I don’t know if you’re in need of organization in your home? I’m a pretty organized person. I like to have a place for things and stuff kept in their space.
I usually do pretty good at keeping thing organized. That was until I started my work from home business Decor to the Door.
When Monte and I are house hunting I have a pretty good idea of what I need for storage. When you are buying a house that isn’t custom chances are the storage space is lacking.
Some builders are better at creating storage then others.
Our Semi Custom Home
About every 5 or 6 years I start getting the I want a new house feeling. Not necessarily new but new to us. So I start driving around and seeing what is available and dreaming of the perfect for right now house.
When we came across our Ashton Woods home I was in love with their designs. They also had amazing storage. Not storage like you’d find in a home in Canada that has a full storage room in the basement but good for Arizona standards.
Because we move fairly often I’m pretty aware of what we have and what needs a place. I know a lot people in AZ use their attics as storage. I have never stored anything in our attic. Something about climbing a ladder into a hot attic doesn’t sound like fun to me.
I also like to have a minimal amount of things. Trust me when I say I have plenty of stuff but my closets aren’t busting and my garage isn’t piled to the roof with boxes and things.
Our storage closet
Our current home has a very large master bedroom and bathroom. I love the space and its location. Between the bedroom and bathroom is one of our walk in closets. It’s where Monte and I keep our clothes. It’s not super huge but definitely big enough for both of us.
Then in the bathroom there is a large walk in closet that was set up for clothes. This walk in closet is really large. I have never or will ever own enough clothes to need this amount of space. We do have an additional linen closet in the bathroom too.
I pictured this closet as a perfect space to store decorations and other items I don’t use often but wanted to keep.
It was out of control
This closet has been the perfect place for STUFF. But over the past few months as I worked on my business it started to get out of hand. There was a point I couldn’t walk into it without tripping over things. I was buying supplies and decor items and didn’t have a home for them so I was just keep dropping things on the floor.
Every time I opened the door I was sick about the closet. Even when I walked past the closet with the door closed I could sense the disarray.
I tried organizing and moving things around but I was in desperate need of additional shelving that would serve a specific purpose.
Because Decor to the Door is a monthly seasonal decor business and I’m working on a couple months at a time I have a lot of decor items I need to keep track of. I wanted a shelf for each month so I could keep things together.
I also wanted to have a shelf for craft items so I wasn’t digging through bags and bins trying to locate something I know I have somewhere.
Deciding what I needed
I wish I was someone who could look at a space and know exactly what is needed or what will work. Unfortunately I need to look at it for awhile and see where I can put things to make the best use of the space. I was working around shelves that were already installed prior to moving in. There are really great but I need a few more.
I realized I need to move things around to make the new shelves work better. I also got rid of some stuff. It was an overhaul of a very out of control space.
Moving things around
I realized that if I move my Christmas tree to the corner it would free up a space that would work perfect for a bank of shelves and used the side of an existing shelf. It would be sturdy and take less materials.
I also decided that adding another narrow bank of shelves next to the ones I wanted to build would create some additional space and work perfect for smaller items and supplies.
Buying materials
After deciding what we needed and where they were going to go we took some measurements and made a material list.
I used to try and do everything in one day. Figure it out, measure, go to the store and then build. Which was really exhausting and made for a very long day. I’ve learned to try and figure things out then go to the store for materials then make and create on a different day. This has really helped with projects. I’d get frustrated because it always takes longer to purchase the materials then you expect.
So after the list was made we headed to the local Home Depot to purchase supplies.
Building the shelves
Here’s where the fun begins. Since we had a plan it went really quick. I let Monte manage the details of how to do it but I was there to hold pieces and encourage.
This was a super quick and easy project that made a huge difference in the function of this space. Not only did it function better it made me a lot less anxious about what was going on in the space.
We were heading out of town for a few days so I was wanting to get these installed and painted so they could sit for awhile before I started using the shelves.
They painted up super quick with my small roller. I gave everything a coat of paint. Let it dry then gave it a quick sanding to knock off the rough wood fibers. After the light sanding I gave it another coat of paint then another quick sanding.
They turned out so pretty and were perfect for our needs. I even have some room to spare.
Adding theses shelves was a minimal cost. Under $100 for all of them. I love a project that is inexpensive but really creates something amazing.
