Closet Update

Woot woot! The closet is here, it is in, and it is ready to be loaded up!

It took three long days, a few late nights, and 4 hands blistered from all the screwing, cam-locking, dowel-hammering fun! And, out of 43 pieces, we only broke one part (albeit a big one and we're still debating whose fault it was; we'll say it was Ikea's fault for the sake of our marriage.)

What you see is only my side. Pat has half a side, but the other half is the piece we broke. It'll take about 2 weeks before that piece's replacement arrives, so until then he has to live in three and a half very small-yet-well-organized feet.

Here's a quick look at the journey we took to get to this point:

This is definitely, positively, absitutely (who got the HIMYM reference?) not a reveal. There's still a lot to be done in here and many more pictures and updates to come.

Until then, friends...

In the Meantime...

Yes, yes, yes, all the excited and commotion around our house is about the arrival of our new closet next week. We have a lot to do to prep, mainly taking out the old set-up so we have a blank canvas for the next unit.

On the to-do list:

• Purge contents
• Pull down wire shelves
• Patch holes
• Paint
• Build units and install
• Fill 'er up again
• Add molding (eventually)
• New light fixture (eventually)

Buuuuuut... we still have to live and function around our current closet for 6 more days, so there's really no sense in starting those projects until just few days prior to our closet's delivery. While we wait, I shifted my attention downstairs where (instead of putting away Christmas decorations) I decided to move the dining room set into the breakfast area.

I've really, really been avoiding this as a possibility since we moved in. I'm a hardcore, ride-or-die formal dining room fan. You can't have Thanksgiving dinner in a breakfast nook. I guess since we're currently about 11.5 months away from our next formal dining room meal, I broke down and said, "it's now or never." Might as well be now.

It was a simple shift really, just Pat and I lifting a table with 4 minutes to spare before the Bagel Bites came outta the oven. But the change is ah-mazing. I don't know why we didn't do it sooner (I mean, I do, but I didn't wanna...). The whole area looks much more done, even though it's totally not.

Ba-da-da-da-da! I'm lovin' it!

The only downside I can find is this leaves our dining room empty. I'm swimming in ideas to get the office downstairs and re-purpose the other bedroom. I guess we'll file this one under To Be Continued...

Note: I took all these pics around sunset, to serve as a flawless example of bad lighting. That's why they all look really yellow and grainy. I'll redo them sometime soon, when I'm not in the middle of a Love It Or List It marathon.

Our Closet's Coming Out Party

Our closet has a dirty little secret that it's been trying to keep locked up inside. It can't keep this to itself anymore, it needs to come clean and everyone will be better for it.

Our closet is ugly, y'all.

Not like Cameron-Diaz-as-Ms.-Hannigan ugly (and, who are they kidding?!). We're talking, first-page-of-Google-search-results-for-the-word-ugly ugly.

source

I bet Skinny Hitler snapped that selfie cause he felt cute that day.

Take a look for yourself:

Our closet is a good size, slightly above the American average for a walk-in closet. The down side is it just has wire shelving that runs the perimeter, with tons of wasted space above and below. "Ugh, we can't use our 7'x10' closet efficiently..." #firstworldproblems

For me, the worst part is that the part you hang the clothes on is divided every foot or so. You can't shift anything left or right at all! Something so small makes me so angry every single day. #morefirstworldproblems

I've been nagging Pato for a while now, but explaining how much closets cost has been a bit of an obstacle. Not just for Pat; I'm not even sure why I custom closet costs as much as a small kitchen reno. I wanted something that felt nice (not cheap), organized efficiently, and didn't require our firstborn child as a down payment.

I looked at The Container Store, Closet Maid, and any other out-of-box solution I could think of. I had purposefully been avoiding IKEA, because I did not want a closet full of Billy bookcases. Plus the thought of piecing all the components together then assembling it sounds like a nightmare.

But then I broke down and decided to give them a shot.

Much to my surprise, they had some really nice solutions. IKEA's Pax System (what all those beautiful wardrobes are) look more solid and custom than Container Store's Elfa system, but for literally less than half the price. Sure, the nice bits (glass shelves, pull out trays) are all at the higher end, but IKEA's higher end was surprisingly affordable.

What really sold me, was the Pax System Planner, which allows you to build the closet (or wardrobe) of your dreams while it keeps tabs of all the parts. Then, I can either take the itemized list (with self-serve locations for my store) and pick it all up in store, or just purchase it online. It was like playing the Sims and coming out with a closet design. SOLD!

(Also, sorry if this is sounding like an IKEA endorsement, it's not. I'm just really stinking excited.)

I toiled and labored and finally worked out all the kinks. I double and triple checked my measurements. I printed out a pamphlet for Pat so he could make an informed decision.

The next morning, before I even had the chance to discuss it with him, I found this:

It's on like Donkey Kong! Our new closet arrives January 12th!