Full disclosure: My utility closet does not look anywhere near as beautiful as the ones pictured below. However, it is now about 90% useful space and does 100% of what I need it to. And I only used what I already had on hand to do it. That’s pretty awesome, I think.
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My front hall “bonus” closet has haunted me for, well…much since we moved in. (Aside: This is not my front hall closet but a larger, bigger space that almost sold the apartment on its own.) I Elfa’d it within the first year, thinking this would be the magic bullet. It wasn’t. We had a kid. And another. And the strollers multiplied. As you might have guessed by now, it just got worse.
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Every 6 months I would freak out about the dangerous mess the closet had become, and so we would “reorganize.” The way I see it now, there were two fatal flaws with this method. One, we never threw enough crap out to really make a difference. Two, without a serious direction as to how the closet would be used, I had a hard time coming up with an organizational system for it that anyone could stick to. “Storage” is not a great inspiration!
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Two weeks ago, I decided I’d had enough. It was Monday morning, I was upset over some bad news and knew I would not be getting any real work done that morning. I accosted poor Kyle on her way in the door. As I was acting like a crazy person, she had to say yes to my order to drop all real work and help me organize my hall closet for 4 hours. What are coworkers for, right? As the pictures below illustrate, any closet can be turned into a “Mudroom,” my newly found inspiration.
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Now, instead of being embarrassed that someone has accidentally seen the inside of my shameful storage closet, I open the doors myself and introduce them to my beautiful new “Mudroom.” Do you have a space that you could make more useful? Share with us on our Facebook page!
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Lani Inlander is a personal stylist, working with clients who want to feel their best and look put-together every day. You can find her in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and New York areas.
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