CLOSET: THE GOOD, BAD, AND SMELLY

One thing we liked about this house was the closet in the master bedroom. (Actually, it connects to the master bathroom, but who's keeping score?) To us, it is huge--4 feet by 12 feet. I don't know if we've ever shared a closet before. If we did, it was more than ten years ago. And, now, we both fit in the closet. It's amazing.

However, the closet, as it was, was a little rustic and didn't optimize the 48 square feet. There was one long 11+ foot pipe for hanging clothes, and some long shelves. There were a million tie/belt holders. And, there was some ugly, old carpet. The walls are a chipboard cedar.

ugly carpet

looooong pipe for hanging

shelves

shoe shelves, tie racks

So, for my birthday, I asked for a closet system and I got one. We bought parts from the ALGOT system from Ikea. And here's how it's looking now.

I really like it. We had a couple of install issues though. First, we couldn't figure out how to put the brackets in. (You have to remove the plastic first.) And, then, there was the time I tried to move my shelves and hanging rods up to the top spot on the wall support and the whole thing crashed down on me. (So, FYI, you cannot use the top slot in the wall support if you've used the horizontal hanging bars.) But, after lots of moving bits around to get it just right, we were able to fit everything back in and then some. I'm really pleased with it and only somewhat terrified that it will fall on me again.

As you can see, we pulled up the carpet and found a plywood subfloor. We thought, "Oh, cool. We'll just paint that, throw a rug down, and call it done." The subfloor was clean and smooth. It's a closet--who needs a fancy floor. Well...that was before we spent ten hours in the closet and we discovered that the floor was just plain stanky (stinky + skanky). I can't describe the smell exactly but it's leathery, sweaty, and metallic. Todd thinks it smells like feet. It's awful. (See the candle in the picture above? We were trying to de-stink the place.)

So, the next day I primed the floor hoping that it would seal in any odors. It didn't.

Today I bought some closet deodorizers. I really hope that helps. I think our next options are to put another floor down--maybe laminate? or a sheet of vinyl? Or, we've got to pry up that stinky plywood and hope that the wood floor underneath that is solid and non-smelly. Or, put down a new subfloor. I don't like these options. Stay tuned.

STITCHED

So, let me begin by noting that B is 8 1/2 and S is 6 1/2 and neither have had a stitch, break, or sprain...until now. So, that's a combined 15 years of parenting. Not too shabby, right?

One morning last week, B stepped out of the car for school and slipped immediately on the ice. His feet went back and he went forward. His hands went down, but not fast enough. He banged his chin and broke it open.

So, we started our day at the ER. B was a champ. The doc put in three stitches and then cut one out--I believe this still counts as three stitches--and B didn't make a peep. So brave! (Someone--I won't name names--nearly passed out and maybe, just maybe, ran into a post in the parking lot at the hospital that morning. Whoops!)