A BIT OF A DISCLAIMER | We have a billion and one projects on the docket for our new place but OMG where in the world is that half million dollars when you need it? I am thankful for brands like ShelfGenie (a company offering custom-made glide out shelving systems-you can read more about them by clicking the link or here) who give me opportunities to partner with them to accomplish some pretty fun mutually beneficial goals and I am thankful that you support me in those endeavors as I curate and collaborate with brands that I love and that I know you will as well. This is a sponsored post by Shelf Genie but while this post has been sponsored by ShelfGenie , you can fully trust that nothing I say or share will or has been affected by said sponsorship and that I aim to share my honest thoughts and how I navigated through the process of working with them and any other brand collaboration I post around here.
Now that we’ve gotten that disclaimer out of the way, we do have a million projects that we want to get out hands on but, if you’re like me and don’t always have a ton of money floating around for house projects, we have had to make a list of priorities and knock them off one at a time. Also apologizing ahead of time for the “not so normal for me” images but these are progress shots so they’re fitting.
One of those simple projects has been continuing to sort through piles that we moved here with—donating and getting rid of what we haven’t needed in this new space—and figuring out how to best utilize what we do need.
Our new place was a flip. That just means that someone took it in the midst of a pretty ‘broken’ state and turned it into something more liveable and, in our case, extremely liveable. (More on that in another post.) There are alot of things I’d love to change that are not the most aesthetically pleasing to me but in terms of pure function, this closet is THE WORST. It has no shelving.
We can’t really figure out why the previous owner/renovator left it this way. Perhaps he wanted to give us the liberty to affix shelving the way we wanted? This is also secondary interior access to the crawlspace under the home so maybe that had something to do with it but whatever the case, we NEED storage badly in this old 1940’s farmhouse.
Insert, ShelfGenie to save the day. We had an amazing introduction to SG and all that they do with a local installation specialist who also happens to own the local franchise. His name was Alan.
The initial consultation lasted a couple of hours and involved our looking over what they had to offer. He was so knowledgeable and put us at ease about the process. What I especially appreciated was his ability to convey and communicate what he saw as our best use of their product and how skilled he was with helping us figure out how to efficiently use the space we had boty in our kitchen cabinetry and our hall closet.
Ultimately, we decided that our biggest need (vs. the kitchen) was our hall closet so Alan took to helping us configure what our specific needs were in that space and sent a specialist out the very next day for measurements and to put in our official order. I must say, I was also really impressed with how flexible and easy they made this part of the process. We’d run our of time to do the layout of the closet design during that appointment so Alan offered to conference call with us to go over those details and the software program that they use for this made it all easy to understand comprehend which was impressive considering we weren’t face to face. These kinds of things MATTER TO ME.
It typically takes 6-8 weeks to get these projects completed but because of the nature of this partnership, we were ready for install within three weeks. It only took a few hours for the installer to complete this job and I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was with the results.
I am so pleased with the results and so happy to finally have a place to store home decor items, all of my essential oils, cleaning items and honestly whatever else I can dream up.
I love how the glider drawers now also make things so much more accessible and easier to manage and we chose to have some with a graduated height so that smaller items that we store don’t fall off or get lost in the back of the closet.
I am officially obsessed.
Our experience with ShelfGenie was barnone and we’d definitely use them for future projects in our home. I think we will move on to the kitchen in our next organizing project and I am so excited to have them come alongside us to help us figure out more ways to utilize our space even more efficiently.
With that in mind, I’d like to leave you with a few ways that will hopefully help you think a little differently about your own spaces and how you use them well after ShelfGenie’s help:
3 WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR CLOSET (AND OTHER SPACES) MORE EFFICIENTLY
BASKETS, BINS AND BOWLS—OH MY.
You all already know how much I love me a good vintage bowl or basket or the like and I know that using them as storage is really nothing new but sometimes I think we tend to look past some of those everyday items that would prove to be perfectly used in spaces we don’t typically use them. In this space in particular we will use small vintage bowls to house paperclips, etc. We’ll use those old candle vessels for palo santo sticks and my vintage
HIDE AWAY.
You can see from the images above that those striped cotton bins are used to house something but you don’t really know what exactly. Well, that’s kind of the point. Hidden in those cute little bins are the most imperfect folded fitted sheets. And since most of us are no ‘Martha"‘ I think you’d likely agree with me that when it comes to taking the time to fold these, you’d rather pass and move on to something more fun. Using containers of some sort like these allow the clutter to be hidden and for your mind and heart to be at ease every time you walk into that space or open that door.
GO BEYOND THE PRACTICAL.
We don’t have an office in our new home and, honestly, that is totally fine with me. In our last home our office all too quickly became a storage room. (Relate?) so we plan to install an outlet in here and store a wireless printer and other office accoutrement that we need so it will essentially become a mini-office—on a shelf. When organizing, take inventory of your space, step out of the box and think of ways to use the spaces you have in non-traditional ways.
I hope my ShelfGenie experience and a few practicals were helpful to you. I’d love to hear how you’re using your spaces to better organize as well and don’t forget to hop over to Instagram to continue the convo and sign up for YOUR free ShelfGenie consultation today!
xo,
Kennesha
