A Newly Renovated and Organized Closet

Yay for Closets!

I love them!

They hold so much crap stuff…

And they can be organized….

And re-organized!

The only problem is when you cram a lot of stuff into a small closet, and then getting dressed becomes more annoying than inspiring. 

Like this:

You get it, I know you do. 

Our master closet had that problem.  It was nearly a hazard (I mean, sweaters falling on one’s head *could* be a hazard, right?), it was stuffed so full.  So we made it bigger.  Along with the bathroom renovation, we just moved the wall separating the bedroom from the bathroom and closet…further into the bedroom!  Voila! Our closet and bathroom became bigger!

Here’s where we were before:

Side note:  When one of Nick’s sisters got a tour of our house the first time…she saw the closet and remarked “…it’s completely full!”  For some reason, that comment has stuck with me, because clearly, our closet looked even fuller to others than it did to us.  (just.like.hoarders….?)

And here we are now, nothing California-Closet-fancy, but clean, organized, and with room to breathe:

His side:

My side:

And a few of the details, belts for instance:

Shoes stored on the back of the door:

A hanging lower rod that holds sleeveless tops and sweaters now and will hold long-sleeved tops in the summer:

Finer-weave sweaters folded on hangers:

Up top, formal gowns stored flat in plastic bins (wish I had a place to wear them now!)  Hanging directly below this bin is all my skirts, suits, slacks and dresses. (Work stuff.  And dressy stuff.)

Camis and layering tank tops folded and stacked next to the chunkier sweaters:

On the floor, a bag for donation items:

And a large basket for the not-quite-worn-enough-for-the-hamper items:

In a nutshell, I organize my clothes by sleeve length, and then by color.  I put the in-season items closer to the front (or on top, now).  You may also notice that the hangers aren’t all facing the same direction – I turned them all backwards in early January and as they get worn and hung back up normally over the next year or so, I’ll be able to see what tops I haven’t worn (and should donate). 

On the shelves at the end of the closet (same shelves from before) is my jewelry box, (a garage sale treasure found by my mom way back in the day), and

My earring tree:

And a beautiful little stained glass piano jewelry box made by my father-in-law this past Christmas:

I also picked up a “key hook” from Tarjay the other day for twobucks twobucks twobucks (anyone remember that commercial?) that I’ll mount next to the earring tree to hang longer necklaces on…sometime.

We also have plans to add another shelf on my side, closer to the ceiling, to better utilize that “air space”.

But until then and no matter what, it’s come a long way, baby. 

And I’m good with that.