So, I’m getting married.

That’s exciting.

Also, I have to live with a boy. That’s….different. I love my fiance and I can’t wait to start a life together. But I own my place (and love it) so we’ll be starting life here. In a one bedroom condo. With two people.

And 2.5 closets.

And two adults worth of stuff.

The biggest win we were going to get was squeaking out some more storage from the hall closet…which is the only real closet, other than the bedroom.*

Its in the middle of the house, in the teal hallway between the bathroom and dining room doors. It used to hold all my sheets and towels, before this happened. Plus all my coats, and extra craft supplies, and cereal when I buy too much. Winter boots. My sleeping bag. Randomness. But all of it–there’s nowhere else to go. And it was in pretty rough shape:

(That was embarassing). After I found new homes for the linens, I never really figured out a good or efficient use of the shelves. Everything in there was just the leftover random stuff from when my sister and I both moved (I got all of both of our stuff). So it wasn’t being used very efficiently. And now that there are two of us, we have more storage needs:

• my crafting supplies
• his suitcase (he travels several times a month, this has to be very easily accessible–not the basement or a top shelf)
• his tools (he’s got way more than I do)
• cleaning supplies (realistically, these are his. I’m a terrible housekeeper)
• extra shoes (realistically mine. I think he has like four pairs. I have…more than that.)
• all the random stuff listed above, like pantry supplies, extra paper towels when we buy in bulk, sleeping bags

And of course, this is still both the coat closet and the broom closet so we need to keep that space too.

No biggie right?

The junk in there wasn’t going to cut it; we needed real shelves. Sturdy ones. And a spot for the suitcase. Oh, and this closet is only 29.5 inches wide. We didn’t want to waste an inch, so our solution wasn’t going to come off the shelf. So we decided to build it out ourselves (Boyfriend finished his whole basement in his old house, so he was ready to go for this project).

We talked and I made lists, we talked some more and I made sketches. We measured, and measured again, and made more sketches. We pulled everything out, til we were left with this:

Two shelves, a broom organizer, a rod, and a ribbon hanger. (Believe it or not, this closet was even worse when I moved in. There was a single 24 inch deep shelf and a hanging rod in the back.)

The good news is, this closet is DEEP, so there is enough room for some pretty substantial shelves, even with coats hanging in the front part of the closet. After all our sketches, and lots of math on my part, we felt pretty good about our plans. So we finished ripping everything out of the closet, and then I got to work with a tape measure.

We scoped out Home Depot and found 2 x 4 sheets of laminate (we went to the city Home Depot, which has a smaller selection, because they also have a Home Decorators Collection). And then we finalized our plan, and headed for the bigger Home Depot–our design would require SEVEN sheets of laminate, with more than a third as scrap because of our 29.5 width. Luckily, they sold 4×8 sheets, meaning we would need only one, plus a smaller sheet to make all six shelves, plus two half shelves and the center support.

Since we were using irregular measurements (to accommodate all the things listed above) and wanted to permanently install the shelves (no adjusting), I wanted to be sure they matched what we wanted. In addition to remeasuring a whole lot of cereal boxes and various tools, I did this:

The shelf at the top was placed on the only existing supports we were keeping so we wanted to make sure there was enough space at that top shelf. The tall shelf near the bottom is the sturdiest one since it goes above the half shelf at the bottom (making room for the suitcase) and is for tools. The other tall shelf is for cereal and other pantry goods.

Those were my key contributions to the closet. I started unpacking some of the boxes (the movers don’t come until next week but we’d been bringing over boxes of stuff weekly to start moving him in) and organizing the kitchen–its a one person closet, and this was Mike’s deal now.

He got it to here:

And then it was time to paint. It was dingy and ugly, and also kind of cream, which looked even worse with white melamine shelves. So we primed it (with, um, oil based primer because I can’t read and then we didn’t have mineral spirits so we had to go to the store with me covered in paint because I had no way to get it off BUT) and then talked paint. Since we had to go to the hardware store, I really wanted to paint the back of the closet a fun color. I thought it would be cool. And its a small wall, so a test pot would get us there. Except not at the true value, where they sell only itty-bitty testers and in tiny little pots. I was thinking of buying a quart, but really, so not worth it. Its for a closet. And then the salesman was all, can I help you, we have oops paint. So we got a $5 oops GALLON of this:

He was against it, then offered to paint the whole thing that color (yikes!), and now thinks its fun too. Win! We also got iron-on edging for the laminate so it looks more finished, and he wanted electricity (to charge all his tools) so he did this:

Its an adapter for the light that includes outlets, so you leave the fixture always on, and then put the bulb below with a second string so the light isn’t always on. Then he tacked an extension cord into place. It isn’t in the back because we’re too short to reach the back corner (ever. You should have seen us trying to paint).

Then in went the broom holder and the coat rod, and we started to load stuff back in:

The suitcase fits perfectly, the little shelves next to it are for extra shoes, the bottom is for boots, then we have tools, food and cleaning supplies, more food, picnic stuff. All sorts of fun. It doesn’t look this empty anymore; we’ve moved in more boxes, and its filling up (although not packed). And the rod has coats on it, because we have nowhere else to put our coats.

I’m sure those of you with houses (and lots of closets) feel sorry for us right now, but we’re really proud of how well we’ve made the space we do have work for us. This closet now packs a huge storage punch, holds brooms and dustbusters (you can’t see it in pictures, but on the left side where the brooms are, he wall mounted the dustbuster above the door, where it charges too), has his suitcase easily accessible, holds all of our coats and plenty of extra stuff. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually but right now I keep opening the closet and looking.

We made a few small-but-awesome tweaks to our bedroom closet too, which I’ll share once the house calms down enough to accomplish anything.

*I have a front hall closet, but it only looks real:

It’s actually only about 9 inches deep. It has hooks inside. I’ll share it sometime, because I think I’ve packed a lot into it. But it isn’t even deep enough for hangers, let alone lots of stuff.

How many closets do you have? Do you love organizing closets as much as I do?

With Lesley gearing up to move in the next few months and Boyfriend moving Saturday, I thought I’d share a few of the things we did right during his move, as well as a few things that fell through the cracks. (Also, if I write it down I’ll be able to reference it myself).

The movers he hired were s-l-o-w, but my experience has usually been that the movers need all my stuff right away, whether I’m ready for them or not. I tend to leave “just a couple things” to be done at the end, but it ends up being too much to fit in and so I end up moving a few things myself. I also tend to think I have one “one or two boxes” when I really have, like, ten boxes worth of stuff left to get thrown in. Don’t leave things for that one last box. Unless its a magic box.

This was an in-town move between apartments (I cannot imagine doing cross country or having more than one bedroom), so it doesn’t include things like toothbrushes–that’s outside my realm of experience. These are the things we were glad to have or wished we had during moving day.

So here goes:

Things to leave out at the old place:

Not this exact one, but similar. Smaller and lighter than a drill, so its easier to store where you can grab it and gets light moving out type jobs done fast

• Screwdriver (super essential–you’ll forget to take holders off the wall, realize those curtain tie backs need to come down, and that the legs on the table are screwed on). He used a small electric one, which is easier to tote around than a drill.
• Paper towels and other cleaning supplies, to clean whatever you uncover when you move large items around
• Garbage bags. More than one, since you’ll be pretty sure you got it all, throw out the first one, and realize you need another.
• Small Ziploc bags to put small pieces (like screws or shelf supports) so they don’t disappear.
• Sharpie to label anything you missed.
• Pen and paper to write stuff down, ideally on a clipboard.
• Tape gun so you can close last-minute boxes and tape random things together.
• Some food. We messed this up. Due to the turtle-movers, I was starving by the time we finally left his place. (I had set aside stuff to eat breakfast, but didn’t anticipate lunch).  Along those lines, bottled drinks or a cup so you can still have a drink.
• One or two Very Important BAGS where the above items get stashed. We had a duffel bag with plenty of pockets (screws, ziplocs, writing utensils), a small size tool caddy (for the screwdriver and some other basics) and a cleaning caddy.

On the flip side, most of the stuff above was important, with some key additions. There are also some things you just want to make sure you can find immediately without having to open any boxes:

• A utility knife, to open all those boxes.
• Food. Or at least a plan for where to get some. See above.
• Toilet paper. Or a willingness to find a convenient business if you need to use the facilities.
• Spare blankets or towels. Your movers might be smart enough not to put boxes from the snowy ground outside right on your dining room table. Or not. Instead of stressing about it, cover it up.
• Everything above (except the tape gun. Thank goodness!)

On a side note, Boyfriend now lives half a block from Michael’s. This could be dangerous…

What are your moving must-haves?