our closet

This year we are hosting Thanksgiving. Our parents, along with Christopher's sister and her family, are coming up from Philadelphia for the event. There will be about 10 adults, plus Christopher's nephew who is 3.

In anticipation of our guests, we have started cleaning. We aren't the neatest or most pristine people. Papers tend to litter the floor, scarves and hats are on the dining table, along with 2 months' worth of mail, and you can see clumps of Dinah's fur in the corner. It's pretty gross.

Part of our problem is that we don't have enough storage space. There are boxes stacked in the den, still unpacked from our move a year ago. There is a pile of books next to my desk.

If you've been to our apartment, you might have noticed our tall ceilings, which extend into the closets. But most of the closets only have one shelf, leaving about 3 or 4' of empty space above. So, in order to get the clutter out of our rooms, we want to put in extra shelves. Yesterday we installed one, in our entry closet. I measured and cut support boards and installed them. And then I spent about 1/2 an hour trying to get the shelf to fit. Because our building is so old there are very few right angles. The back of the closet is about an inch narrower than the front, and I had to cut the shelf accordingly. (This is why installing the shelves is taking us so long.)Once that was done, Christopher painted the inside of the closet, which had been covered with multiple scuff marks and yellowing paint. He did a great job, don't you think?