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Organized Hall Closet

Hey guys! My apologies for the brief intermission but I needed a week to catch up on stuff and recover from the busiest 5 weeks I’ve had so far this year. I was away from home 4 out of the 5 previous weekends (and my parents were here visiting the one weekend I was home), which made it difficult to keep up with things because this is still a one-woman show.

Alright, moving on to today’s post about our newly organized hall closet that I decided to tackle over the weekend.

I needed to organize this closet like 2 years ago, but it’s just so easy to shut the door and forget there’s a mess in there. You know what I mean?

But I was starting to get annoyed with myself because I knew I was wasting precious real estate in the closet. Especially when my child has 5,000 toys clogging up our living room and guest bedroom. So I went to work.

NOTE: This is real life. I literally opened the door and snapped this photo. No staging was necessary.

messy-hall-closet-2

Because our bedroom linen closet is so large, I’m able to store all of our guest linens and towels in that closet. And I store all of Owen’s linens in his dresser. So this hallway closet has always been a catch-all.

There’s blankets we use when we’re snuggling up to watch TV. And as you can see, we’ve accumulated quite a few over the years.

There’s my candle shelf which had gotten out.of.control.

More blankets.

Our board game shelf.

And the bottom was full of a bunch of random crap like extension cords, cushions, an unused wreath, and an empty Pier 1 bag.

messy-hall-closet

While I was cleaning out the closet I even came across things I had forgotten about.

Like my Wonder Woman snuggy and Sh*tHead game (I Photoshopped ‘POOP’ onto the box so it would be less offensive– you’re welcome), both white elephant gifts.

I have a picture of my mom and stepdad playing Sh*tHead in our driveway. I’ll have to dig up that gem.

wonder-woman-snuggy

After filling two ‘donate’ boxes and relocating some items, here’s how the hall closet looks now.

organized-small-closet

I decided three TV blankets in this closet was sufficient.

organized-hall-closet

As you can see, I was merciless when it came to my candle shelf. I gave all of my Scensty bars to a friend and donated candles I knew I’d never put on my candle warmer. (I don’t like burning candles because they’re so dirty.)

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, that’s a crapton of peppermint creme reed diffusers. But I can explain myself. Friends and family know I love that scent, so last year I was gifted with at least 8 of those bad boys.

So friends and family, if you’re reading this, I have more than enough peppermint creme reed diffusers. Thanks, love you!

candle-shelf

The game shelf stayed the same, I just moved the games up one shelf.

boardgame-closet

The former game shelf is now a shelf for some of Owen’s toys. And I used this pretty laundry basket to store more toys in the bottom section of the closet. I actually bought the laundry basket forever ago at HomeGoods (I asked readers on my 221 FB page to vote between this basket and another), so I’m excited to actually have a purpose for it.

Storing some toys in the closet is to relieve some of the toy congestion in our living room because we don’t have play room. Some of these toys were also being stored in our guest bedroom– like I said, 5,000 toys.

Putting the toys in the closet is also helpful when it comes to rotating Owen’s toys. If you don’t know what toy rotating is, it’s when you hold back some toys and swap them out after a couple weeks. This way he’s not overwhelmed with too many toys and so he’s excited to play with toys he hasn’t seen in a while.

toy-closet

In case you’re curious about the toys, I’ve linked to them: Mr. Potato Head, driving toy, piggy bank, drum + instruments, Elmo, similar shape sorter, piano, Thomas the Train, cat.

I attempted to take some photos of the closet after Owen’s nap, and of course he was all, “What?! You’ve been holding out on me?!” and began playing with toys he hasn’t seen in a while.

o

I’m pretty sure these closet toys will come in handy when he’s having an especially whiny day. I’ll just open the door, and say, “OMG, look at all these new toys!” And fingers crossed that’ll stop the whining for at least 20 minutes.

So let this closet organization be a lesson in doing what works for you and your family. This closet is technically a linen closet, but I don’t have enough linens to fill it, so I’m making it work for us.

You know what’s great about this little makeover? It cost all of $17, which was dedicated to the laundry basket purchase.

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18 Comments

  1. when you run out of things to clean and organize, just remember i live less than an hour away 😉

  2. Wow, Chelsea! What a difference. I just spend yesterday afternoon tackling my craft closet and boy, that was a job! I didn’t remember to take a before picture, but I’m glad I’m not the only one with a slightly scary closet! 😉 This looks awesome! Also, real talk, I appreciate that this organization was like, not requiring 20 expensive baskets, hand-stamped tags, etc. Because, those closets are super pretty, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not happening over here. I need doable and easy to get motivated to tackle a project like that. Thanks for keeping it real, girl!

    1. Yes! I don’t have the time or money to buy a bunch of cutesy baskets and bins. And no one ever sees inside that closet so why bother? I’d rather spend my money on something else.

  3. Thanks for being real, Chelsea! The hubs almost fell over when I had the “in progress” laundry room makeover mess in the background of our DIY barn door and installation photo shoot. I said leave it but he felt like he had to explain why it was a disaster. Haha.

    The closet looks great!

  4. “I don’t like burning candles because they’re so dirty”. This may be my new favorite line from you. Well, second to, “Its not that hard keeping flowers alive”. Keep on with your organized self. #goals

  5. Chelsea,
    Tell me more about this candle warming business? Do you have a cute warmer? Where do you keep it? Does it put off as much scent as burning? Does the smell wear out and you have to get rid of the candle? Or can you just burn it indefinitely? I’m going to get rid of all my scentsy stuff taking up valuable real estate in my candle closet-because yes, I have a candle closet the same size as yours but the whole thing is pretty much candles and scentsy. ? I found that changing out scentsy scents was too messy and too much of a hassle. But I’m intrigued on the idea of just “warming” the candles I already have.

    1. My warmer isn’t cute– looks like a hot plate. I basically hide it behind our TV. Yeah, the smell eventually wears out. You can get a warmer on Amazon for around $10 and try it out. 🙂

  6. Soooooo, what happened to the Wonder Woman snuggy? I would totally provide a loving home for that.

  7. Organizing! Something I need to get too and soon! But recently retired I am hoping to get to some things. Great job on your organizing. If you get bored, I could use your help! haha…..just started blogging after a yr away, stop by and check it out.

  8. What a great organizational project. Do you just open the closet every now and then to enjoy it? Thanks for sharing at Talk of the Town Link Party.

  9. Ah! This is inspiring me to get at that linen closet I have been avoiding for the past few months! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday!

  10. Dang you are inspiring me. I have GOT to get on my pantry closet!!!!! It is a disaster.

  11. Fionnuala says:

    Hi Chelsea! I have closet envy. My husband and I moved to London, England from Canada about two years ago with our now 16-year-old daughter. Two major differences between modern North American homes and older English homes are, of course, the smaller homes over here and also that there are no closets! No coat closets. No linen closets. No storage closets. No basement to hold all the stuff that wouldn’t fit in all those closets. And no CLOTHES closets! This is a problem for me because I am a neat freak and need to be organized! Everyone buys wardrobes to put their clothes in but this takes up valuable real estate in the small bedrooms. And so I have had to become creative with storage. I put two pretty dressers on either side of the fireplace in the living room and use them to store towels and bedding out of sight. I have styled the tops with an old farmhouse window I brought from home, a vase and a small wicker basket which holds the T.V. converter. The T.V. sits on top of the other dresser. They look pretty nice and no one would know what was inside! We are fortunate to have a small vestibule at the entrance to the house so I have put another dresser with three drawers in there which holds all of our shoes and there are hooks on the walls for coats. Clothes storage is definitely an issue as the rooms are small so you can only fit so many wardrobes! I have downsized to one double wardrobe for all of my clothes. My daughter has a hard time fitting all her stuff in her wardrobe but that’s how most people live here. The good thing is that I have decluttered and donated and purged so much STUFF since we have been here. But I still miss those closets… 🙂

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