Pannier in my Neck

Now, I often show a clean home on the blog. But people who know me in real life know that I am kind of messy. They also know that upon entering my condo there is usually stuff lining the front hall- bags of donation clothes, things to go to the locker, random shopping bags...my hallway is basically my junk closet. Recently, I also got some pannier bags (or saddle bags, whatever you call them), for my bike.

They are great for toting around a change of clothes and my purse on the rare days I bike to the office (boot camp has basically eliminated my butts & legs ability to bike much lately!). However you cannot leave panniers attached to your bike 24/7 because they will probably get stolen #torontoproblems. Interesting side note- my building has indoor bike lock-up area in our visitors parking area and someone recently had their tire stolen- from inside our building!!!

Since I remove the bags when not in use, they have joined the hallway clutter. Not cool. There really isn't a good spot in the front hall closet either so I needed to get a little creative in getting them off the ground- I hung them from my yellow shelving unit!

Now, I do apologize for the lighting in this photo- my front hall light needs some bulbs replaced and I have been a lazy Casey :)

Setting it up was very easy- I bought some cheap one-armed drunk octopus hooks from Canadian Tire and measured it out so they would be centered and level. It does look a little bit like one bag sits higher in the above photo, but that is because one bag's handle lost it's comfort grip.

The stool that used to sit to one side of this shelving unit has been relegated to the locker for now (truthfully, it is in the "go to the locker" pile in the hall out of range of this shot- shhh). The stool was only being used to hold my purse, however, so I think it was time to get rid of it. With only 400 sq ft in this place I can't afford to have furniture designated solely for purse-holding.

Overall, this shelving unit is pulling a lot of the load for storage in the front hall, but I use it constantly and I really like having my stuff handy! If only I could figure out how to make the actual closet more useful...