Closet Makeover

Last Saturday, I visited my friend Linda at The Container Store and she planned two closets for me in my master bedroom. I have a lot of clothes. I've commandeered both closets in the master bedroom (Thank you, sweet understanding husband Michael) as well as two storage bag style closets in the basement (you know, those canvas-covered rack on a frame type thing that eventually collapse). Please note that my closets do not house my Imelda Marcos award-winning shoe collection, although I unearthed a couple of extra pairs in closet 2 during my excavation.

Here is closet 1 before the makeover. In this photo,
somehow it doesn't look so bad, but that's because there's
a boatload of clothes that moved downstairs to the basement.

Here is closet 2 before the makeover. I've had the milk
crates on the top shelf since I was in college. They
currently hold my t-shirts. I've had the horrible bright
green duffel bag (seen in the middle) since high school.
It was a graduation gift that keeps following me.

In order for the installers to put in the new closet system, you have
to EMPTY the closets first. Looks like my closets threw up all
over my room!

I've wanted to do this for years but was afraid that it was going to cost a small fortune. I drool over The Container Store catalog, but when you read the fine print, the average closet has almost $1,500 worth of racks and shelves in it. Apparently, those are Really Big closets in mansions, because the hardware for my closets was under $200 apiece (FYI--my closets are 59 inches wide). I also sprang for the installation because The Container Store was having a 30% off sale and I figured that they could do it a lot faster than Mike and I could.

I have nothing but nice things to say about The Container Store and the installation team (apparently a separate company, but somehow affiliated with TCS). I put my order in on a Saturday afternoon and the installation was available to be scheduled for Tuesday. Jonathan, the installer, arrived promptly at 6pm, and was finished by 7:30 pm. He did the whole installation by himself and cleaned everything up afterwards. The only thing I had to do was somehow put all this mess stuff back into my closets. Unbelievably, Mike and I did make it to bed before 11pm.

Larry Pug prepares for the big reveal! He's never seen an empty
closet before (at least at our house!)

Closet 1 after the makeover. Long storage on the right and two rows of
double hanging storage on the left. Plus two shelves that I can actually reach!
And now there's even room for more clothes!

Closet 2 after the makeover. Four racks of double hanging storage.
I will eventually find a new home for the Rubbermaid boxes,
cheap rolling drawers from Walmart and the shoe rack.
The milk crates will probably move as well. Look at all that room!

A couple of things I discovered while doing this project:

1. Zebra and leopard print play a major role in my wardrobe (probably only Cher has more jungle print clothing than I do).
2. Time to do another clothing purge. Now that I can see everything I own, I decided that there are definitely some things that are destined for the Goodwill bin.
3. Projects always beget more projects. Next on my list -- hanger unification. Identical, fat, plastic hangers for my jackets and skinny fabric-covered hangers for the slippery, lighter weight clothes that used to fall on the floor. As Joan Crawford would say, "no more wire hangers!"

Thanks to my good friend Linda and The Container Store, I've gone from the Closet Hall of Shame to the Closet Hall of Fame! Yes, Real Simple, I'm ready for my close-up now.

Sorry, nothing actually quilting-related in this post, although if you look carefully you can see a couple of my hand-made quilted jackets in the upper right corner of closet 2. But I figure that once all my organizing and cleaning projects are done, I'll have lots more time to sew!

Have a great night!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy