Keep it on the Downlow: Hiding Unsightlyness

As much as I love the idea of real life Catalog Living, it just isn’t possible for me. I know that somewhere within these catalog houses there is a closet filled with old skii equipment, an attic stuffed with MVP trophies, a secret dungeon filled with tax returns from the 1970s onward (some of these catalog people are definitely wealthy enough to have dungeons), and what I lovingly call “The crap pile.”

The crap pile, or C.P. as we’ll politely call it, is where you put things that really you can’t put anywhere else, but you need to store them somewhere. So steel yourselves, I am going to show you my C.P.

Printers? Check. Box of crafting supplies? Check. Whitney Houston vinyl that I need nearby at all times so her spirit guides me? Check. RIP Whitney. I’d be lying to you if I didn’t tell you I cleaned up before I took these photos. Shame over the C.P. got the best of me.

A few months ago, I tried to dress it up by color coding the books, but there is only so much you can polish a C.P. (However, to see an awesome example of color coding books, check out this post on Remodelista).

The C.P. in this room really is a drag, because otherwise the room is pretty** pulled together, considering we haven’t been here long (except the paint swatch. No we’re not painting the room that color, it was a bad idea).

"All this stuff makes me sad, because none of it is dog toys." - Skipper

My C.P. resides in what was once the closet of the 4th bedroom of this house, which has since been converted into a den. Eventually we are planning on building some shelves and making this shelf area more of a built-in, but for now I need a quick fix to hold me over until that happens.

Originally, I considered getting some curtain panels and a tension rod, and hiding the rod behind the beam that separates the closet. I thought about getting these super adorable chevron curtains from Etsy (and eventually hanging them in the guest room…I’m sure there will be a long post about that room in the near future. SPOILER ALERT), but then I found this:

Okay, not exactly a steal, but we actually were planning on buying this awesome screen from World Market for the wedding to display the seating chart/escort cards on, and then we realized it would be great for hiding the C.P.

And thanks to the magic of the internet and a free shipping promotion, the screen arrived in no time.

It still looks like it is missing something though…what could it be….

PERFECT! Thanks Skipper! Now the room looks way better. Good boy.

So this was a pretty easy and quick fix, and I absolutely love this screen. It ties in nicely with the pseudo Morrocan-themed carpet in the room, and it is totally a piece you could keep for a while and then reupholster on the cheap (or even do it yourself!). Plus it’s great for hiding a C.P. Not like I have one. Nope, There’s nothing to see behind that screen now. Move along.

P.S. You can’t get through a blog post named “Keep it on the Downlow” without some R. Kelly.

P.P.S. I aspire one day to write a series of ongoing, gripping blog posts about closet organization and calling it: “Trapped in the Closet“. Thank you Kel.

** Fact: This room also has a ways to go. But thank God we have a blog to document it all on.