It’s been a busy week at the house, tackling the last two projects that have been lingering for too long: back porch closet organization and back entrance revamp.

The closet is a classic old-house small space that is the landing pad for all things to be shoved in, hidden, put in a box and forgotten about. Even the cats didn’t want to play hide and seek for fear they’d be sucked into the dark void forever. While emptying this small space, I was surprised at how much came out (think clown car scenario), particularly in the shoe and coat area, as I didn’t recognize a good lot of it. I painted the closet from a late 70s dark beige-meets-peach color to bright white, bought two shoe organizers and reused an old one, organized the shelves for tall boots only (if I see one brown box up there, it’s going to get tossed) and cleared the floor space for two bins to hold winter gear. I think it’s a pretty huge improvement and isn’t the eyesore it was before. As the “before” picture too horrid to actually insert, here is the “after”:

As for the back entrance, the green floral print with accented brown baseboard wasn’t working for me, and while I originally gravitated to a light sky blue, white felt best in the end. It’s a space now that I wish had enough room for a sitting chair. Bummer – it’s an entryway.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

For most of the art, I took fabric squares from the quilt I made my mom (I guess as my own memento of sorts), and postcards I’ve collected over the years that had a nice abstract quality. And the light globe – who can’t love a paper globe from Ikea for $6? Most of my inspiration comes from the posts at Apartment Therapy, seeing what people are using in their spaces, and how they arrange them.