After finishing the library, Beloved sat me down for a talk. He said something about "promise me you won't start another project without warning me first," and maybe something else about "leave the wallpaper alone." I didn't hear him, because I was too busy staring at my bookshelves.
I've kept my end of the promise, even though every day I walk past the torn wallpaper in the kitchen and want to RIP IT OFF. But I know that will kick off another thing I can't finish, and dude, this is the year of SMALL adjustments, not kitchen remodeling.
So, we did something small. Beloved installed the closet shelving he bought 1,000 years ago.
How many of y'all share a closet with your live-in lover? Most of my friends seem to have their own closets, and I haven't quite figured out how they negotiated that. Beloved and I have always shared a closet, even when our closet was teeny tiny. Well, I take that back -- in This Old House the closets were long, skinny rooms, and there were two of them, and a normal person couldn't fit his or her clothes in either one. So we've shared two closets instead of three.
Because we share the closet, we have to really think hard about buying new clothes. Because new clothes, when your closet is as crammed as ours is, won't fit. Beloved has a habit of storing all of his jeans downstairs in the laundry room, but that's probably because a) I've never seen him get rid of a pair of jeans in the ten years we've been together I SAY WITH LOVE and b) I hog the decrepid, particle-board dresser with my extensive matched bra and panties underwear collection.
I neglected to take photos of our old closet, but it was essentially three rods and three boards. The closet is three-sided, so I'm guessing you can visualize what it looked like. Somethings hung in the middle and everything else was stacked on the floor. But Beloved, he had a VISION. And it looked something like this.
The photos suck because I took them with my phone this morning while blow-drying my hair. But note the lovely, built-in baskets for Beloved's stuff and one for my sweatpants and swimwear.
We weren't completely able to banish the hanging shelves because we haven't yet found the inexpensive hardwood dresser that will allow us to take the particle-board monstrosity off life support. But we'll get there. Oh, yes, we'll get there.
Double rods for the gentleman.
Single rod for the lady. heh.
And the best part. Shoe organization. I could just die.
Blondie thinks I have a lot of shoes. Seriously? I do not agree.This is my entire shoe collection, minus running shoes, snow boots and flip flops. Is this a lot?
People, I can't tell you how good closet organization feels. I can actually SEE my clothes now, which makes getting dressed a lot more fun than before. And this whole project took Beloved about three hours. Sooo worth it.
---------------------------
While you're thinking remodeling, read the first installment of my new column, "Take My House", over at SuperEco!
