Renovations Week: Day 1 - What to do with guitars

Like I said, I needed to take a hiatus from blogging because of all these major changes in my life: new job, home repairs and wedding planning! 

Now that I've had some time to recoup, I'd like to share with you some budget repairs we're doing around our townhouse to make it a little more organized and homey. I've already showed you my closet reorg and bar cart makeover, but this week, we'll be creating built-in shelves, DIY bike racks and more! 

My most recent issue was that no matter how clean I got our living room, Rusty's guitars were always on the floor, making it look more cluttered than it really was. Before we moved our couch, I hid his guitars between the couch and the wall, and one guitar sat on a stand near the TV. Now that the couch has a new location, the guitars were just lying out in the middle of our living room. Blerg. 

My solution? Turn the guitars into pieces of art. We bought guitar hangers, like you see at music stores, on Amazon for about $3 each (and free shipping, I LOVE AMAZON). 

Now they're off of the floors and our wall looks less bare! Rusty also loves it because it's easier access for him when he wants to play...and honestly, when you spend that much on something, wouldn't you love to have it displayed? 

Total cost: roughly $6

Check it!
 

$30 Closet Organization - How to turn a Messy Closet into a Walk-in Closet

This closet wasn't big enough for the both of us. We had three choices:
1. Rusty moves out.
2. We use our second room as an annex (but remember, we already turned that closet into an office!)
3. We turn our master closet into the walk-in we want - nay, deserve!

The more I stared into our messy closet, the more I realized that it was actually very deep, but that the builders did not utilize the space properly.

We rushed to Home Depot and spent about $30 on two white shelves, two brackets, four shelf prongs and one long pipe. Home Depot was kind enough to cut the pipe in half, which became our two new clothes racks.

How we did it: 

• First, we knocked out all existing clothes rails, which ran left to right. They were taking up most of our space in the closet. 
• Next we screwed in the brackets for the new clothes racks and inserted the poles, which we ran from front to back on both sides of the closet. Because the closet was much deeper than we realized, it opened up a lot of space, provided more hanging room and created a walk-in closet. 
• Once we had more space, we added the brackets for the shelves. 

TIPS:

• Empty entire closet. Yes, it will make a mess of your room. As you empty, put into piles of keep, store, donate. If possible, have tupperware or bins ready for your storage items (like winter clothes) and a box for donations ready to help keep your room tidy as you detox years of closet build-up. 
• Once the closet is empty, take this opportunity to vacuum and dust. 
• If possible, purchase all of the same hangers. My goal is to have a closet full of wooden hangers. 
• As you return items to your closet, ditch the color-coding. Instead, think about what you wear the most and put that closer to your line of vision. (That tip comes courtesy of Austin stylist, Allison Taylor Moseley). 

Two shelves w/ brackets cost $21

Purchase one aluminum pipe at $9 and ask
Home Depot to cut to the measurements you need

Drive two long nails into the wall for belt storage

Happy Organizing!