Closet organizing, followup

Remember THIS post where I talked about hanging all of my clothes hangers backwards to see what I wear and what I don't?


Honestly, I didn't plan for it to be almost 6 months, but it seems about right. Granted, I have yet to go through winter, but this is what I've done: I took all of the hangers still hanging backwards and took them out of my closet.

If I were a really good llama, I would've donated all of those clothes. But as I said, winter has yet to come and go. So I've hung onto them. I moved them into a spare closet that didn't have any clothes hanging. So if I need an item, I can go get it, but if around the first of the year I haven't worn the items, I intend to donate them (well, I have some shirts that might make their way into a t-shirt quilt, but they'll free closet real estate).

A little more closet organizing

Common picture, eh?

Things can be a bit pell-mel in the closet.


Recently we banished all of the wire hangers from the place and things have been a bit easier. :) I'm just trying to figure out what to do with all of those wretched metal hangers.


Erik refuses to do this, but I read somewhere that if you hang your clothes in the closet backwards all at one time, then turn the hanger around when you wear the item, it'll give you a good idea of what you don't wear. The theory is that in 3-6-9-12 months (whatever you choose), the stuff that's still hung backwards gets taken to the Goodwill.

I like the idea, and am giving it a whirl. We'll see how it goes.

MORE closet organization!

Check out this before:


Now, I don't consider myself a shoe horse, but this is a bit embarassing.

Aaaaand, the after:


Some of my shoes are strewn about the house and not all of them are here, but you get the idea. :)

I found this at Bed, Bath and Beyond. :)

Closet — demo + rebuilding

Once we removed the shelves in the closet, I saw that the person who put it in had *less* ability than I did! (side note: it was NOT Erik, it was probably the person who sold him the house).


See? This person hangs pictures a *Iittle* bit like I do! ;)


Yeah, check out the number of shades of brown I was trying to choose between. For the most part, I get a few colors on the wall and Erik chooses the final color. Mostly because I can't decide and just tell him to pick. But he ALWAYS chooses well.


He even picks up a brush every once in awhile.


Doesn't the color look *fantastic*??!!??!?!?


Even better in the morning light!


On come the boxes of wood!


We ordered 2 closet sets, one for each wall. Basically, one for him and one for me! Could a girl get any luckier?!?!?!???


Then it was time to start drilling holes in our pristinely painted walls.


Erik rocked it out with drilling them. :)


Since we didn't necessarily put all of the holes in the studs, we had to put these plastic thingies in the wall. But ... well, some of them broke. :(


Getting the upper bar up was pretty exciting! :)


This is the COOLEST thing! See how the hook is on the bottom? That means I can just slide the hanger right across the rod. Know how some racks, especially department stores? The hanger always gets caught in the rack. Yeah, annoying.


Vertical column is up!!!!! (Hi Esse!!!!!!!)


See how long Erik's shirts are?


Another vertical column up!


Erik is GREAT about pitching in! :)


Once I got the lower bar up, I drug clothes in, to see if it was too low. I hung the bar a little lower than it suggested. Mainly because Erik is so tall and his shirts are LONG ....

Closet — Esse

Our crazy cat had a fantastical time investigating everything that was out of order during our closet remodel.

This is her condescenting "what the heck are you crazy humans doing" look:


Esse likes, no, LOVES, boxes. :)


And even hiding behind them, checking out what E is up to ...


Checking out things a little closer ....


"The Squint" .....


Enjoying a nap on the dresser that was moved. I thoughtlessly tossed a quilt on it, and, as we all know, Esse is an opportunist. :)


Checking out the paint job ....




How did she get up there?


Overseeing the instillation.


More:


And giving a good sniff to the closet shelves.


Every time we'd get a shelf up, we'd go grab the cat and put her on it. If it could hold a 7-pound cat, it can hold our clothes, right? ;)


Esse taking a spin on our vertical shelving.


I wish she'd find another way up and down from the top of the closet .....

Closet — Moved it!

We had to empty the closet and put our clothes SOMEWHERE, so they got piled on the bed in the green room. But, well, we couldn't find anything, which was awfully miserable




Of course, as we've established, Esse is a sucker for soft surfaces ... and takes advantage of one the moment she sees it.

Ta-Da!!!! The Closet!!!!!!!!!

I'm going go do several posts about the closet b/c there are a lot of photos

I'll start w/ a simple before and after photos. :)


Before ... I couldn't hang any of my dresses, because the bars were too low.


After ... we more than doubled our hanging space .... and now I have a place to hang my dresses! :)


Yeah, having windows in a closet isn't *ideal* .... especially where these are placed, but I have plans to put the ones from our bedroom into the closet ... but that means we gotta get new ones for the bedroom. Oh, how things quickly domino...


I did, however, tape newspaper over the window to keep the clothes all pristine.


Look .... a dress actually hanging in the closet!!!!

(Mom, I know what you're thinking: "Oh, looks like Karen needs to go SHOPPING to fill that closet.")


Before: well, it was just disorganized.


After: MUCH better!


Before: chaotic, isn't it?


After: yay! :)


Oh, and I found this awesome hook ... and put it in the closet for Erik to hang his hat collection on!


Yes, we DO have photos of ourselves in the closet. I had some of the engagement photos we framed for something else, and think they look nice there.


And ... finally, here's a photo my friend, Matt, gave us as a wedding gift. I think it could sound insulting to say "we hung your photo in our closet" .... but after all the effort and time we put into it, it's SUUUUUCH a compliment! :)