a lovely living

Today I’m sharing our freshly organized master closet. A closet that for the first time since we’ve lived here (over three years) finally brings me joy. I’ve shared a few rooms in our home with you all, but never would I have thought that our closet would be next on the list. When we moved in to our home, we had three young children, one of which was 7 weeks old. My goal was to get as many rooms painted (because you know that’s pretty much my thing), and get situated as quickly as we could. In terms of the closet, that meant toss it all in so it was out of sight and move on to the next room.

Three years passed and I never really gave it a second thought, more of a ‘I’ll get to that someday’. Well, with our arctic weather as of late, I haven’t had many chances to get outdoors to shoot much in terms of style content. So when I reached out to you all on Instagram asking what you’d be looking for me to share, the very first two responses centered around closet organization. Well, just picture me throwing my head back in laughter because here’s what I was looking at….

Glad that embarrassment is out of the way! Yikes. Barely an ounce of organization and a door I was happy to keep closed. Those Instagram suggestions resonated with me almost instantly and I knew without a doubt that I wanted to tackle our closet. I wouldn’t say that Jack and I have any sort of an impressive or Pinterest worthy closet, but I knew that it could be much more beautiful and functional than it currently was.

Now, I know Marie Kondo is all the rage right now, but at this point I had only seen one of her episodes and had never read her book (which I still haven’t). But I got the gist of how she has helped countless families organize their homes. By simplifying, and organizing and only keeping things that bring you joy, you’ll set yourself up with a structure that you’ll be able to follow going forward. She also suggests that you work by category, and not by room. So when it comes to your clothes, you gather them all and return those that bring you joy, one by one. So that’s what I did…

This all happened relatively quickly, I cleaned my closet and felt like I was on a roll.

I knew (and my BF confirmed) that matching hangers was step number 1 and would make a major impact. If that’s not something that bothers you, by all means, skip this step. But this is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now. Luckily, Target had some on sale, and wouldn’t you know, they were by Joy :) Totally meant to be. I love this particular hanger because of it’s thin shape that maximizes space and has the velvet to keep your clothing in place. I also picked up a few baskets and some shelf dividers which are pretty and very functional!

Well, this project turned from a few hours to a few days, because sorting and washing and folding and rehanging…..oh and three kids that also need fed and helped with homework and ran to this sport and this dance class etc. But I kept at it any chance I had. I took a few piles to a consignment shop and others to donate, but it wasn’t very hard to get it all out the door. Let me also mention that as a style blogger who’s constantly moving through clothing, I do purge my closet regularly, but there’s something much more powerful about having your entire wardrobe in one pile and having to mindfully decide which pieces bring you joy and which do not, that made me reconsider many pieces.

Well, I’m happy to report that Jack and I both worked though everything and are so happy with what went back in and the way it ultimately turned out.

For those interested, I’ll share a little bit about my approach to organization in here. Granted, every closet is set up a little differently and every individuals needs are going to vary, but some of these tips/tricks will hopefully translate and work well for you.

Keeping my sweaters stacked helps me to be able to see them all and these clear dividers keep them separated and tidy.

I have these particular baskets throughout our home and knew they’d work perfectly in our closet as well.

I decided to keep hats in one, swimwear/coverups in another and the third I plan to keep empty and fill with items that I’m ready to sell or donate (as opposed to piling them on the floor!).

This organizer is perfect for Jack’s ties and belts. Very sleek and streamlined.

I’ve had this scarf holder for years and it continues to serve it’s purpose well.

My belts are now very pared down to only those that I actually wear (when in doubt, if they are dusty, you probably don’t need it ;) ).

I purchased this shoe rack when we moved in and it actually works really well in our space. I have a few pairs of tall boots up on the shelf in their boxes, but the bulk of my shoes are kept here….

…and here. I decided to remove our behind the door hooks because all they created was more clutter. This shoe organizer turned out to be a much better use of space for us.

Jack’s clothing and my dresses and longer sweaters are what take up the bulk of the hanging space across the length of the one side of our closet. Jack works from home and has quite the minimal wardrobe, compared to mine!

Here’s the other side of the closet. You can see that we have our few travel bags stored on the top shelf and then I have my jewelry stored in trays/boxes on the middle shelf.

My everyday jewelry is now in my jewelry box on my dresser (which I also cleaned out) and it now gets daily use.

I have my pants on the lower rack and decided to move my shorts to hangers as well so that I could free up a drawer for my workout clothes. They are much better suited for a drawer than tossed on a shelf in here as they were before.

I have all of my hanging shirts on top, sorted in a way that made the most sense to me. I have my vests, followed by flannels and then the rest of my tops that can all be worn almost year round grouped by colors. That’s one other thing I should note, I don’t store clothing away in storage or another closet when it’s out of season, this is my year-round closet and there’s (now) plenty of space for it.

I decided to upgrade our hampers as well since Jack and I had been holding onto our collapsable hampers from our college days. These function much better for us, they are a great size and even have a divider that you can add to separate colors.

A few days of some fairly hard work have led to a whole lot of joy for us!

I thank you guys for giving me the inspiration and kick in the butt to put this project into motion, because in all honesty I don’t know when I would have gotten to it on my own! If you’re feeling overwhelmed in your own closet, let me be that little voice that nudges you along saying, ‘just do it’, it’s worth it, I promise!

But be warned. Once you start, you can’t stop! My drawers have now felt the effects of Marie Kondo as well!!

Here are some helpful products that could help get your closet organized: