Walk-In Closet Revamp

If you’ve been following along for some time, you know that 2013 was the year for getting things done.  Some things got done, while others didn’t, most of which spilled into 2014.  And of the projects I did complete for 2013, I still have yet to post about some (yes, I’m that behind on these posts).  One of my organizing projects for 2013 was to revamp our walk-in closet.

This closet is in our guest room/office, so it’s kind of a catchall for things that don’t have an official home (a home that would otherwise exist if there was a person living in the second bedroom, that is).  It’s a fairly big closet, and although it has shelving that was installed by the previous owners, there is no designated space for a lot of things.  I did have it fairly organized, but like most spaces, after some time, it got pretty unruly and out of hand, to the point where I was just shoving things in random places, mostly because I didn’t know what to do with stuff and because I knew at some point it would be reorganized.

That day finally came.

So, here is a brief look at the before “setup”:

Left side of the closet, looking towards the back:

Left side of the closet, looking towards the front:

Right side of the closet, top shelves:

Right side of the closet, middle shelves:

Right side, my bag shelves:

You can see when it started to get out of hand:

So one day, I took everything out of the closet and started from scratch.

I wish I had thought to take photos of the room stacked with all of the items that were in the closet because it was a complete mess and because as I took items out, I organized them into categories.

Because the closet doesn’t have designated spaces, I decided to organize the shelves according to zones.  So once all items were in categories, I could decide which areas of the closet would be designated by which zones (zones correspond to categories).  For example, all office-type items would get placed in the same zone, all knitting items in the same zone, and so on.

Here we have the end result:

Starting with the back left of the closet:

Random items (like wedding keepsakes) are on the top shelf, while office supplies are neatly placed on the shelves below.

Then, moving toward the front of the closet, I have photo albums and boxes on the top two shelves, and electronic items (stored in boxes) on the lower shelf.

Below that I have my planner insert archives and my Filo tote (easily accessible for when I need it).

At the left front, I have all of my knitting supplies (yarn, needles, bags, and other items).

On the rod below those shelves is where I keep my (deceased) dad’s Army jacket and a shirt of his.

I also keep extra hangers here and put all clothes that need to be ironed here.  (After each load of laundry, I hang anything that needs to be ironed and on Sunday evenings, I take the entire lot downstairs for ironing.)

The right side of the closet was never really out of hand, so that didn’t change too much.  This is still where I store my handbags and gift-wrapping items.  (Somewhere along the line I also reorganized my handbag storage, probably before I did the closet, which explains why the right side didn’t change much from my before and after photos.)

The drawers contain tissue paper and gift bags.  The top shelves still hold gift boxes (see before photos above), and within each box are more boxes.  It’s always a game of fitting the puzzle pieces together after the holidays, but it works for me.

I also bought a 7-pound Command Hook for my wedding dress.

Yes, I know, one is “supposed” to preserve wedding dresses by having them professional cleaned and boxed.  But we had a practical wedding, so my wedding dress didn’t cost an arm and a leg so to have it preserved might cost more than the dress is worth.  (Of course, the dress is priceless for the memories and the day but I’m sentimental about people, experiences, and my personal memories, not so much the “stuff.”)

Although I couldn’t get a good picture of the entire closet, you can tell from the angles that I could get that everything now has a designated place to live.

So there we have it, the biggest, and definitely the most time-consuming organizing project of 2013.

I still have a few more projects to post about, so keep an eye out.

Happy organizing!