Project: Closet Makeover - the full reveal

Well our master closet is done! It didn't all go according to plan, but the end result is amazing. I am so happy with how everything turned out. It is a huge improvement from what we had before.

I mentioned in my weekend recap that the original systems we purchased did not work out. They looked great, but they weren't made very well. They also were impossible to install. We abandoned ship quickly and sought out an alternative. We found these great closet kits at Lowes and they claimed to be easily installed in almost no time. We researched them online and saw that they got 5 star reviews on every site we found them on. They were also $100 cheaper than the original systems we bought so we thought it was a win-win.

We brought them home and they were put up in a couple of hours. They were extremely easy to install and they are very sturdy. I love that you can pretty much configure them any way you want. There are a ton of options and it required no cutting at all. I ended up with double hanging bars and a long hanging bar with shelves in the middle on my side. Michael's side has more shelves and double hanging bars. It is perfect for what we need and we still have a ton of free space. I did buy a few additional accessories that didn't come with the system. I bought 2 extra shoe shelves, 4 just were not enough! I also bought a belt rack to hang my belts and scarves.

I would absolutely buy these systems again. If we didn't have to paint the closet, it would have been completed in one day. Honestly, the most time consuming part was taking everything out, sorting and purging old items and putting everything back. I also made it harder on myself because I decided that I wanted all new, matching hangers. So everything I was planning on keeping had to be re-hung before it could be put away. It was a pain, but I love the look in the end. By the way, do any of you need plastic hangers? I have hundreds of them that I'm willing to give you!

Enough talking, let's get to the pictures already!

We all remember how pathetic it looked before, but here is a refresher.

And now, the after!

My stuff is on this side. Behind the door I have my shirts on top and skirts and pants on the bottom.

The other half of my side. I have long hanging on the end for all of my dresses and shelves in the middle.

I got this handy belt and scarf hanger that pulls in and out.

On these shelves I have my tank tops, t-shirts and cardigans for summer. My fall/winter tees and sweaters are on the top shelf in the bins. I will switch them out when the seasons change.

This side is mostly Michael's side, HA! All of his shirts are on the top, I have my camisoles and jackets below.

We still have lots of open space if we need it.

I had some jewelry overflow from my jewelry boxes so I found this bracelet holder and a holder for all of my headbands.

My little sitting bench that houses all of my tote bags. My purse collection is in the silver bin on the floor.

The new light might be my favorite part, I love it!

Project cost breakdown and links:
Paint and Supplies - $100
2 Rubbermaid Custom Closet Kits from Lowes - $352
1 Rubbermaid Belt Rack from Lowes - $18
1 Rubbermaid Shoe Shelves Kit from Lowes - $25
350 No Slip Velvet Hangers from Amazon - $210
New light fixture from Lowes -$89

Total Project Cost: $ 794

It was totally worth every penny. It could have been cheaper if I didn't get all new hangers, but I'm really glad I got them. I only wish that we would have done this 4 years ago when we moved in! The only other thing that I might add is a mirror on the column in the back. We'll see if I can find something I like.

Wordless Wednesday: Everything homemade is always better

Project: closet makeover - a sneak peek

Just a little sneak peek of the closet makeover. I only have one side done. The other side will have to wait until this weekend. More to come!

Things I'm loving: June

The farmer's market is back!

I'm so happy that the farmer's market is back. I love going on Saturday mornings. The best part is that its going to keep getting better as summer goes on since more things will be in season.

Nature valley dark chocolate squares

These are our favorite new snack. They are only 80 calories and satisfy your chocolate craving. They are really good cold. 

Jacob's first birthday

We had so much fun celebrating our nephew Jacob's first birthday. I can't believe he's a year old already.

We have another niece on the way

We were so excited to find out last week that we have another niece on the way! Baby Lach will be making her appearance in November.

Weekend Recap

This weekend recap is going to be pretty short. Not because we didn't have a good weekend but because I'm too exhausted to type. We have been going non-stop since after work on Friday. We hung out with Rich, Tif, Baby Jacob, Ken and Tif's parents on Friday. We had some delicious pizza and had so much fun playing with Jacob afterwards. He was a party animal and having a blast until almost 10:30, a good 2 hours after his normal bedtime. He had us all laughing hysterically.

Saturday we all met up for breakfast and then once breakfast was over we headed home to start on the closet. Pretty much the rest of Saturday we did the following:

Finished filling and sanding the holes

Painting

While Michael painted, I went through all of our clothes and purged, and purged.

Anybody need some hangers?

9 bags of clothes ready to donate

We were very productive. We got everything painted and I went through all of our clothes, shoes and bags. We were pretty tired but we needed to get out of the house. We went out for a date night to Benihana. It was delicious as always. After dinner we came home, watched some tv and then crashed pretty hard. 

Today we got up and went to breakfast and then to Whole foods to get our groceries for the week. After grocery shopping I headed to Kohl's to get some gifts for Baby girl Lach. Michael headed home to get things set up for installing the closet organizers. When I got home from shopping we started the installation process. Unfortunately the installation turned into a nightmare. The set didn't come with instructions and the brackets didn't fit the shelves, it was just ridiculous. So we decided instead of wasting anymore time to box it all back up and find something else. We headed to Lowe's and found a great wire system that claimed you could put it up in an hour. We thought we would try it and it lived up to its promise. We had it up in no time. We still don't have anything in it so I'm not going to show any pictures until it's completely finished. 

So instead of looking like this

The new system looks like this.

I ordered all new hangers so they all match. So once they all come in this week, I will start putting everything back in. Hopefully I will have pictures of the finished product by the end of next weekend. So even though we are pretty tired, it was a very productive weekend. I hope all of you had a great weekend and have a great week ahead. I am pretty excited because it's a short week and long weekend ahead for me!

Our week in pictures: 6/19 - 6/25

Sunday, June 19: We celebrated Father's Day with Michael's family at Arlington Race Track.

Monday, June 20: For the past couple of days we've had this Luna moth visiting our deck. Sadly we found out online that they only live 7 days. His days are numbered, poor guy.

 Tuesday, June 21: Our tomato plant is going crazy and we have our first tomatoes growing!

Wednesday, June 22: Michael got an early jump on our closet project. He tore down all the old shelving and started filling all the holes. Not one screw was in a stud, idiot builders!

Thursday, June 23: Sushi date night!

Friday, June 24: Our neighbor was out of town so we were in charge of feeding their fish and lizards.

Saturday, June 25: Closet makeover madness has begun, I purged a ton of clothes today!

This week I'm...

Loving: That we finally know Baby Lach is a girl!I can't wait to do some shopping this weekend!
Disliking: So much rain this week, I need some sunshine!
Craving: To bake something, I will have to find a new recipe to try.
Hoping: That today will be my last doctors appointment for a while. I'm really looking forward to having a break from all of this.
Reading: The latest Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris.

Watching: This new Amazing Race-type show called Expedition Impossible. It's pretty crazy!
Listening to: At the moment I'm typing this, Porkchop snoring!
Looking forward to: Re-vamping our master bedroom closet this weekend!
Hearing buzz about: So excited that the Harry Potter books will finally be available digitally. I would re-read them all the time but carrying an 846 hardcover book around isn't nearly as convienent as my iPad!

My new motto

 

I also need to wish my Dad a very happy birthday today. We love you Pappy!

Wordless Wednesday: How does our garden grow?

Sugar and Spice

and all things nice, that's what little girls are made of. We were so excited to find out yesterday that we have another niece on the way! Arla and Teddy had their 20 week ultrasound and their baby girl is doing great! We can't wait to meet her this November. But enough talking, I've got some shopping to do!!

Project: Closet Makeover

I mentioned in our weekend recap last weekend that we wanted to re-do our master closet. After my side collapsed, it gave us a reason to re-do the whole thing. We haven't done a project around the house in a while, so I'm excited to tackle our closet.

Here is what the closet looked like before.

 Then this happened...

Hopefully in a few weeks it will look like this! This set-up will be on my side, but it will have double hanging on both ends.

 Michael's side will look like this.

 I'm also upgrading the light in there. I wanted a chandelier, but the ceiling isn't high enough. But I found a pretty, elegant light which is much better that the plain builder stock light in there now.

 

We have everything bought, and will hopefully be able to start on it this weekend. I will definitely have an update with pictures when we get it all installed. Hopefully we will knock it out in one weekend. I need to do a major clean out of clothes though first. Nothing is going back in that we don't currently wear!

Father's Day Weekend Recap

We have had a really fun and action-packed weekend celebrating Father's Day with our families. On Friday I worked from home. I had to get a blood test, which turned into a total nightmare. I got stuck 8 times and my arm is looking really angry. I worked the rest of the day and then after work Michael and I headed over to Rich and Tif's to hangout, have dinner and play with Jacob. Jacob started walking on Thursday so we really wanted to be able to witness it! We went and had dinner at Famous Dave's our new regular spot apparently. Jacob was in such a good mood and was making all of us laugh.

After dinner we headed back to Rich and Tif's. We got to play with Jacob for a while and had so much fun. He is getting to be such a big boy. We also got to see him walking all over the living room. It was too cute! At about 9 we headed home since it was time for Jacob to go to bed. I also needed to make dessert for my parent's house the next day. I made one of my Dad's favorites, Oreo Fudge Ice Cream Cake. It needs to set overnight so that's why I had to make it before we went to bed.

On Saturday we got up and went to breakfast and then ran a few errands. We relaxed for a bit and then headed down to my Mom and Dad's. We were all getting together to celebrate Father's Day and my Dad's birthday which is this week as well. My Mom made a really yummy dinner to celebrate. We had BBQ ribs, parmesan potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, chopped salad and garlic bread. We were lucky that it didn't rain either so we got to sit in their beautiful gazebo.

After dinner we sat outside, enjoyed the nice weather and just hung out. We went inside to clean up and to have Dad open his presents and have dessert.

A new wallet since his other one has a hole in it.

Since when do wallets come pre-loaded?

Porkchop wanted to help, he loves to open presents!

He loves his Fish Face shirts

Mom's amazing wrapping job!

Another Fish Face shirt!

Electronic sudoku, his favorite!

After Dad was finished opening his presents, we had our dessert. We hung out a little longer and headed home around 9.

Today we got up, went to breakfast and then did our grocery shopping. We relaxed for a couple of hours and then we headed out to Arlington Racetrack. We met up with Michael's parents, Rich, Tif, Jacob and Tif's parents and brothers. We had box seats which was nice so we were all together. We were worried all week about it raining and it was the most beautiful day. The track was so lush and green.

We had fun betting on the ponies and we actually walked away with what we came with since Michael had a $100 win on one of the races. It's always fun to pick a pony and see who's horse wins!

It was Jacob's first time at the track and he seemed to have a good time. He looked super cute in an outfit we brought him back from Disney last month.

We had a lot of fun at the track with everyone. We all got to hang out and just enjoy the weather and the beautiful scenery. This might have to become an annual tradition! Michael's Dad ended up the big winner by betting it all on a long shot in the last race. He won $150, so he had a good Father's Day!

After Arlington, we came home, grabbed some dinner and we are just going to relax the rest of the night. It's been a busy weekend, I can't believe it's over already. I could use another day off. Hopefully this week will go by fast. We have nothing planned next weekend and I can't wait to just be low key. I hope all of you had a great weekend and a Happy Father's Day!