Mud Room Closet Make Over... Wrapping it Up

When I started this mini-makeover/organization quest my back hall closet looked like this:

Now my closet looks like this:

In my book this is a success! There are still a few things from my original vision that I need to do such as put a fun stencil on the wall. But, for the most part, it is organized and done! Wahoo!

The cushion on the bench is actually a body pillow cover that I found on clearance from Target. I love the fact that it was a no sew solution.

Also, the wine cork hooks are still holding up great!

You may notice that the doors are still on the closet. That is mainly because I don't completely trust my family to put their stuff in their respective bins. So, until they are trained I am leaving the doors on. I do have a new home in mind for the doors (when we finish our basement) so they won't be there forever, but for now they are staying.

Here is the whole process up to this point:

Project Overload - First Up... Mud Room Closet Makeover 

Mud Room Closet Makeover - Day Two I Built a Bench! 

Mud Room Closet Makeover - Let's Build Some Shelves!

Wine Cork Hooks

Mud Room Closet Makeover - Basket, Basket, on the Wall

 

And my updated "To Do" List

1. Create bench
2. Create shelves for storage
3. Get baskets and bins to hang on side wall and to put on shelves
4. Get hooks for back wall and side wall for backpacks, jackets, and hats.
5. Figure out a fun color for the wall and/or finish (wallpaper? decals? wood planking?) Partially Complete
6. Install everything
7. "Make" cushion for bench
8. Decorate the wall across from the closet with mirror or chalkboard/photos/hooks

That feels pretty good. 

Next up, the wall across from the closet!

Mud Room Closet Makeover - Basket, Basket, on the Wall

Remember how just a few weeks ago (maybe less than that) I was complaining about all the stuff in our house? Well, here is a perfect example. This is the collection of my kids' hats and mittens that were in the back hall closet. I assure you that all of my children only have one head. So why do they have so many hats?

The baby, who is 4 1/2 months old, has no less than eight hats in the closet. Even if he wore a different hat every day of the week, he couldn't get through all of these hats. We never bother with putting mittens on him because he is usually bundled in his Bundle Me in his car seat. But for some reason he has four pairs of mittens.

The funny thing is that the kid who spends the most time outside has the least hats and mittens. However, that could be because he regularly loses them. Currently we have three sets of missing mittens that are somewhere between our house and school.

 And, the two year old... well, I'll let the picture tell the story.

After laying all of this out, I realized that no matter what kind of organization I came up with for the closet, I was destined to fail if I didn't edit what was being kept there. This was a huge "AHA" moment for me (although it probably shouldn't have been). Yes, what I am saying is, the less stuff you have, the less cluttered your house will be. I know, I just blew your mind, right?

I will work on it.

When I began working on the closet makeover, I planned to build a lovely cabinet with 16 cubby holes to stash all of the hats and mittens and sunscreen and other stuff but, I quickly realized designing it on my own and figuring out cuts and all that was WAYYY over my ability level. So, I decided baskets would be much easier. Many people had used window baskets in their closets like the ones here, or bins like the ones here.

I tried to order the window baskets from the first link but, although they were on the Lowe's website, they were not available. I searched for other window boxes to no avail. (Wrong time of year?) I ended up purchasing some of these "Media baskets" from Target.

I had a plan for hanging them that failed royally. (I almost put a "wait for it" in there.) So, after an hour and a half of trying things out, a trip to the Home Depot,  another hour of trying things out, a few breaks to relieve frustration, and at least one rant on the topic of why I INSIST on DIYing everything and how bloggers make everything so effing easy when in reality it is not, I ended up with this:

Phew! Let's just say, no "project" ever goes 100% smoothly for me. Or ends up the way I envisioned it. Just keeping it real for you!

Here is how I did it:

* I measured the space.
* Divided it by the number of baskets. 4
* Figured out how much room I wanted between the baskets. 3 1/2"
* Measured some more and marked up the wall

* Decided how many places I wanted to attach the baskets to the wall. 3.
* Marked up the wall some more
* Drilled pilot holes

 * Used wall anchors and my drill to knock them into the wall (who needs a hammer?)

* I used the screws that came with the wall anchors and some washers to attach the baskets to the wall. The idea came from here. Thanks "A Beautiful Mess!" Basically, I put the washer on the screw, then pushed the screw through the basket weave from the inside of the basket out. Then I screwed the screw into the wall anchor and voila! Hanging baskets.

Right now, it looks neat and clean in that corner of the closet. And, the boys have FAR less choices of hats in their individual baskets. I do have larger baskets on the shelf above the bench where I could put a few back-up hats in case the bus gobbles up some more.

Here is my updated "To do" list for the project:

1. Create bench
2. Create shelves for storage
3. Get baskets and bins to hang on side wall and to put on shelves
4. Get hooks for back wall and side wall for backpacks, jackets, and hats.
5. Figure out a fun color for the wall and/or finish (wallpaper? decals? wood planking?) Partially Complete
6. Install everything Partially Complete (Only the hooks to go!)
7. Make cushion for bench
8. Decorate the wall across from the closet with mirror or chalkboard/photos/hooks

I am almost done with this one! I am still thinking through some ideas for details of the project, but I have all the big pieces in place, or in transit. It looks like I will be averaging about a project a month this year. We will see!

Anyone else try to hang baskets this weekend? Or go on a rant about  DIY bloggers?  I must be feeling pretty ranty lately. (Not to be confused with randy) I have another one I'm currently editing for next week. I apologize in advance.

If you want to see where this project started, and how I have gotten to where I am today, here are the links:

Project Overload - First Up... Mud Room Closet Makeover

Mud Room Closet Makeover - Day Two I Built a Bench!

Mud Room Closet Makeover - Let's Build Some Shelves!

Wine Cork Hooks

Wine Cork Hooks

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I have been working on updating the closet in the back hall to make it more of a mud room. If you don't read the blog, but want to know more about the project, check out the posts here, here, and here.

I have spent a few hours browsing for bins and hooks for storage in the cabinets. I think I have found most of what I am looking for, but until I pull the trigger and input my credit card information, I decided to try a project with wine corks.

The inspiration came from reading this post on A Beautiful Mess. It got me thinking about all the wine corks that I had hidden in drawer in the kitchen. I'm not sure why I save them, I just do. Then, my mind wandered to the browsing that I had just been doing for the closet. And then Pinterest popped into my head (because it tends to go there, always) and I remembered all of the clever things that people had done with wine corks. Why not try it myself?

I have to admit that I thought this one would fail epically. And, it was completely trial and error. But, it worked. Here is what I came up with:

You may be thinking that these look like corks, sitting on a surface, but they are not. They are hooks... in the closet. I know, crazy, right?

First I scavenged for corks and found these three. They are all rubber corks. I am not sure what would happen with real cork ones. I have a feeling they might split when you drill the hole into them, but maybe not. 

Although I was originally going to have them sticking straight out, I realized that each of them could have a completely different orientation on the wall. So, crazy me, I tried all three ways.

First I had to figure out where to put them on the wall. I had a command hook lower in the closet so my 2 1/2 year old could hang up his own jacket. I pulled off the hook (and paint and wall with it. Oops!) and used that area to hang my first hook.

I drilled the cork with a 1/4" drill bit. I wanted the hole to be big enough to get the screw in, but small enough so it wouldn't move around too much. I tried a variety of sizes and this is the one that worked the best.  I also mistakingly drilled through the entire cork, oops! If I did this again, I would have only gone halfway through. Luckily the ones that went all the way through were when I was trying out smaller drill sizes so the holes aren't as gaping as they could have been.

 

I made the holes depending on how I wanted the corks to hang on the wall.

I used drywall anchors to secure them to the wall. At first I was going to put the screw into the cork and then screw it into the wall. It didn't work. So, instead, I put the screw into the wall leaving about a quarter inch hanging out of the wall.

Then, I put the cork onto the screw,

 

and hung something on it to make sure that it was secure and wouldn't twist on the screw. 

It worked! Although if you want it to be more secure on the screw you could add a dab of glue into the hole before you put the cork on the screw.  The reason that I didn't is because I am afraid of what might happen if I ever want to take the corks off the wall. Theoretically you should be able to just unscrew the cork, but one never knows...

Here is the third one, which is actually more of my original idea:

 I kind of like them. And they were cheap free, so why not? If I get sick of them I can always take them down. And now I have hooks to hang some more of our winter gear. Good thing because it is snowing...again!

What do you think? This took all of 20 minutes. So it was quick, and easy!

Mud Room Closet Makeover - Let's Build Some Shelves!

First, let's admire my newly built bench in the mudroom/closet...

It fits perfectly! I love how the shoes tuck nicely below the bench without spilling out all over the place. We have PLENTY of room. In this picture each of the four members of the family who walk (baby not included) have three or four pairs of shoes under the bench. (If you want to read all about how this came together check out the posts here and here.)

And, just for fun, let's recap for a minute...
Here is the BEFORE

 

And after I cleaned it out...

 

Gross right?

The first step with dealing with the closet was to paint it. Originally I wanted a darker blue color  such as Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore. But, the Hubs quickly nixed that idea because he didn't want to buy paint. (GRRR) So I scavenged the basement for leftovers. Unfortunately, all of the leftovers had less than an inch of paint left in them. Not enough for the whole closet. So, I mixed some light blue/gray colors to make a custom color. This is a mix of Benjamin Moore's First Snowfall, and Sherwin Williams' Northstar. (Is it a no-no to mix different brands? Look at me breaking the rules!) I am still not completely happy with the color. *YAWN* But, I have some other ideas for stenciling that may make it a little more original. That will have to come later.

 And here is my To Do list for this project:
1. Create bench
2. Create shelves for storage
3. Get baskets and bins to hang on side wall and to put on shelves
4. Get hooks for back wall and side wall for backpacks, jackets, and hats.
5. Figure out a fun color for the wall and/or finish (wallpaper? decals? wood planking?) Partially Complete
6. Install everything
7. Make cushion for bench
8. Decorate the wall across from the closet with mirror or chalkboard/photos/hooks

This was my plan for the shelves in the closet. Spoiler Alert: "Was" is a very important word.

Look at that 6th grade math coming in handy. Yes, I seriously had to do the math out. DUH!

Everything was cut, sanded, primed, and painted. But, when we checked out the closet to find the studs on the back wall to screw the shelves into, they were nowhere to be found. Wierd? Then the Hubs remembered that the "guys" had had a hard time finding them when they hung our kitchen cabinets. You would think that with a new construction the studs would be pretty uniform. I guess not...frustrating!

So, we had to figure out a solution for plan B. (I did not think it was safe to screw the shelving into the wall with only drywall anchors.) We did easily find the studs in the side of the closet (because they were in the right place) so we used those studs and created this:

I am going to add some corbels for extra support towards the center of the shelves, but for now this was the best we could do. It is not ideal, but I am determined to make this work. Oh and the top shelf is really high (we have 9 foot ceilings on the first floor and there is a TON of wasted space in the top of the closets) but it will work for storing things we rarely use.

The boards are screwed and wood glued into the supports and the supports are screwed into studs with 3" wood screws. 

Here is the most up to date picture: 

Although it isn't my original vision, it looks WAYYY better than the original

                   VS

Let's update the "To Do" list again!

1. Create bench

2. Create shelves for storage
3. Get baskets and bins to hang on side wall and to put on shelves
4. Get hooks for back wall and side wall for backpacks, jackets, and hats.
5. Figure out a fun color for the wall and/or finish (wallpaper? decals? wood planking?) Partially Complete
6. Install everything Partially Complete
7. Make cushion for bench
8. Decorate the wall across from the closet with mirror or chalkboard/photos/hooks

What do you think? Anyone else tackling a project similar to this? Anyone else running into issues and having to make plan B, C, or Ds?

Big Plans. Big, Big, Plans

What is it about the day after Christmas that brings about a desire no, a need, to organize? Is it the impending new year with all its resolutions? Is it because by the time Christmas is over you have spent so much time in your house that you are confident that you can make it all better with just a few baskets and bins? Or, is it because of the sheer amount of crap that your kids received that is now strewn across your living room? Ding, ding, ding!

No matter what I do. the kids' stuff somehow comes out on top. I literally picked up my house four times yesterday. Four times! And still, when the boys went to bed it was like I never touched it. I stayed up until 11:00 last night, picking up AGAIN. And by seven this morning there it was, laughing at me. I have picked up at least twice today and I am currently sitting here, blogging, looking at their toys. Still!

It's not like the kids haven't picked up their toys every time I tell them to. They have. We just have too much stuff and nowhere to put it.

The frustration, and a touch of anxiety because of the clutter (is that normal?) have set into motion some big plans for the future storage and organization of stuff, as well as the sheer amount of stuff that will be kept in this house. That's right! It's purge and organization time baby!

I have already spent four hours in the basement tossing, boxing up for donation, consolidating, and shelving everything I could get my hands on. That was probably when the final living room destruction happened. The Hubs isn't feeling great and apparently wasn't up to battling the clutter. I am not ready to show the progress down there because Christmas decorations are still out so I have to keep all of their storage boxes easily accessible.

The mud room closet is also the bane of my existence right now.The close cousin of the living room clutter monster. The older, beer bellied, stinky cheese close cousin. I spent a few hours on that problem too, but was sidelined when the snow started falling quickly (who knew it was supposed to snow?). Wait until you see the before pics you will completely understand where I am coming from. But until I get my act together here is a sneak peak at the plans.

Anyway, those are my number one and number two (out of 60 or 70) priority plans for dealing with all of our crap. Do you have any organization plans? Or any ideas you'd like to share? I need all the help I can get.