Pocketful of Joules - Office Updates: The Before & My Plans

Office Updates: The Before & My Plans

I’m still on a home redecorating/organizing kick (see Monday’s post!) and while I continue to marinate on what I’m going to do about my closet situation, I decided to attack an “easier” room…

I’ve been spending A LOT of time in my home office over the past 16 months and I’ve been thinking about how I’d like to update the space. I currently spend most of my time at my desk, but on the other side of the room I have a sewing table and organizer. That’s the side of the office that I’m planning to update.

As you can see, I did spend some time organizing the cube organizer. However, it’s still pretty messy with the cubes, a bunch of stuff in the corner, my sewing table and bin of Poshmark clothes.

So, come on into my head on what I’m thinking about for this room…

First off, I’m thinking WALLPAPER!

I know. Right?! I’ve never done wallpaper before but my friend did some fabulous peel-and-stick from Target in her guest closet and it looks so fantastic. I was thinking of doing just the one wall as a bit of a focal wall. And bonus would be that it would make my Zoom call background extra fancy.

These were my three finalists, but I did make a decision (partially based on price) and will be doing a full peel-and-stick wallpaper post soon.

Next up, I’m thinking I’ll upgrade my cube organizer. There is nothing wrong with it and it’s a great way of storing lots of stuff, but I want to give it a little pizzazz. So, I’m thinking of adding some matching felt baskets and screwing on some legs!

Legs: https://amzn.to/2VORD0M

Storage bins: https://amzn.to/3hOX9ct

Last, I’m going to replace my sewing table with something much smaller. I thrifted the current black wood table probably 15 – 20 years ago and it has certainly served its purpose. I was looking at super skinny tables when I came across one that folds out from the wall:

Table: https://amzn.to/36KSwtB

And to go next to the sewing table, a little extra storage:

Cart: https://amzn.to/3eylJMI

I placed a bunch of orders and I will be keeping you all updated as everything gets delivered!

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Dream Closet Brainstorming: HELP Me!

The long-term plan for our extra bedroom is to one day turn it into a master bathroom (with a huge shower, lots of counter space and two sinks) that leads to a walk-in closet. I’ve wanted a walk-in closet my ENTIRE life and have never had the opportunity to have one. Instead, I try to organize my regular sized closet as much as possible with my ‘on season’ clothes and my office closet holds my ‘off season’ stuff.

Over the years, we have used the extra bedroom as a playroom for Jack and now as an exercise room for me. And it is a pretty huge room – right now it holds an elliptical, 2 exercise bikes, 2 yoga mats fully stretched out and a bunch more random stuff. Oh, and the walls haven’t been updated since we moved in 9 years ago — it came with that wall color and the ugly border at the top of the walls.

I was recently thinking, maybe I should start working on my walk-in closet plans NOW, rather than doing it all at once. That way, I can start using it and also pay for one wall of a wardrobe before we build a bathroom, which is much less painful.

So, I’m thinking of starting with this wall:

There is about 8 feet of space (96 inches) without blocking the door or the window. I thought I could start looking for wardrobe organizers for that space and then build out when we get to the bigger project.

There are SO MANY options though and I could really use some feedback! Originally, I was thinking of having open closets but then I started thinking about having something with doors that could close.

Here are some of my inspiration photos:

This is one of the Pax wardrobe options from Ikea (you can find it here). It is 68” wide so I could certainly go wider than this one. It costs $465 and I like that it includes hanging area, shelves AND drawers. The downside is that this is out of stock at both of my nearby Ikea stores and they do not deliver to my zip code.

With that being said, there is a Pax Designer Tool on the Ikea website where you can build your own closet from Pax pieces. I made this version which is like the one I found, but with an extra hanging wardrobe bit on the end to make it 88 5/8 inches wide so it will fit better on my wall. This version is $550.

Then, I started looking at less expensive options and came across the KLEPPSTAD wardrobe (you can find it here). It has three doors, is 46 inches wide and costs $129.

Here it is with the doors closed:

And here it is with the doors open:

It is similar to the Pax, but doesn’t include the drawers. However, since it is 46” wide, I could get two of them for a total of 92” of space and it would cost $258, which is less than half of my custom-built Pax version.

When put together, it would look similar to this but a little wider:

I’m not sure if I want doors or not though. Once it’s an actual walk-in closet, it might be nicer to be able to see everything. Or would it be nice if things were tucked away? Or… maybe I could build it and just not put the doors on?

Of course, I didn’t just shop the Ikea website. I also looked at Home Depot, The Container Store and Amazon. The Container Store was WAY too expensive for a very similar look. I wasn’t finding anything I liked that was freestanding on the Home Depot website. But I did come across something interesting on Amazon.

This is the Tribesigns Freestanding Closet Organizer (you can find it here). It is 79 inches across for $330. It has four pockets of areas for hanging clothes, shelves and it even comes with the four cubby boxes.

And I’m torn. I feel like any of these would be a great option for clothing storage. However, because they are all great I’m not sure what would be the best option for me. I’m not sure if I want something without doors or something with doors?

I’m kind of overwhelmed with choices! Do you have strong feelings on doors vs no doors? Do you have a closet situation that you love or hate that you’d like to share? Help me!

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Reviewing Alltrue: Summer 2021 Box

In between the Spring 2021 box and the Summer 2021 box, Causebox rebranded the company and is now known as Alltrue. They put out lots of shiny marketing reasons to explain the rebrand, but the word on the street is that it was because there are so many online complaints about Causebox and they were trying to escape them.

I take ‘word on the street’ with a grain of salt… however, if you search Better Business Bureau for Causebox, you’ll see quite an eyeful.

Anywho, I skipped my Spring Causebox because I was not impressed with any of the box spoilers. It was a mix of unexciting items and stuff that I really didn’t need (or want) in my house. So, I sent them an email and skipped the box.

And I’m going to be honest, I almost did the same with the Summer box. I’ve been getting Causebox (now Alltrue) for years and there has been a favorite stand-out product in every box that has made it worth the money. However, the Summer box was just kind of ‘eh’, but had *just* enough that I went ahead without pausing it.

Let’s check it out:

Choice 1: Solo Stone Bracelet by Ettika or Traveling Cutlery Set by Small Hours

This choice was between a cubic zirconia bracelet or a set of travel cutlery. I knew I’d never wear the bracelet, so I went with the cutlery. I figure I could throw this in my lunchbox for work. It’s not very exciting though and it’s quite possible I still won’t end up using it at all since we have silverware and a dishwasher at my office.

Choice 2: Bamboozle 5-Piece Nesting Bowls, a MANNA Hydration Nautical Cooler Tote or an Enchante Home Oversized Roundie Towel

I didn’t need another towel (I have probably 5 from previous year’s subscription boxes) and really don’t need a travel cooler bag. The nesting bowl set is in 5 sizes and pretty colors, so I went with that one for my choice. However, I already have pretty bowls from previous Causeboxes AND I already have a 3-piece mixing bowl set from Crate & Barrel with the non-slip bottoms. So, once again, didn’t need this at all. Hopefully they will get used though.

Choice 3: COSMEDIX Skin Thirst Moisturizing Hyaluronic Acid Cream or COSMEDIX Bakuchiol Complete Plant-Based Retinol Alternative Serum.

I love trying new beauty products, so these two choices were exactly what I was looking for. I already have a hyaluronic cream that I like, so I decided to try the retinol alternative serum. When I run out of my current retinol product (love the oil from Sunday Riley), I’ll give this one a try.

Choice 4: Brand With A Heart OMG Leave-in Conditioner Blend or WAY OF WILL Brightening Face Serum.

This was a bit of an odd choice, since they JUST had this exact Way of the Will face serum in the fall box. However, I’m running low on that exact serum and was ready to order another bottle from the Way of the Will website. The cost for the serum is $37.50 so it made sense to get it as part of the subscription box I had already paid for.

Choice 5: Golden & Pine Waffle Dishclothes, Reduce To-Go Bowl, MYTAGALONGS Packing Cubes, or Coalatree Packable Hammock.

For the last choice item, I picked the hammock. But not for myself, my husband mentioned that he’d like one so he can try to rig something up in his tractor trailer when he’s waiting for hours in the cab. I don’t know if this will work for his needs, but at least it was *free* in that there wasn’t any other item choice that I was crazy about. I mean, a metal soup bowl, packing cubes or dishcloths? Not much fun there.

Item 6: Hanalei Company SPF Lip Trio.

The last item in the box was a three-pack of lip balm. Eh.

Final Thoughts:

All in all, I found this box super disappointing. There was no WOW item at all. While not every item has to blow me away, I’ve come to expect something fantastic to be included in the box. I believe that the Summer box was the last box on my current subscription, so as they release the spoilers for the Fall box, I’ll think long and hard about whether I want to continue with Alltrue. For this box, the only saving grace was that it cost me $49.95 and I was planning to spend $37.50 on the serum anyways.

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