Conquering the Hall Closet Monster

Who else is tired of their hall closet exploding upon them whenever they open the door?  Me too. I finally decided to tackle it on my TWO WEEKS OFF over Christmas - yes there are perks to being a teacher =)

I started off with this fatty mess...

That iron has fallen on me a minimum of 20 times.  I have bruises!  What is an iron doing in my hall closet anyway??  Sheesh  **Also, can we talk about irons without cord keepers?  HUGE mistake not investing in one of those!**

Yep, that is two full size ironing boards, and tooooo many coats - time to donate!

UGH.  I wanted our coat closet to be a place where I could actually hang people's coats (imagine that!) when they come over...  without being mortified by the mess.  So, that ment I had to dump everything and sort it...

I'll give you one guess at Eric's hobby. Apparently you need roughly 8 rackets to play tennis/racquetball.

Here's the whole nasty mess.  Let's play I spy.  Can you find the following??

• 16 tennis balls
• plastic tablecloth
• 27 hangers
• my suh-weet rollerblades (yes, I DO still use them)
• a camelback
• 2 very nice umbrellas from an unknown source
• 2 cans of horrible paint (the same horrible paint that's on the hallway walls)

Whew, that was fun.  Also, did anyone notice the TRIPOD that was lurking in the junk???  Holy happy day!!  I immediately plopped my DSLR on top and started snapping with longer exposure.  You're welcome for the less crappy pics =)

I was inspired to snap an unrelated pic of our family room with all of the natural light (even with the blinds closed!).  I'm keeping it real here.  I didn't stage anything, so don't hate me for frumpy pillows, and crap on the floor.  This is real life, kids.

Baaaack to the closet.

I started by setting up the items that would be living on the floor of the closet.  I stole a blue vase from a bedroom and made it an umbrella stand (you know, because they get such frequent use here in AZ...)

Next up, corralling the rackets.  I brought in an IKEA crate from the bedroom and now it serves as home to all of our outdoorsy things. *Holy moly! Time to empty the vacuum, April. Shame!*

After putting everything back in, here's what the floor looks like...

Nice, eh?  I moved all of the ironing boards to the laundry room, except the mini one.  For some reason Eric wants it there?

We purged some coats to create more space...

Now my tablecloths and runners have a home - yay!

We added some boxed IKEA storage on the top shelf to tuck away all those tennis balls, the camelback, snow gloves etc.  

(Sorry for all the awkward angles, our hallway is only about 2.5 feet wide and won't allow a straight-on picture)

And last, but not least... I took a cute from Mrs. Limestone, and made even our DOOR into functional space!

Why yes, I do only own two rolls of non-Christmas wrapping paper.  I probably should get another roll or two, no?   But look how neat and packaged the bags and tissue are in the hanging bag!  And the bows and ribbons are hanging out (literally? ha!) in the white pails up top, along with tape and scisors, of course!

Not the most attractive or matchy makeover ever, but SUPER functional!!  Lets get another look.  

Before:

After:

I'm going to call this 2012 Success #1.  I'm so pleased with how functional everything is!  And the tripod discovery has Changed. My. Life.  So, who's ready to run out to IKEA and buy towel bars, "s" hooks, and white pails?  I wish I could have hanger bars in the inside door of every closet.  How about you all?  Anyone doing any organizing lately?  Gearing up for spring cleaning?  Avoiding it just to be a trend-setter?  Do tell, and happy Wednesday, friends!