Organizing our Master Closet

I've been wanting to establish some order in our master closet for a while, but wasn't quite sure what to do. I've learned that often the best way to organize is to think about it, live with it, and observe what was working and what isn't. 

Here's a look at what our closet looked like when we moved in four months ago:

My side.

Niels' side.

We really like the basket drawers. They are much cheaper than buying a dresser. And the baskets are less expensive than the solid drawers. It's nice to be able to see what's inside (usually!) and is better for ventilation. (This is also why we don't have a door to our closet. We're the only two (other than the blog world) who see it, so we liked the idea of keeping it open. However, now that we've been here for a few months, what we would have rather done is put a mirrored pocket door in, and have another row of shelving/drawers against the back wall. Live and learn.

This is what my side of the closet looked like before I started organizing. The drawers work great. On the rods, I have short sleeved shirts on top, long sleeved shirts on the bottom, and pants and dresses on the tall rod. Clearly, I had no plan for the shelving.

Inspiration struck today when I found some totes at Big Lots. I would have preferred all purple ones, but alas, I found only find two purple, and four green (during the first trip, anyway!). I was happy to see that they fit two to a shelf. I had some cute tags left over from our wedding--almost five years ago!--which were perfect for labeling each tote. I used sticker letters from Target for the labels.

Note the little fingers of the boy who just learned to read.

To attach the tags, I used some silver stretchy string from a necklace project I did with D several months ago.

Making some progress! 

I'm always learning from blogs, Pinterest, and friends how to organize better. Last week I was talking to my neighbors about closets, and they both said that they keep their empty hangers to the side so they are easy to find when hanging up their clothes. I never thought about doing that, but it sure makes sense. 

Last night, we drove to another Big Lots to see if they had more purple totes. They did! I was able to add "Swim" and "Foundation" totes, which mean Niels now has full use of his drawers.

The second Big Lots also had blue totes, so we got four of those for Niels' closet. I need to pick up some more letter stickers for his tags.

See that empty drawer? Not empty anymore. I moved his comfy pants from the tote to the drawer.

The last thing I did was put the white baskets that were above my pants and dresses above my shirts. Those hold things I really don't use much. Since I lost the home for my motivation marbles, I decided that I would use the shelf above my pants and dresses as my motivation shelf. In addition to the marbles, I will be putting a big photo of me from 2010, when I was 25 pounds lighter. 

So, still a work in progress, but at least when I walk in the closet, I see order. That makes me happy.

Linked to:
Blissfully Ever After
CSI Project
I'm an Organizing Junkie
Mums Make Lists
Organize Your Stuff Now
Organizing Junkie

Day 204: Closets are in! (T-minus 18 days til move in)

The last few times Niels and I have visited our house, we've talked about how it's getting harder and harder to leave. It's starting to look like a home, and we're itching to get settled. After seeing the house this morning, I'm really fighting the itch because our closets are in! They look fabulous, but bare. I want to get in and get organized!

In Law Suite:

We had a few goals for this closet. In addition to providing storage for any weekend or short term guests, we wanted to make sure it had ample space for my in-laws when they come for longer visits after Jan retires. (They can stay up to three months at a time on a travel visa). Or, if my mom wants/needs to live with us at some point, there's plenty of room for her to have a full wardrobe. Lastly, if/when we need to move downstairs as we age (and our wardrobe dwindles), we can can still have decent, if not overwhelming storage. 

Mudroom and Foyer:
Since we have the locker and cubbies for most of our outerwear, we didn't need a lot of specialized space in the closet. We saw a closet with a low shelf/bench like this at another Charis home last week. We thought it was a brilliant place to put bags, backpacks, purses, etc. So we were pleased that it wasn't too late to add them to our closets.

Guest Bedroom:
We went pretty basic in here. In hindsight, we could have put in some shelves, but realistically, we planned for storage pretty well in our house so we don't have anything planned for this closet other than guest use when we have families stay with us.

Linen Closet:

This is a huge upgrade from the little linen closet we had in our old bathroom. We'll use this for extra towels, linens, pillows and toiletries that aren't housed in the bathrooms, bedrooms, or laundry room. It's hard to see how big it is straight on, but the second photo gives an idea.

D's Closet:
Our sweet boy was so excited to see the shelves in his closet. He wouldn't step out for me to take a picture. So, there he is. Up until now, all of his clothes have fit in his dresser, which he'll still use, so I think his closet will be home to books and toys and next-size-up clothes for now.

Master Closet:
Neither Niels nor I are big clothes hoarders. For the last six weeks, I've been rotating three pairs of pants, 2 sweaters, 2 vests, and four shirts. Niels has only slightly more than that because he actually see the world each day. I'm quite content with my SAHM yoga pants and tee wardrobe, with a jeans and sweater option if I want to go all fancy.

Our close is much larger than we need, 5'8' x 12'8" but 50 years from now, when we move out, the new owners might appreciate it.

My side of the closet had 4 pull out metal shelves (24" wide) and 4 standard shelves. We hadn't seen these shelves in Charis homes, but we really liked the Elfa ones from The Container Store, so we asked and Les said, "No problem!"

Niels side is essentially the same except that he doesn't have a single rod shelf. Anything long that either of have to hang will fit comfortably on my single rod shelf. And his double rod shelves are a little longer because he has more clothes.

We are repurposing the mirror from our old living room so we can finally have a full length mirror. It fits perfectly between the two shelves and can be seen from the bathroom. It will be hung up a couple inches above the baseboard. This also saved us a little money because we didn't have to buy another solid wood pocket door, as we had originally planned.

We're very happy with the work of Top Shelf Closets. If you're in the area and looking for a closet system, get in touch with Les.

Top Shelf Closets

5610 Manchester Rd

Akron, Ohio  44319-4213

330.882.2323 [office]

330.603.0727 [cell]

lescunn@gmail.com

Closet Layouts

As part of our busy morning at the new house yesterday, we did our closet walk-through with Les from Top Shelf Closets. I felt a little unprepared for this round of decisions. Even though I try to be organized,  usually I'm working with existing shelving, so trying to think through how to place the shelves was a bit daunting to me.

We have several rooms to discuss:

• Master bedroom 
• Our son's bedroom
• In-law bedroom
• Guest bedroom
• Linen Closet
• Upstairs Laundry Room
• Downstairs Laundry Room
• Entry Closet
• Foyer Closet
• Pantry

The entry, foyer, guest closets, and downstairs laundry were easy. We did Charis' standard rod and shelf, like this:

We didn't put any shelving in the upstairs laundry room or pantry. I have my eye on a metal shelf from Ikea for the laundry room, and we'll be repurposing  some shelves in the pantry for now.

Most of the discussion centered on our son's closet, the in-law closet and our closet. Les didn't have any pictures for us to look at, but we have seen the type of closet system he used in other homes built by Charis homes. They are white melamine systems with cool brackets, like this:

For our three-year-old's closet, we talked about how to best use the space for the next 15 years. I was thinking of three rows of shelves and rods, but realized that would likely result in us needing to redo in a few years. Besides, he has a dresser, too, and not a lot of clothes. We did put in shelving for toys and extra books.

another Charis closet

For the in-law closet, we discussed how to best use the space for the possibility of long-term guests (several weeks or more), short-term guests (who may be working out of their suitcase rather than fully unpacking) and future use as a master if Niels or I have mobility issues and don't want to be upstairs. I think we came up with a good solution with a combination of double rows, single rows and a shelf. Pictures to come.

In our closet, which is long and narrow, we had to work around a full length mirror we're putting up across from the entry. We chose not to put a door on our closet because, realistically, it'd would almost always be open, either out of laziness or to let in the natural light. We decided to go with it, and take advantage of the wall to have a full length closet, which we wouldn't have space for in the bathroom itself.

Les was really helpful in guiding us through our thought process. We liked that he was helpful without being pushy and we're quite happy with what we decided. We'll have mostly two rows of rows and shelves, and we're saving ourselves from buying an Ikea dresser by installing wire baskets, similar to this for our drawers.

We'll each have four 24" wire drawers, which should be plenty. There will be shelving above those that we can use, as well. Les also made the suggestion of using the extra bookcase that doesn't fit in our pantry along an open wall, which will be perfect for more storage. I'm really excited to see how it all turns out.