IKEA Expedit: Sneaking a Peek Inside

So many wonderful Before and Afters were shared for yesterday's Met Monday!  I haven't made my way through all of them yet, but I the ones I have visited were fabulous!

Yesterday I shared an update in the office...new buffalo check curtains.  Thanks so much for all your wonderful, much appreciated  comments on that post!  You made my day!

IKEA Expedit:

Today I thought I'd take you into the office closet and give you a peek into how I'm using the IKEA Expedit I WILLED into that closet a while back.  I say "willed" because I still can't believe I actually got it in there!  I think Houdini would have been impressed. :)

You may remember the closet looked like this prior to its renovation.  Am I really showing you this picture???  Embarrassing!   Magazines and catalogs were on the floor along with, left over paint and painting equipment from when I painted the office.  Miscellaneous camera boxes, trash bags and printer paper were tossed onto the only shelf in this non-functioning, inefficient closet.  I so badly wanted to use an Expedit unit from IKEA in this space but the Expedit was pretty much the exact same size as the closet with only 3/4 of an inch to spare!

But I pulled a Samantha, wiggled my nose Bewitched style and made it work.

A few days later I drove back down to IKEA and purchased 4 more of the Pjas baskets.  I really liked how it looked with two rows of baskets.   The bottom shelf was reserved for holding all my past issues of Traditional Home Magazine.  I have them dating all the way back to 1992.  I love all those old issues and just can't part with them.  Traditional Home and Colonial Homes are the two magazines I've kept the old issues from all these years.

Little story...many, many years ago I loaned a big stack (8-10) Traditional Home magazines to a friend who wanted to borrow them.  After about 4 or 5 months, I casually asked about them.  Showing zero regret, she told me her hubby had thrown them all out, thinking they were just a pile of old magazines.  I didn't say anything and we remained friends.  It certainly wasn't worth losing a friend over.  It took a while but I gradually replaced them as I found them on eBay.  Lesson learned...best not to loan out books or magazines you can't easily replace if they become lost.  Or, get tossed out.

Today, I thought I'd share how I'm using the Expedit.  It has already changed a bit just since I took these pics.  The top of the Expedit is low enough to make a convenient shelf for a shorty like me.  Residing on the top are the old office TV, a couple of camera bags, a globe from the days when the office was a kid's room  and various other miscellaneous items.

The top row of cubbies holds magazines and catalogs waiting to be read, sorted and recycled.  The next cubbie often holds a camera lens I've recently used and haven't yet put away.  Envelops were in the next cubbie when I took these pics...they are now in a basket below.  The last spot holds a leather portfolio I often take along to camera club or blogging meetings for note taking.  It's leaning against a neat little greeting card storage box...more on that in a sec.

Have I mentioned how "fragrant" these Pjas baskets are?  Wooo, weee!  When the closet door is closed for a while and you open it, you definitely get a whiff of a super earthy, something-another smell.  It's hard to describe.  Actually, the label that came on them said they are made from banana fibers.

I've been leaving the closet door open more and it's much better now.  You probably wouldn't notice it if the unit was in an open room, but cooped up in a small closet, banana fibers are strong!  lol  It's not a bad smell, just different.  Fortunately, it's getting better.

Okay, starting from the left side, the first basket just holds printer paper.  Looks like it's time to buy more.  (The lens cap is there to give the camera something to focus on.  It was struggling with white paper.)

In the basket below the paper you'll find supplies like trash bags, tissue, light bulbs, batteries and little chair feet pads.  This is exciting stuff now...are you dozing off?  Wake up! ;)

The next basket over on the top row holds all my camera lenses.  This has really worked out well because I can just grab the basket and carry it downstairs whenever I want to have all the lenses with me, wherever I happen to be working.

The basket below holds various camera/lens boxes.

Another basket contains a few crafting supplies.

One holds various left-over parts/instructions that came with the furniture and shelving here in the office and closet.  There's some additional colored paper below it.

Another basket holds my old Olympus camera and other helpful "photography" related goodies.

And there's an empty basket...just waiting for something. Actually, I put the large mailing envelopes that were previously in an open cubicle in here just a few days ago.

Remember the little greeting card holder we saw earlier on the top open cubby?

It's by Hallmark and it's a great way to store greeting cards you find/collect for family and friends.  Yep, snail mail...remember that?  Nothing can replace getting a card or letter in the mail. Email just doesn't create the same excitement finding a pretty colored envelop inside your mailbox does.  I think I'll send someone a card this week, just for fun.

So, that's how I'm using the miracle Expedit.  Check out this post and you'll know why I call it that!
IKEA Expedit Hack...Making It Work!

Pssst: Winners of our recent giveaway from Fish Foam were announced on the Giveaway Post today. Stop by to see if you won.