Closet Reclaimed

Recently I mentioned the built in hutch that is in our dining room which, (partly because of its dimensions, and partly because of my…well, I don’t really know what),  is currently an organizational nightmare.  I am sad to say that the hutch is not the only chaos hidden behind closed doors.  When our home was remodeled to make an apartment in the attic a bizarre little closet was formed at the end of the hall.  (We didn’t do the remodel…so we can’t answer any questions about it…we’re just the lucky tenants with the wacky little spot to figure out!!!)  There’s nothing like renting an old home with others DIY fix-it solutions all over the place!!! 

The closet is about 2 1/2 feet wide and 12 ft deep.  2 1/2 feet is very narrow…very narrow.  Right away the closet was used for our food storage.  Since there were no shelves everything stayed in their boxes…stacked on top of each other…except for when we tore through them trying to find something deep down in the stack.  There was no inventory of any kind…no one had any idea where or how many of different bottles we had.  It’s nuts.  At one point I bought a bunch of brackets to make shelves only to realize that if shelves of those brackets went in….than no one else would be able to get in.  (The brackets and shelves ended up in the sewing room and in the little man cubs closet.  Excellent solutions for both places.) 

A few days ago the food storage closet and I had our final confrontation.  I won!  Without turning back I (and my little helpers!) tore everything out of the closet and brought in a rickety set of shelves from the depths of the cellar (old houses do have their perks….assortments of things in their cellars being one of them!!!).  When nailed to the studs in the wall they were no longer rickety…and were barely small enough to let someone past. 

In true assembly line fashion we loaded the shelves full of beautiful canning in a proper organized way.  We now know that we have plenty of stewed tomatoes to last till a new tomato season…but only one applesauce left.  True tragedy my friends.  But at least we know!!

I can’t tell you how peaceful it makes me to know that that closet is no longer a nightmare.  It’s as if I decluttered, dejunked, and organized a portion of my mind as well as a closet space.  It’s a beautiful thing.  Almost gives me the courage to tackle the hutch…almost!