Closet Update!

I am in the process of organizing my closet, I would say reorganizing, but it looked like the picture below since I moved, so it was never organized in the first place (see post: "Prepare yourself for my closet picture!").  I unpacked all of the boxes in front of the closet and pulled everything in the closet out.  I need to get all of my clothes together and organized in order to [function and] work with the clothes I own already in my attempt to be stylish (also see post: Prepare yourself for my closet picture!")

Forgive the terrible phone pic! 

First things first, I am getting rid of the dresser.  I already have another dresser in a different part of my room and for me, dressers tend to be a place where I just "store" lots of clothing that I never use and likely may never wear.  So the dresser is off to Goodwill, I don't even think the best and most creative DIYers could change this dresser into something desirable.

That being said, I need more rod space and a portion of the current rod needs to be allocated to dresses and jackets, longer items.  Like many women I know, have a huge shoe collection! Right now a lot of my shoes are hanging on a rack that is hanging on the backside of another closet door.  I want my shoes to be out in the open and visible.  I'll utilize each pair more if they are not out of sight out and out of mind.  I also want to somehow store some random items, like swim suits and hats and gloves, that aren't used all year round, but I don't want to take up drawer space in my dresser.

Fortunately, Catherine from Freddy and Petunia came to the rescue with a great closet design! What timing! If you click on the link you will be brought to her "Old closet-new closet" post.  Did Catherine read my mind or what?!?!?! Her design for a very similarly sized closet fulfills all of my storage needs.

Catherine is brilliant! She put one rod across the length of the closet and an additional rod for additional storage, but the additional rod does not go from wall to wall in the closet, allowing for longer items like dresses to hang on the upper rod.  With the extra space below where the dresses would hang from the upper rod, Catherine inserted adjustable shoe racks-she also has a great love of shoes!

Catherine still needed additional shoe storage and included a shoe ladder on a portion of the closet wall that would otherwise be underutilized.  She also added a shelf below the lower clothing rod, on which she put shoes above and below.  It looks like there is a shelf above the lower clothing rod as well, I am guessing that the shelves that run the full width of the closet are added for strength and stability in addition to their additive storage space.

I am tempted to forgo the bottom 2-3 shelves in the adjustable shoe rack in order to store my tall boots in that location.  I also wouldn't store shoes above and below the shelf that hangs below the lower clothing rod,  I would actually put some smaller plastic bins to house my swim suits and winter gear. Thank you Catherine from Freddy and Petunia!

My personal carpenter, otherwise known as dad, is on the job! In the mean time, I am keeping an eye out for an old, cheap, large frame.  I have finally decided how I am going to organize my necklaces. I found this great idea on pinterest. I repinned it from someone who repinned it from Tumblr.  I am not 100% sold on the sticks, but the concept overall is great!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Prepare yourself for my closet photo!

I moved a while back and ended up taking all of my large-one-bedroom-apartment's-worth of furniture and belongings and putting them, in addition to myself and my two cats, in an area the size of a bedroom and a small den....things are a wee bit tight....and piled.  I keep trying to unpack some things, but don't know where to put them so I end up moving boxes that were stacked in one end of the room to a different part of the room.  Needless to say, no progress has been made.

When Pinteresting I came across J's Everyday Fashion, a site with hundreds of outfit inspirations! Now, you may be stylish and creative by nature, but I couldn't be creative if my life depended on it, which is why this site was such a gold mine for my style-less self!  The idea behind J's site is to see how far a small monthly fashion budget can stretch, how current fashion trends can be applied to your style and life in a practical way, and how creative one can get with the clothes and accessorizes one already has.  Brilliant! 

Here are a couple of outfits J put together. She also has a fb page with over 400 outfit inspirations, click here to view J's Everyday Fashion Facebook page 

Now, if you have taken the time to peruse J's website and fb page, check out this YouTube video of her closet.  I cannot believe she has made the 400+ ensembles with such little clothing!

And this is a pic of my closet currently....

Cringe!!! Honestly, I am NOT a hoarder! Some of my belongings such as my kitchen stuff etc. will be living in my "den" otherwise known as my "closet" with my extra furniture.  Here, I pulled out the "to-unpack" boxes in order to unpack the unpack boxes, but once I started to unpack the boxes I didn't know where to put all of the stuff.  This is not my forte. But...I am motivated by J to get my butt in gear and go through all of my clothing, seeing what smokin' outfits I can create. As J says on her website, "Style and creativity can be learned. Exercise it like you would any other muscle." There is still hope for me yet!