Small Linen Closet Makeover

It’s been almost 3 years since we downsized our home.  The list of home projects is becoming smaller but there are still a few to be tackled.  Two on this list are to organize our small hallway linen closet and also our kitchen pantry.

I’m happy to say that over the holidays, I accomplished the linen closet with the help of Dollar Tree.  I bought an assortment of different storage containers, watched a couple of YouTube videos and pulled a set of chalkboard tags I’ve had for a couple of years and set to work.

Here were some of the steps I utilized.

  1. Choose a color scheme to act as my guide:  blue, brown, white, gray and black.  
  2. Sort through towels.  I kept 8 bath for the closet because there were already two towels in each of the bathrooms.  I kept 5 wash clothes and 5 hand towels.  The rest were donated.
  3. Sort through over-the-counter and prescription drugs and dispose of them by town/city guidelines.  Create storage container with drawers for small items and a tiered storage area for larger supplements.  (I have a storage box that holds 30 days of my prescription and supplements.  This is in one of the drawers which makes a lot more sense from where it used to sit – on top of my sugar container with my baking supplies.)
  4. Use a container for toilet paper so we don’t have to retrieve from garage.
  5. Roll up beach towels and placed in a container on the floor.
  6. Create a cleaning container.
  7. Create two more storage containers of cleaning supplies.
  8. Create a storage area for lightbulbs.
  9. Create a storage container for batteries.
  10. The blankets on the left side of the top shelf were placed in pillow cases and tied off with ribbon which gave a cleaner look.

I took a side by side picture as I made progress – what a transformation and encouragement to keep on going.

Here is the finished project.  I couldn’t be happier with it.

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Planter and Lamp Makeover

This idea has a lot going for it – it’s simple and inexpensive.  It doesn’t require anything but fabric, a rubberband or two and some decorative ribbon.  Yet it has the potential to give a decorative planter or lamp base a makeover.  

Floral Arrangement Makeover 

We moved from California to Arizona in 1991.  At first I wanted to blend into my new state and bought a couple of southwestern themed items for the home – one was a lamp.  After living with that for a couple of months I came to realize that I may live in the dessert but I’m most comfortable in a eccentric country and mediterranean decor.  I was raised to do with what you have and as a stay-at-home mom money was tight so I knew if the lamp was to be saved I needed to get creative.  

I took the lamp shade and bulb off and started weighing my options.  Painting would not work because the lamp base was raised.  I needed to cover this thing up and fast – hmm?? – it needed a garment.  I went upstairs and gathered a piece of navy blue cotton fabric.  I spread the fabric out with the wrong side towards me, sat the lamp in the center and started gathering the fabric up towards the neck of the lamp.  The fabric was separated in the back to allow for the electrical cord.   I was able to secure the fabric at the top of the lamp with a rubber band and then tuck the ends back into the rubber band which hid the edges.  A piece of raffia tied into a bow to hide the rubber band and the lamp was transformed into something I liked and still works for me today.  A bottle of acrylic paint was used on the tan lamp shade to pull the navy color in. 

I have had success using this process on my navy blue household planters when the pots need to be blend with a party theme (see top picture).  This is also a great idea to use to refurbish thrift store finds and because there are so many fabrics the skies the limit on different options.

 Lamp Makeover

 

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