Good lookin' nook

When people ask about the house these days, I usually tell them that it's "done."  (With quotation marks).  The living room is the only indoor surface that hasn't been redone (every other wall, floor, and ceiling has been sanded, refinished, repainted, spackled, drywalled, carpeted, or tiled).  So while Year 1: Construction has come to a close, Year 2: Decorating & Organizing is well underway.

Here was my weekend project:

In case you don't recognize the space, that's the inside of our bathroom closet.  It probably doesn't look all that exciting, because you didn't see the crazy mess that existed before.  Let me tell you, it was a consistently messy situation that resulted in us having 6 extra bottles of contact solution and no toothpaste.  Imagine everything you see on the shelves now jumbled in bags on the floor, tossed on random shelves, and falling off said shelves.  I didn't happen to take a picture of that "before," but believe me, it was bad.  This is one of only 2 (previously existing) closets in our house, so it definitely became a dumping ground as we slowly improved the "visible" spaces.  I'll admit, there were bags of miscellaneous toiletries that I had never unpacked from my move to New York last July (the one in 2010, not the one that just happened).  

At any rate, I'm so tickled that I can now find the washcloths that I'm sharing these pictures for the world to see.  You know those 1-hour projects that you put off for months, and then kick yourself for not doing it sooner once it's done?  Yep, that's this one!

Does anything about the above picture tell you that my hubby loves getting every last use out of things? ;)  On a similar note, does anyone know good techniques for forming soap scraps into usable bars?  Our little bucket is getting full!

While I applauding myself for this incredible before and after, I happened to look through our home inspection pictures.  Then I realized how far this space has really come!  I had forgotten how bad it looked before my run-in with super adhesive primer last winter.

Let me remind us both.  It wasn't somewhere I would have wanted to put my towels!

Here's another before & after (the closet door):

It's hard to believe that this time last year, the bathroom still looked like the befores!  Year 1: Construction was successful, for sure!  Stay tuned for updates on Year 2: Decorating & Organizing.