Project 2.5: Coat Closet

I'm still working on mini projects in the living room. Yesterday I tackled the coat closet. The first 8 months that we lived in this apartment we didn't even use it as a coat closet. In fact I had a shelf in there that was too tall to be able to hang coats in there with. I'm so glad I changed it up a few months ago. Much better use of my space.

Before:

Not only is this a coat closet. It's a "hold all of the extras/refills of everything/clean products/bulk foods/dog items/laundry products closet". Or you could just call it a junk closet I guess.

My favorite thing is the green over-the-door shoe organizer. I use it to hold other things...not shoes.

My shoe organizer holds winter hats, gloves, and scarves, Command hooks (love love love these!), shoe spray/cleaner, frequently used tools (tape measure and screw driver), and other miscellaneous things. Genius!

You'll have to excuse the big ugly stain of who-knows-what all over the floor. It came that way when we rented the apartment. Not fixable and I don't want to know what it is or was. I just ignore it.

Process:

As usual, I gutted the closet. It's the perfect way to clean and organize.

Okay, so I don't have a baby and I don't plan on having one soon, but we got a killer deal on Avent pacifiers and bottles at Target a few months ago, so we snagged them. They don't go bad or anything (or do they?), so we figured that we'd get them now for when we need them then. Oh clutter of the future.

And that big bad CD book in the blue crate is full of CDs. CDs that I haven't listened to or even looked at in 5 years or longer. But a month ago I read in a magazine about a company called iPod Meister that will let you trade in your CDs and DVDs for electronics like iPods, iPads, smartphones, eReaders, and other things. They will digitize all of your music for you if you want them to as well. I am 100% digital with my music and I get all of mine from Zune Pass. I have no need for my CDs what-so-ever. So when I go home for the wedding, I will be collecting all of my CD cases and sending them back to SLC with my brother in his new car he's driving back. I think I have enough CDs for something worth 199 CDs. I have a Kindle, but I'd like a new external hard drive. We'll see how many I have in June!

After:

Are you ready?

Ta-da! Chris said it isn't any different. Ha ha...it is...I swear. I threw out a whole bag of garbage. Two rows in the green organizer are now empty.

And best of all...I went from an ugly orange shoe box for all of my Bath & Body Works home scents to this awesome file box. So much better and easier to access!

I think I'm ready to reveal the "after" of the whole living room now. Stay tuned for a post later today to see what it looks like! =]