Yesterday on the Katie Couric Show they organized her closet and that motivated me to share my personal closet transformation. (on a side note, why is every organizer on TV a male when I would estimate that 90% of of NAPO is female?)
My closet has always been organized but I have had to deal with all different sizes of closets. (I am currently in my 11th home since college). My husband, Bruce and I, moved into our “dream house” 3 years ago. We have a very large house, but because it was built in 1926, the closets leave a lot to be desired. We made a decision when we moved in that Bruce would take the closet in our bedroom, I would take the hall closet (old cedar closet), and then my shoes would get their own cabinet. Below is the view of my closet from my bedroom door. I have to walk around the stairs to get to the closet and then to another closet for shoes and then back to the bedroom for socks, jewelry, etc. Not a real problem, but not a very efficient way to get ready.
It was actually a pretty good sized space but there was no head room and not much light (much better after we painted it white). It is also at the top of an open staircase so if we had any guests I couldn’t just stand at my closet door to get ready.
To celebrate our 4th Wedding Anniversary, we converted the other bedroom on the 2nd floor into a walk-in Closet! We really didn’t need 3 guest rooms and we did it in a way that it can easily be converted back to a bedroom at any time!
New Walk In Closet from every corner of the room
I know it looks like a lot of space, remember I am sharing the room with my husband. By having individual wardrobes (30 inches wide), it is really only the same space as an average bi-fold closet. The beauty is that all of my clothes are in one space. As you can see, my footwear takes up about 50% of the space. Each pair of shoes is contained in its own Neat Container which allows me to pull each pair out without the shoes above falling down.
A look inside my part of the Walk In Closet!
The last picture is the closet, within the room that is now my closet. The few items hanging in the back of the photo are special occasion clothes that will only be used once a year or so and therefore I do not need easy access. The other containers are my out-of-season clothing.
Closet Transformation Tip #1 – It is important to only give “prime real estate” to the clothes that you are wearing NOW!
- Move around your clothes based on the season, even if you have a large walk-in closet. In the winter, you are not wearing shorts or light dresses. So, move them to the back of your closet or even into totes and get them out of the way of your daily routine.
- Does the item fit you right now? If it doesn’t fit, again move it out of your everyday space. First of all, be honest with yourself, would you wear this if it did fit now? Will you really want to wear it in 6 months or 6 years when it fits again – if not, donate it.
- Do you have clothing that you only wear once a year (or less)? Formal attire, ski clothes or costumes are just a few of the things that need to be in an another storage space.
Check back on Saturday for the rest of my Closet Transformation Tips
