beautiful.  He has a lot less "stuff" so his shelves allow us to actually display some things, and yes, they always look like this (NO!).   But for the most part, Syd's room is able to stay a lot cleaner than Taylor's. 

So there you have it.  I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell you on this, but we just really love how they came out and how customizable they were.  Art loved how easy they were to install.  A win-win for both of us, which is a plus for our marriage ;)

I'm linking up with Jules for her William Morris series

Home Improvement

If ever a single lady were to ask me for any advice in what to look for when choosing a husband, it would be this, "Marry a guy that can fix stuff, but is not too proud to call in reinforcements when he's in over his head."  Not that anyone has ever asked me for advice in this arena, but if they did, that's what I'd say.

For the past two weekends we've been working, working a lot and it feels good to see progress made by our own two hands.  The biggest advancement?  Remember this eye sore of a block wall that ran along our entire property line?  Before it looked like this: 

And with some of this

 And this

We now have this.  And this guy couldn't be prouder of himself.  He can now add stucco artist to one of his many lists of talents.

After the stucco job was complete, we had to get rid of the green wall and so we painted.  Actually this is the "in over your head" part that I talked about before.  We ended up hiring 2 painters that got the job done at a reasonable price in less than 5 hours, which left us plenty of time to work on wiring the whole place up for outdoor lighting and to start planting.  It looks like a different place now though just with the walls painted.  Other shots from around the yard that I shot late last night...

We're working with all new plants that we've never had before in a yard and I love the silver colors brought out by the Silver Sheens and other plants in the pittosporum family.  White roses, lots of jasmine, lavender and rosemary round out the assortment.

And this is the best seat in the house, both indoors and out.  If you ever come visit you may have to fight me for this seat.  

 And while that's going on outside, inside I'm scouring catalogs and magazines looking for wall color inspiration since we're going to start painting as soon as the back is done.  I'm loving gray and thinking our bedroom set might look perfect painted this color seen in the latest Ballards catalog.  What do you think?

And lastly, the kids picked me this hydrangea from the garden over the weekend.  Not sure if it's at the start or end of it's blooming cycle, but either way I've never seen one look this with these dots.  I love it.  Any ideas how they turn like this? 

Whether relaxing or productive, hoping your weekend was whatever you were hoping it to be!
Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick's September Before & After Party