Small Space Organizing: My Bro's Apartment

I only have one sibling, and that is a younger brother, Patrick.  Growing up, we didn't always get along... in fact, if you would have asked me in my later teen years, I would have said that he was quite obnoxious.  Four years separate us so his purpose was to drive me crazy, bug my friends and I, listen in on phone conversations while randomly pushing buttons, read my private journals, etc...  But isn't that what all younger brothers are supposed to do? 

Then, we grew up, got older and did our own things...  Not living with one another sure brought us closer and helped us appreciate one another more.

So, when my bro let me know that he was heading back to school, and just got his very own single apartment, I couldn't wait to give him a hand getting settled in.

College kids aren't always blessed with fabulous incomes, high end living or endless amounts of time to work on their spaces {well, some are I suppose... but that is not the case with this post today}.  In fact, my brother has a very limited income, a pet who he considers his best friend and he is ready to study and begin his second year of school full time.  That meant finding a super inexpensive apartment that would allow for him leave our parent's nest and to move in with his dog.  With limited time and money, he found a place to call his own for the next year, and once he moved in boxes upon boxes of belongings, he was a little overwhelmed with what to do next....

The apartment was a small space in the upstairs of a very very old home.  Un-level wood floors, plaster walls, outdated appliances and no separate bedroom ... The perfect candidate for my brother, and a makeover!

A makeover on a budget with a little saved up cash, hand me downs from his big sis, a kind sponsor {more on that later} and a landlord that gave us the thumbs up to paint.

But before we could get started with the projects and painting, we had to have a plan.  My brother moved in everything he has accumulated since he was born.  That is right, my parents sent him off with boxes upon boxes of items from his childhood, including race tracks, board games, a bin of collected rocks {true story}, Matchbox cars and Lincoln Logs.  YAY for my parents having the ability to say goodbye of the things they don't want cluttering up their home... boo to the fact that they ended up in the super small apartment.

Of course, these photos make for super fabulous before pictures, but this is what it was.  It is a true vision of what happens when there are no effective storage pieces in place, no planned layout, an overwhelming feeling and too many things in too small of a space.

Let's chat about time.  When I returned back from our family vacation, my brother let me know he was going to start school exactly a week later.  And we both agreed, that in order for him to thrive and get off to a great start, that the apartment should be done.  Cleaned, purged, organized, painted and put back together.  Not an easy task, we would need a little help.  So, I called in my handy hubs to help, and my parents to play with the kiddos so we could tackle the space in fast forward mode.  That is tip number one when tackling any project of this magnitude: Don't do it alone.  Ask friends and family to help in any way they can, it is far less overwhelming that way.

The first couple of hours that we got together, we purged down majority of the boxes to just the basics.   At first, he had a hard time saying goodbye to things.  Then, he wanted to sell everything.  It took some convincing to remind him that this was not only a fresh start, but also a small place.  That majority of the boxes contained items he hadn't seen in years, and would be OK without.  That selling everything would be an extremely time consuming process, and that with school quickly approaching, it may be a better idea to sell some of the larger items that had a little value {his extra TV, some extra seating, etc...}, and donate the rest.  He came around.  When my hubs and I left the first day, we told him that he had three days to get through every. single. box.  Tip number two: Be realistic about your time.  Purge items in a way that makes sense and set time limits and goals.

Once items were purged, my brother and I worked over the phone to determine the remaining storage needs, and planned a shopping trip as a bit of a reward for all of the hard work.  Items we addressed: bedding, a work area, clothing storage, media storage and a few finishing touches.  This of course, is always my favorite part.  Tip number three: Reward your efforts.  Whether a trip to a local frozen yogurt joint or a shopping trip for a few new items, that hard work purging and condensing deserves a high five!

Although we did a bit of shopping, we also had to be resourceful.  Remember, we had a limited budget.  We used hand-me-downs, many of his existing furniture pieces, some inexpensive purchases and had very limited time to get uber creative {so not much time to scour thrift stores for the perfect pieces, etc...}  Of course, I always love a makeover that is magazine and drool worthy, but this is real life stuff and was intended to be practical and useful.

His landlord was a peach and said we could paint!  This was music to my ears, as I knew it would instantly give the place a fresh face lift.

And now for the magical blog after pictures.  After a combined 18 hours of work over four different visits, here is what we ended up with:

It was important for me to create a defined entry.  I added hooks for his pup's belongings, re-purposed his existing dresser by adding a fresh coat of paint {leftover from my lower level walls} to create shoe and snowboarding gear storage, gave him some hooks for his backpack and jacket, some lighting, a mirror to not only reflect in some light, but to also act as a quick place to check himself out before heading to school, and a place to manage some paper clutter such as mail and magazines {please ignore the fact that my hubster mis-measured the magazine holder, it was late, he was tired, and we decided it wasn't worth new holes}.

The tray was a simple white platter that received some vinyl love to bring in a smidge of color.

The entry opens into his kitchen, which was originally the dumping ground for the majority of his belongings.

In this room, I started out by priming and painting his previous oak table.  The legs are the same leftover basement wall paint that I also used on the entry dresser {Behr's Reflecting Pool} and the top is chalkboard paint.  His favorite colors are black and blue, so I made sure to bring those colors in as often as possible, and no more fun way to go with black, than by using chalkboard paint!

Although in the photos, the table is designed for a quick bite of breakfast or dinner, I imagine him also being able to invite some friends over for games, and using the chalkboard tabletop as an awesome built in way to keep score...

The back corner seemed to be lacking in storage, so I added a floating shelf {also landlord approved, it's always important to check into that before just assuming}.

The shelf and brackets were just a couple of dollars from IKEA, and really use the wall space nicely.  The below curtain was my quickie no-sew way of using some of our leftover fabric {from the boy's headboard project}, to conceal his oversized vacuum.

Of course, I wanted to paint the cabinets and add a tile backsplash, but he will most likely only be living there a year and it is a rental, so I had to be selective about how I spent his money.

Another inexpensive shelf above the sink added some additional storage, as did adding a rail to hang his utensils {to free up some counter space}.  Sometimes, the small touches, like the soap dispenser, make the biggest differences.

The apartment has two big areas, the kitchen/dining/entry, and a bedroom/office/living room.

When he moved in, he popped his bed up on slats that were too m m long, used childhood bedding and had a garment rack to store his clothing.  After I got my paws on the space, he was left with an armoire closet, a workspace and some inexpensive bedding that made a world of difference!

The armoire was actually this one from IKEA, and I will be sure to do another post on how we gave it a bit of a face lift, but the front was covered in chalkboard paint to give him a place to jot down his weekly notes and schedule.  This was a key element for me to address since being a college student requires you to remember so many things, and be in so many places {or keep track of all those dates right?!}

Since we found a small parson's desk {$50 from Walmart}, another cheapo shelf from IKEA above, doubled his surface/storage space.  The top shelf is great for holding all of his school books, allowing him to use the desk for homework.

The bed is on risers to allow for him to gain even more storage.  That meant that the few things that did stay, were able to be tucked under his bed, and also stashed in a few bins that were stacked and now double as a hidden nightstand for his lamp {which was a spray painted hand-me-down}.

The bedding was $25 from Target and the throw pillow was a bit of a splurge at around $15, but it made a great deal of difference and added in some nice color.  I was quite happy that they had a lot of back-to-college sales and deals. 

On the other side of the room, he had some hand-me-down lamps and lacked electronic storage...

The chest of drawers was found on sale at Kirklands and was the perfect "manly" addition, and now houses all of his electronics, movies and games.  I think it is by far our favorite item in the whole apartment.

Kirkland's actually worked with me to help "Ace His Space", and sponsored a few of the purchases, including the chest of drawers, more on that in an upcoming post so stay tuned for that and an awesome giveaway coming soon!

There were so many challenges to this space, like baseboard heaters {which can be turned on individually so there is no worrying about the electronics against the one wall}, the lack of built in storage {zero closets in this space}, un-level floors and walls {everything had to be shimmed}, a total of two rooms to act as five different types of spaces {kitchen, dining, office, bedroom and living room} but in the end, it all pulled together.  Whew.

The most important part of the process was to be able to provide him with items that he would be able to continue to take with him place after place.  Paint was the only thing we did that can't move with him in the future, and that was kindly reimbursed by the landlord.

So, that is what I was up to last week.  How about you?  Anyone do a complete space overhaul in a very short amount of time or have a pesky younger sibling that you would now doing anything for?  What other tips do you have for small space living or organized college life?