Another closet solution

I'm going to kick it old school again here, I'm going back 5 years with this post. (I guess I should have had a blog a long, long time ago.)

My husband and I were expecting our first child, Bug, and the room we had planned for the nursery was rather small, as was our budget. It didn't help that I had my eye, and my heart set on a very expensive crib (more on that in the future.) In order to fit everything into the room, and into our budget we decided to skip the changing table by building one ourselves into the closet. (I seem to have a thing for transforming closets.)

It so happened that the closet in Bug's room was just about the perfect width for a changing table. We knew we weren't going to miss the closet, what baby actually needs a full closet height of storage? Certainly not any baby to be born from my 5' 8" husband. So we turned the closet into what became the most functioning part of the room. We had a changing station, hanging storage, baskets for laundry, toys, blankets and other assorted baby essentials. PLUS diapers, wipes and everything you could need to change a baby right at arms reach.

Here is what we came up with:

This project remains one of my favorite of all time. Once again, we hit Home Depot for some simple MDF, 1"x2" poplar, L brackets, some closet accessories and white paint. (In hind sight, I would have painted the walls some other color than white, but I was more focused on the snoopy theme, more on that some other time.) The baskets came from Target.

I wish I still had the plans to share with you, but I'll do my best to answer any questions that aren't answered by the photo above.

And as a bonus, long after we left our town house and our daughter out grew the need for a changing station, we still use the baskets all over the house. The total cost of the project, including the baskets was less than $100. Can't find too many changing tables for that price!

My creative corner, or rather closet...

Being that my creativity is quite diverse I have a lot of creative tools. Over the years I've tried a bit of everything, and in the process I've bought a bit of everything. In addition to being creative, I'm also a pack rat. So for years I had bins and bins of stuff to work with. And just getting started on a project was a project itself as I rummaged through bins and boxes to find the right things I needed to work with.

I find that my creativity thrives best when it is well organized. Many people find "creativity" and "organization" to be exclusive concepts. For me, organization is the foundation that allows my creativity to thrive. It provides order to an otherwise rather chaotic process and allows me to focus my creative energy without the clutter that would otherwise get in the way.

So, we carved out a space for me to store my materials and work on my projects. Sadly, there is no room available in the house for an official "studio." Maybe someday I'll claim the playroom after the kids are too old for it, but for now, I've taken over a closet in the playroom. Here is what we've done...

Before:

After:

There is also a row of boxes on top of the selves with more supplies that you can't see pictured, things that I use less often. So now, everything has a place to be. I've got bins for card making supplies, scrap booking stuff, beading, sewing, stamping, painting, all things adhesive and more.

There is still some finish work to do, but that hasn't stopped me from using my little creative closet.