Hall closet optimization

The hallway and hall closet was one of the first areas that we renovated in this apartment, but it wasn't until this past month that we finally got around to adding storage options to the closet. For the past year or two we've just been using free standing plastic shelves left over from college-living and stacked bins. We were motivated to tackle this project now because Christine and her dog Neo have started staying with us on weekdays so that Christine is an easy commute to her master's classes at Simmons. Because we only have one bedroom, she is sleeping on our newly upgraded futon and needed a place to store clothing and other personal items. The hall closet was a nice tucked away place for that! Between our basement storage and the rest of the apartment, we were able to find a home for everything else that had previously been (messily) stored in the closet.

When deciding what to do with the closet we had Christine's needs in mind as well as what would be most functional to us in the future when she is finished with her MSW program. We decided to go with track shelving because of its adjustability, but chose to use polyurithaned pine boards instead of press board for the shelves. We measured everything in advance and then headed to Home Depot for supplies, deciding on 10" wide shelves because they fit a folded towel perfectly and weren't so wide as to make access to the back of the closet difficult.

Here is David installing the track:

We had a bit of trouble finding studs to secure the tracks to because the lath behind the plaster interferes with stud finders. Instead of a stud finder we just tapped a small nail into the wall until we found the studs, and then David measured 16" to estimate where the next stud would be to minimize the number of holes we made. When the shelving was up, I just filled the holes with a bit of spackle.

Here I am deciding how far apart the shelves should be: 

We installed hooks on the opposite side of the shelving. 

The back of the closet is a bit cumbersome because the ceiling is low to accomodate the staircase for the upstairs apartment. Instead of track shelving we decided to use small strips of pine to support the shelves for a more built in look. We had even more difficulty finding the studs back here, and when cutting the shelving we didn't account for the fact the closet is very off-square, so the final fit wasn't quite as perfect as we had hoped. This may be something we fix in the future, or not. It is a closet after all. 

David installing the supports for the back shelving: 

Imperfect shelving alignment - boo. It wasn't actually too bad, we could shift them around to make them line up a bit better. In the first photo, below the lower supports, you can just barely see the line of nail holes we made looking for studs. 

Here's the finished closet! 

This picture is a little bit dark, but it shows the jewelry rack I made for Christine. We used kitchen cabinet pulls and some of our left over paint samples. You can also see the motion detecting lights we installed. We bought them on Amazon and they seem to work really well. They aren't super bright, but they make it so you can mostly see what needs to be seen at night. 

And here is what it looks like now with Christine all moved in! 

We had installed a shoe rack on the door previously that she is now using for both shoes and small items. 

Next up in terms of storage optimization: the pantry/laundry room!! 

A rug for the bedroom

David and I have been hunting for a bedroom rug for a long time. Rugs and lamps are two decor items that we don't always agree on. Initially, David was in favor of fully carpeted bedrooms. And he didn't (and possibly still doesn't) understand why you would want hardwood floors only to cover them up with large area rugs. I don't really blame him for this sentiment, especially because I didn't really have a great explanation as to why this was my first choice option. I said I liked having some of the wood visible but liked the cozy look and feel of an area rug. He was willing to try a rug so long as the binding wasn't painful to step on - the ones that have knotted fringe in particular seem to hurt when you catch the knots under your feet just right.

We checked out rugs at Home Goods several times and stopped by the Crate and Barrel Outlet once. Crate and Barrel had one we liked! It's an earthy green color with a tan and dark brown pattern on either end. It isn't 100% wool because of the edging, but it was primarily made of wool with a little bit of cotton (and maybe a small percentage of nylon?) mixed in. Most importantly, it feels natural and soft under our feet.

Based on our room size and configuration, an 8'x8' rug would have been ideal. However, that's a very uncommon size and we didn't really want to branch out into something custom. 8' was our max along one dimension, so we ended up going with an 8'x5' and just having a little bit less coverage along the second dimension. 

I like that the green part of the rug has a bit of a heather look and ties into our blue/gray walls. 

The rug and wall colors also work well with the curtain we picked out from IKEA to cover our built in wardrobe. We talked about having hinged or sliding doors on the wardrobe, but for every day use we really just like to have it open so the curtain is a nice option. We typically have the curtains pushed all the way to one side (and luckily they don't hamper drawer use) but we can pull them closed when we have guests. So far dust buildup inside the wardrobe hasn't been a big issue, but I do try to pull the curtains closed more often to help curb that. 

Ignore the fact that these curtains need to be hemmed... 

At the same time I added the rug, I also worked a bit on the organization of the wardrobe itself. Christine is going to be spending quite a few nights on our futon starting this fall while she starts is in grad school getting her MSW so we are trying to empty out the hall closet so she has a place to store some of the things she will need during the week. For awhile I was unsure where to store all of our extra linens, until I realized the top shelves of our wardrobe didn't really have a use an were too high to access regularly. Lucky for us, the linens all fit! 

We have a few things stored under the bed in bins (pillows mostly) and we also keep our most frequently used luggage there for easy access. It doesn't look too cluttered because the stuff is pushed back far enough that you don't really see it when you walk into the room. 

Ash loves to hang out under the bed. Naturally, we put a dog bed down there for him (sorry for the blurry picture). 

The rest of our wardrobe is set up so that all of my clothes are in the left most bay, our dress clothes and "dirty work" clothes share the middle bay, and all of David's clothes live in the right most bay. We also have one large dresser in the bedroom where we both keep pajamas, sweats, hoodies, and exercise clothes. For such a small room, its working out pretty well! We are so happy we decided to take out the living room hutch and bedroom closet to make room for the IKEA wardrobe system. 

How do other people feel about carpets vs. hardwood floors vs. a mix of the two? Does anyone else have any creative linen storage tips? 

Weekend Fun - VT, IL, and ME

We have had a busy July with many weekend trips! To keep this post from getting too long, I'm going to just give short summaries of each and touch on the highlights with a few pictures.

Joe's Pond with Cornell friends
We have lost track of how many years we have done this, but we think we were on our 3rd or 4th year this year. My three good girl friends from Cornell have braved the long trip up to Vermont (from DC and NYC) to spend a long weekend at Joe's Pond enjoying good food and water activities. This year the weather didn't cooperate as well as it had in the past so we branched out and did some things in the area - like touring Cabot Creamery, watching the Cabot 4th of July parade, and tasting beer at Hill Farmstead Brewery. We haven't really compiled all of our pictures from the trip yet, but here are a few.

As usual, Ash LOVED chasing balls in the water. It makes David and I so happy to see Ash enjoying himself and being free because he spends so much of his life anxious. Belka, our friend's dog, loved the water as well. 

This year was the first year there was child with us! Zoe (Victoria and Jamie's daughter) loved to play on the beach. She wasn't so sure about going in the water though. 

She also loved driving the boat! We aren't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but the horn didn't work. She tried pressing it anyway :) 

Red, white, and blue! And Jamie's outfit was kind of the "earthy" version of mine. 

Wedding in Chicago
The weekend before David's birthday we met in Chicago for Bill and Laura's wedding - two of David's friends from Stroud. I went down one day ahead of David so I could visit my friend Marinell in Urbana and take a look at my condo. Everything looked good and Marinell and I had a very nice time together! In Chicago, David and I walked around a lot, bought a new phone for me (I have an iPhone now, not sure how I feel about the switch from Android...), attended the wedding (it was on the canal right in the middle of the city, so it was a very cool setting), checked out Taste of Chicago, visited the Museum of Science, ate pizza at Giordano's, and a bird pooped on my head. Despite the somewhat unfortunate bird event, it was a great weekend. David was shocked that my response to getting pooped on was to laugh hysterically. What else was I to do?

We never remember to take pictures when we are all dressed up. Does a quick mirror shot while waiting for the elevator count? 

The wedding. 

New iPhone and breakfast at Panera. Mmmmm bagels (ahem, carbs) and cream cheese. 

The bean.

Touring the u-boat. There was only one ticket left for the entire day but they told David to buy it and they'd "sneak" me onto the tour. Sweet. 

Unfortunate. 

Kittery with Jonathan and Steph
We went to Kittery for a night with our friends Jonathan Steph, and their dog Lady. We went out on the sailboat with Mom and Tommy, taking a leisurely trip to Star Island and back. Star Island is part of the Isle of Shoals, where some infamous murders took place at one point. This was our first time out on the boat, and it was quite relaxing! I took some anti-nausea medication though and unfortunately fell asleep for part of the trip. We had dinner with Mom and Tommy at the house, made smores by the fire, and then had pancakes the next morning. A nice short trip away from the city!

Ash and Lady. Ash was standing under Lady for quite awhile when we first got on the boat. His motivation for doing so was unclear.

Safety first! David enjoyed helping Tommy with the sails and stuff. I watched. 

A great picture of Jonathan and Steph! 

Captain Tommy. Mom was the Captain sometimes too. 

Lots of doggies! 

And napping. It was a bit chilly. 

That's a quick summary of what we've been up to! Things have been busy, but they've been nice and it's been great to do new things and see friends we haven't seen in awhile.