Drumroll Please

We washed all of our clothes and as we folded everything, we both began to mourn what we would have to give away because there was no way we were going to fit the mound of clothes and shoes into those closets.

We put away and put away and put away until we were done. Surely there must have been a bag missing because when we were done putting away, we still had room left. But there were no bags missing so the Verdict? It all fit (insert happy dance)!

Elfa System by Container store has once again saved our lives.

I admit I was skeptical because our apartment had two full size closets that were about 6'ft each and we also had three dressers that were filled to the brim. We were spoiled. So when we bought two 4'ft closet systems, I did not think we could fit everything into those things.

Below is what our closets look like now! They still need to be organized a bit more but it sure is a whole lot better than what we had. This beats trash bags any day.

Mom, Dad, you can stop cringing now. xoxo

CLOSETS!!!!

Ok, so you all know that for the past month we have been living out of bags and I do mean that literally. Every item of clothing we own has been stored in bags, big hefty bags and our shoes have been in boxes. Remember that list we posted? Off all the things we need to get done? Well we decided that before putting in a fence, or putting up blinds or doing any of the other major things, closets were in order. Closets are the key to organizing this house. It's like a domino effect. If we don't get closets, we can't get the bags of clothes out of the office, and if we can't get the bags out of the office, we can't move the office boxes out of the dining room. Catching on?

Our options once again were IKEA and Container Store. Ikea had wardrobe frames that you add drawers and clothing rods to. Their frames have doors which is nice because you don't have everything exposed. We found one that was beautiful but we weren't sure how sturdy it was. We compared that to the Elfa system at the Container Store and chose to go with that instead. Eventually we want to have closets framed out and we want to add doors but for now we just needed somewhere to put our clothes. Because the Elfa System is attached to the wall we can build a frame around it when we are ready to do that.

When we had had closets drawn up at the container store, they told us that when we were ready to buy them to give them a call and they could pull up the drawings and have them ready for us to pick up. In the last two weeks, we have made an almost daily trip to the Container Store. Most of those trips are to price things out mind you, but when the staff knows you by name... well you know.

So I call and I am trying to disguise my voice because I recognize Ivan, (Ivan designed our linen closet) but I have to give him my name so that he can pull up the order. When I give him my name he knows exactly who I am. I felt like I had been caught looking at porn. Oh the shame! But I was so excited that we were getting closets that I got over it real fast. He got our order together for the closets that Randy designed for us and we picked them up. We started late in the evening last night and had them up and running in just a few hours. Today we do laundry to fit everything in. So far though, we are each having more than enough space for our clothing. We will let you know how it goes. Below is the finished closet system. One for me, and on the opposite wall a duplicate one for The Mister.

Shelving Brings out The Robot in Him

We have been mulling over what to do in the two nooks next to the faux fireplace. We needed to find a solution to store components, dvd's, cd's, etc. We contemplated built-in's but that would be an arm and a leg. My friend "S" had a good point. We would be dropping a lot of cash for something we can't take with us the day we move out. Good way of looking at it. On the other hand, it could add value. Built-in's are cherished in this town. People go nuts over them.

We went to IKEA. Three times. We looked at the Billy Bookcase with doors. Each of the three times we kept leaving empty handed because we weren't convinced. The Billy Bookcase had the exact measurements we were looking for. The width was off by an inch but that wasn't a big deal because the height and depth were perfect. It had glass doors and it would have been flush with the mantel giving it a finished look. So basically it would have looked like built in cabinets. But the bookcase was not going to be able to hold all of The Mister's components.

The problem with the components? Well some would have to stick out further than the mantel. So that axed the built-in's because they would have looked funny sticking out further than the fireplace. The IKEA bookcases were also out of the question because the depth was 11 inches and we needed way more depth than that.

We looked at the space again and we realized how much we loved the blue on the wall. And then in clicked. Shelves. Stark white shelves! But since the shelves would have to be deep to hold the various components, we knew we couldn't let them be the width of the nook or they would look like incomplete built-in's. The width of the nook was 32 inches so we kept the width of the shelves at 24 inches.

We installed the shelving and The Mister organized all his components/toys. He spoke like a robot the whole time he put his stuff away. It is safe to say that I was more scared than annoyed. It looked liked he was handling premature babies the way he held all of those things. He cradled the X-Box onto the shelf talking to it and putting it down oh so gently as to not wake it. When he got to the last shelf I went over to hand him our DVD player. He started blinking rapidly which can only mean one thing. He's up to no good. He then told me he could put it in as a place holder. "Place holder for what?", I asked. "Well the DVD player doesn't have an HDMI output so if I do connect it you're going to see the cables." He knows one of my peeves is exposed cables! I asked him if there was a way around it. His answer? A PS3. It would have no cables showing because it has an HDMI output and it has a Blue Ray player. Sneaky Snake.

Love in The Closet

I've grown up and my taste has changed. I no longer want the dirty grungy messy musician. I want the nice neat guy that smells good. And in this case, the nice guy's first name is Container and last name is Store. Sorry Mister but you have to take a step aside. I have found a new lover.

The Container Store, is having a sale. And I bought into it. And I am so glad I did.

We have one tiny closet but it needed to be finished out. The Mister and I tackled this closet like full on warriors. It took a total of one week. Yes you heard right. One week on 6 square feet.

We had to finish out the closet before we could outfit it. I primed and painted the closet four separate times. Not by choice. The paint was not sticking to the drywall and was peeling so I kept having to prime and paint all over again.

It didn't help that I wanted to stencil a design in there so each time I did it I had to re-stencil. The Mister only allowed me to do one strip because if I had done the whole thing, I would have taken another week. He however made me trade my stencil paint for a can of spray paint. I kicked and screamed and he took the spray can away and did it himself. I have to admit, it turned out great! Who knew The Mister had tagger skills. I should drop him off at the LA River so he can really go at it. The Mister also decided to put some carpet down on the floor and it left us with a closet begging for shelving. And we gave it just that.

The Container Store in Pasadena helped us figure out what we needed and we ended it up with great storage. Pics from start to finish.

p.s. the pink hue is from a covering that we have on our windows. The room is not pink and neither is the closet.

p.p.s. We unpacked 8 boxes and we still have room in that closet for all the linens that need to go in there. Great investment.