Saturday, February 6, 2010

Can't sleep, organize a closet

The house I grew up in had your standard under the stairs closet. It was your basic catch all mess. It was nicknamed "the tomb" because my dad said he felt like Howard Carter digging through Tut's tomb whenever he had to go in there. We also have a tomb. When we moved in I figured it was the perfect place to house all my extra dishes. The problem was that it was also the access to under the house so whenever we needed to get under the house I had to completely empty the closet. Kind of a pain. Recently Joj and I were talking about having new insulation put in under the house, so that meant I would be needing to empty the closet. Joy.So the other night I couldn't sleep and I figured now is just a good as any to empty my closet. Here is what it looked like when I started.

What you don't see are the dishes I used at Christmas which are still in the dining room. Part of the storage challenge is that everything fits if you stack it just right. While Jenga is a fun game, playing it with my dishes, not so much.

When we redid my pantry, I kept the white shelves. They had been hanging out in the garage slowly collecting items on their unused shelves. Not wanting to play Jenga with my Thanksgiving dishes I just put them out in the garage on one of the shelves. That is when I got and idea. Since the pates fit so nicely, why not re-use them in the tomb. So that is what I did. They are shallow enough to clear the trap door, but the numerous shelves make it so that everything has a home. I've always wanted a butler's pantry and now I have one :0)

4 comments:

MS. Simplicity said...

Great use of the space.....and no more playing jenga....I love that term and I am going to use it with my organizing client's if you don't mind!

Debra said...

That turned out so nice! Don't feel bad about your Christmas dishes - I just realized today that I still have 2 Christmas platters and a Halloween bowl sitting in my kitchen. They've been there so long I stopped seeing them. That's on my to do list for this week. :)

Timi said...

Do you come to others house? I could seriously use your help!
It looks great! I always feel like a new person when a closet or drawer is organized and cleaned out. It's amazing much "stuff" we get.
Have a good day
Timi

Jenny said...

It looks great. Well organised!