Recently, two events conspired to “force” me to clean out and rearrange our hall closet.

Event #1:  Clean Mama started a Simple Summer Challenge where you take one area of your house and clean it out.  I’m a sucker for challenges so I started to think about which area of the house I wanted to tackle (I have lots of options).  I still didn’t have an idea until Event #2 happened.

Event #2:  When Mindy came to live with us last year, we soon discovered that she believed her primary job in life was to protect the dog food bin.  We’ve kept a Rubbermaid 20lb plastic bin in our kitchen area for 25+ years and have never had an issue – until now.  She wasn’t aggressive or anything, but when friend’s dogs would come to stay, Mindy would camp out in front of the food bin and protect it at night.  I guess she didn’t feel that it needed protecting during the day, but night was a different story.  Every now and then I would hear her bark (extremely unusual for her) and know that someone (dog) had ventured too close for her comfort.  Suffice it to say, we needed an alternate plan.  We started by storing the bin in Mike’s office, but after a while that really didn’t work.  Then, in a flash of inspiration, I thought about the hall closet.

A lot would have to be rearranged and reorganized, but I’m so glad I took up the challenge because it’s made all the difference.  Here are some before and after photos.

As you can see, this basically became a dumping ground for lots of miscellaneous stuff.  I started by removing the plastic storage bins on the right as well as an extra picnic basket.  I’m not entirely sure why I kept one because we never picnic, but maybe one of these days…

I installed a hook on the left wall just inside the door for our aprons as well as a Tap light on the right side wall just inside the door.

Here is the after photo and some close-ups:

Originally I had our cleaners on the bottom shelf, but I moved them up to the top to get them away from the dog food.

As much as I could, I tried to consolidate items for easy retrieval.

In the process of cleaning out this closet, I discovered a box of Tap Lights.  We needed light, so I added Velcro to the back and stuck it to the wall.  Does a great job.

I also consolidated my cleaning rags and reusable grocery bags.

And of course, the dog food bin.  Works like a charm and we’ve had peace in the house ever since. 😉
I use two Rubbermaid containers for our new and old batteries.  When the old container gets full I just take the batteries to our local Staples for disposal.

We keep our fanny packs and travel bags in here by looping them around the closet rod.  Makes it super easy when we need them for a long walk or for a trip.

And finally, I stored our picnic basket, water coolers and thermoses on the top shelf as well as decluttered our multi-pocket over-the-door organizer.  I Goodwill-ed a bunch of stuff (fairly certain I won’t need a set of Dora-the-Explorer dominos), threw out a few things and am feeling really good about this FINISHED project.

In my last Paws || Walk On post, I quoted Walt Disney who said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”  I’ve been ‘talking’ about cleaning out this closet for ages and now, with the help of a challenge and a vigilant dog, I’m done… until I need to sort it out again ;-).

Until next time,

If you need me, I’ll be hanging out in front of the hall closet.