So after we finished up the master bedroom closet de-cluttering this past weekend, we turned our attention to the hall closet (which sits right outside of our bedroom door). It was home to photo albums, old videos and notebooks, random personal keepsakes and a plethora of spare shopping bags. In the words of Christian from Project Runway, it was a hot mess.
Our technique for this closet was to simply undo the thoughtless hodge-podge approach that created this clutter to begin with. Which meant actually putting photo albums together (there’s a novel idea) and not keeping every single bag and box that we brought home “just in case.” Plus we had to commit to- and this was possibly the scariest part- cutting down on the personal keepsakes that filled those two plastic towers of clear drawers… all in the name of earning back valuable square footage and finding a place for things that were offset by the third-bedroom-to-nursery conversion.
Once we actually resolved ourselves to doing this it really wasn’t that hard. We were saving a lot of “fluff” that we didn’t need and it actually felt better to toss anything that didn’t mean much to us anymore (which also allowed us to really appreciate the stuff that made the cut since it wasn’t buried amidst piles of useless junk). After all, just because a photo is old doesn’t mean it’s always worth keeping (do we really need every poorly-lit picture of high school homecoming and shots of our cluttered dorm rooms from every angle?). So Sherry and I sat down and enjoyed one last flip through some of those old memories, said our goodbyes to a bunch of them, and filed away the remaining keepers to really be enjoyed instead of “watered down” by weird stuff that had no business being kept for so long. But you know I campaigned to keep this photo of a blond teenage Sherry posing with her childhood dog Dante, right?
Let’s take a closet look. Note: At this point Sherry would like to interject to explain that those were suede pants and they had a side zipper and they were from Delia’s. Hot stuff. Try to contain your jealousy ladies.
One rule that we decided to re-enforce on ourselves was to limit our relationship keepsakes to one box. For instance, Sherry’s quite sentimental when it comes to John + Sherry memories (she has plane tickets from our first vacation together, a napkin from our wedding, etc). But the great thing about her (love ya babe) was that long ago she designated a special box for “relationship memorabilia” so not only was everything in one place, but it forced us to limit what we saved. If it didn’t fit in the box, we either didn’t keep it or found another way to memorialize it (like taking a picture of it and throwing that in the box instead- or framing it if it was really important).
This weekend we realized we were unintentionally overflowing into a second box (the shame) so we whipped ourselves right back into shape and pared things down to that single solitary box again. Which actually felt good because it was fun to flip through everything – and we were happy to lose a few items that didn’t mean as much anymore in return for adding some fun new stuff to our “limited edition collection.” It’s definitely important to find a place for the things that matter most in your home (many of which are photos and other memories) but there’s a fine line between keeping a few of the most meaningful items and saying that every last scrap of paper is special and letting those things slowly overrun your home. It can actually interfere with your day to day happiness (anyone watch Clean House?) not to mention rob you of space that could be much better served for storing something else that you actually need. So we do our best to walk that delicate line (and probably err on the side of minimalism just because we lived in NYC long enough to adapt to living with zero storage space).
In the end we achieved our goal of eliminating one entire plastic three-drawer tower of random paraphernalia (victory!) by condensing things that we had (grouping like with like, etc) and eliminating weird odds and ends (like business cards from our old agency jobs in NYC and ancient notebooks full of college assignments). And the good news is that we actually earned a new place for our vacuum – which had been displaced from its former home in the now-nursery closet – along with our fireproof safe (we actually have a safety deposit box at the bank so it’s not full of “valuables” per se, but it’s where we store things like a CD of our wedding photos and our wedding video along with copies of other irreplaceable momentos that we would want to survive a house fire – just in case).
As of Saturday afternoon I was left feeling pretty satisfied with how the hall closet was shaping up – er, paring down.
But Sherry had bigger plans in store. Since she also lost her wrapping paper/stationery station in the nursery switcheroo, she was on the hunt for a new storage spot for that stuff. Gift bags, ribbons and wrapping paper had temporarily been shoved above the laundry nook and was later moved to an underbed storage bin in the guest bedroom…
… but with bending over becoming more of a challenge for my cute prego lady, Sherry saw the never-used-mirror on the back of the hall closet door (thanks to the wood full length one in our bedroom) and immediately envisioned a remedy to her underbed wrapping station situation. I almost literally saw the light bulb go on as she stared at that door rubbing her chin.
So off came the mirror (thank to a few quick pulls of the 3M Command strips that we had originally used to hold it in place) and off we went to Target to find some sort of back-of-door wrapping paper hanging solution/caddy. But once there we were quickly reminded that Target is no Container Store… and something so specific was nowhere to be found. Instead we settled on three of these “wire CD baskets” that showed promise (on sale for just $5.39 a pop).
Our big idea was to screw them right into the door since they seemed about the perfect size to house stationery, wrapping paper, envelopes, and other random accessories. And all it took was a little pressure with a screwdriver to create a screw-sized opening in the back of the wire basket…
… which we then screwed right through (and into the door) in two places to hold our baskets nice and steady.
In about five minutes the top half of the door was equipped with two bins spaced about eight inches apart for housing stationery, birthday cards, envelopes, and other gift-related paraphernalia:
And the bottom half of the door got the third basket which we planned to use to store wrapping paper. But because we didn’t want the paper to flap around every time we opened or closed the door, we had to brainstorm a way to keep it easily wrangled. Our solution? Screwing two small white coat hooks right into the door, about twenty inches above the top edge of the basket. These hooks – along with a ribbon that we had laying around – created a nice little “seat belt” of sorts for our wrapping paper (which can still easily be slipped in and out from behind the ribbon whenever we need it).
Then in an impressive bout of energy that could only be attributed to true nesting, Sherry decided that 8:45pm on Sunday night was the perfect time to touch up all that dated wood trim inside the closet that she hadn’t gotten around to painting yet. So before I could say “aren’t you supposed to be tired in your third trimester?” my wife had a gallon of no-VOC Freshaire trim paint cracked open and was furiously painting the dark wood trim, shelf and even the dowel in there. And I must admit that it looks a lot more clean and current thanks to her little Sunday night paint job. Even though I thought she was crazy at the time…
You’ll also notice that we further pared down all those collected gift bags and added a hanging shoe/sweater organizer (a free gift from a friend- thanks Kristin!) for the rest of our present-wrapping supplies. It’s definitely nice to have a caddy full of things like tissue paper, a box of smaller tags and little fabric totes, a box full of ribbon, and small gift tins & containers housed within larger gift boxes that we can use whenever the occasion strikes. It all goes back to grouping like with like, so instead of spreading our wrapping supplies throughout the house we now have a one-stop-wrapping-paper-shop of sorts in our hall closet. Which certainly beats the unused $5 mirror that previously hung on the back of that door.
And yes Sherry did paint the pebbled black sides of our wall-mounted plastic bag dispenser while she was attacking the trim. She’s a wild woman and she just can’t be stopped. But to her (admittedly insane) credit, it does blend in better now. Even if it’s an absurd way to spend four minutes of your life. In fact the whole closet looks pretty great- especially considering that it look like this a few short days earlier:
So with that project done, we finally turned our attention to the usually-concealed shelves above the laundry nook (we love those bamboo blinds but they were like a personal challenge to be as messy as possible since everything’s so well hidden). Of course you already know that a big step in improving this area was getting all the random wrapping paper into the hall closet. But there was still a lot more paring down/cleaning on the agenda to get this beast of a before picture under control.
Admittedly there wasn’t much science to cleaning this area, since it suffered less from too much stuff and more from just quickly tossing things up there instead of actually finding a smart place for them and grouping like with like (although we did ditch our rusted and mostly useless drain snake as well as FINALLY recycling the cell phones that we replaced back in August and stored up there with dreams of donating them “someday”). And I would like to earn some points for actually volunteering to vacuum the dust that was collecting up there. Secure in my manhood? Check.
In the end we didn’t reinvent the wheel up there, we just whittled things down and organized a bit, which resulted in some much appreciated freed up space that is now ready for who-knows-what (our guess: more baby stuff- at least that’s what everyone keeps telling us). No matter what ends up living in there down the line, we’re just breathing easier knowing that we have more empty space in our not-very-closet-riddled home to store things as our family grows. Whew.
So that’s the end of our closet sprucing weekend extravaganza. One thing that we now realize wasn’t photographically captured were the errands that we ran after it was all over, which included:
- Bringing a huge bag of clothes, shoes, and accessories to a local clothing drop box (if you don’t know where to go in your ‘hood, try googling for a Salvation Army or a Goodwill near you)
- Returning a bunch of books/clothes/DVDs and other borrowed items to two of our friends and one family member (thereby lightening our load substantially and earning us points for those timely returns)
- Finally recycling our own cell phones- yes, the ones that we replaced way back in August- at Best Buy (after a few attempts to donate them at local stores or police departments for causes like battered women or Haiti relief failed us)
- Dropping off two giant sacks of old books and magazines to a local used book store (your neighborhood library may take them too, but ours only accepts things during certain times of the year)
- Bringing all of the change that we found to Coinstar (it turned up in some of Sherry’s old purses, our car, my key & wallet bowl near the door and our piggy bank- the crazy thing is that we made 54 beans for our trouble- not bad, eh?)
In the end we only spent around $16 for those three wire baskets that we hung on the back of the hall closet door, and thanks to our change drop-off we made $54. So if you subtract our basket purchases we still netted $38 which was definitely the icing on the extra-storage-space cake. But enough about us. Let’s talk about your closet sitch. If you haven’t already shared your closet de-cluttering adventures or tips on this morning’s post, we’d love to hear all about ’em right here – especially if you found yourself culling down personal keepsakes, creating new storage solutions or finding new ways to reuse or recycle items that you were purging. Oh, and if you’ve got pics to share, head over to our Facebook page to post ’em for all to see.
Molly says
You are definitely in FULL nesting mode! :)
Oonafey @ Little Pink Houses says
I didn’t notice the school portraits the first time I glanced at that photo – I cannot believe how tan Almost Doctor Dan gets! He looks like an Indian child!
Connie says
OMG! This has given me, yet another idea, i have the perfect closet for this. I guess i’ll be busy during my vacation next week. Thank U!
Molly says
Looks awesome! I love the gift wrap solution. We are tackling storage/closet issues as we get ready for baby #2. I can’t wait to post our finished pics. I always enjoy your innovative ideas!
Desiree says
GENIUS on the wrapping paper idea! And I totally second the commenter who said why think for yourself when we have you guys! You guys are awesomesauce!!!
courtney says
just reworked my little girl’s closet:
http://davidcourtneyandcamryn.blogspot.com/2010/03/organization-is-key.html
adjustable shelving is the bomb for kiddos!
totally worth it!
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! Thanks so much for sharing those links everyone (and for posting pics over on Facebook for us to ogle)!
xo,
s
Briel K. says
I love organization posts! Great job! The baskets in the closet is such a creative idea and a great use of space!
Erin says
Can I just say the wrapping paper “holder” is genius! Love it!
nonspecificwife says
I would definitely recommend that you keep the things you want to keep safe long term in several different spots. For items like pictures, we keep them in a safe, deposit box, and family members.
Also check the rating on your firesafe. As someone in insurance, I have seen fires that burned so hot while the safe itself was intact, the papers inside were ash. You want a safe that is rated at least UL350 or higher.
YoungHouseLove says
Great tip! We actually have a copy of our wedding video and a duplicate CD of wedding pictures at John’s sister’s house as well as in the safe (and of course have a wedding album and video out to enjoy as well) so we hope all of our bases are covered! We’ll have to check out the rating on the fire safe though. It was actually a wedding gift from our savvy safety-patrol cousin (love you Erin!) so we’re sure it’s meant to withstand a lot of heat. She’s a thorough girl when it comes to those things!
xo,
s
Leah says
Your blog is an inspiration! Truly! Thank you for a good clutter clearing post. Those always get me. I’m sharing this one on my FB page. And I needed the nudge on our one closet too. The fireproof safe is a good idea as well. Thank you!
Katie says
I see you already kind of commented on it, but…
I assume you have a checking or savings account somewhere. Any bank will take your change and convert it to cash…as long as you have an account there.
Over a certain amount, they might make you roll it…but then just bring in smaller increments over a couple days to avoid that. Even if its only 5 cents on the dollar, that’s still money that didn’t need to be given to coinstar.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Katie,
That’s a good point! In this case we had a giant bag of change going on, so we knew we were well past the point of not having to roll it- so although we probably could have brought in a few “installments” of change we just opted to pay the 5 cents per dollar to get it done (and not have to work around those pesky banking hours). I think after all that organizing we were giddy to check things off our list and just get them done!
xo,
s
liz says
I love the back-of-the-door-storage!
Tori says
Next time bypass talking to the police departments/fire departments and call the shelters directly. I work for a domestic violence/sexual assault/homeless shelter for women and children that serves from the Richmond area down to Hampton and I know we take them all the time!
P.S. I just moved to the area and the first time I drug my hubby to Ikea, I totally looked for you guys just hoping that I will run into you.
YoungHouseLove says
Good to know Tori. Thanks so much for the tip!
xo,
s
Candy from Candied Fabrics says
The wrapping paper etc. storage on the back of the door is pure GENIUS!!!!!
Katharine says
I completely LOVE that basket-on-door storage idea. And it takes care of that problem you sometimes get with tight-fitting doors that won’t accept an over-the-door hanger! Stowing this away in my mental idea folder.
Cecily T says
These posts are definitely up there w/ my favorite posts of yours! I love seeing everyone else’s organizing spaces.
My organizing is also in high gear, due to early nesting. When you are on baby #2, you know you might be trapped on the couch nursing for 6 months straight!
I love the baskets on the back of the door. I’m trying to figure out where I can adapt that in my house. We have a lot of pocket and bi-folds here though.
But! I cannot wait to show off my wrapping station. I’m almost done sorting. I only have ribbons and gift bags to do this weekend. (It takes longer to do this stuff when you have a toddler to wrangle! Enjoy the non-mobility of the beanette while you can!) I promise to post pics on FB when it’s complete.
Lastly, if you can keep the grandparents/aunts/uncles in check, the baby stuff will really be okay; you don’t NEED that much. Yeah, the toys can take over your house for a while, but just try to advise them that you don’t need every baby gadget out there. We are actually having more of a problem in the toddler phase since some of our family can’t seem to stay away from gigantic toys that eat floor space and can’t be broken down and stowed away.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Cecily,
Thanks for the advice! John’s sister imposed a “books only” rule for family members that kept dropping in with more and more toys and clothes that she didn’t need (or have room for). It really worked well for her since books are so easy to store on a bookshelf- and of course they’re great for growing and learning kids. So we’re thinking of implementing that rule if things get out of control! We’ll keep everyone posted as we adjust so stay tuned…
xo,
s
krstn says
You guys are brave. I have tubs full of memento boxes and I wouldn’t do it any differently! I could not get rid of that stuff!! I place a shoe box on my desk and fill it up with mementos over the year and then pack it away. But I am so sentimental.
Courtney says
Since we only have three small closets on the first floor, I use a shoe organizer in our hall closet to organize odds and ends…lint rollers, band aids + first aid cream, hair brushes, etc. Works like a charm!
Tiffany says
Delias! That was the mecca fo cool clothes when I was younger, lol. That’s all, no great tips here! : )
YoungHouseLove says
John loves that this post is soliciting so many Delia’s comments. Haha. Leave it to a post about organizing your closets to get everyone chatting about how cool Delia’s used to be. Oh those were the days. I used to run to the mailbox for that catalog. Glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one.
xo,
s
Jennifer says
I just found your blog. I now, where have I been, right? Anyway, I decided to tackle the giant bookshelf in our bathroom last night. And MAN did it feel good. We didn’t take any pics but that’s not the point, is it? Now we are on the hunt for a SMALLER shelving piece for the bathroom and plan to hit up our ikea this weekend. The giant bookshelf can go to another room and hold….BOOKS!
Our house has zero closets so this was the next best thing. Thanks for the inspiration. It’s fun going through your archives. I am favoriting tons of links!!
Kelly says
Nice work, Yougsters! Love the card and wrapping solutions!
Amy E. says
your hall closet looks AMAZING in the after pictures! i love the ribbon “seat belt” for the gift wrap tubes. i’m sure i’m not the only one who’ll be copying this marvelous idea; i’m already thinking about what doors/closets this could work in!
thanks for inspiring cleanliness and organization!
Stephenie from Decorating Addiction says
I’m so inspired. I will be tackling my spare room closet this weekend, so I will be sure to post pictures! On another note, I feel you with keeping old photos and memories. It’s really hard get rid of it! We have a 9 year old daughter so just wait until your baby comes and starts pre-school etc. I struggle with tossing our daughter’s art work! You might want to start planning your system now!!
Also, I agree that donating books is great. One of my friends has a basket in her house for books she no longer wants and anyone who visits is welcome to take from the basket. As a result, her visitors also created baskets of books in their homes that they no longer want. I absolutely love this idea and plan to create it in my home too!
YoungHouseLove says
Love the book basket idea! Thanks so much for sharing!
xo,
s
Nicole B says
Suede pants from Delia’s eh – classic haha sooo jealous ;) You know what is even better than suede pants are pastel colours Modrobes ;)
Sadaf K says
Thank you guys for the great gift wrapping station idea!!! I love the wire mesh baskets that you put up on the door. I have a big laundry room and was thinking I should utilize the above counter space. I think I’m going to transform it into a gift wrapping/scrapbooking/crafts station! A little sanctuary for me to get away from all the house work and mommy duties! (even though it is a laundry room!)
Erica says
We have a fireproof safe in our basement but I’d really like to open a safety deposit box to put all our important papers in (marriage certificate, title to the house, original birth certificates, etc). I haven’t looked into it yet but can I ask you, does your bank charge you a fee for one?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we do pay a monthly fee for our safety deposit box at the bank (actually we switched it to one annual payment which is easier for us) but we think it’s well worth it since I grew up in NY & NJ and experienced a number of break-ins. The peace of mind is great!
xo,
s
JIll says
For anyone worried about the percentage CoinStar takes, they have a deal where if you get your money as a gift card, you get the full amount, no percentage taken out. It means you have to choose where to spend it right then, but with things like Amazon, Borders, and iTunes as options, I’ve never felt constrained by choosing the gift card instead of having cash.
And on-topic – I love the gift-wrap station, and I’m totally plotting how to adapt it for my hall closet… which unfortunately has sliding doors. But I’ll figure something out!
Christina R. says
So excited to see your Sentry Safe (fire- and water-proof safe)– I work there! A safe is a great investment to save your personal belongings from a disaster!
I follow your blog everyday and love the projects that you tackle. You encourage me to do the same!
YoungHouseLove says
We thought we remembered it being waterproof too! So glad to hear that we got ourselves a good one!
xo,
s
Nicole RJ says
Oh, I am in love with your wrapping paper/closet door solution! I have mine in one of those under-the-bed containers, but this would be so much better! Thanks for the inspiration.
Ashley says
BEA-U-TEE-FUL! Nothing better than a before and after organization project! I am seriously inspired by your little wrapping station though. We have a slide out thing under our bed and I hate it…very hard to keep organized. I also need to be better at pairing down wrapping supplies though. We have a teeny house with absolutely NO storage space and we have a 4 year old and a newborn, so I always feel like we are busting at the seams. I love freeing up space when it’s possible. We don’t have a closet big enough to handle the wrapping station, but I am thinking we could do one in our garage instead. Thanks for the idea!
Cat Sitter in the City says
I was just thinking how I really need to organize my two closets, and this post has given me the kick in the pants I need–and some good tips–to get started and get the job done. Thanks!
Jenna says
I love what you did with the baskets that you attached to the door, those are awesome! It’s nice too to think you made money doing it with all your loose change :)
Sevi says
Well, I hope this is not a first, but I’d actually like to ask about the “previous picture” of the project! :D How did you hang that mirror in the closet door and how did you actually make it safe? Didn’t you ever get worried it might fall and crack? I always feel like putting mirror & glass on moving objects that often used is like a bit risky.
Now the only place to hang a full mirror in my bedroom is apparently the wardrobe door, preferably inside (in case I fail hanging it, there wont be any holes visible from outside). Well that’s because I don’t have enough space to stand back and see myself if I hang it on a wall (can you believe it :D).
And if I ever finish this decorating project, I feel like I should send you a photo of my bedroom. Cheers guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sevi,
It was one of those very very very light $5 mirrors (available at Target or Walmart) that are meant to be held up on the wall or the back of a door without much heavy duty hardware. We just used removable 3M command strips (which you can get at Target or Home Depot) to hang it. Oh and we used about eight around the perimeter just to be sure. They definitely kept it firmly hung for over three years- almost four actually. And they were super easy to remove without damaging the door since that’s one of the selling features of those removable Command strips in the first place. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
mags says
HA-HA Yea I had to ask he is very tan!!
YoungHouseLove says
Yeah. my brother got all of my mom’s Italian blood and I got my dad’s pale Austrian genes. Some kids in school even refused to believe that one of us wasn’t adopted since we looked so different, but I look just like my mom with my dad’s coloring and he looks just like my dad with my mom’s coloring. It really makes John and I wonder what our little one will look like! I guess we’ll find out in a few short months…
xo,
s
Amelia says
Just read your reply to my post before about Coinstar — I can’t believe I’m so cheated here in Maryland! Hrumph. This is what comes from living in the D.C. metro area. Glad that the Coinstar worked well in Richmond worked well and they didn’t rob you as much as me! (And sorry about the lack of Commerce!)
And thanks for the reply!
Chelsea says
Hey…I’d love to know where you guys keep your coats, cleaning supplies, etc.? That’s what we keep in our hall/coat closet, but I LOVE what you’ve done with yours! We’re short on space with the little one coming and I’ve lost my original space for gift wrapping supplies, cards, art supplies, etc. too and would love to do what you’ve done with your closet, but don’t know where to keep coats and stuff then! Thanks. :) ~Chelsea @ http://babyblev.blogspot.com
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Chelsea,
Here’s a post all about where we store practically everything in our house (oh and our coats are in the guest bedroom closet and our cleaning supplies are under the sink or in the lazy susan cabinet to the right of the sink).
https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/04/how-ya-bin/
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
sarah: paper + stitch says
Thanks for the inspiration, Sherry & John! I was recently introduced to your website and I am ever so glad!!! I “joined you” in overhauling closets and wrote a blog post about it here:
http://paperandstitch.blogspot.com/2010/03/yuck-my-closet-threw-up.html
Thanks again! You’re a new favorite on my blog reader for sure!
Mary says
Reading this post has motivated me to declutter the closet in our guest bedroom. I just have to enlist the husband as most if it is his stuff!
Christine says
Amazing wrapping paper organizing idea. Love your blog! I’m adding this one to my inspiration folder.
Tricia Rose says
You both have such a gift for applied de-clutter! Don’t believe all you hear about baby clutter, you don’t need at least half of it. My pet hate is changing tables – I changed babies on a mat on the floor, mainly because they CAN’T FALL OFF. One kid rolled over at one week (which isn’t possible), so I feel justified!
In the old country it was traditional to put the baby in the bottom dresser drawer, and no,they didn’t close it!
Lisa says
So inspiring!! We just got back from our babymoon and I was telling my husband last night that after we finish our marathon of visiting baby stores over the next few weekends, to pick out (or evaluate in-person) nursery furniture, rug and bedding, we have to spend a weekend or two in April clearing out the second bedroom as well as our closets and our hall closet (aka junk/gift repository). I am not looking forward to the project and the work, but I think the end results will be worth the effort.
Tina says
I have to say, those baskets are such a cute idea! Too bad I live in an apt without closets, but I will definitely use this idea in the future!
Christy says
Hello!
I noticed you have a really nice glass (?) ball on the end of a light string (laundry room pictures) – what is this and where did you find them? I have a light with a pull string in my bedroom closet that I would love to dress up. :) Thanks for your help!
YoungHouseLove says
It’s just a simple “fan pull” from Home Depot (they also have them at Lowe’s) that we attached to our hallway light’s pull chain. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
JessieBelle says
Dunno if someone already mentioned this, but instead of Coinstar (which charges a % for every dollar, if I remember right) go to your bank and have them count your coin for you! I work at one, and as long as you are a customer, we do it for F-R-E-E! We have a nifty machine that takes about 2 minutes or so to count a huge amount of change…it will even wrap it for you if you want it back, or we just give you cash! :o)
Maribel says
Hello,
I just came across this from your link on today’s post. I have a hope chest/coffee table that houses really old stuff…yearbooks, classmate pictures, newspapers, letters. Why I’ve kept them don’t know. I think i’m ready to part with those (maybe keep the yearbooks, something fun to show my son when he’s that age). I’ve since added my son’s birthday cards, baptism and shower cards.( wedding cards have been in there for 10 years now). Did you keep any of those cards? What special items of any sort did you decide to keep besides John+Sherry stuff.
maribel says
just being nosey (?) what did you store in the plastic drawers, is it more gift wrap supplies.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Maribel,
We keep some work-related keepsakes in the plastic drawers (like magazines we have been in, old tapes from commercials that we worked on when we were in advertising, etc). We also have some more gift wrap stuff in there. As for what we keep, we have one shoebox sized box where we keep special cards, notes, ticket stubs, etc – but when the box gets too full we cut things down so we only know that we’re saving the best of the best (so we can go through it and enjoy it instead of archiving ten boxes of stuff that we’ll never look through).
xo,
s
Samantha says
Love the baskets on the door idea, I am facing a similar issue with our guest room closet and I’m shamelessly stealing your strategy, thanks for sharing!
Emily says
Was that a solid or hollow core door? We’re trying to do this, but with hollow core doors, we’re having a really hard time.
YoungHouseLove says
Hollow core. We just used plastic anchors with “matching” screws (they sell sets of them at Home Depot) so they’d stay put. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Emily says
Ummm, I totally had those pants from Delias! I picked them out my self and got them for Christmas. I never looked quite as cool as the girl in the catalog did though.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- me either!
xo,
s
Diane says
Totally late on this, but something caught my eye and I had to tell you! Most safes are constructed to protect papers. Electronic media are more sensitive to heat and humidity than paper so media safes are differently constructed and much more heavily insulated than regular fire safes with the same rating. Be sure you have a media safe if you are storing DVDs, VHS tapes, CDs, etc.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip!
xo,
s