A Master Closet: Before & After

I helped a recent client de-clutter her master closet, and look at the transformation!!

 

The shelves were not being utilized properly, so our first step was to purge. Then we categorized "like" items together - purses, scarves, shoes, jewelry, etc. And, voila! (Plus, I love it when we end up with an empty shelf! Room to grow....)

This client is an older lady, and specifically asked for clear bins & large labels,

so she can read them easily :)

 

Let's take one more look at those shelves!

 

This transformation took 4-5 hours.

Let me know if your master closet needs some TLC too! :)

A Master Closet Transformation

Lucky me, I've been able to help transform 3 master closets in the last 2 weeks!

And I must say, this one may be my new favorite......

My client was very motivated to clean out some of her hanging clothes before our appointment, and she paired four racks of clothing down to two! That allowed us to just concentrate on all the "other" stuff at our session....purses, shoes, jewelry, folded clothes, etc.

 This client had so many beautiful bags! But they were being stored on a very high shelf, and it was a pain to get to them. So, I moved them down to a lower rack where not only are they more accessible, but pretty to look at too! :)

 This jewelry/vanity area was a big eyesore for my client. (And it's a bit confusing to look at these pictures because the back of the wall is one large mirror. The baskets you're seeing are in the reflection, and are really on the wall behind us.)

 

We used a large mirrored tray to corral her "everyday" items, a small mirrored tray for all of her pearls, and on the 3 tiered rack, we placed her chunkier & costume jewelry.

 With the addition of some jewelry organizers on the side wall, our boutique was complete! :)

 Now, this shelving wasn't terribly unorganized. As you can, she already had bins holding items like leggings, socks, bras, etc. We repurposed some of the gray bins by placing them in her husband's closet. And 2 lid racks now hold & display her small bags & clutches.

 I'm a sucker for matching baskets! It just makes it all look so much more cohesive and organized.

 This transformation took around 4-5 hours, and I could not be happier with the results! I told my client she needed a rug & chandelier in there, and then it would resemble a full-on boutique :)

Peek Inside: A Professional Organizer's House....{Nate's Room}

It's the last day of the month, and you know what that means....."Peek Inside" time! And since we've been talking about boys' bedrooms all month, today we'll get to look at my son Nate's room.

 Zone 1: Desk & Lego corner. My son is in first grade, and does not have a tremendous amount of homework. (He can knock it out in about 10 minutes, so we just use the kitchen table downstairs.)

So, the main purpose of his desk right now is to:

1). Serve as a work area for building Lego creations and

2). Display his creations.

 He has one tiny drawer in his desk and I've allowed him to keep whatever he wants in there! I hate to call it a "junk drawer," because it's not junk to him. (But it is to me, ha!) I just threw a few drawer organizers in there from the Dollar Tree. I make him go through the drawer every few months when it's getting too cluttered & full.

I did a post earlier this month on storing Legos; click here to view that post. But basically, Nate likes his Legos sorted by BOTH color & set. These plastic drawer systems came from Target & have done the trick so far. As well as more drawer dividers from none other than Dollar Tree.

 Zone 2: Bookshelves. I absolutely adore the built-in bookshelves Nate has in his room. (They came with the house when we moved in 3 years ago; we got really lucky!) And since my son is an avid reader & Lego builder, these shelves provide plenty of storage for both of his passions. Look at the below picture for each corresponding number:

1. All of the book series he has read.
2. Coin collection
3. Bin of action figures & bin of binders with all of his Pokémon cards
4. More Lego display
5. His "nightstand" - a tray corrals the current books he's reading, a booklight, and Kleenex
6. More Lego storage; see second picture down for more detail.

 

Nate's Lego cabinet, where we store larger sets

 

Close-up of the Left side bookshelf

Close-up of the Right side bookshelf

Zone 3: Closet. Nate's closet is the smallest in the house, so we had to get creative on some of his storage.

1. Sleeping bag

2. Basket of quilts

3. Bin for all his cards/mementos

4. Short-sleeve polos

5. Long-sleeve polos & sweaters (aka "church clothes")

6. Bin with extra sheets

7. Bin with Holiday Books (My mom is a retired teacher, so we have 10+ books for every holiday from Valentine's Day to July 4th to Christmas!)

8. Bin with Summer stuff (mostly bathing suits)

9. Bin for clothes that are "Too Small"

10. Play clothes - long-sleeve & sweatshirts

11. Play clothes - pants

12. School uniforms

It's essential to have clothes where your child can reach them easily! (So you don't have to hear "Mooooom! Where's my ______?!") On Nate's lower hanging rack, I have his school uniforms to make mornings go more smoothly, and then he can easily change into play clothes when he comes home.

Close-up of closet bins; I just made a simple label with my labelmaker

 Zone 4: Taekwondo Gear. Nate takes TKD two days a week, so I wanted a place where he can easily find his uniform, as well as keep it wrinkle-free. (They are strict at TKD!)

So there you have it! :)

Let me know your favorite part of Nate's room, as well as a favorite spot in your own son's room!

Reader Space: Shoe Storage in an Entryway

A reader sent me this picture of her entryway:

I think she's definitely on the right track!! And while I am *super* envious of her mudroom cubbies, I do see that she could use a little help when it comes to shoe storage. It looks as though each family member has a designated shoe cubbie (excellent!), but the shoes are just thrown in there haphazardly and I'm sure it's difficult to find a pair. If she would just take it one step further and get a well-fitting bucket or basket to fit into each cubbie, it could look like this:

 

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Which would make:

1. Each family member able to find their shoes more quickly and

2. The space would look a lot prettier! :)

 

However, I think the key in the bucket/basket system would be to LIMIT the number of pairs that are allowed for each family member. Probably 5 pairs for each kid and 3 for each adult (since our shoes are so much larger!)

 

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For those of you out there without a built-in mudroom, here are few other shoe storage solutions for an entryway:

 

 1. Lay a hanging shoe organizer on its' side inside a bench

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 2.  Usually found in a dining room, a wall-mounted plate rack is a genius idea to storing shoes in a small entryway space!

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 3. IKEA has a solution for everything :) And this slender, 12" deep cabinet can fit almost anywhere!

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 4. Or if you're particularly handy, you can make these DIY wall bins. Love that rustic look!

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Hope these shoe storage solutions helped! Leave a comment with your latest organizational dilemma to be featured in my next "Reader Space" post.

Happy Organizing!