So Many Projects, So Little Time!

So on my list of to-do's was our closet. I had been putting it off for awhile but it was starting to get really bad! The hanging clothes were somewhat organized but the rest had definitely gotten out of hand. I had a couple boxes in there that had baby clothes and other items to sort through and sell/give away.
The ironing board added an extra shelf to the space, which is super handy when trying to get items behind it.
These shelves were stuffed with shoes, bags, boxes and lots of little items on top. All of my pants, shorts and sweaters are folded on this set of shelves with purses and bags haphazardly thrown on top.
Suitcase storage, tons of junk and many shirts still in dry-cleaner bags.
First I went through everything and got rid of a ton! My thought was that if I hadn't worn it in the last year, then I wasn't going to wear it again. Todd did the same thing with his clothes. Then I took everything out of the closet. Superman Bryson surveying the damage.
There was a bunch of shoes and clothes scattered throughout the room!
With a HUGE pile on our bed.
The closet getting cleared!
The amount of garbage that was in our closet!
The boys thought the freshly cleaned and vacuumed closet was a new play space.
This happened after Christmas:( I was taking a bath, Todd was downstairs and the boys were playing hide and seek. Suddenly, Bryson comes into the bathroom crying and his finger was red. I asked Jaden what happened and he said it was the iron. I jumped out of the bath, ran into our closet and the iron was on our carpet! Todd accidently left it plugged in, it does have an automatic shut-off but when it is tipped over it heats up again. We think that it fell over while the boys were playing hide and seek and then Bryson went to pick it up and burned his finger! Poor little guy:( Todd and I felt awful and were extremely thankful that noone got hurt worse and a fire didn't start! This melted piece of the carpet in our closet is a reminder to us, to put away the iron everytime now! After some cool water and cream for burns Bryce felt a little better, and it was completely healed a week later, thank God!
On to the closet clean out, doesn't it look pretty;) It was like we just moved in!




Now the "After" pictures: As you walk in my clothes are straight ahead and Todd's are to the right. I hang long-sleeve shirts on top (with vests and Sounder's clothes), short-sleeve and tank tops on bottom. Todd's side is done a little differently depending on what he wears most.
The ironing board has a home! It tucks away nicely right next to the safe, iron and spray on top in a plastic container. The other 3 small plastic containers hold buttons, change, and those little plastic thingies that hold the collar straight in men's shirts.
I took out a few shelves to store my boots
I got rid of a ton of shoes when cleaning things out, I bought some clear plastic shoe boxes to hold the rest of my shoes that are not stored in the garage (mostly off-season and dressy shoes). I'll buy more as I add more shoes:) The larger box holds my slippers.

For Todd's section I bought him some clear containers to store his hats.
Shared section, holds 3 suitcases and 2 storage boxes which contain Todd's knife collection and other mementos of Todd's. Todd's dress shirts/pants hang here as well as belts and ties. My belts, scarves, dress slacks and dresses hang here as well.
My shelf for folded items: the top plastic box contains purses and bags. Then I have pants, capris, shorts, work-out gear and sweater on these shelves as well.

I made this centerpiece for our dining room table this month. I followed directions from this blog. I had little red hearts in it for Valentine's Day. I'm still looking for some fabric to cover the glass, but I can't find the exact one from that blog (I love it so much I want to copy it exactly;)
So right now it's just glass cylinders on a mirror with electric candles in it.
Another one of my to-do's was to repaint an armoire that I bought at a garage sale in May 2008! It was already black, but it had a lot of scuffs on it. I bought some cheap black paint at Home Depot, brought it home and put 2 coats on the bottom portion. It turned out horrible!!! The paint felt smooth but looked very splotchy and it wasn't even a true black, more like a black-gray.
This picture truly shows how bad the paint dried!
So then I had to sand it down (this is a step that I had wanted to avoid in the first place but everyone who I asked told me I should do it). Luckily, I was able to borrow some good belt sanders from Gramps which made the job go a lot faster although it still took a few hours for just this bottom piece. Since it was a gorgeous sunny winter day I didn't mind too much.
I'll show pictures soon of how it turned out and also what I am doing to our bed frame, dresser and mirror.