Saturday, when at Easton, I went to one of my favorite shops-- its called the Container Store. Its a simple, very self explanatory retailer that I just love. It helps those of us who need organization in our worlds (and all the help we can get acheiving organization in our lives) adequately structure our surroundings with some of the coolest containers you can find. They had a sale yesterday, and well, the place just inspired me. This, combined with the maternal nesting instinct that I used to think was a load of bull (and now admit that I was clearly in the wrong about) has resulted in an all afternoon productive project.
My mom, who may be the most organized woman I know, would be so proud (and is probably shocked reading this, as she's seen what my closets have looked like when I lived at home). I told her that I was about to do this while driving home and she said "I'm not sure I know which closet you are talking about." I replied "Its the closet I never open with people around for fear of bodily harm and embarrassment." Maybe, just maybe, this instinct that has possessed me to eliminate clutter will stick around for a bit after the baby arrives. Fat chance, I know, but a girl can dream, right? Seriously, Mike used to have to fear me going to the shoe store. Now, he needs to be way more concerned about the Container Store. Poor guy-- at least he gets to enjoy the end result of Operation Organization...as with shoes, well his feet are a bit bigger than mine.
So, I say "Closets be very, very afraid." See, we have this double-door closet on the first floor in the hallway next to our laundry room. Its one of those spaces that has become a "miscellaneous storage area" over the past 4 years. And store we have-- as in everything from bulk packages of paper towels & toilet paper to extra sheets & blankets to pillows to off season clothes to Boomer's toys. And over the years, this closet has been acculating a lot of these items (and then some).
Well, this afternoon, the closet met its match: A nesting me accompanied by the Container Store loot. Four hours later-- and a lot of stuff packaged to go to Goodwill and other more appropriate places in the house--we have tamed the closet beast. Before, the closet doors had to be kept as closed as possible to avoid it from exploding. Now, its pretty nicely organized. I'm a happy girl. Time to go back to my other mode-- sleepies!
BEFORE & AFTER:
I'm not kidding when they say that this "nesting thing" is 100% legit. Someone should figure out how the heck to bottle whatever makes us expecting women go through this stage. The photos don't even do the improvement justice (which might have something to do with the fact that I'm not showing you the "real" before photo). Imagine the inside of that closed closet filled about 5 feet high with clutter.
And as for the "after photo," note the storage shelf that I proudly assembled myself and the coolest, collapsable, stackable brown fabric containers in the planet are terrific for storing stuff in an organized fashion. Every extra blanket, comforter, and sheet set is folded and flattened in a plastic container. And yes, the toys that will be being used to entertain Little B shortly after his/her arrival are all easily assessable on the top shelf. Oh, and the taupe container-- that's stacked to the rim with diapers, endless wipes and special "baby cleaning needs" for that area, which we'll need to have readily assessible soon. And there are 2 other "stations" just like this one for the other floors of our house. Scary, I know. Ah, my work here is done.....at least for now. Other closets (that aren't in nearly as bad a place, but still can improve) have officially been put on notice.
No comments:
Post a Comment