Closets Are Scary...

Even when you know are pretty sure a witch does not live in it. As part of my latest Crazy 8s Challenge, I wanted to do things around the house. And I figured it would behoove me to give you a little update on my first week of this.

If you will remember, I am trying to do something for my house three times a week this month. Sometimes it will be exciting things, like DIYing curtains or a mirror, and other times, it will be a little more mundane. Like what I'm about to share with you.

Last week I focused on three areas in my home that have been overgrowing. Overgrowing with things belonging to husbands, dogs, cats, and spores (gross I know). I figured it was time. Time to (hazardous waste) suit up and get dirty. So I de-cluttered my dresser, de-molded my shower curtain, and de-unorganized my coat closet.

The first two tasks were easy enough, and I'm sorry I don't have before OR after shots. Maybe I will take some later in the day and show off my nice clean shower curtain and my nice (&dusty) clear dresser. Probably not.

The dresser was more of a spur of the moment, Crazy 8s inspired task. It actually happened when I could not find a spot to temporarily place my clean laundry while putting it away. (Or when I could not find a spot to temporarily place my cat when we were cuddling). Either way, I got frustrated. So I not only found a place for all the junk to live permanently (which probably was not the garbage, Babe. Promise. xoxox) but I also got rid of all the the pictures. Put them elsewhere in the house. Cleared that puppy off.

The shower curtain was a problem. We had noticed a little bit of mold on the outside of it in the last few days. We actually were out shopping for a new one (and not finding one we liked) when I decided I wanted to try to kill the mold. So I came home, washed it with bleach in scalding hot water, and it cleaned right up. No more mold. We replaced the shower liner for good measure and called it a day.

Side note. J told me I should not write about the mold. He said "This is R. Simple Life, not R. Gross Life." But it's okay because he barely ever reads the blog.

Now. I thought long and hard about showing you this closet in its before state. I even though about cleaning it up a little and then taking my before picture. But that wouldn't be honest. Not that that has stopped me before :-) So here he is, in all his messy glory, our coat closet.

Yes, we were storing our shoes in a box. And in that green tub. And we were storing old beer bottles (for J's brewing) in there. And our scarves, hats, gloves and mittens had taken over. It was a mess.

We still need a shoe rack. And I personally do not love the hanging cubby holder of outer accessories. But I have yet to find a set of baskets I love, and ditto to a shoe rack. That green tub still holds all our extra shoes, but we did give quite a few away. And in a perfect world, I would have wooden hangers. Shoot in a perfect world, my coat closet would look like this:

Martha Stewart via Avery Design Interiors

Ahh, Martha. Who doesn't love Martha. I don't care that she went to jail, shes still one of my heroes. Anyway, I'm hoping for a more exciting Crazy 8s update next time. Because I just realized how dry this post is. Go grab some lemonade. It will help. How is your Crazy 8s Challenge going?