the container store

Elfa Closet System to the Rescue!

Does your home suffer the curse of small closets? We are here to tell you that hope is not lost!

Cramped spaces make it harder to access and see what we have and keep it organized. With closets, this can be an even bigger mess because if we can’t access it, that also means it’s harder to put clothes away, which leads to us living out of the laundry basket. But there is a solution out there!

As always, we love a good product that is worth the investment, and Elfa Closets are one of those life-changing products.

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Recently, we worked with a client who moved into a one bedroom apartment that only had one, relatively small, walk-in closet. The client was worried about how to access and display her clothes in both a functional and visually appealing way— and would it all fit in the small closet?

We recommended the Elfa System and she decided to give it a try.

Elfa Closet Systems are made to be designed to your needs. You can purchase items individually, or you can design a closet based on your space.

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What we love most- is that it’s SUPER user friendly. On their website, click on the “Design Center” tab. This will open up with the start of your closet remodel journey. After putting in a few measurements, and asking a few questions, Elfa will generate a suggested closet model that you can then customize based on your needs.

Do you have more shoes? Add some shoe shelves. Not a lot of shoes, but have plenty to hang? Add an extra row of hanging bars. The design is sleek and customizable in colors too!

Now you might be thinking— that sounds great, but it’s probably hard to install and requires some hard labor.

That’s the absolute best part of this set up— it’s super simple to install and set up! Here’s how it works:

order your customized closet,

it ships to you with everything you need ( with the exception of a drill, and level.)

When you open the boxes, there are instructions with each wall labeled A, B, C, D.

Install the anchor rail

Following the instructions for each wall, install the anchor rail across the length of each wall. Congratulations, the hardest part is over!

hang the vertical anchor bars

Once the anchor rail is in place the vertical bars just wedge into place on the bar can slide to their needed positions on the wall. After that, it’s just a matter of hooking the shelves into the vertical anchor bars, and following the design you created.

Once it’s completed, you have an amazingly accessible closet installed and ready for you to hang your clothes, and shelve your shoes. AND if you ever decide you want to change it up, you can! If you decide you wanted your shoes on the other side of the closet, you can move them! Want to shift everything over, you can!

The client we were working with was beyond pleased with how her new closet turned out, and was amazed that everything fit, it wasn’t cramped, and it looked visually appealing too.

While this system is an investment, it makes life so much easier and keeps us from living out of the laundry basket.

Want to get started planning your dream closet? Click here to get started.

How to Organize Your Car

Let's be real...most of us do not have a car that looks immaculate all the time. While I wish mine did, on a very practical level.. I just really will never be vacuuming my car weekly or have a file folder with color coordinated tabs for each car service I ever receive. I've read blogs with crazy long check lists and others with some really helpful tips but here we want to give you the basics.

I'm learning with you so in the spirit of transparency, here are some pictures of my car in it's typical state.

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I recently moved from a two door to a four door car and I'm LOVING it! However, I've found that it's easy to just keep piling things in because I have more room now.

I've come up with a plan to keep my car more organized and I'm excited to share a few tips with you.

1. The center console is your friend! Having never had a center console before, I'm super pumped about making good use of it. The lower compartment is ideal for chargers, wet ones, and umbrellas. The upper compartment is the perfect place to keep a few pens, spare change and business cards. Living in a downtown neighborhood, I park on meters frequently and the change slots are super handy so I don't have to fish through my purse to find quarters. Am I the only person that actually uses this feature? Maybe, but I love it!

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2. Door pockets and seat pockets: I try to keep these empty other than an umbrella. I never think to check seat pockets so anything that goes in will probably never come out.

3. The trunk is tricky-- it's out of sight which is good, but can also turn into a dark pit. My goal is to only keep car trouble necessities (ex. jumper cables, tire pump) a yoga mat, and a picnic blanket in it. A crate or basket works well to contain those items so they aren't rolling around when you drive. One other idea I had was to keep another box in the trunk to collect items I don't need that are thrift store bound. If I can get the items into my car, I'm way more likely to drop them off in passing instead of letting them sit in the corner of my kitchen for months.

4. Rule of Thumb: I've been trying to create the habit of taking everything in to the house at the end of the day rather than telling myself I'll do it later. So far it's been working fairly well. My trending exception is when it's raining. I don't have a garage so it's not practical to lug things through the rain rather than taking them inside the next day.

Practical things to keep in the car:

  • Umbrella

  • Bobby pins and hair ties

  • hand sanitizer

  • chap stick

  • wet ones

  • miniture accordian file for coupons

  • reusable shopping bags

Check out The Container Store if you are looking for containers specifically for cars and travel. Their foldable boxes look pretty handy!