D.I.Y. or should I say, H.Y.B.I.L.D.I. - Part Two

So when I left off yesterday, I had finished removing everything from the closet and was eager to start the installation on Saturday morning.

But after Tim finished tearing down the shelves, he began looking at the closet box. Little did I know, Day One was far from being over. He then asked if he could open it and I told him that would be fine.

And then he pulled out the level and this was about 10 minutes later.

And this was 40 minutes later - drill and level in hand with 2 of the 3 shelves installed.

And this was a little over an hour later. Done.

That's right. A finished closet. Seriously. What I had planned on doing all day Saturday, he did in a little more than an hour. And I didn't have to use a drill or level once.

Seriously?! Can I just tell you how grateful I was to have this done?

Oh and I didn't mention one small little detail that made his project a little more difficult. Our upstairs air is out. So it was probably a good 85 degrees while Madie and I watched my new closet go up in no time. Now that I think of it, that's probably why he put it up so fast... so he could get out of the sauna that is my room! Well after I brought him a glass of kool-aid that I'm surprised didn't send him into a diabetic shock, he wanted to make sure it was secure so he ran home and got some - well I don't know what there called but basically it secures a screw into the wall, so I'll call it a - screw-securers and finished up the project.

After running him out of the house with countless "thank you's" and "you didn't really have to but I am so glad you did's", I was excited to start the next step and probably the most fun for me - putting stuff into the closet! After putting a few things in, switching them around, trying to see how I wanted my shirts organized, I finally got most everything in.

Basically, on the left long hanging side I have all dresses and skirts that I don't wear to work which are on yellow hangers and all the pants and skirts that I do wear to work on white hangers. On the right double hanging side, shirts that I wear to work are on the top right and shirts that I don't wear to work are on the bottom right. And they are all organized by color - lightest to darkest. (seriously, if you don't do this in your closet, you should, because it makes finding things much easier. and it also helps me keep my ocd-ness at bay.) This closet set-up (I hope) will make picking out clothes a little bit easier in the morning now that I can actually see without straining to pull the shirts apart. And now you know entirely too much about my closet. But that's what this is all about, right?

Something else I saw on this great blog I read, was customizing those hanging organizers to fit your space. I love the fact that I can have some things folded but displayed and the fact that the organizer fit perfectly in the space - well that was just a bonus! But when I first put it there it didn't fit so perfectly. If you look at the before pictures from yesterday, you'll see that it was actually a full length size organizer. When I ready this post a few weeks ago (yes, I found inspiration from a post about a baby closet=), I knew I had to remember that if I ever needed to, that I could cut the organizer I had down to the size I needed. So I did. I cut off two or three extra spots that were making the organizer too long and now it looks like it was made for the space!

And how about these baskets? Well the top one - I have absolutely no clue where it came from. I just know it was in my room, I did not purchase it and it was not being used. So into the closet it went! The one below is actually from Lowe's and only cost about $6 which I thought was a great deal and added a little room to for belts and things like that that I didn't want sitting out. Even though the baskets don't match, I feel like they look like they go together in their un-matchy ways. What do you think?

And did I mention that the side of my $6 basket is perfect for headbands? Because it is.

And there you have it. My closet transformation. But I couldn't leave you without a before and after picture could I??? So here we go...

Before (womp, womp...)

and....

After!!!

So that is my D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) or should I say, H.Y.B.I.L.D.I (Have Your Brother In Law Do It) story.

And the thing that I love (other than not cringing when looking at my closet) is that whole thing only took about 4 hours. Pretty good considering I was planning for 12+.

Now I just have to figure out how to do things just as quickly as my brother in law.