That’s right. I pulled a Benita Larsson. For anyone who doesn’t know her, she’s the mastermind organizer over at Chez Larsson and I adore how simple, functional, and beautiful her Swedish home/lifestyle is. So this quick little closet update totally reminds me of her clean/organized/wish-I-was-that-on-top-of-things house that I adore. Benita, among nine other super secret guest bloggers, actually pulls a little cameo appearance in our book, but that’s a whole different story (speaking of which, a million and one thanks to everyone who was insanely sweet and made me happy-cry repeatedly after our little book announcement yesterday). But let’s cut to the chase. This is just a simple tale about some simple white bins. See, thanks to rearranging things in the bedroom, it meant that I now looked directly into our unorganized closet while lying in bed.
Oddly enough, the baskets and various piles of half-folded clothes never bothered me before our furniture shifting spree, but staring at them every night before closing my eyes… well, it got old.
So I decided something lighter, cleaner, and more consistent (aka: the same thing on every shelf) would do the trick. Originally I was thinking white baskets, but when I glanced at these babies on a shelf in the organizing section at Ikea (they’re actually meant to be “waste sorting bins”) the light bulb went on. Literally, I think everyone around me saw something floating above my head go “ding!” and I ran up and grabbed six of them in about ten seconds. Although you’ll notice that I turned them around so the indent for the handle isn’t visible. It just looked cleaner and less busy that way (and they’re still easy enough to grab and slide out like any other drawer full of socks, underwear, pjs, shirts, and shorts – all of which they now contain).
So after a little bit of closet organization (ex: donating that old shredder and putting our old booster seat up in the attic where we store other kid-stuff that Clara has outgrown), things went from looking like this…
… to this…
Here’s the bottom of the closet before…
… and after…
Much better, right? We also thought it could be fun to write on the containers with dry erase markers if we wanted to mark what was in each one – mehaps in a fun scripty font? – but for now John’s been doing just fine locating his stuff without labels (the bulk of the items in these bins are his since my stuff is in the dresser in our room). And we’re definitely loving the clean look. Luh-uv-ing it. Especially me from the bed. Our bedtime chats now go like this:
John: Goodnight Burger, goodnight lady-wife. I love you.
Sherry: Goodnight Burger, goodnight hubs. I love you.
(silence)
Sherry: Goodnight new bins. I love you.
John: (audible eye roll)
At $6.99 per bin, this quick little closet update clocks in at around $40, which isn’t pennies, but could easily have been the cost of about four similarly-sized baskets at most stores (and I love that these can be wiped down/soaked since they’re not woven!). So two twenties is worth the pre-zzzzzzzz serenity. And the audible eye rolls from John. Woot. Have you guys been up to any organizational upgrades? Has your view of a room changed after you rearranged it that snowballed into another upgrade because of that? Or have you found bins or boxes meant for one thing and used them for something else entirely?
Psst- In the whole trying-to-clean-slash-organize vein, here are over 50 other posts on that subject.
Stacy says
“Sherry: Goodnight new bins. I love you.”
“John: (audible eye roll)”
LOL!
It could be worse, John.
Our back porch has become a battle of the wills. It’s the humans vs the colony of yellowjackets that have decided to take up residence under the shingles of the house. They haven’t chewed their way through the shingles or anything, but they refuse to go away.
After doing some research, I foundd out that all the commercial bug sprays do not contain the one very organic oil that is needed to knock them out ( pyrethrin-also used to kill fleas on dogs. It’s highly toxic when used on cats), so the eterminator will be here tomorrow to take them out.
Show the bins some love. They don’t hurt and are not aggressive like my flying “friends” outside.
emilymarion says
Speaking of views, what’s on the wall across from your bed now?
YoungHouseLove says
A great big wall of nothing! Haha. Gotta get to that half of the room someday! There is a window on the right side of that wall that we’d love to convert to a french door that leads out to the deck someday!
xo,
s
patty says
You want to hear something funny? ; )
Your website link is right next to BENITA LARSENS link on my bookmark bar!!
Her blog is just sooooo restful, isnt it??
Now, seeing that I cant get my Husband to close our closet door, Im onto transforming our master closet (that I look into as I go to sleep each night…..)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love that!
xo,
s
Carol says
LOL to saying goodnight to the new bins. Hopefully this isn’t too creepy, but I can totally imagine you saying it.
Nicole says
I totally snorted at your bedtime chats. Hilarious!
Belinda says
Your closet looks great, Sherry. Such as simple but fantastic idea. You are so right about being able to wipe them clean, I never know how to clean woven baskets and they seems to collect a lot f dust around here. I followed your link to your other organizing pages and OMG am I in even now! I must also go back and check out the scarf idea. I have been thinking about starting my own blog but spend so much time reading I haven’t done anything yet! I can’t help thinking I could have a beautiful and organized house if I just got up and do something!
Love the blog, am requesting your book from my kids for my birthday in December. I will be able to get it here in Australia, right?
X Belinda
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Belinda! You’re sweet! Yes, we hear other Aussies are getting it through a site called bookdepository and it’s about to be on another Oz site so we’ll add that link to our book pre-order page when we get it! Hope it helps- and thanks for the interest in our book :)
xo,
s
Lesley says
One other comment – that “audible eye roll” line has been making me giggle all day. Reminded me of a joke Fb graphic my ‘hubs’ read to me yesterday:
“I put Red Bull in my coffee pot this morning instead of water… Now I can see noises!”
YoungHouseLove says
LOL! That’s hilarious.
-John
Chrissie says
Hahaha you are just too cute! The new bins look fantastic. If my closet looked that good, I’d probably say goodnight to it too :-)
Lisa K. says
This cracks me up – my husband calls me lady wife too! Gotta love it! :)
Koliti says
You’ve heard of that saying, “Change your shoes, change your life”, right?
Here’s a little Young House Love spin on it…….
Change your view, change your life. (new white bins)
Change your loo, change your life. (glass tiles in bathroom)
Change your hue, change your life. (Rockport Gray walls)
HaHa! Hope that made you chuckle :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love it!!
xo,
s
Maria @ All Things Luxurious says
Such a clean, uniformed, and modern look — love it! Thanks for sharing, and enjoy!
Jen Fernandez says
Looks great Sherry! I’m currently working on organizing and pairing down our own home, but with seven of us {five of them being our kids} it’s taking me a little longer than I would like. LOL. I just paid a recent visit to IKEA and need to go back to pick up more stuff. I can spend all day in that store if I needed to!
Jen
Kaitlin says
I know I’m behind and all, but can I just say that the forthcoming book (along with the olympics) are the highlight of my week? ‘Cause they are. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Kaitlin! You’re so sweet.
xo,
s
Nancy says
I like the bins, but don’t you notice a lot of wasted space? I just notice in the 5th picture that there seems to be a lot of extra space around them. If you don’t really have a storage problem, it’s probably not an issue. This is probably just what I need though. It would force me to clean-up my pack rat tendencies! :-)
YoungHouseLove says
It’s actually not too bad (if the bins were much bigger we think it would be awkward to pull them out if they were so tight in there that there wasn’t room for our hand or for them to slide without hitting the walls or top). Since they hold all our stuff we’re happy – and oddly enough, when we didn’t have anything in there, our stacks of things would topple over, and now the bins keep stacks upright, so it’s a happy day! Haha.
xo,
s
Lauren says
I hope you meant you looked into that closet while lying in bed, and not while laying in bed, because I think your husband would be offended ;-).
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, yes!
xo,
s
alex says
We were at Ikea (again) and spotted the recycling bins that ya’ll used as shoe storage. They were marked down to $9 since its being discontinued so at that price, my hubby was willing to take home 3. We got home, and after he hung them up he called me out to see them in the garage and says “get the keys, we have got to get more of these before they are all gone. Hurry!” He had cleaned out several storage bins and had it all organized in the hanging bins and was so excited. I still think he is looking for more places around the house to hang some more up!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love that!
xo
s
Melissa says
I love reorganizing everything in my house! I am a stress cleaner/organizer, and when I’m done with a project I like to just sit back and look at it for a while, basking in the glow of neat rows, color coordination and sweet, sweet order. Our closet had been seriously lacking in hanging space and general organization, so a couple of weeks ago I did a major overhaul. Painted, installed an extra hanging rod, added shelving and shoe racks. Ahhhh, much better! And after 2 weeks, it’s still mostly organized!
Jen S. says
Love love love those bins! I discovered them a couple of years ago when we moved and they have taken up residence in our pantry, linen closet and sewing room… so clean and sleek and completely easy to re-purpose!
Stephanie Silverstein says
You guys inspire me so much – I look forward to your posts every day! We’re expecting baby #2 in about a month and a half so I’m desperately trying to get organized… love the bins. Not that I don’t appreciate how much work it must have been but I SO wish your book was out now – I need ideas before the new offspring sucks all my energy away! ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw you’re so sweet Stephanie! Thanks!
xo,
s
Sylvia says
This is exactly the kind of moment of brilliance I’d pat myself on the back for… and probably would continue to do so for weeks, with or without accompanying eye rolls. Looks lovely!
suzanne riviere says
the idea is crazy good and can’t wait to use this organizing tip in all my own closets. thanks again for another sleek and fun way to dress up these areas.
Shauna says
I love that idea and will be using it when we are all finish moving into our new place, we are renovating at the moment. If you want to label them you could always use chalkboard contact paper. I’m using it in my sons room to label everything and if you change the bins purpose just erase and relabel with chalk. simple!
Jennifer S. says
After downsizing my Google Reader, Chez Larsson and Young House Love are the only two house blogs I read anymore! Love them both! I’m so glad you like her, too!
jja says
Great mini-makeover! And Benita is the best, one of the five blogs I follow daily :-).
Chris Wilson says
I totally agree. That would have driven me crazy too. Serenity now for $40! Sometimes it’s the littlest things. I just read the house list too, whoa! when you write it all down it must seem daunting some days but good. If you stopped right now it looks great so then it is probably easier to be calm. We built our house and there are things I would change -which I know is ridiculous… But sometimes there are limited choices…anyway, love taking the reno/revitalize journey with you! Love you guys!
Blondlady says
I want to see the rest of the fix-up for Grandma’s bathroom please.
YoungHouseLove says
You can see the final reveal of Granny’s bathroom here: https://www.younghouselove.com/2012/09/bathroom-bootcamp-day-3-aka-the-end/
-John