Walk. In. Closet.

I am so excited to finally be able to show my new closet! I should start by saying that I have wanted a walk in closet since I was a little girl! My cousin had one, and ever since I saw it I thought it was the greatest. I used to try to make my closet (a traditional bi-fold door type deal) into a walk in closet. Don't ask - it's hard to explain - but my parents always made me put it back the way it was. Being that I am so passionate about fashion / jewelry, this space makes me so very happy. Out of all the houses we looked at (I estimate about 20) this was probably the nicest closet. Maybe there was one other that was better. I love everything about our new house, and this is just the icing on the cake. I wish my pictures would have been better, but with a window and a light, it was hard. Also, my nicer camera is the one that got the scratched lens a few weeks ago. This is the view looking in:

BUT! Before we get to the new, let's compare the old. I took these pictures before we moved. We lived in a house that was built in the 30's, so closets were very small. Being that it was also a cape cod, the upstairs ceiling slanted which decreased space even more. This was my closet in the master bedroom....... there was another closet in the upstairs living area that Jon graciously used.

To say that my closet was "packed" would be an understatement. It went back deep, but it was hard to get things in and out. I had a low bar with a shelf on top, a corner shelf structure, hooks on the wall, and a shoe hanger on the door. Any space between the hanging clothes and wall was taken up by shoe boxes and bags. Clothes would constantly fall off hangers and/or be wrinkled. No matter how hard I tried to purge things and reorganize, it was never good. I think even the movers (4 guys) were surprised by how much I actually had in there. Heck, even I was surprised once I saw it all out!

And here is a view into Richard's little closet, where I stuffed hung all my dresses since the bar was too short in my own closet.

Again, not ideal.

So, back to the new closet. I have room for a chair. A chair! There is also room to lay down and roll around on the floor, but don't ask me how I know that. I've had this funky chair (and matching ottoman) since before I was married. My girly self just loved the print but of course it never really "went" with anything in our house. I am so glad I have the perfect place for it now. It is great for sitting down to put shoes on or lay potential outfits on. Or just taking a rest to decompress and take in this new chapter of our lives.

The room is perfectly symmetrical. I have slanted ceilings again, but there is a window and the rack/shelf layout is the same on both sides. To keep with the symmetry, I put a mannequin on each side as well as a peacock canvas (a matching set I found at Meijer, our one stop shopping chain in these parts). The feather curtain is from Pier 1 and I have had some panels of it for years! Again, they never really fit into the decor but I used them a lot for table clothes at jewelry shows I did. The day we closed on the house, we brought over some things that we didn't want the movers to move. The first thing I did was put this window treatment up! I was so excited to do so! The pillow on the chair that matches is also from Pier 1.



Here is the view looking to the left. This side is all tops, and is organized by button downs, short sleeves, sleeveless, tank tops and scarves. After the break it continues on with long sleeves, jackets, cardigans and shrugs. The top shelf has piles of folded t-shirts and sweaters - not crazy about this section but I can't really purge these items until after I am pregnant and I can see how they truly fit. The shelf in the middle is all jeans and a few baskets - one of socks and slippers and the other of swimsuits. I made room for my jewelry chest which I've had since I was a teen.

Here is a view looking to the right. This side is all dresses and bottoms. It starts with maxi dresses (which slightly touch the floor, but no where near the mess I had before) then short dresses. After the shelves there are pants and skirts. There is a place for our ironing board, and the top shelf has shoes lined up. Probably the hardest part of organizing was the shoes. Some were in boxes, some were not. I debated on making both upper shelves totally dedicated to shoes (and throwing away the boxes) but I needed the space for my folded items on the other side right now. So I ended up just lining up the ones that didn't have boxes, and then stacking the boxed ones under my shorter hanging items. My tall boots are on the floor in the previous picture, and I still need to decide on some gadget to keep them standing upright. I am liking the cut pool noodle idea to stuff inside!

Here's a view of the left upper shelf on the door side. Three of the wire mannequins and the bird necklace rack are from Pier 1. The other wire mannequin I got a Joann Fabrics. All of these purchases were years ago and these have been well used for organizing jewelry as well as show displays. The peacock canvas was a TJ Maxx find.

The other side has a necklace rack that I made (see here), bracelet tree (Pier 1), peacock tin (Hobby Lobby), and an embroidered peacock hanging.

Everything I've used is stuff I've already had, just waiting for the right time to all come together. It is so great to have my clothes AND jewelry all in one place. At the old house, I had some of my jewelry in the closet and the rest in my studio downstairs. This way, I can match things up so much easier! The only purchase I made (so far) is new hangers. This might not seem important to some, but I am so glad I did it! I had plastic hangers in all sizes and colors. I knew I wanted the space saving skinny hangers that have a velvet like coating. As with anything, I did my homework and got the best deal I could find....... boxes of 50 from Meijers were $19.99 and I bought them on a weekend when they had 15% off general merchandise for MPerks members. I choose the tan color. I just love how uniform they all look, and how my clothes are not sliding off of them. I still have to decide how I want to convert my clip hangers which I use for pants and skirts. They are all different as well, and currently hold 3 pieces per hanger. I would like it if each piece had it's own hanger so I am on the lookout for what I like for those.

When I got stumped on organization ideas, I headed to Pinterest. I previously had belts in a basket. I loved this idea of put them all on a mannequin for easy viewing. I am using random peacock plates I have to "collect" things like all of my sunglasses here.

Tank tops - again, I always tried to keep them folded in a basket. That never lasted. This Pinterest idea of looping them all onto one hanger with shower curtain rings is working great! I used a sturdy wood hanger I had though to accommodate the weight.

Here's just a few more views to end on. Jon, again, has a separate standard size closet in the bedroom. Although that didn't stop him from claiming that he didn't have room for his suits and took up a small space behind my dresses for them!?!?!! We have never shared a closet, except maybe when we were first married in an apartment which I can hardly remember now! It feels so good to have this space and be better organized. It houses a lot of my peacock collection, and it a colorful mix of whimsy and funky which I guess best describes my style anyway.