Ikea day

Today was a big day….it was an IKEA day!! I don’t often shop in IKEA but when I do, meatballs and soft serve ice cream are a must.

Before I left the house, I measured and photographed my closet to be sure that I was armed with the space available to fill with a PAX closet system.

I pulled into the IKEA parking lot and just about died. I was clearly not thinking that school goes back next week and every college kid and their mother was there shopping.

BUT……I was determined to deal with the hot mess in my closet as it exists today…..and I had meatballs on my mind!

I entered…I cringed….I got sucked into following the arrows and going through all of the small rooms that they have set up.  Finally, I was on my way to the cafeteria for my beloved meatballs but, the line-up was excruciating!!! It was a touch and go decision, I decided to bypass the meatballs. No biggie….soft serve ice-cream was not far off.  I got to the wardrobe section. It wasn’t busy. Nobody was on the computers. I was so excited to sit down and plug in my dimensions….except, I measured in inches and their computer system only works in centimetres. My heart did a little flop (my math skills leave much to be desired). The sales rep Mary came over and asked if I needed help, bless her heart. She was so kind AND equipped with a calculator. She took right over for me. It was amazing!!! She started dragging base units, shelves, shoe drawers, hooks and hangers and BAM! The job was done!!! I couldn’t believe how quick she did it. I secured my delivery date and an assembly date. No way am I spending days on end putting that together. It cost $130 for setup….a great deal as far as I am concerned.

After following more arrows and buying some much-needed dish towels (not), placemats and blue glasses I headed to the checkout….OH MY!! These lineups….I honestly thought of just leaving the few purchases I was making and taking my paperwork home with me to order online when out of the corner of my eye, what do I see? I spotted an open checkout. It was a serve yourself but the overhead light that indicates it’s open…..was burned out!! It was my lucky day. I checked out in a matter of minutes and could only think of my reward at the end of this…..a soft serve ice cream cone…. I adore them…..I excitedly packed up my things and headed to fast food section….oh noooooo…..another lineup!!! I couldn’t do it. I sadly walked right past it and I left. I was happy to get my closet situation all sorted out but a little disappointed that today there was no meatballs nor ice-cream to be had.

In my, before photos, you will notice that I have a window. Now I won’t!! LOL… I’m putting a closet right in front of it. I never opened that window in past as there is too much stuff to move out of the way to ever get to it. Besides, how many people have a window in their closet? I got an extra full PAX closet out of that space. It is going to be so nice to get rid of these racks. They are flimsy and have fallen over more than one! If Steve had any say, he’d tell me to get rid of the clothes….eeesh!

 

Things to consider when organizing your closet.

EDIT…take a hard look at your clothes. At the beginning of every season, I turn all my hangers backwards. Every time I wear an item the hanger gets turned back around the correct way (I’ve started to do this in Steve’s closet as well). At the end of the season, anything that hasn’t been turned around hasn’t been worn. You need to ask yourself why? I keep the discarded bins in my basement for clothes I’m just not sure I want to part with. Once they are down there for a period of time, it makes it so much easier to get rid of them. I also clearly mark them….up 5lbs, down 5lbs, donate, etc.

STORAGE…speaking of storing downstairs…some closets are just not big enough to carry a winter and summer wardrobe. If you have an extra closet downstairs you might want to consider swapping seasonally. Be sure to protect your clothes from moths with wood chips/bags

ORGANIZE… I like to colour coordinate my closet and sort by items. My blouses start off – white – sleeveless, short sleeves, long sleeves, then grey, black, blue, etc. I keep shirts together, pants together, skirts together, etc. I find when everything is organized like this it makes it all so much easier to shop your own closet.

 

HANGERS….I love the look of all hangers being the same. I find the velvet ones are great. They are thin and articles don’t fall off them. For pants, I use the ones I get from the dry cleaners. First of all, they are free and second of all the pants don’t slide off.

FOLD…I don’t hang my sweaters. I hate hanger marks on the shoulders. I fold my sweater in half and then lay the arms across the front. This way you get the least amount of fold marks. I also keep my sweaters organized by colour and also style, light or chunky.

SHOES….shoes can take up so much room and get so messy. This rack has been pretty good. My biggest peeve is trying to get the shoes in and out of it. The heels tend to catch and then I have to fuss around….I have ordered pull out shelves for the new PAX system. I cannot wait for the instal date.

 TA-DA, emptied and cleaned, almost ready for instal. I just need to remove some trim and we are ready to go……stay tuned for the reveal.