Hall Closet

I debated back and forth about whether or not to post this. The truth of the matter is that I am embarrassed by it. I then determined that those of you who know me, know that I am far from perfect so you really should not be shocked. So, here goes. My house has an AMAZING hall closet. It is really, REALLY big!! One of the things I loved about it when we came looking at the house, especially since I was coming from a townhouse with a one foot wide linen closet. I couldn't wait to utilize this closet and to be able to use the space wisely. Well, as the years have gone by and we have accumulated more and more, the hall closet has become more of a dumping ground. My sister Kelly always teases me and calls me Monica from 'Friends' because my house is (usually) clean but that hall closet has become such a pig sty. See for yourselves....



Now you can see why I am embarrassed by this post. (The sad thing is that I took that picture AFTER I had started working on cleaning it.)

Sunday while Jim's family was here Andrew and Steven were looking for something in my hall closet and 1/4 of the mess was out in the middle of my hall. My sister-in-law Laurie saw the inside of the closet (something I don't let many people do) and being the sweet, sweet person she is, volunteered to come help me clean and organize it. Since she was here from Oregon for only a week, I told her no, that's not the way she wants to spend her vacation. She said that she would love to, she loves organizing stuff. I told her if she had time one day maybe we could do it and let it drop. A little while later she asked me what I was doing the next day. Not knowing why, I told her the truth, absolutely nothing. She said she'd be over to help with the closet. After several failed attempts at trying to talk her out of it (not because I didn't want the help but because I didn't want her to have to do that on her vacation) I caved. Monday she, Dave and two of her kids came over. Not only did she come to help clean, she also brought stuff to make us dinner that night. She is amazing!! Laurie really is one of those people who can do it all. Cook, clean, organize, makes beautiful cakes (she made our wedding cake), jewelry, knits, etc., etc. And to top it all off, she is one of the sweetest, most genuine people I have ever met!! They got to our house about noon and 'operation hall closet' quickly began. She told me we needed three piles; things to keep, things to donate, and things to throw away. After creating our piles we started a list of how to organize the things and what to get to help me organize the closet and keep it that way. We then took a trip to Wal-mart for bins, drawers, etc. After just over 8 (yes, I said 8) hours we were finished. I have to say I LOVE MY CLOSET!!!! Even my kids love it. They can actually find things to color with and do projects with. It's amazing!! Here is what it looks like now....



Amazing, isn't it?? I honestly can't believe it is the same closet. It is so nice to have everything in its place and to actually be able to find something without having to tear everything apart. I am so, SO happy!!! The only bad thing is, now I have the organizing bug and I want to tear the rest of my house apart. I just have to take it one project at a time. I made a nice, BIG, looooong list to work from. I'm so grateful that Laurie was willing to sacrifice a day of her vacation to help me out. She is the BEST!!!