Toy Closet Overhaul

We have a 4 year old granddaughter who spends a lot of time at our house.  So, when we bought our home, we decided to put all of her toys in the coat closet in the living room.  But it never worked quite right.  The combo of the shelves and the large Rubbermaid storage box made it tough for her to get to her toys and keep it organized.  Everything would wind up being thrown on the shelves, which would then fall on the floor.  It was making me nuts.

The princess couldn't help but show off.  See?  Mess.

This past weekend, it was time to get to work.  We pulled everything out of the closet (which made it look like Toys R Us threw up in my living room.  Pulled out the useless hooks and spackled the holes.  The next morning I painted the closet a light pink and Brian added very sturdy shelves.  A trip was made to WalMart and Target for boxes and baskets.  A few minutes with my printer and we had labels.

It makes my little OCD self so happy.

Everything has a place and not only is it easy for her to get the toys she wants, it is just as easy to put them all away.  The labels have pictures on them, so she can "read" them.

Very satisfying project and it only took a few hours!

Score!

For dinner last night, we decided to head over to our fav pizza place - Buono's.  Of course, I couldn't help but stop by Goodwill and see if there were any hidden treasures.  For the last year or so, I've been trying to find a bench to put between the front windows, with no success.  Sure, I could buy a new one for $100.  But no one will ever sit out there and I wasn't willing to spend that much.  

Lookie at what I found!

2 perfect chairs.  Ok, not so perfect.  They had some rust spots and one of the seats needed to be soldered. Like I cared about that.

A few minutes with a wire brush, 2 cans of RustOleum paint and now, they are perfect.  

We arranged the plants that had been out there around the new chairs.  I really, really loved how they turned out.  My cost?  $26 and I have some paint left over.  Might need a couple more plants to round it out.  Maybe a pillow on one of the chairs.  I also need to find something to hang on the wall between the windows, but that is another post.