Hallway Closet Organization Before & After

ORGANIZING THE HALLWAY CLOSET

Do you have a linen or catch-all closet that is driving you crazy?  I do.  It is at the end of the hallway that leads to our bedrooms. I finally decided to do something about this disorganized, dark closet.

So this is a closet that spans from the floor up to about 6' but reaches up to the ceiling behind the cabinet doors.  Giving us a lot of storage space, but we just weren't using it to full capacity.

Cabinet Shelves BEFORE

After emptying the contents, it hit me that probably part of the problem was the interior paint.  It was a pinky salmon color. Sort of dark with all of the shadows.

 

BEFORE:  Dark and Dreary.  Even the overhead light was too dull.

This used to be the home of Country Singer/Songwriter Becky Hobbs (who wrote "Angels Among Us") She told me this was the original paint color when the house was built.  That was 54 years ago!

SO - TIME TO PAINT a PRETTY BRIGHT WHITE

AFTER

After I painted the inside with an enamel semi-gloss white, I let it cure for 24 hours.

In the mean time, I started boxing up my supplies.  I purchased several clear shoe boxes at The Dollar Tree for only $1 a piece.  I separated and organized my supplies and labeled them appropriately:

First Aid:  holds band-aids, ointments, swabs, etc.

Bath Products:  any extra shampoo, body wash, razors, etc.

Body Products:  extra toothpaste, new tooth brushes, lotions, etc.

Fragrance Outlets:  I have a lot  of extra plug-ins by Glade and Bath and Body Works

Candles:  this box holds all of my votive candles (I always buy extras) 

 

AFTER

My  son, Ethan, and husband, Gary, combined forces and created a slide holder to house my FLIP FOLD. It stores easily inside the cabinet. I love to fold laundry with the Flip Fold.  I use to lay it on top of the towels, but that was inconvenient.  Now it is at the ready!

1.  Next I folded all of my towels nicely and put them on the bottom shelf.

2.  My boxed items and extra toilet paper and tissue on the middle shelf.

3.  Blankets were put in large clear bags (I just happen to save those when buying new comforters) on the top shelf.  Before, I would stack folded blankets on top of each other, but it always seemed I need the one on the bottom, and all of the others come tumbling down.  This way several blankets are together in a bag.  Making it easier to keep them folded.

4.  A basket on the top shelf holds two small baby blankets (for visitors) and an extra throw pillow.

 

Top Drawer BEFORE - oh my! What a mess!

This was what my top drawer looked like.  It held all of our medical supplies.

 

Top Drawer AFTER - whooo! Is this MY drawer? :)

I took everything out and sorted by throwing out anything that had expired - I was amazed at how much "old" stuff we had.  Then sorted like items together. I made a separate box for my bottles of daily pills - as I have many.  As well as a box for the blood pressure cuffs.

 Using boxes and divided organizers really make a difference in keeping everything in it's place.

Second Drawer BEFORE

We store our DVDs in the hallway, because frankly, we haven't thought of a better place.  They were all shoved in this drawer.  We have so many they were overflowing, making it hard to find that British Romance when I really wanted it!  So, again, I pulled everything out and sorted through the movies.  I found about five that we never watch and donated them to the local Goodwill store.

Second Drawer AFTER

Then I separated the kid friendly movies (birth to 12 yrs) into a separate pile for when kids visit and put them into baskets to put in another drawer.  I lined up the other movies, ie: drama, action, etc....back into the cleaned out drawer.  I think I will pick up some more $1 baskets and divide the movies into catagories.  I think I'm hooked on boxes and baskets!

Third Drawer BEFORE

This drawer was just a "catch-all"....candles, cleaning products, etc.

Third Drawer AFTER

Now it holds the Kids Movies and the large candles.

 

The last thing I did was change out the two 15 watt light bulbs in the overhead hallway light for two 60 watt energy saving ones.  This made the hallway so much brighter.  Well, one closet down,  ummm....one, two, three, only FOUR to go!