Do you paint closets?

I do. If I had the time, that is. Because I believe in decorating spaces that my family sees all the time, so we can be happy and enjoy our home. If I had time, I would paint all the closets. But I don't have time for that yet. I did find the time to paint this little closet, though. Instead of doing laundry. You might say I was just finding a distraction from doing boring housework. That would be true. But this is a tiny space that the kiddos and I see every day. And it is dirty and boring. I think looking at builder-white-dirty-scuffed-up walls is depressing.

Anyway, last year we converted this closet for the kids to use for their backpacks and school papers. I cheated on this "before" picture because the "before" was really filled with books, papers, junk, trash, dirty socks, soccer balls, etc. So I decided to do a quick update on this depressing little closet. I went shopping for paint in my basement (The one and only time I forked over $$ for Benjamin Moore paint, I picked the wrong color. So this is what I ended up using it for.)

And the finished product:
I just happened to find these cute, lined baskets at Walgreens for $5 each! Even Walmart wasn't that cheap. I did get the green shelf liner from Walmart. A tag for owner of each shelf.

Wall pockets for library books. I didn't have time to be perfect on this project. Exhibit "A": Sometimes I don't patch holes or nail pops.

The long strip on the door is a backpack holder, and then I put a towel rack halfway down for jackets. It's low so short people can reach it too.

No staging going on here, folks. I just left that laundry in the background, because I'm too lazy to move it for my pictures. Actually, this is considered clean for my house.

How do you organize school junk?