My Favorite Project

I've lived in my current home for nearly a year now.  I love this house.  It has plenty of space for a growing family and frequent guests.  I love the big windows and the semi-open floor plan.  In fact, all the light and airiness inspired me to paint the rooms various shades of grey.  I wanted to evoke a crisp, bright feeling throughout the house as I  decorated.  Grey probably sounds *not* bright and crisp, but it really is.  That will be a different post.

For now, I want to share one of my favorite projects that I've done since we moved in.  

Its shocking.  Get ready.

Its my son's closet.  

I know, but did you read the "about me" section?  I'm fairly obsessed with organization.  The closet had 2 of those awful wire shelves that come in every house in newer subdivisions.  I hate them.  Whose idea was it to have a shelf with HOLES in it?  Anyhow, there were only 2 of those horrifying shelves and it made a smallish closet even more inefficient.  

We planned the closet out keeping our goals in mind.  

Goal #1:  store all of my son's clothing.

Goal #2:  store most of his toys, all of his books, and some momento-type items.

Goal #3:  has to look good.

Goal #4:  has to be far more affordable than the $1000 quote I got from a guy who does closets.

So, we packed up and went to Ikea, of course.  The closet components we bought were various Pax items, which you can customize with shelving, baskets, drawers, bins, rods, and so on. We spent about $250 on all of the pieces.  We managed to get all of the flat-packed boxes on top of our X-Terra, along with a tarp since it was pouring rain, and we drove 3 hours home with our stash.

Here is a photo of the man of the house taking out some of the baseboard trim.  He had already removed one of the shelves (which, by the way, we saved and later reused by hanging them high in the closet above the door).

My man and his anti-helper installed the system in four or so hours, with expected Ikea-induced cursing.  

Here is what we ended up with; it was a perfect fit  ::

From the bottom up, there are 4 drawers for clothing,  4 removable plastic bins for toys (wood train set, lincoln logs, blocks, and miscellaneous, if you're curious), 2 shelves for toys and baskets, a big open blank spot that is supposed to be for hanging clothes (*forehead smack* ---we forgot to buy rods at Ikea... you know how your brain gets fried by the time you get to the self-serve area??? so we later bought rods at Lowe's), 2 more shelves for books, and at the very top is space for precious memorabilia that I want to keep safe, but also have access to, if I want to take them out.

I love that my son can take these bins (see below) out himself when he wants to play.  When it is clean up time, he knows exactly where to put things.  I grew up with a toy room that was a complete wreck and nothing had its own place, at least that I knew of.  I guess I should ask my mom.  Maybe I just never paid attention.  Regardless, I want my son to be better organized so that a.) he can learn how to be an organized, functioning adult some day and b.) my job is easier.  Seems like he plays with his things when he knows where they go.  His toy box, on the other hand, doesn't get a lot of attention from him, because it is a disaster of toys thrown in there.  

One last benefit of having a nice closet is that it meant we didn't have to buy a dresser for him.  Dressers can be attractive, add to decor and all, but I wanted his room to have as much play-space as possible. And, I wanted to avoid shelling out more cash for a piece of furniture that may or may not get damaged before the kid turns 18.  

Any thoughts on closets?  Dressers?  Ikea-induced cursing?  Thanks for reading!