Another Ikea Addition

The big linen closet project had some nice follow-on effects. The contents of this trunk in the office, my yarn stash, relocated to some plastic boxes in the upstairs closet. It's a bit hard to access but perfect for how often I need to get there (plus it let me sort everything into smaller categories like yarn weight). It also stopped me from cursing out the messy children each time I had to get in the trunk and was stopped by the mess on top. It wasn't really a crafting surface, but of course, EVERYTHING is a crafting surface. So we moved the contents of the trunk and put the trunk itself away and decided what to do with our newfound space.

We knew we needed a space for crafts/art (see above comment) and we had lots of small things to store, specifically blocks and OH SO MANY LEGOS. We figured we'd stick to the rainbow decor (also known as "I've given up and decided to let my kids dictate my decorating") and purchased a TROFAST from--where else--our favorite store, Ikea. We went with the white since our room colors are a dusty gray brown from an old Hemnes line (yes, also Ikea), a white STUVA (Ikea) and D's white and bamboo standing desk. Yellow pine wasn't really the look we wanted. And of course, we went with rainbow drawers.

Building the pieces was the easy part. Sorting the Legos by color, now that took time. By the time we were finished, these bins were mostly full.

I like how it came out. Let's see how long the organization lasts.

The Closet Big Reveal

At long last, time for the culminating closet post. You've been very patient as I've struggled to find time to blog (and I'm only getting to it today thanks to a sick day; such is the life of a parent). So to review, we left off with the space painted and ready to go, literally about 6 months after I'd started taking apart the old shelving and begun to spackle and years since we'd wanted to do something with that unorganized black hole of a linen closet. Back in 2016, we paid to have a professional organizer from the Container Store come and give us advice. After a bunch of back and forth (and some successes in other rooms like our kitchen and office), we had the start of a plan for the upstairs linen closet. But we weren't convinced or ready to pull the trigger, so it sat for, well, apparently 2.5 years.

The idea was that instead of using a system mounted to the wall in such a narrow space impeded by ducts, we opt instead for something on wheel that could be entirely wheeled out when needed, to access the things in the back. If you could look from the ceiling, it looked something like this (the gray areas are the vent ducts, the white with Xs in them are the modular shelves):

If you could stand at the ducts on the right and look at the left wall, it would be something like this. Notice that they are all on wheels so that they can be totally pulled out of the closet?

The system, called InterMetro, came in all heights (the poles could even be custom cut) and several widths and depths. We altered the plans a bit when it finally came time to buy, choosing to use two sets of shelves instead of one, so that wheeling them out would be easier. We ended up with a 24'' and a 36'' set of shelves, both at the narrower 14'' depth. They are 72'' high, plus the 3'' or so of the wheels, and just clear the door to be rolled out in the hallway.

Assembly wasn't too bad except for a couple key points. The first was that these stickers, on each and every pole (of which there were 8) were incredibly sticky and took an enormous amount of elbow grease and Goo-gone to remove. Not cool, Container Store. For the prices we paid for this, they could have used something that didn't leave a disgusting residue.

The second thing was that the clips that lock the shelves into place at their desired heights are not nearly as secure as advertised. Once everything was in place, I don't think they will shimmy. But because the locking mechanism could wiggle as you wedge the shelf into place, the shelves are all just slightly off from level. Again, I think, given the price, that the Container Store could have done better.

There was also the added stress of deciding it would be "no big deal" to assemble one of them downstairs while our littlest napped and then carry it up. It turned out that it was exactly just too big to clear the turn into the stairwell and make it up. We got a nice nick in the wall on the stairs thanks to that stunt. Oops.

You'll notice that we also used metal ventilation taping to close off the gap on the right between the duct and the wall, in an effort to mask the fact that there was no way I was able to paint behind there.

The icing on the cake for this simple shelving solution was returning to an old favorite, elfa, for the door. We've used the elfa system in our office closet and living room and the ingenious door storage is something we probably ought to add everywhere. It's now the home to all the medicines and first aid things we've kept in our downstairs closet, sorted by type (cold, pain, topical creams, bandages, etc.). This frees up a ton of space in our downstairs closet to put the kids bathtubs away.

In all, we really couldn't be happier. We now have a place for our linens, pillows, and out-of-season blankets, the content of our medicine cabinet, and some other various things (my yarn stash! extra toothpaste, floss, and toilet paper that used to send us running to the basement!).

It took 3 years, but at least it's lovely to behold now.

Desk organization

My desk was a disaster. I didn't take a before picture of the whole thing because it had lots of stuff I would have to "fuzz" out, but trust me when I say there were just piles of papers - some that needed permanent filing, some that needed addressing (i.e. bills, summer kindergarten assignments), some that needed surreptitious trashing (children's art). I have still been using the mesh wall hanger that you can see in this picture from during our remodel. Except that because we now have a backsplash, I have been keeping it propped up against the wall, precariously balanced. All the papers theoretically go in there, but without a way to organize them and because the whole thing keeps falling, I also end up just stacking things in piles. I almost lost a gift card in the stack. I was constantly worried I would miss one of our few paper bills. It was getting bad.

I have shelves built in above the desk area, but the size of all the cubbies makes it hard to do anything practical with them. So filling the space I have, I stockpile folded up receipts, expired meds for the next give-back day, $1 bills for my daughter's allowance, old greeting cards, etc. But no full sized papers - which is the one thing that I seem to accumulate. It was time to make this a more usable space.

It was clear that these were assembled as two "H"-shaped units, so we thought (hoped!) that removing one of them would leave everything else unharmed. We used a keyhole saw and started sawing into one side of the structure.

 A little more, and then a little more than that, working in slow chunks:

When we got enough of the vertical pieces out, the rest came out pretty easily. Still the whole thing was slow going, since we didn't want to ruin any of the finish.

Then we were left with the nails sticking out from below. We managed to hammer a couple of them out from the top. D leveled the others with a dremel.

The shelf looks smooth and evenly stained without the inner structure, fortunately, as expected. You would never know the letter-holder-sized organizer was ever there.

Here it is now, with two document trays stacked inside, purchased after careful measuring. The shelf is about 11'' deep - an annoyingly precise depth that meant that while a paper could fit in there long-wise (so that the 8.5'' side faced out), an organizer slightly LARGER than a paper would stick out (most of the document trays were 12-14'' long). So I opted to buy trays that are open on the long side, though that meant less real estate inside the shelf. I was able to squeeze two in there, because while the clearance was only 4.5'' to the top lip, beyond that first half inch, inside was almost 6'' high.

It's not perfect of course - I'm still a victim of my own flawed organizational skills. But I have two distinct full-sized shelves, plus a couple of folders, to sort papers. It definitely makes the space more helpful for the types of things I actually need to store there.

Meanwhile (as you can see from the bottom right corner of the photo above), I'm still using the once-upon-a-time-wall-mounted organizer. I had purchased a version matching the document trays that would actually stand up on a flat base, but it turned out to be envelope-sized, rather than full-sized. And that was exactly the size that I *don't* actually need to help me organize. So I need a similar item that would hold normal 8.5x11'' paper. I haven't been able to find one - so please let me know if you come across something.

As usual, we've been so busy around the house that I've had trouble finding time to post. But I have a few projects lined up to talk about. AND we are filing our shed permit paperwork TODAY. So more on that soon as well.

Indoor 2019 Goals

This year, with no time to actually do anything, my goal nonetheless is to continue on my quest for organization. Two disastrous closets remain, and I would love to turn them into something pretty.

The first is in the basement, under the stairs. It is a catch-all for wrapping paper and accessories, a steam vacuum, the cat carrier, some tennis rackets, and who knows what else. The shelves are attached and I feel like the real problem here is not the closet itself, but finding other homes for some of this junk and shopping IKEA and the Container Store to find solutions to categorize and corral the junk. Since it's usually just out of sight/out of mind, I like to forget that this mess is down there. But it's probably time to do something about it.

The bigger closet disaster is harder to forget, because I go in there at least every week or two for clean sheets and towels. Our linen closet, at the top of the stairs, was never a beauty, but after the additional duct work that was installed in 2015, we just utterly gave up even pretending to have a system. I might finally have gotten to the point where I can't handle it anymore.

So here's the problem. Both these goals, plus the "reach" goal of a deck/patio, were our house goals for last year, too (and, in some cases, even the year before).  Oh well, it's still good to have goals.

New Year, New Goals

It's 2018 and it's time for my annual look backwards and forwards at what we accomplished last year and what we plan to do this year for the house. And so without further ado, here's 2017 in a nutshell:

Last year, we had a pretty modest list of plans, with a small baby still needing constant attention and with a major renovation recently under our belts (breezeway to sunroom conversion).

So mostly, we needed to organize our lives. How did we do? Well I had three spots I wanted to clean up - the office, kitchen, and linen closet. The office closet got addressed last January and, more importantly, has largely held up to the chaos caused by two children. Here it is today, with only minimal staging:

The rest of the room remains in progress but we are just waiting to purchase the last piece of furniture and buy some more toy bins. We've also tried to thin out what we have and started what I hope will be a lasting tradition of asking the kids to pick out some toys that they no longer play with to donate on Christmas Eve. The problem of course is that incoming toys still surpass outgoing ones, but it's a start. I'm marking this one as "accomplished" (or as much as it can be with two small ones in the house).

The kitchen also stayed organized as we continue to use the system suggested by our professional organizer. We moved on to tackle the pantry last month and will continue that one over the next week or two (update to come). So check the box on that one too.

The linen closet - well, we decided we just don't care. We have a plan but the truth is that even though it's a disaster in there, it's a contained disaster made up exclusively of sheets, towels, and pillows. The ones we swap out regularly are to the front and for now we are willing to ignore the rest. It will be a pretty space once we fix it up, but it is low on the priority list and doesn't even make this year's to-do wish list.

Next up - automation: this was more about learning how to live with the Roomba and force it to do our will. I'd say we managed pretty well, learning where to place the electric fences and even managing to have it clean around the Christmas tree skirt full of toys without disaster. Most days it runs, it completes a full circuit and collects a bin full of cat fur, cheerios, various other crumbs, etc. I barely ever vacuum these days so YES, another box checked.

Finally the doorbell - that's a resounding nope. We tried a couple more times to fix it ourselves whenever a friend said they had an idea of a solution, but since this one requires a call to an electrician, I suspect it will wait until a more pressing electrical problem that can't be ignored and then be lumped into the same professional visit.

And no, we still haven't replaced our basement door (a goal for 5 years now)...

Unplanned major updates last year were the tree-related repairs, the new washer/dryer combo, and all the new trees.

Onwards:

I think we've finally mentally and financially recovered enough from the tree damage and the previous year's remodel to put some big projects on the list.

1. First up, my goal to replace the counter and add a backsplash to the kitchen:

There's a pretty big crack in the piece on the right and it's always felt like a cheap choice given the lovely cabinetry, so it seems like a good time to replace it. Plus I've craved a fancy backsplash for a while now and switching both at the same time makes sense. We'll also probably repaint so that the whole kitchen/dining room space gets a makeover. There will be much more on this later as I brainstorm exactly what to get (I have absolutely no idea what colors I want).

2. Organize the basement closet. This one is more of a mishmash than the linen closet and so I can never quite find what I'm looking for.  I'm trying to figure out exactly what needs to go here and what doesn't and use the space better:

3. Move/take down/rearrange trees and shrubs as laid out here.

4. Reach goal: have a deck installed over basically the same footprint as our brick patio. While the kitchen counters are my idea, this belongs to D. He thinks we will get much more use out of a patio level with the house rather than the steps down to a dirty and weedy brick patio. I was unconvinced it was worth it, since I hate the outdoors once the bugs com out - until a neighbor told me that raising up our hang-out space a  foot or two off the ground would significantly reduce the impact from mosquitoes. So maybe we'll at least get some estimates and plans.

5. And lastly - that darn basement door again.

What about you, loyal reader? Any plans for your home this year?

The rest of the office

The closet solution is holding up well and we are still putting things away there and keeping the rest of the house relatively toy free, so I call that a success (even if we're only talking about a couple of weeks). The room, however, is far from done. With no desk and no seating except one very random desk chair, it doesn't really have a purpose except storage of things (file cabinet, yarn trunk, etc.):

Our Container Store organizer suggested using Elfa along the wall to create a sort of versatile desk space, something like this crafting area from the below catalog picture:

Using Elfa in a similar way would mean we could have drawers and shelves below, a surface top at whatever level we want (we were thinking of doing a standing desk, for example), shelving up above, and have it all be customizable and changeable. In particular, she suggested, to use the above catalog picture as an example, of doing a split surface top, so that one could be an adult height and one could be lowered when toddler starts wanting to craft in there or do homework, to create a second, lower desk space alongside the higher one. Drawers, shelves, etc. can all shift around to compensate.

Here was the plan she created, for the wall currently occupied by the china-cabinet looking shelving unit with doors and the desk chair:

We like it, but we don't love it. It does keep all the equipment off of the floor and above the baseboard heater, so that is nice. It does provide a decent amount of storage and desk space. It does not, however, look nice. A simple fact of these systems, as you can see from our closet photos and the catalog picture above is that it just is not very attractive. Closet organization? You bet! Centerpiece of a room? Ehhhhhh, maybe not. There's a reason that we used the Elfa skeleton for the living room but stained wood for the shelving ourselves and used a completely different system for the cupboards below. We actually wanted it to look nice.

So we think that in the end this is not the way to go. While amazingly functional, it is a little too functional for us. The plan for now is to clear out the china cabinet of books, magazines, and binders from college. Then buy a very simple standing height desk that is just 4 legs and a surface, to go along that wall exactly where the Elfa system would be. We plan to put toy boxes, along the lines of those blue lego boxes (see top photo) and other modular pieces below. It's not hugely elegant but we can pick whatever kind of simple desk we want and balance design and function. If we go 100% functional (read: ugly) then at least it won't be a $500 system. 

That's the plan at least. We surprised ourselves by finding no good solutions at our good old standby, Ikea. So if nothing easy surfaces, I can imagine going the Elfa route. Either way though, we plan to empty out the cabinet and get rid of it to free up space along the wall and then go from there.

A Thing of Beauty

The boxes were unpacked...The mess got worse before it got better. But in the end, we have a closet.

Elfa was indeed easy to install, as we remembered from when we did the living room. Small details, however, seemed pointlessly cheap, especially considering how much the whole system cost. For example, we have shelf liners, but they were not pre-cut for our shelves (they pre-cut other things, like the horizontal and vertical tracks). So I had to try to trim them with scissor and an x-acto knife but couldn't really get them precise enough to lay flat without over-cutting.

The cover for the top track also needs to be trimmed, and the top of the drawers need to be stuck on with (literally) tiny squares of double-sided tape. These things all could use improving.

However, the closet it done and already in use! We also coincidentally inherited a cute rainbow set of drawers from family, and my toddler loves both and is eager to put things away (I'm sure this will fade, but I'll take it for as long as it lasts).

We have the door of the closet set up with a hanging area and a deep container for crafts.

Inside the closet - shelves, drawers, and a hanging rack (for now I've just got some smocks and a halloween costume there, alongside the drawers).

We haven't decided what to put on the top shelves so obviously out of reach of the toddler (and to a large extent out of our reach as well without a step-stool). So there's more space once we figure out what to do with it.

The real question - did it work? Are we more organized? Well, there's certainly no guarantee that we'll continue to put things back into the closet, but at least a space exists for toys where it did not previously. I think this before and after puts how far we've come into perspective (keeping in mind that it got way worse in the weeks leading up to the new closet while I decided it was futile to keep obsessively stacking things just to free up floor space, knowing a solution was in sight).

The office last week:

 The office today:

There's plenty more to do, along the main wall, as well as some additional big storage boxes we need for legos and other things, but hey, there's a floor now.

Dream Closet

One of the unexpected conclusions of our consultation with the Container Store "professional organizer" was to make better use of the space we had. So though she suggested a complicated redo of the main wall of the office, we decided to use her side point to take our clean-up in a new direction: the closet.

With a shoe rack on the door that we inherited from the previous owners (a very inefficient circular knitting needle holder) and a simple shelf and hanging bar, this became the closet for coats that were out of season and original boxes for things we felt we needed original boxes for.

The bottom was beach stuff (collapsible chair, umbrella, etc.) and also the place where we piled items we planned to donate.

In short, not a very good use of space.

And because we were now on the Container Store's mailing list (tricky how they get you like that), we saw a catalog image that we fell in love with:

So well organized! So efficient! Be still my heart! (I realize that no child will ever put his or her things away that well, but please allow me a moment to dream.) We decided this would be a much better use of space than the single bar/high shelf that we had going in there already.

We took some measurements (our space is smaller than the closet in the model picture) and chatted with a store consultant until we got a customized plan and a list of parts. We had a few obstacles - literally and figuratively. First we had the top shelf of the closet, which was resting on 2x4s nailed into the wall. Those boards would have to go. Second, the back wall of our closet had two plumbing access panels (one deliberate, for the bathroom plumbing, and one accidental from when a plumber had to put a hole in the wall to get to a pipe). The elfa system at the Container Store works by installing a top track into studs and then hanging everything from it. So the wall has to be flat. No access doors or other boards.

So instead of making ours exactly like the picture (or at least as close as possible as the size of our closet would allow), we added rolling drawers instead of drawers attached to the backbone tracks of the elfa system. Like this on the back wall:

Here's the shelving wall view:

And here is the door, pretty much exactly like the picture (because door sizes are standard). They convinced me that we can use an "over the top of the door" attachment, but I'm not sure we have enough space for it, so fingers crossed.

At any rate, it was time to start cleaning out the closet before we committed to our several hundred dollar reorganization. Could we even get the closet into the initial shape it needed??

Step one, take out junk - a relatively easy step now that we have the garage attic. And pull off the shoe rack:

Step two (and the step we had to complete before we were willing to order the system) - pry off the boards that were holding the top shelf in place. D was unable to find any nail holes when he poked around, but finally was able to pull them off with a crowbar.

No surprise - it left lots of holes in the walls. But at least now we knew that we could get even walls with no obstacles in the way of the elfa hanging tracks (I'll talk about that more in the installation phase).

We debated trying to patch the big hole on the right, to give us more wall from which to hang drawers and shelving:

 D tried to cut straight edges out of the hole to make patching easier, but it just wasn't happening:

It did make us wonder exactly what kind of walls we have in this house. It definitely isn't drywall but the lath structure we expected to see just isn't there - no framing at all. It looks like drywall layered onto plaster layered onto drywall. Huh? In any case, it was thick and unfriendly looking, and we decided that it simply wasn't worth the effort. This is just a closet after all.

So we decided that if we were going to leave the panel in place, we could put trim around it just like on the panel to the left, so they matched and felt a bit more...deliberate. Here's the left panel:

D bought some trim at Home Depot, pulled out the mitre box, and got to work. Here's the first edge nailed up:

 Then side two and some wood filler. Once it's painted you would never guess it wasn't intentional:

Fast forward a few more days of more spackle and wood filler followed by two layers of Kilz primer (we only cut in once on the edges but D rolled twice), and a layer of Sherwin Williams base white in satin that we had lying in our basement. The closet is a clean canvas ready to go!

Which is good, because I think our work is just getting started...