Closet Compulsion

I have to admit something; I'm addicted to organizing. This is not a new thing. Its an affliction I have lived with since childhood. Examples: My desk at school, perfectly organized. My room I shared with my messy sister, duct tape dividing the room. In the last house I knew where everything was at all times. Clutter is chaos and unlike Maxwell Smart, I do not handle chaos well. Some of you already know this and may call it OCD. But, I can't help the way I am, so I've decided to embrace it.

Project one: The Closet.

Its been my dream for sometime now to have a beautiful, immaculately organized, well lit closet, that always smells like lavender. Although I would love to have a custom built shoe heaven I have a beer budget so we went to Menard's and got the next best thing.

On Saturday morning we picked up a put-it-together-youself "natural oak" laminate shelving system and by the end of the day we had what I would call a pretty impressive site. {If you work with me chances are you are still stuck on "natural oak" because you know I generally dislike it. But it matches our floors perfectly, was better than cherry and better than white, and 20% off. So suck it oak haters.} For under 400 smakaroos we were able {for the first time in 3 years!} to put all of our clothes in the same closet. Well worth the investment in my opinion. Not only was it less than the price of a new dresser {although we still need one, current guy doesn't go with anything} but it will help sell this haus when we're ready to move on.

Ok, tips on having your Menard's closet look like Oprah's . . .

Tip 1) I'm going to go ahead and pull a Mommy Dearest here and say, "No wire hangers, ever!" Wood is the only way to go. Now wood hangers are definitely more expensive than plastic, but no one said you had to switch them out all at once. Slowly replace your gear, before you know it your wardrobe will be looking fabulous. {notice we still have a few} On a side note, do not get rid of all your plastic hangers if you hang laundry to dry. I learned this one the hard way. The wood stain can come off on clothing so take your plastic down to the laundry room.

Tip 2) Organize by type and then color. Sweaters with sweaters, polos with polos, short sleeves to long sleeves, you get the idea. Then pretend you are a kindergartner and make it a rainbow. Red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue etc... Not only does it look really nice, but it makes it easy to find what you are looking for in your groggy morning haze.

Tip 3) Make your closet do double duty.  Hang a high and low rod and be amazed at how you can fit twice as many clothes in.  Ideally you should also have one spot with just a high rod to hang suits and longer dresses.  We have about 8" left to do this, but rods are not available that short so this will be the only custom part of our closet. 

Tip 4) Next add some ambiance. If I were going to be fancy, which is my natural tendency, I would say line your drawers with lavender scented paper and hang sachets every so often between your clothing. But honestly my trick is soap stored on shelves. Ok, yes it is Yves Delorme soap made by 181 year old family run business in Provence, but its still soap and it works wonders. Try it, you will be amazed.

PS: Husband did all the work and I have to give him an A+ on the handiness scale.

PPS: Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but like I told my mother, "I've been too busy fixing up my house to blog about fixing up my house." : )

Ahhhh..... look at all the pretty pictures. The first are of Bungalhaus!

before...

after...

someday...