The closet, before

So, good things to report today – the sun is shining, the temperature is rising (if only for a few days) and the laundry is DONE! Well, the laundry that was on our closet floor is done. Now I need to do more again, funny how that happens. But for the first time in a long time we can walk through our closet. And “walk through our closet” means “can actually see the floor” – but who needs those details?

I’ve finally gotten my side to an acceptable before picture status. Maybe when I’m all done with this transformation I’ll show you the true befores, but not today. You all know I don’t shy away from showing our messes and real life, but this one was pretty dang bad.

Anyway, hubby has been out of town so we have more work to do over there, but my side is looking decent:

When I shared my plan for this closet last week I mentioned that our closet is big – it’s really big. About 80 square feet. And that’s what makes me even more annoyed with myself that I’ve never addressed this space – it could be such a great room! We are so lucky to have such a big closet.

When we moved in there was one row of wire shelving around the entire room. Shortly after I moved the one off the back wall, had it cut down, then raised up the other two sides and put the extra underneath. Does that makes sense? So what used to be one line of shelf around the room is now two layers on both sides – top for our shirts and bottom for pants/skirts. This has worked pretty well for us, but we have to use a step stool to get to the top shelf.

Here’s a view from the other direction:

This is after a MASSIVE purge – see all those extra hangers? WHOOT. Those will be used for a few of my husband’s clothes that are still on plastic hangers. For about three years now I’ve been transitioning to these felt hangers and I love them.

This is what I got out of my side of the closet -- two lawn trash bags and two smaller bags full:

This doesn’t include all the clothes my sister took. :) I actually still want to get rid of more. I’m on a roll now!

So I learned something about myself during this process. I’ve always said I’m not a big clothing kind of girl – I wear yoga pants or leggings most days. Well, apparently I AM a clothing kind of girl. Totally lied. Totally had a ridiculous amount of clothing. Who knew? I didn’t because it was all LAYING ON THE FLOOR.

We don’t use a dresser in our bedroom for clothes – years ago I thought about it but I knew I’d get annoyed having to go room to room to get different bits of outfits, so we keep it all in here. I have my great grandmother’s old dresser in here that is beautiful and actually quite functional:

I made the inside a bit more functional by hanging shoe holders on the inside and cup hooks to hold my necklaces:

The shoe thing is great but this is actually only about two thirds of my shoes, so not enough room. The cup hooks for necklaces looks like a mess but works pretty darn well – they don’t get as tangled up as you’d think. (I keep about four on each hook.)

I use a sliding tackle box inside for other jewelry:

It’s kind of a mess but it gives you an idea – this doesn’t work as well anymore because I need to purge some of it. I haven’t gone through that in years and there’s just too much in there now.

And there’s nothing of value in there, if any freaky freakersons are looking. :)

The dresser/armoire is OK functionally – but there’s just not enough room for clothes. Hence the wire shelf I hung above it with the clothes teetering off. I just need more places to put folded clothing. I’m SO excited about my plan to add more drawers.

When the top isn’t covered in piles of stuff you can actually see my pretty trays with perfumes. And Shout. :)

This is another thing I should purge – I have no idea HOW I got so much perfume. I wear it maybe once a week. Obviously still lots to do in here!

Both trays were Goodwill finds years ago – the one on the left is one of my all time favorite finds ever. It’s so beautiful. I can’t wait to display it a bit better when this room is changed up!

So there’s the before – one of the rooms in our house I’ve never showed you. It was the bane of my existence till a couple weeks ago. Just having it clean has made it SO much better, but I have big plans! I’ll share my progress soon!