Closet WITH Storage Space

I had a few goals for myself this year.  They were little goals that would make my life a little better. One of the goals was to come up with a way to store my ribbon. Check.

The next two goals were about closets.  This week my dear husband offered to help me make over our closet.  Thank you Joel!  We worked pretty well together.  He did the work and I took pictures.  :-)

First we are going to need some tools of the trade. A tiny little drill bit, a 1/4 inch drill bit and a Phillips head screw driver tip are needed for the drill.

You will want to have a level.  I prefer a small level, but hubby prefers the larger one so we have two out.  A pencil to make the wall and a ruler will be needed.  If you are working on your own, you may want a hammer and a Phillips head screw driver...I'll explain about that later. 

Finally you will need screws and anchors.  We have plaster walls, but you would also want to use anchors if your walls are finished with drywall.  We are using two inch screws. 

You will also want to have a cordless drill on hand.  I LOVE it when hubby uses this thing around the house. ;-)

We have all our supplies set up on this little table so we can keep track of everything.  Also you will notice the boards.  We have pre-cut and painted the wood that will be acting as the brackets for our shelves.  For each shelf we will need two 23 inch side pieces and one 41 inch piece that will run across the back of the closet.  Since we are installing 3 shelves, we need six side pieces and three back pieces. 

We are using a pink ruler to measure down one foot from the shelf bracket that is already in place. Joel is going to mark off about four places on the wall.

Next we grab our bracket wood and tr to line it up according to the marks Joel made with the ruler.  Put the level on the wood so you know that you have everything lined up perfectly.  Then mark the entire board with a pencil.  You do not want to be messing with leveling out the board when you start drilling. 

When you have the line drawn, put your level down and grab your power drill fitted with the thin drill bit.  Drill pilot holes through the wood and right into the wall.  You might need someone to hold one end of the board while you do this part of the project. 

This leaves you with holes that line up perfectly with the board.

Now you need the 1/4 inch drill bit.  That is the size hole that our anchors need.  Your anchors may be a different size so drill accordingly.

If your screw is not going directly into a stud (A stud is usually a 2x4 that is behind the drywall or plaster.  The studs or 2x4's create the frame work for your walls.  Newer homes should have a 2 x 4 every 16 inches.  Older homes that have plaster walls do not have a regulated spacing for the studs.) then you need to use an anchor or molly.  I prefer to use anchors because they are much easier to use in my opinion.  So the holes that will need anchors will have to be re-drilled with the 1/4 inch drill bit.    

Insert the anchor into the 1/4 inch hole.  If you are having a hard time getting the anchor into the hole, a few taps with a hammer will help. 

Now put the screw driver tip into the drill.  It is time to attach the board to the wall.  :-)

It is very good idea to start the screws in the board before you go to the wall.  Hubby used the power drill to get these screws started, but I were going to do it, I would have started them with a regular old fashioned screw driver. 

Eye ball your board before you start attaching it.  You might think this is a silly step, but believe me if you get the board upside down and have to unscrew to flip it, you will not be thinking this is such a silly step. 

When everything looks good, screw the board to the wall studs or into the anchors. 

This is what we wound up with. I have a few important notes for you.

• Number one.  Attach the middle board first.  When that is attached to the wall, you can work on the two side boards at the same time.  ( Be sure to eyeball the side boards up before attaching them.  It is really easy to mix the boards up.) 
• Number two.  You are going to do a lot of bit changing.  Just be prepared.  

We added some particle board shelves that we cut down to size.  All we need to do now is wipe everything down and then fill up all that space. 

Look it!  I am so excited.  I am feeling so organized right now.  I'm just thrilled with the results. 

Here is a close up of all the stuff I could get on one shelf.  My other cabinets are so happy now that they are not over stuffed.

Turn wasted closet into attractive and usable storage space.  Check.  :-)

This is the product we used for the shelves.  If we had used pine boards, it would have cost $90.00 for the wood alone plus I would have had to purchase stain and varnish for the wood...not to mention the additional work of staining and varnishing.  This option was half the price of the wood and way less work.

Ribbon Towers

Today, I am enlisting the help of my children to help me tackle this ribbon storage problem that is bugging me. They are so excited they can hardly wait. Just kidding.



I came up with a fantastic idea...I think. But first we need to gather a few things before we get started. I have a massive collection of empty tin cans for the luminaries that the kids love to make, so I borrowed a few. I also took a few ribbon spools to Lowe's and found the biggest dowels that would still fit into the spool centers. I also have my daughter's beach bucket, a wooden paint stick which I can now tell you is not strong enough, water, a bag of quick setting cement, and painters tape. I love painters take for everything except painting. :-) I also covered the floor with newspaper.




Close up of one of my new favorite things.




Step one. Do this outside. Step two. Wear a mask. Step three. Pour the 'Quikrete' into the bucket. Do you see all that dust?




Don't fill your bucket up all the way. You will need plenty of room for water and stirring. Also, I would probably recommend using something a little wider and more shallow for the mixing. Our deep and narrow bucket was not ideal.




Now, add water. Not too much. The wetter it is, the longer it takes to dry.




Now, mix. I would recommend a heavy plastic or metal trowel. Or maybe even a sturdier stick. Mixing this stuff took a bit of muscle. His muscle...not mine. I had to save my finger for taking pictures. You understand.




When the stuff is all mixed up and your son is happy with it, it can be poured into a can.




When the can was full I put on a pair of latex gloves and patted the top so it looked a little nicer and less lumpy. You don't really have to do that. Ribbon spools will cover it up later.




Now, in goes the dowel. Push it in all the way to the bottom of the can.



When all the cans were filled with cement and the dowels had been placed in the can, we started cleaning up. I pushed the bench up against the wall and then started taping the dowels to the side of the bench so they would all dry straight up and down. But then I started thinking about four kids, a hubby and a dog that bump into things so I taped the cans into place as well.



Like this. I am sure that the standard threatening to stay away while the cement dried would have been useless. So I used tape. :-)



I would say that we gathered supplies, did the project, cleaned up and taped everything down in less than an hour and a half. Quick project if you do not count the drying time. By the way, quick drying might take longer than you think. We left ours over night before I took the tape off.

The next day I went through my ribbon and organized it into six categories...because we made six towers. We just slid the ribbon spools on and we were good to go.

And the finished product....


I have them displayed on a board on a bench so they are straight and easily visible, but I plan to store them in a closet. I am so happy with them. If I could do it over, I might paint the cans before I willed them with cement, but for now, I am VERY happy!!! They are portable too. When I was making a little package up for a neighbor, I grabbed the whole thing and took it to my work area. How cool is that?

I also used more blue painters tape to tape the loose ends of the ribbon down. I love blue tape. :-)





My six ribbon categories are from left to right:

• Plastic Curling Ribbon
  
• Non-Wired Craft ribbon
• Wired Project Ribbon
• Scrapbook Ribbon
• Thin Single Color Ribbon
• Wide Wired Decorating Ribbon
  

Note* Please read your cement package to find out how much water and drying time your project will actually need.

Note* To be honest, I was going to do the work and have the kids take pictures of the process, but they said I was too slow and too worried about making a mess so they revolted and made me get out of the way. That is the truth.

2011 Goals

Look at what I did. I took a huge mess of papers, computer discs, CD's, DVD's, receipts, catalogs, office supplies and turned the chaos into this beautiful display of order and organization. I am so proud of myself. I wish I had taken a before picture so you could see what an awesome job I did.



Okay, I might be more impressed with my project than I should be, but I have been inspired. It also made me think about a few other things...

Fact: I am a busy Mom of four kids, homeschooling one of them, keeping house, cooking for three teenage boys and a hubby as well as blogging and a few other things. :-)

Fact: Some things slide.

Fact: I have a few messes that I need to clean up.

Fact: I want them cleaned up, I just don't want to be the cleaner upper.

Fact: No one is going to do it for me. :-(

Now that we have established a few things, let me show you what I am talking about. Behind door number one...



We have a terrible waste of space here. Yoga mats and three of hubby's coats do not need their own closet. I would like to store extra dishes, napkins, serving dishes, and glasses. I need some storage for things that I use, but not on a daily basis.



I think that his coats can get relocated to his clothing closet. The extra drapes can find a new home too.




Behind door is two is...okay we can't even get to door two. We have a few totes of bed linens that do not have a home. There is also a big box of clothing waiting to be sorted and sent off to a donation center.



Behind the door is actually another waste of space. The clothes on the floor are too big for my daughter yet. The assorted odds and ends do not need a closet of their own. What a mess.




And this is my beloved ribbon. I love ribbon. I have a passion for ribbon. Ribbon makes everything better. The problem is right now it is such a mess that I just don't use it. I either go buy a new spool every time I need ribbon or I do without. I need to organize this. I would like to be able to:

• see the ribbon
• get to it
  
• add more ribbon spools as needed
• store the ribbon in a condensed manner that is user friendly.
  
  

While I am very fortunate to have lots of closet space, I do not have lots of wall space. So anything that I come up with cannot be wall mounted. I think I have established that totes are not working out too well. Any ideas?

Stay tuned for the solutions.