Functionality and Organizing | Operation Home

Well, a lot.

And I’ll warn… This post isn’t pretty. It’s mostly an admission of my closet disorganization (pun intended). So, look away if you must. I’ll understand.

It all started when I realized that our closet (at least my side) was virtually unusable. Completely dysfunctional. Joey’s side was always pristine, while mine constantly ran over in an attempt to contaminate his. When we originally moved in, my friend Lisa and I literally just unpacked boxes and threw my stuff in there. It was Mission: Empty Boxes. Organization did not play a role that day. And that’s how the closet stayed. For nine months. Nine loooong months.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I began by going through all of my stuff and donating anything that I didn’t like or hadn’t worn recently. I didn’t take a “before” pic, but here’s an “in progress” shot…

Awful, right??

Here’s how much stuff JUST from my side of the closet that was donated….

FOUR very full garbage bags of clothes plus shoes, bags, baskets, etc. And here are the number of hangers I freed up in the process…

It’s embarrassing how much stuff I had that wasn’t being used. I rearranged my remaining clothes so that similar pants, shirts, etc were grouped together to make them easier to find. Here’s the “after clearing out extras” shot….

Not drastically different, except that you no longer fear for your life upon entering. I will say that although the photo may not convey it completely, the closet is now MUCH more pleasant to be in. Much less cluttered, more organized, and when I get ready now, deciding what to wear is much simpler. I can easily see the clothes that I like and wear regularly and can just grab and go… whereas before, I’d stand and stare at my racks of clothes forever, just deciding, as the view of my favorite clothing was obstructed by hangers and hangers of misfit shirts, slacks, dresses, etc. (And also, ignore the plywood strips on the back wall… that’s for another day. 😉 )

I stacked my plastic drawers here to make better use of the vertical space, rather than having them take up all the floor space under my hanging clothes….

I very badly blurred out the contents of my drawers. To save your eyes. You’re welcome. 🙂 It’s also notable to mention that I HATE these drawers. I’ve had them since college. And they slide off of each other and the drawers stick, the plastic top pops off and they have poor capacity. We’ve decided that we’re going to rethink the layout of our closet and install some sort of built in organizational system that’s a bit more stable than this plastic tower of Pisa and much more functional.

I’d also love to paint our closet a warm color, change to all white hangers, and hang a cool chandelier in here just for fun (I *may* have already chosen one in my head.). Actually, the chandelier would serve the purpose of being awesome as well as getting rid of the awful fluorescent lighting that lives in our closet. That’s right, folks. Fluorescent lighting in an area designated for dressing. It should be forever banned. There are so many other builder-basic, cheapo options available. So, many more flattering options, *cough, cough* men (I say this because you KNOW a woman didn’t pick that). Heck, I would’ve preferred a bare incandescent bulb to ugly (fugly?) fluorescent light. You may notice the pictures taken in here seem somewhat glaring for this very reason.

Anyways, before D-day (aka: decluttering-day), I had my jewelry box on top of a set of plastic drawers by the doorway and this was my system for necklaces….

Just thumbtacks. Once I moved my jewelry box to the shelf on the other side…

…I decided I could do better.

Here’s a sneak peak of the finished product….

I’ll have a full tutorial next time (which will be peppered with a few what-not-to-do recommendations. Oh yes. My trial-and-error take on DIY projects did not disappoint.). I just thought this post would be way too long if I included it here.

So, has anybody else been organizing lately? Any tips or tricks to share?

Let’s hope the “self-destruct” mechanism is disabled on this one. Heehee! Fingers crossed.

When last we left off on the small area behind Lucas’s door, it looked like this…

I had mentioned my plan to create a little drop-zone for him here and I’m happy to say that it’s now complete. I wanted to leave the artwork up there, but add some functionality below. This was especially important to me because (1) his room isn’t ginormous to begin with and (2) his closet is even smaller. Injecting function into every usable space will hopefully keep his room from looking like Toys R Us dropped from the ceiling.

In preparation for this project, I grabbed one of these wall hook sets the last time we went to Ikea….

I chose it because I liked the black and silver mottled hooks. They had a nice size and shape to them and I thought the white plaque would be a nice contrast with his navy walls. Then, as we walked by the office organization area, I spotted this magnetic board….

…and realized it would be the perfect addition to hold Lucas’s artwork and other paperwork that was worth keeping. I also thought it would be fun for him to have a little “secret” place to hang his favorite coloring pages, etc.

Once I got everything home, I played around with wall placement by holding stuff up and eyeballing it. In the end, I decided to forego the white plaque that came with the hook set. It was just too many squares within a small area between the painting, plaque and magnetic board. Plus, the size of the plaque wasn’t quite large enough to line up where I wanted it to.

I used a level and tape measure and marked exactly where I wanted the hooks to go….

Then, I simply anchored and hung the hooks onto the wall. Well, maybe not so simply… If you have dark walls, here’s a little tip: Don’t follow my lead and use a paint pen to mark your wall. In my head, I figured I could just use a wet rag or magic eraser to remove the marks later. Nope. Wrongo. I ended up having to bust out the touch up paint for these areas. I’m thinking maybe chalk would’ve been a less permanent choice. Yep. Dually noted.

For the magnetic board, I used one of the many tips I’ve learned from Pinterest. I placed painters tape sticky-side-up across the holes in the metal sheet and looped it under on the sides so it would stick on the edges. Then, I poked holes in the tape where the holes were located.

I placed the magnetic board up to the wall and once it was level (I literally balanced a small level on top of the board to make sure), I firmly pressed the board to the wall so that the tape would stick to it and loosened the edges from the board to it would release. I removed the board and was left with this…

Then, I installed screws right through the holes and removed the tape…

I hung up the board to double-check placement and make it was level…

Then, I removed the board and screws and anchored them in with heavy-duty anchors….

This guy is going nowhere, let me tell ya. And here is the finished product…..

And yes, that is an adorable little Lightning McQueen bathrobe. That he wears. And I love. He looks like a mini-man in it. Gets me every time.

Here are a few close-ups…

I know that sometimes jackets or backpacks or whatever will hang over the magnetic board, but that’s what makes it a little “secret” area for Lucas’s treasures. And he sure didn’t waste any time after I’d finished before playing with the magnets (also purchased at Ikea)…

So, it’s nice to be able to say that one area of Lucas’s room is done and functional. It’s definitely helped in keeping his closet a bit more clutter-free. So, now it’s onto the next!!