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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

DIY : Closet dividers



OMG SUPER HAPPY FUN TIME!

Just kidding. This was a quick project that helped tide me over for a day when I was really feeling the urge to do...SOMETHING...in her room.  But again, the dumb carpet is preventing me from doing anything, so this made do.

I used the instructions I found here:

http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/11/21/diy-closet-dividers/

Her pictures and organization are much better than mine. I did mine at night, in low light, with no flash and no white balance and super high ISO (hello, grain). And I didn't think to take pictures until I was halfway through with the project. I'd be a terrible Martha Stewart.

So this is what you get.

To start, you need SUPPLIES! I got them all at Hobby Lobby. I have no idea how much they cost because, again, DIY reporting FAIL. But it was cheap.

You need wooden letter "O"s. I think this is what I got, but I'm not positive. They came in two-packs. They were in the wooden letter section.  You're on your own for everything else.  I got six of them (three packages) because that's all that they had. I probably would have gotten eight if they'd had more in stock. I failed again because I forgot to take pictures of the package. But if you look at the GOOD instructions, you'll see a picture of exactly what I got. 

Why am I even bothering with this when I really should just point you there and be done with it? Sigh.

Anyway. You also need paper, brushes, Mod Podge, and number stickers.



And looking at this I realize that two of my papers are really close to two of her papers but I swear I didn't copy on purpose. Mine are...BETTER. Right.

Also she used flat stickers but I went 1000x more awesome-er and did 3D foam stickers. If you look the like of flat stickers better, do that, but you're not my friend anymore.


I actually think those would take paint pretty well if you didn't want just plain white.

Once you have your supplies assembled (step one)...and hopefully you are able to find sticker sheets with numbers on them way more quickly than I was, because it took forever and I was getting frustrated (hint: this is actually an alphabet sheet; the numbers were on the second sheet in the back not facing the customer)...you can begin.

Paint the backs of the letters (step two!).  I found while fondling the shapes that one side had slightly flatter edges and one side (which I assume is meant to be the front) had slightly rounded edges. I used my brains to surmise that it'd be easier to glue paper onto the flatter-edged side, so I actually painted the front of the letters, thus turning them into the back.  Honestly, you might not even notice a difference; it's pretty subtle and I might have been imagining things.

Paint!


As you can see, I went UBER fancy and did two different colors.  They match the nursery walls. I kind of wish I'd done yellow or something, but I went with the paint colors I had on hand.

It'd probably be faster to spray paint these.  Maybe for the second kid I'll be smarter. Doubtful.

Once they're painted, let them dry. Duh. Then use them as stencils and trace them onto the back of your paper (step three). Observe:


Note the X mark I made. I made a matching mark on the actual wooden O itself as well (on the not-painted side). Shockingly the shapes are not 100% symmetrical, so if you don't do that and one of them gets turned upside down, it might not fit exactly and you'll have trimming to do and/or gaps. Also, because of that you'll want to trace each letter separately instead of just tracing one letter six times.  

Cut out your pretty O shape from the pretty paper (step four).

Then coat the entire non-painted side of the wooden O with Mod Podge. Maybe it would be easier to coat the paper. I don't know. Either way you end up pretty much the same, with the cut-out shape glued to the wooden O (step five).


Once it's all nice and glued on there, add the sticker numbers (step six). I probably should have been more careful with my placement, but I just eyeballed it. You are probably a better person than I am and will take the time to make sure that they are precisely in the same place on each O.

I was struggling with how to break out the dividers.  Different clothing places use different sizes - for instance, some say 6-9 months. Some say 6-12 months. Some say 6, 9, and 12 months. So what do you do? If you do 6-9 months, where do you put the 6-12 months sizes? If you do 6-12 months, where do you put the 12 month sizes? And do 12 months sizes mean they fit until 12 months? Starting at 12 months? Only on the one specific day of the year that they are exactly 12 months?  Someone gave me a helpful breakdown of what worked for her, so that's what I went with [all the italics are her input, not mine]:

The 0-3 style sizing when it gives a range is pretty self explanatory, but people get confused when it just says "3 months."  For almost all clothing brands, "3 months" means 0-3, "6 months" means 3-6, etc. So when you see just a single digit, think of that as the largest size it will fit.  As an aside, kids are ALL OVER THE PLACE when it comes to sizing and when they fit those sizes, so this is just a breakdown of sizes, not the actual age that they will fit those sizes. 
  • NB
  • 0-3: I have 0-3, 3 month, and 0-6  together here (in my opinion 0-6 may last a little longer than 3 months but won't get you to 6 months)
  • 3-6: 3-6 and 6 months together here
  • 6-9: 6-9, 9 months and 6-12 together (again refer to logic for 0-6), 
  • 12 months: 12 month, 12-18, and 12-24 [rare, but I've seen it] here.  Keep in mind that many places stop doing #-# sizing at 12 months, which is why it's just 12 month instead of 9-12 months.  However, think of it as 9-12, so these are the clothes you'd move to after 6-9 have stopped fitting.
  • 18 months: 12-18 and 18 month here. Again, think of this as 12-18.
  • 24 months: 18-24, 24 month and 2T here. Think of this as 18-24. 
[UPDATE FROM ME: If I was doing this again, I'd probably label them 9-12 instead of 12, 12-18 instead of 18, and 18-24 instead of 24, with a new 2T/24 month divider added. Also, if you're curious as to the difference between 18-24, 24, and 2T, what I've found/learned is that 18-24 can be a bit smaller than 24 month but just barely, and in many brands is the same. 24 month sizes are still cut to accomodate diapers and usually have snaps at the crotch, etc. 2T sizes are cut to accomodate underwear and are therefore slimmer cut. 2T is usually longer in the arms and legs as well.]

Since she's birthed a child through her actual vagina before I'm going with her experience. Maybe it's not how the clothing sizes broke down for you, but if so I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT since these are already done and I'm not going to do them again.

As you can see, that's SEVEN divisions and I only had SIX letters. Foiled by Hobby Lobby's pitiful stocking practices. But then I had a moment of brilliance (rare) and realized that the NB one would only be used for a month or so before we'd be packing those clothes away and starting with the 0-3 month sizes, so I made the NB divider a dual divider that can be moved to the end and used for 24 month stuff at that point.  Just put the "24" on the other side, upside down. If you have a small closet space, you could actually do this for all of them and only have three or so sizes of clothes hanging at any given time.

See?


Also pictured there are steps...um, I lost track of the steps. But the next 100 steps. Coat the entire thing in Mod Podge. Inside, outside, painted side, glued side, numbers, everything. I did like six coats. I liked how it looked all shiny and pretty and smooth. You don't have to do that many. If you suck. I also did a couple extra coats on the inside of the O for extra protection since that would be the part sliding against the closet rod (mind, gutter, OUT).


Strew your what are now obviously closet dividers and not wooden Os all over the place to dry between coats. 

Then you're done!

Ohhh, pretty!


"0-3" is my favorite but don't tell the others that. 

Then hang them in the closet.



Try not to notice that "12" seems a bit drunk and lopsided.  Be relieved when you realize it's just not hanging right and that you didn't actually mess up the numbers that badly.

Revel in your power over Mod Modge and paper and wooden numbers. Thusly you have created greatness.  Bask in the fact that all of the 12 and 18 month clothes are hidden in an under bed storage bag so your husband doesn't realize how many clothes this little girl actually has already and take away your credit card.

Wish for a glass of wine.

Hope the baby likes it when she gets here, in all her newborn judgementalness (are you sure judgementalness is not a word, spell-check? I'm pretty sure it's a word).

Not be sure how to end this post, so just keep adding random sentences until everyone awkwardly shuffles away from your blog...

5 comments:

  1. Not only are those adorable, but I'm pretty sure I need you to narrate many more parts of your life so that I can enjoy it. Just saying!

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  2. OMG Lara, you crack me up. i wonder if you have more clothes for your baby than I had for Cailin. I'm guessing you do... I didn't buy 12and 18 mos stuff that far ahead.I didn't know how big she was going to be or how fast she'd grow.
    I like the 18 mos one the best. I love dots ;)
    I'm so excited to meet this little girl!

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  3. Ha, Temple. I actually had a bunch of gender-neutral stuff in smaller sizes from Caleb (hand me downs and a few things I got myself) so I've been trying not to buy that stuff. Plus apparently when you have a shower people tend to get you NB and 0-3 stuff. So when I feel the urge to shop, I try to get bigger non-season-specific cloths. She really doesn't have THAT much, maybe six things in each size. :)

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  4. My friends has some of these. They introduced it first to me.


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