Hall Closet Re-Do

Have a new and functional closet at no cost!  Watch how I reuse and repurpose things around the house in order to create a fully functioning space that can fit your needs.

This is my hallway closet.  I guess people typically store coats, vacuums and what not.  I don't know, we've always had a mishmash of things.  I had the desire to have this closet house our daily worn coats.  Sounds silly, but our coats tend to land on the backs of the dinning room chairs.  This has been a completely wasted area in my house.  Clearly a bunch of stuff just tossed in here on the floor.  So I cleaned it up, and took out everything that already had a home elsewhere in the house (ex:  wrapping paper goes upstairs).  I left everything else, and just re-ordered it a bit.  

There is now space to hang coats/and guests coats.  I took this picture after I removed about 7 sweatshirts that no longer fit anyone living in the house (off to goodwill they go).  

My daughters old hanging closet organizer now houses my random collection of bags, including the reusable ones for the grocery store, book bags, and totes.

The file boxes and computer paper box contains old and current items to be filed or shredded.  Thats a whole other project.  

This closet re-do cost me $0!  I just looked around the house for items that weren't being used anymore and re-purposed them.  More to come, check out my closet re-do for my clothes.

DIY Tissue Roll

The "toddler" has her first cold ever!  So it's been a really interesting week of whining, crying, and snotty noses.  I am one of those people who refuse to buy a box of tissues.  Why?  They always run out, and you end up using toilet paper anyway.  Whats the point?  So I will have a random roll of toilet paper in my bedroom (at all times) to use for tissues.  Well with Miss Li being sick, I need to be able to have my "roll of tissues" in other rooms as well.  I'm not  that tacky, I don't have a roll of toilet paper chillin in the living room.  So how could I use my roll of toilet paper, but have it look as nice as some of those fancy designed tissue boxes in the stores, all while maintiaining its function as a box of tissues would?  Well, I have used the age old design of a crochet or knit toilet paper holder, and am using it as my tissue box, or tissue cover.  You know what I mean.  Here are the details:

I crocheted a simple flat circle, and made it the diameter of my toilet paper.  I always buy Scott 1000 roll, or the generic Scott, so my toilet paper is always the same size.  I then finished the cover by "working in a round" (crochet talk) and stopped at the desired length.  

You then need to get your toilet paper, and remove the inner cardboard tube.

You may need to pinch the tube, and shimmy a little bit to completely get it out.

The toilet paper is actually attached to the carboard tube (naturally) when you pull it out, but no worries, that will be the start of your "tissues".

At this point you can cover your toilet paper with the crochet cover, and slip the toilet paper throught the hole on the top.

And now I have a "fancy" toilet-tissue paper holder!  Now, because the tissues are being pulled from the inside of the roll, the shape should stay pretty much the same, however I imagine that as the roll gets used more and more, eventually it will start to lose its shape (will keep you updated when I reach  the end of the roll).  But good news my friends, when and if that happens, I'll just slap that sucker in a bathroom for normal use.  Win win!  If you want more information on how I created the "cover" I can send you detailed instructions.