Another Round of Lessons From the Organizing Pro

Remember when the organizer first came to my house and fixed my kitchen?  And then do you guys recall when she came back and we tackled the hell out of my bookcases?

Well, we just stepped it up a notch, Teresa (the organizer) and I.  We took it to the big leagues: my bedroom closet.

Sure, pretty much every closet in my home is jam-packed – we only have so much space, and we house two people with lots of stuff.  But I don’t have to see every closet in my home every day of my life.  I do, however, have to dress myself daily.  And so having an organized, well-structured and separated closet was a huge priority for me.

Upon looking at my disaster, Teresa noted the following issues:

• Nick and I had TWO separate and distinct Master-bedroom closets, and yet we each had stuff in both of them – meaning neither of us had our own space
• There was a ton of stuff in the closets unrelated to dressing (memorabilia, wrapping paper, and sporting goods, to name a few)
• There was an utter lack of organizational tools, such as bins, buckets, boxes, or anything to separate what had become piles of stuff loaded up on the shelves

Jammed-in clothes and Nick’s shirts – why??

We attacked in similar fashion to my other conquests – by first unloading everything, making trash and donation piles, separating Nick’s and my stuff, and then replacing (only) my items in systematic ways that made actual sense.

My closet runneth over

After clearing out five full trash bags of clothes, shoes, and purses, we transitioned everything over from crappy Old Navy plastic hangers to amazing, velvet nonslip ones (definitely worth the relatively minor investment, and they make you feel so glam).  Just seeing my clothes, organized by type, material, and color, hung on those beauties makes me feel like Cher Horowitz.

Rather than stuffing my workout clothes (by far the “most worn” items in my closet) onto a far-too-high shelf, we bought some cheapy sliding-drawer bins and separated my tops into tanks and shirts, then put them cleanly away.  Same went for my scarves (in canvas pull drawers).  Same for bathing suits (which were previously threatening to take over an entire shelf like creeping ivy).  Same for hats.  They were all given a neatly contained, accessible but not visible permanent home.  And I love it.

Proper velvet hangers. Shelf separators. Heaven.

Teresa also noticed that my dresses, which are more or less my weekend uniform, were exiled to the front hall closet (mostly because they are long!) – but if we simply moved one shelf a bit higher, we could hang the longer ones where the sweaters were currently hogging the real estate (BTW, sweater solution: folded and shelf-separated) and squeeze the short ones in with my tops.  Result?  My most-worn items were finally in front of my face when I walked in the closet.  Ideal.

Finally, we realized that because the ceilings (and therefore shelves) were so high, there was a lot of unused – but totally viable – space in the higher echelons of the closet.  I bemoaned having to bring a dining room chair in there every time I wanted to get something down, to which she simply replied, “Get a stool.”  Sheer genius.  I got a foldable stool that slides behind my clothes so it takes up no space, and now my luggage, additional storage bins, and “special occasion” hats (yep, I have those) are top-shelf but not forgotten.

What became of Nick’s stuff, you ask?  Well, with the amount of “shared” spaces in both of our closets, we were able to evacuate some items of mine into my “new” closet and “refill” his with his own stuff – a bit more crowded on his side now, sure, but that’s a project for another day.

All in all, we were able to transition my closet space from a messy, spilling-over stressfest to a neat, spacious walk-in – which is exactly what I wanted.

Next up?  Bathrooms (yep, those crazy messy under-sink and medicine cabinet zones) and “other” closets (front, guest, Nick’s).  The battle may be won, but the war rages on…

Which spaces in your home need some TLC?  What items help you feel organized?