Day 12: It’s the Little Things
The cabinet I worked on at sunset hangs to the right of my stove. In it I kept a little bit of everything. Underneath it, on the counter, I had a small wood plate upon which sat olive oil, salt and pepper, and my vitamins.
I neglected to include the counter-top in this picture because I wasn’t planning on moving my tray of kitchen accoutrements. My bad. The best I can offer is the neck of the olive oil bottle at the bottom of the picture, a phallic symbol proudly proclaiming the virility of clutter.
It now sits emasculated in the corner of the cabinet, clearly nobody’s baby.
The counter top is now…I don’t even know. I would say it’s a smooth expanse of hopes and dreams, but that would be dramatic. I’m good with calling it a placid lake under a starry night.
I woke up the morning after the insanity of Wednesday’s marathon cabinet decluttering in the kitchen knowing the only thing that would lure me into that cubbyhole would be an inflatable pool of chocolate and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ice cream maintained at a constant 9°F.
Instead, I worked on my closet and contemplated the inadvisability of consuming 22 gallons of frozen dessert.
New here? For the next 31 days I’m living according to the famous William Morris quote, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” You can learn more about the project here, and catch sneak peeks of my projects by following me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (I’m @pancakesfries).
Replacing the hangers makes it look so nice. Ours are a complete mishmash! I wonder if I can find some knock-offs like that!
Ross, Marshalls, et al–they all have them and at very reasonable prices. Although it seems like an indulgence, they really do help with closet space and keeping those slippery blouses in place. I should have done this sooner, but I also underestimated how satisfying it is to easily remove a hanger from your closet.
It’ll take some doing to find them here in Thailand, but I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve.
Love this, “a phallic symbol proudly proclaiming the virility of clutter”. Pure brilliance. Quite amazing what a difference the hangers make and having the IKEA trip wooing attire front and center a definite plus.
That and the promise of cheap soft serve ice cream does wonders for his cooperation.
” In the grand scheme of traumas, this comes before getting stuck at a green light behind someone who is texting and after the invention of candy corn.”
ha!
Candy corn is revolting. So are Cadbury Eggs.
Try the new hangers for the denim! When I treated myself to the nice slimline hangers from Ross my husband asked for some for his pants. His pants are way too heavy for clip hangers (he’s a very large size, alas) and we were both annoyed about them falling off every style of hanger we tried. Now the pants stay on and don’t slide off.
All my skirts are on clip hangers from the 99 cent store. At least they match each other.
Thanks for the tip! (Although, now that Susan mentions they leave a crease I’m torn.)
I use ones that look like these from Target and they hold my jeans and skirts just fine.
I’ll check out the Target ones and see how they compare.
Well written blog today! Your blog is always delightful, but today had me chuckling heartily.
ditto
Thanks.
The “virility of clutter” – Ha!! More important though is how cute those little wood bowls are – I might need those.
I love my hangers too – and I would also be somewhat traumatized by the color issue (I ended up with black and beige) . My skirts are on the clip hangers that can be “tiered”, although they don’t work well on the log that also holds everything in our closets. For pants, I don’t like using the plush hangers because they are too thin and make marks I have the white pastic hangers from the Container Store and those work fine. Bothers me they don’t match, but I just breathe deeply and go eat some ice cream.
I would have loved black and beige! These hangers are so dang popular I can only find the bizarre colors, like purple. I took home the beige because I refused to buy neon green!
“clearly nobody’s baby” had me laughing out loud in my cubicle. Clearly, LOL
Dirty Dancing FTW.
http://www.realsimple.com/magazine-more/real-simple-solutions-slimline-hangers-00000000030669/index.html
This article mentions that the real Slimline Hangers have clips that snap on. I wonder if you could go to Bed, Bath and Beyond (with some coupons) and one of your hangers to see if they would fit. I had a set of snap on pants clips for regular hangers from Target and they were suitable. Sometimes the clips pop off so I’d definitely make sure they fit so you don’t exacerbate the situation.
Oh, I didn’t know that! I was just at Bed Bath & Beyond and I saw them, but didn’t really look at all their options. Now that I know, I’ll save up my coupons. I’ll bet they’re not that much more expensive than the ones you find at Ross/Marshalls.
and alternately, change out the ’50s log for a slimmer pole?
(I know candycorn is wrong, but I don’t wanna be right!)
I could do that, but then I would have nothing to complain about!
p.s. I have friends who count down the days to candy corn season. They also rush Starbucks for pumpkin spice lattes and eat Cadbury Eggs by the dozen. You all exist, I’m just not sure I understand you.
+150 for the Dirty Dancing reference.
It looks great!
The pictures of your closet are so inspiring. What a difference good-quality, matching hangers make! Great idea.
On a different note, I am impressed you got through this post without a single “No more wire hangers…EVER” reference
(though I suppose it would be “no more plastic hangers”)
You can buy the hangers at Target WITH clips for pants, skirts or scarves. I only found them in black. BUT good news, I switched my closet to these hangers about 3 years ago, and my pants and jeans have not bent the hanger nor have left an odd crease in the pants! LOVE, love, REally Love them.
Good job on your cabinets, but seriously, you really don’t have a lot of junk in your cabinets.. {heavy sigh} I am slightly afraid of mine, and afraid that the producer of Hoarders will call me if I actually tackle them.
Jules, only you could make a post about cleaning out kitchen cabinets and your closet interesting and funny! I love your writing!
Love the writing in this post. Love, love, love.
I switched to this sort of hangar last year and am so glad. I got mine at tjmaxx, cheap. Also some at target nearly the same blue. They do not leave creases and definitely are strong enough for denim. Keep up the good work; I may get inspired enough to tackle the stuff my daughters left in their closets when they left home.
I bought my Slimline hangers at TJ Maxx. They have the clip ones there as well, in corresponding colors. They don’t damage the clothes at all, and I’m verrrry picky.
This is the brand that I purchased — http://www.closetcomplete.com/
The dresses you wear to convince your husband to go to Ikea on a weekend? You crack me up! This may just be the best part of my day (and I am writing from a bus I have been waiting for more than 20 minutes)
Ha ha, you know how to make the 31 days fun! Thanks to an earlier post of you, I have replaced my hangers and do now love the look of my closet.