Small Closet Organization: A Budget Friendly Redo, Part I.

 

All right my friends, time for small closet organization, a budget friendly redo at that.  We're back in my office today with this reorganizing bid'ness.

First, I want to apologize, yet again, for being away so long so much.  I might, hm, apologize might be an imprecise word choice; while I am sorry, I can't apologize for my reasons why.  It's not for a lack of project ideas or a base desire to get at them, I still feel poopy.  I miss my Trusty Furry Assistant Finny deeply and relentlessly.  

It's hard.  I'm trying.

In the midst of all this, my office closet had a spot of a breakdown (the irony isn't lost) when a wimpy dowel hanging rod I had shoved in there crashed wreaking havoc on the closet.

Suuuuuper embarrasing.

Thanks dowel, for the extra brain strife.

So the closet became a disaster, or disaster-ier I should fess up to.  It's about dang time I faced it and make it work.

Tim Gunn is awesome.

Small closets are definitely tricky when it comes to organizing, amirite or amirite?  The lack of space, the amount of crap we cram into them, not able to see what's in there, hard to grab....the obvious.

Eons ago I threw some shelves (and aforementioned dowel) in there as a stop-gap quick-fix solution that never really solved anything.  We all do this and it's not a reflection upon any of us.  Who has the time?!  Or the budget?!

More super embarrassed.

"I'll really fix it right later...."  I know, I do it too.

So here we are, ten years later heh, at the small closet budget friendly organization redo today.

And to be quite frank, considering I sit next to this itty slip of a closet day in and day out, feeling the horror loom over me despite thinking "hey dodo, fix this" every time I open it (uh daily), a solution was invariably elusive.

*door shut*

Until the dowel crash forced my hand.

Right.  Ok.  

My first bit of advice when tackling the organization of a closet or generally anything you're looking to organize:  think about it.  Stare at it, measure endlessly, set aside undistracted time to focus only on the target.

Trust me, you'll save yourself a sh*t ton of money and time if you do this.  You'll solve the closet disarray right the first time.  I'd even go so far as to say this is Theee most important step.  Ok, I will:  it's the most important step.

Why?  Because you're putting the time and thought into exactly what will solve your specific dilemma, thereby saving you from overspending on unnecessary supplies or baskets or bins or crap whoo-ha whatever.  

Aka, fit your stuff, not your stuff into "solutions" without a plan.

Customizing storage, I find, is my pro tip key to storage success.  It fits your needs, fits your junk, there's a place for everything, and it keeps you in check.

Second most important step?  Rifle through your stuff.  Take it all out, yes allllll of it, weed out useless bits and pieces, downsize, toss, donate, what-have-you.  Pare that schnizz down.  

Then it's back to planning.  For me, anyway.

In my case, I stared.  And stared.  And stared, paced, walked away, came back and stared more, sat with AutoCAD* drawing up options.  You don't have to have fancy software for this; a trusty pencil, eraser, tape measure,* and paper work perfectly.

If visualizing it is a struggle, no worries, grab some cardboard and prop it up or use painters tape* to mark things out.

As I've got this slanty wall, high ceiling yet lower door header, I was having trouble myself, honestly.  I was measuring, drawing, redrawing, measuring, and staring.  I decided to try my spiffy revalatory cardboard idea since 3D on the computer ain't my thang.  How that panned out will come later.

Because.....Before resolving the actual organizing and shelving situation (apologies), I ran out for a lamp holder base with an outlet.*  Much like the coat closet, I wanted to run an LED strip light* vertically for extra light in this dark mini-cave.

My new bracelet?  It spells Finn in Morse code and you can order one here.*

In the end, I went with one that was USB powered* which meant a little USB cube* to plug into the outlet.  Both the overhead light and the strip light would come on with the light switch meaning no little random remote that I'd inevitably lose nor have to turn two things on and off.

Why I always pick the most humid day to twist and wrench myself into weird awkward spaces, I dunno, but thank goodness the power was off as I was a vertical swimming pool.  Ew, sorry.

Oh and this was going on around the junction box.  I felt cool air coming in so I sealed it up as best I could.

Once I finally got it installed, power back on, I discovered the outlet wasn't working, the whole reason for this particular exercise.  Ack holy frustrating!  Gosh darn it.

Ok.

So after consulting with my cool woodworking friend Scott because my brain is not the most operational, I took the lamp holder back down as he felt the prongs of the cube were not making contact inside.

Indeed.  He was right.  And I think it was my fault.  See, after dropping it on the floor, the screw cap that holds the socket in place had come off, everything shifted inside unbeknownst to me, things weren't aligned hence taking it down solved the mystery.  

The green arrows point to where things were misaligned.  The red arrows are the cube prongs.

Once everything was realigned and after squishing the metal parts that hold the cube prongs more tightly just 'cuz hey why the heck not, I reinstalled the lamp holder, flipped the power back again, and voilá I'm in business!

Whew.  

Bit of advice two?  Make sure you double-check things before installing them for proper alignment blah blah etc. etc. kind of stuff.

All righty!  Time to move forward.  Grabbing a pry bar* and some gumption, I extracted the (interesting methodology) trim pieces off that were supporting the upper shelf.

Oh, and why is there trim framing out the door inside the closet?  Weird.  I dunno.  Kinda want to take it off.

And guess what I discovered!  Yep.  More of those dang little holes.  That same bozo, pokey pokey, drilling a zillion holes everywhere trying to locate studs.  On me, pal...if only I could ship that irksome person a stud finder*.....SMDH.

Lots of patching ensued!  Which, it feels like I do most often in this home.  Now waiting for it to dry....

Oh, if you don't have these tools, these are good to have.  A hammer* obviously but a nail set* and a painters multi-tool.*

It was at this point I realized, oh, uh, duh, why must the closet innards be boring white?  What fun should I toss in here?

............uh oh, uh huh, here we go.

Long story short in part one of a budget friendly organization redo of this small closet, my third tip:  don't forget projects always take a whole heck of a lot longer than you expect them to.

As such, with that, we patiently await part two as I am real-time in the middle of this project.  As near the entire contents of said closet are scattered around my office, I've put the squeeze on myself to rid the room of the clutter.

Onward I go I hope!

By the way, it appears I haven't mentioned this previously, but Parkinson's Disease royally sucks.  It's been slowly taking my dad for many years and has taken several people I know.  The Michael J. Fox Foundation is doing the work, if you feel able to donate.

Be back as soon as I can.

*The AutoCAD link is an AutoDesk affiliate link.  The tape measure, lamp holders, pry bars, and painters multi-tools are Home Depot affiliate links.  The LED strip lights, USB cubes. and nail sets are Amazon affiliate links.  The bracelet is an Etsy affiliate link.  The painters tape, stud finders, and hammers are a Lowes affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.

**Disclaimer:  Electricity is dangerous.  It can hurt you.  It can kill you.  Bad wiring can burn your house down.  It's best to hire a qualified, licensed electrician if you don't know how to wire things.  Do not attempt to wire anything without the proper knowledge.  Do not ever take wiring advice from me.  And do not blow your house up.