talking about closet organization

I always look forward to Talk about Tuesday at The Lazy Organizer blog. She's always got cool stuff to talk about like her sweet new baby girl, her amazing pantry and today she's talking about the baby chicks that are hatching at their house right now. I thought I'd participate today and talk about my organized closet. With Thomas and Elle at grandparents houses for two weeks I was able to tackle several projects around here that were in desparate need of attention.

I really should've took a picture last week. Just imagine an ironing board in the middle of the room with piles of clothes that needed hung up. I've said before on this blog that putting away clothes isn't something I'm good at!

The first thing I did was go through all of our clothes and decided what to keep and what to get rid of. Then I switched all of the winter clothes for the summer clothes. Even though we've only had a handful of days that have even made it into the 70s! I store our off season clothes in two zippered fabric containers under the bed.

This is Scott's side of the closet. Yes, I like to organize clothes by color. It's the OCD in me! As are the wood hangers. What can I say? I'm a firstborn.

This is my side....mostly anyway. Scott's stuff takes over a little of my side. Does anyone else's husband have more clothes than them?! I've got more shoes though! :)

Next week I'll show you the girl's closets. They are more fun than mine!

repurposed pickle jar

This morning I cleaned out my fridge and was going to throw away this pickle jar. I had put a can of spray paint on the counter to remind me to help Thomas spray paint his pinewood derby car for boy scouts this morning and I decided to see how it would work to spray paint the pickle lid too. It worked great! It looks pretty cute and is the perfect size for holding small things. I think I'll be saving my pickle jars now. The next one is going to hold all of the golf tees that get left in Scott and Thomas's pockets this summer!

coat closet organization

I finally found a way to keep the winter outdoor clothing mess to a minimum this year and thought I'd show you how....since it's Talk About Tuesday!

This is the doorway that leads to our garage and is the entrance that gets used by us all of the time. Until this winter this hallway was always a disaster.....coats, mittens, boots, and hats all over.

A couple of years ago Scott built me this nifty tower to help contain everything but I couldn't find any baskets that would fit just right on the shelves. Without the baskets this tower didn't help me to be organized. Everything still got mixed up. This year though Target just happed to have the perfect size milk crate basket to fit inside. It was a happy day when I found them! :) Now each of us has our own basket to hold our hats, scarves, mittens. The kids have been so good about putting everything in the right baskets and I can't remember the last time one of them has said "Mom, I can't find a pair of mittens!"

The other thing I did to do to help organize this closet was put an old cookie sheet on the floor for the kids to put their wet boots on. I also made sure they had special hangers that the suspenders of their snowpants could hang on without falling off.

The hook on the wall holds Ava's diaper bag, packed and ready to go along with any returns that need to be made in town.

This is a picture of mine and Scott's side of the closet. I'm hoping he'll build a shoe shelf for the kids side someday soon. (Hint, hint Honey!) :) The top shelf holds camera bags, my purse, a basket with our snowpants and ski goggles and other winter items that don't get used on a regular basis. There is also a basket that holds all of the summer stuff - caps, sunscreen, golf items, etc....I can't wait till we can take this basket down again!

This system has worked really well for us. It sure is great having a handy hubby to make things like this for me!

Note to self: Stain the top piece of the shelf!