I say 1.5 because it still needs to be painted and refloored, as part of the kitchen. But this was a small project I could tackle this  week, so I did.

Here’s the before (literally, when we were still shopping the house, before we even decided to buy it):

Those are some sweet ’60′s vinyl accordion doors, with gold flecks. They are in less-than-mint condition, with some of the screws holding them into to the walls just baaaarely hanging on. Here’s the shelving with all the cleaning products left behind by the former owner:

So, what I did is a little bit of reorganizing with some baskets I already owned (although I was tempted to buy cute new ones!), I took down the accordion doors, patched the holes left behind (in anticipation of painting), and put up the curtain rod and curtains.

First let me apologize for the terrible pictures. I’m no photographer.

The curtains, from Ikea, are a heavy twill in a bleached shade, with thick-n-thin dark gray stripes. It might not look spectacular with the linoleum floor, but I’m planning on getting rid of that as soon as is possible with my schedule.

Top left is a plastic basket from Target with the heavy-duty cleaning stuff (like for bathrooms & kitchen). Top right holds cleaning rags, actual rags from cut-up old towels and such. The basket on the bottom right holds tablecloths, kitchen towels and dishcloths. As in, dear husband, what you don’t use to wipe up cat vomit or scrub the floor. Darling husband.

We have two different shelves in the bathroom, one for our regular daily towels, and one for the guests. It just seems normal to me to keep a set that is as nice as possible for when people do stay over. Anyway, both sets are white because I like to be able to bleach bathroom linens on occasion. But they have very different banding patterns! Heh, not something my darling, darling husband would notice. So, to train him which shelf to use, I put painter’s tape in an X across the guest shelf and left it taped off for a couple months. It worked.

Heh, anyway, more shots.

Iron holder from Ikea. I love it because its all metal, so you can put a hot iron back into it. Which is good for a house of klutzes and cats. The bit I have the cord wrapped around can also be used to hold an actual ironing board. Our house came with an ironing board (from the 50′s!) and a holder in the den closet, so I didn’t move it.

The basket crammed in the top left corner has more cleaning-related stuff like those toilet bowl drops, scrubby pads, etc. Just below it is a similar basket with those reusable shopping bags, such as the Big Blue Ikea bags I always have to buy since I can’t ever remember to bring my own. On the far left, stuffed full of plastic grocery bags, is a little holder we got at Ikea a while ago, we reuse those bags to pick up dog poo on walks. Next to it are my blue rubber cleaning gloves. I hang them like that to dry. The Tide bottle is filled with gooey, slimy homemade laundry soap, which is really fun to make.

Last snap:

Its a magnetic hook (provenance forgotten) with a mesh laundry sack. I fill it with used discloths and kitchen towels between loads, so they can get some air and not get manky in a regular hamper.

I’m pleased with what I was able do with a $20 pair of curtains, a rod and baskets I already owned. Oh, yeah, I had to buy some drywall anchors, another $3. I would very much like to paint and re-floor, and maybe get some magazine quality matchy-matchy baskets up there. But for now, its way better and I am pleased.