A few weeks ago, I shared our plans to give our closet a complete overhaul, and tear out the old non-functioning closet and install an IKEA PAX Closet. The Friday before New Year’s Eve, we headed to IKEA with our shopping list in hand and brought home roughly 30+ flat pack boxes which as thrilling and crazy, know that inside each box contained an IKEA puzzle! Our Sacramento IKEA is set-up where you create a shopping list online with all the items you need for your closet, and then head to the store and see a sales associate and they print you out an order number and list and then take it to the cashier to purchase and then pick up the items. The process was so smooth and a huge timesaver! We didn’t have to pull any items ourselves, everything was perfectly loaded up, and this feature was free! I think we waited about 15 mins to receive our items. I’m not sure how other IKEA Store is set-up, but from reading lots of blog posts about the process, it seems that you pull your items from the colossal warehouse.

OUR IKEA PAX HAUL

I was so excited to get home and tear everything out! But, we still had a closet full of miscellaneous crap that needed to be sorted and tossed. Over time our closet became a dumping ground for stuff, a place to stash things. I used to open the door and full-on cringe. The closet gave me anxiety, and for the longest time, I felt stuck. Like there would never be a solution. After looking for closet options, I quickly landed on the IKEA PAX closet; I loved the design style of the PAX, how customizable each unit can be and its affordable price point. With some planning, I knew we could maximize our small closet and get the most bang for our buck!

Read more about the design process for our closet here.

Building Our PAX Closet

After removing all the stuff from our closet, we got to work. We wanted the units to fit flush to our walls, so we removed the baseboards and set them aside.

Seeing our closet empty felt incredible and exciting! As you can see in the photos below, we were totally under-utilizing our space.

We stored all the IKEA PAX boxes in our garage and only brought in one box at a time; this helped from feeling overwhelmed with the number of boxes. We gathered our tools and got to work building the small cabinets first. We followed the directions and quickly realized due to space on constraints it made more sense to build the cabinets standing up. Without a doubt, the building of the PAX closet is a two person, sometimes three person job! Some parts of the process can be done alone, for example, I built all the drawers myself while watching TV.

Tips on Building IKEA PAX Closets

Follow the directions closely and take your time!
Build the smallest PAX frame first; it will help when you tackle the larger sizes
Determine if the unit should be built laying down or standing up
When installing drawers in the units, start from the bottom up, it makes the process easier

Overall it took us around three days to build the frames; we had family in town on New Years weekend, so we never had a chance to dedicate an entire day to building. After we built each unit was built, we placed the frame in place. Building Our PAX Closet

After removing all the stuff from our closet, we got to work. We wanted the units to fit flush to our walls, so we removed the baseboards and set them aside. We stored all the IKEA pax boxes in our garage and only brought in one box at a time; this helped from feeling overwhelmed with the number of boxes. We gathered our tools and got to work building the small cabinets first. We followed the directions and quickly realized due to space on constraints it made more sense to build the cabinets standing up. Without a doubt, the building of the pax closet is a two person, sometimes three person job! Some parts of the process can be done alone, for example, I built all the drawers myself while watching TV.

After getting the units fully installed, I re-painted the inside of the closet. Giving the closet a nice freshening up.

OUR IKEA PAX CLOSET INSTALLED

I’m so happy with how our closet is coming together, the drawers and shelves were super simple to install. We learned when installing the drawers, its best to start from the bottom and work your way up. As a reminder, Hasani prefers to hang most of his clothes, in his PAX unit we installed double rods. He has an upper shelf for hats and sweaters. His smaller cabinet has four drawers and four shelves, giving him ample storage.

My IKEA PAX side. I have four drawers in my larger unit and a pull out drawer for accessories and one hanging rod. My plan is to fold most of my clothing. My small has three shelves for my shoes and one hanging rod for coats and dresses.

We’re nearing the home stretch and a few items on our list to check off, below is what’s left on our project list.

Install Baseboards
Replace light fixture with something fun, maybe a sputnik light?
Find storage cubes for open shelves
Find a full length mirror for back wall in the closet, I really want get dressed in our closet so a full length mirror is a must. I like this one from Target
Add organizers in my top drawer where my under garments will reside, so everything stays nice and tidy

While its tempting to fill our closer right back-up, we want to be thoughtful about how we organize it and make sure the clothes we keep, ‘spark joy’ Did you notice my reference to the new Netflix Show Tidying Up? I have her book, pretty much skimmed through it. But thanks to the TV, her method totally clicked, when it came to going through our clothes once again! We’re slowly in the process of putting our clothing back into our closet.

In the next couple of weeks, I up to share our master bedroom closet reveal! It totally feels like a brand new space. I’m loving all the storage we have and how much space we have! What do you think our closet makeover so far?

This post is sponsored by Opendoor. All opinions are my own.

setting goals in the new year with intention.png

Happy New Year! There’s something so freeing and exciting about a new year, and looking back on the past year, the memories and focus where you want to put your energy in the upcoming year. I love taking some time towards the end of the year to reflect and start thinking ahead on how I want the next 365 days of the year to go. Professional and personally 2018, was a happy year for me. I had so many amazing memories and started some mid-year resolutions that I want to take with me into 2019 and add more intention behind them to expand them and my personal goals stronger and more focused.

Setting resolutions for the upcoming year can be exciting, but the shine of starting anew can quickly fade away. I’ve learned over time that when I set goals with a plan of action, that’s doable it's easy for me to stick with them. I’ve partnered with Opendoor, to share my three New Year’s resolutions for 2019 that I created with intention and share my goals for how I intend to stay on track!

BE MORE FINANCIALLY SAVVY

I feel like the first of the year is a great time to focus on getting and staying financially on track. Just like the old saying goals, at the start of the year bump-up your 401K. I think the same applies to a personal savings account. Last year my husband and I opened a savings account dedicated to traveling and home expenses. We want to travel more as a couple and as a family and know that if we make it our goal to save up for vacations over the year vs. having an ‘idea’ of upcoming vacations costs or being tempted to use credit cards we’ll save faster and have the money ready when we spot a good deal. We decided to put a percentage of each of our paychecks into a savings account, basically like a 401K for our vacations and big-ticket household expenses or purchases. A portion of our savings is allocated to home savings and home repairs and the rest for vacations.

We did a ‘set it and forget’ and have the money automatically deposited into our savings account. Now that in the New Year is upon us, we’re bumping up the percentage we’ve been saving each paycheck. With every deposit, our account is growing, and it feels good! I’m so happy we now have dedicated savings for our vacations and home expenses. This account helped with our upcoming trip to London and Dublin in March! We’re already planning our next family vacation later this year since. I love being able to forecast and plan our expenses ahead of time.

Also, I want to focus and be more mindful of spending. One of the splurges I’ve decided to cut back on is my lattes out. I love having my morning latte, and I’ve gotten into a bad habit of grabbing one at the local coffee spot each morning on my way to work instead of making them at home. I’m also guilty of doing this on weekends! Instead of going cold turkey, I’ve decided to cut back and only indulge in two lattes out a week. One on Monday morning, because Mondays are hard and enjoy just one on weekends. I did the math; I’ll likely spend around $ 27.00 bucks a week on lattes! I like the idea of cutting back, so I don’t feel deprived, and take the money I’m savings and save it!

I’m also decided to do less mindless shopping both on the internet and in person. Going forward, I’m only going to Target when I need something and stick to my list vs. wandering down every aisle to look. I think we’ve all be there!

HOME GOALS, SIMPLIFY

One of my most significant resolutions of 2019, is getting our home organized and simplified. I love my small house; I love how welcoming it feels when walking through the door. But as far as my home being organized, it could be so much better. Living in just around 1200 sq feet with my family of four and our Labrador can be changeling managing all the stuff. My goal is to work on areas of my home where its lacking in storage, get those areas organized and go through everything and donate items we no longer need vs. creating more piles of stuff.

I want our small home to be clutter-free. Each month, I intend to tackle an area starting with our closets and them moving into my kitchen and opening up cabinets and purging all the duplicates and including cookbooks I don’t use!

Also on the home front, we’ve also been toying with the idea of selling our current home and buying another older home that needs some love. We love projects! We love the small footprint of our home and imagine our next house will be a little bigger. We want a family room and living room, just one of those things I’ve been thinking about. The thought of selling our house, getting it ready for showings seems so daunting and time-consuming. As a busy mom, I love how Opendoor has simplified the home-buying and selling process. They’re new to Sacramento and also operate in almost 20 metro areas nationwide. I can remember the buying process of our home was a massive rollercoaster of emotions. When you sell to Opendoor they buy your home directly from you, so you can skip the hassle of having to get your home ready for multiple showings. As a busy mom of two, the idea of having my house always ‘picture perfect’ for showings would be so stressful. I've heard from many of my friends who've gone through the process and say its a huge inconvenience.

Plus, there’s the added stress of finding your next home and being scared your offer might be rejected based on the contingency of selling your current home. With Opendoor you can sell your existing home with confidence, receive a competitive price and then become a non contingent buyer on your next home. They can also offer you a fast closing date or an extended close so you can time your move perfectly. When we do decide to sell our home and move to our next house, I’m excited about taking this new approach to the selling and buying process to eliminate the stress.

CONTINUE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE GOALS

In April of last year, I started a weight loss program and I love the results of my hard work. I made sure to make good choices each day and increase my, and the effort has paid off. This year my goal is to tighten up my efforts and continue you to track what I’m eating, it's so easy to get derailed around the Holidays with all the food and sweets. I realized writing down what I’m eating has been a massive part of my success, it makes me more mindful, and I’m less likely to eat unhealthy food.

I’m a huge fan of tracking my daily steps and daily active minutes, the more activity I get in every day the better I feel, which all leads to weight loss. I use a Fitbit to track my daily steps and decided at the beginning for each quarter; I would increase my daily goal steps between 250 - 500. On New Year’s Day, I raised my daily step goal an extra 500. I think increasing the daily step goal each quarter will help me stay mindful of getting my steps in!

In addition, I plan to pack my lunch every day which will be good for my budget and good for my health. I love how this goal also ties into my goal to be more financially savvy when it comes to my finances. At home, I want to try meal planning every week, that way I’m not tempted to grab something quick to for dinner. I’ll know every day what’s for dinner, I plan to include my husband and kids in the process, so we’re all on the same page!

I’m so excited about this upcoming year and creating goals for the New Year with intention and make plans to stick with them. When writing my resolutions for 2019 down, I realized they all had a common relationship, to be more mindful: on spending money, on keeping my home organized and continue to focus on sticking to my healthy lifestyle.

What are some of your New Year's resolutions for 2019?