Shortly after we moved into our new home, I made a list of all the projects I wanted to tackle. Within about 5 minutes, I had over 2 pages of a to-do list. I stopped there and quickly became overwhelmed.
Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with our house. It’s really just a matter of style difference and preference. Though there are a many daunting tasks on the list, there are a few that I can readily tackle.
Since typing out this lengthy to-do list, I have felt a little stuck and unsure where to start. Instead of unpacking (yet another) box, I opt for playing outside or snuggling with baby Porter. How can you argue with that, right?
But the time has come where I’m a little more than sick of staring down unpacked boxes, and randomly needing things like wrapping paper, hole-punch, or swimming trunks, and then having to try and figure out what box they are packed away in.
So I hereby declare that my first project will be organizing the closets. This is no simple task, but many of the boxes left to unpack were previously housed in a closet (i.e. linen closet, game closet, guest closet, etc).
Have I told you how much our new home lacks storage?
Out of all of those closets named above, I only have one of those– a small, shallow linen closet. So what the heck do I do with all this stuff?! I’ve started making a donation pile (even though I feel like I’ve sorted through stuff like crazy). I’ve also started buying a lot of baskets so I can try and make things look neat and tidy.
Do you have storage solutions that you could live without?
|images via Martha Stewart & Style at Home|
next month we are moving from a 1950s style two family house with a ton of closets into a 1900s side-hall colonial with no closets. We used to own a side-hall colonial a few years ago, and there were many many ikea armoires/dressers throughout the house to deal with the lack of storage.
We’ve moved alot in the last few years, and I find that I’d rather have a two eighteen hour days of unpacking than try to do things a little at a time over a few weeks….just having the boxes around makes me feel stressed.
Having said that, I’m currently purging the garage in anticipation of our next move, and just unpacked four boxes that were never unpacked from the last move. I’m guessing if I didn’t need it for the past two years, I can do without it.
Lisa- I just saw your foyer storage idea and it’s perfect! It looks like your new home is going to be charming! And I love your idea about getting all the unpacking done at once! I only have about 10ish boxes left, but they are seriously stressing me out. Hopefully we can get them all unpacked by the end of this weekend.
I have the same problem, our house is 110 years old with 1 upstairs “linen” closet. 2 bedrooms don’t have closets and one “closet” has our washer and dryer while the one right across from it holds the laundry to be done, and those closets were added on with the addition. It is our biggest frustration with this house!! I’m really surprised your “newer then 110 year old house” doesn’t have more closet space. I feel for you!
Marisa-
Ah, thanks! I bet you have a lovely home!! I’ve always wanted an older home…. but it’s hard to convince the handyman I’m married to that it’s a good idea! I think we were just spoiled with storage in our last house. This home has used every.square.inch to the max! Which is a great thing, but not so great when it comes to storage. I’ve heard that Ikea kitchen storage solutions are great for any part of the home.