He's a genius

Did you know Stefan has genius genes? (Gives me hope for any kids we may one day have!) I just have to be a proud wife and post a before/during shot of our new 'closet'. The final 'after' shot will take a while because it involves finding a person with a sewing machine and time, but we'll let you know.

First you see a photo of our front hall, complete with funky crooked niche where previous renters had just slapped up a few hooks and called it the coat rack. What they did with all their other coats, or even just hats, gloves, scarves, etc. is beyond me. It was also beyond me what WE would do since of course this typical German apartment came with not one single closet!

After spending what seemed like forever at the local Obi (like Home Depot for you Americans) and getting frustrated with the lack of supplies available for this particular project, Stefan ventured into a true Ikea-Hack zone. (click here for a look at what an Ikea Hack is, pretty creative) We got a wooden closet bar from the wardrobe series from Ikea's Komplement system, he sawed down one end, put the dowel back in it's Ikea brackets, and hung it in the niche. Then we bought the cheapie wooden shoe rack they had and put it on the bottom. So you see the results to date in the next picture.

The final phase of this project will be hanging a simple pine shelf cut to fit the angles, mounted with basic brackets. Then, on the underside of the shelf, he will attach a track-curtain system from Ikea, sawed down to size. I got the easy part and picked some cheap fabric from Ikea's fabric section and we'll hopefully have a friend sew it up all curtain-esque-like.

So, once again, it's a fabulous blessing that we have access to all of Stefan's parent's tools. We'd never be able to hang a thing on our solid brick/concrete walls without this baby (the bear of course, not the bolt hammer!)