my top five closet storage solutions

I just realized that I never got around to sharing my closet/dressing room here! I've taken some photos where you can spot some of it in the background, but I never did a full-out tour post like I intended. Anyway, it occurred to me that some of my organization methods might be somewhat useful so I thought I'd share some storage tips first, then do the whole closet tour shebang next week! :)



1. Use household items to organize. You don't need a fancy jewelry box to house your collections -- you can display your accessories using containers you already have laying around the house! I used a plastic french fry basket from the dollar store, a mason jar and an old melamine chips-and-dip tray to house my brooches and bracelets! And to keep my lipsticks organized I used nail polish remover caps and a jar lid (DIY post here!) It's amazing how instantly a run-of-the-mill item can be transformed into a useful storage container with the help of a little spray paint! ;)





2. At-a-glance storage. Whenever possible, try to store things so that you can see everything at a glance. If you stack your sweaters on top of each other, you'll constantly be rifling through your drawer and messing things up whenever you get dressed. Storing my cardigans side-by-side (and in rainbow order!) helps things stay neat and tidy. It's also a huge time saver!

For smaller items like tights, using a drawer organizer really comes in handy. I use a soft organizer from IKEA so that none of my tights will snag, and I roll them up side by side so I can see all of the colors at a glance.



3. Roll up pajamas in a shoe organizer. I have a weakness for flannel pajama sets (especially if they have cute animals on them) but I never really knew where to put them. I like keeping sweaters, jeans and unmentionables in my dressers so that leaves little room for big bulky pj's! I came up with this solution and it works SO well! I roll up the pajama set and stuff it into a shoe organizer slot. This makes it so easy to grab a top+bottom set in a pinch, and it doesn't take up much room!





1. Closet dividers to store belts and sunglasses. Earlier this year I purchased two closet dividers (or doublers) hoping to use them to hang up shirts and skirts, but they just didn't work out for me. Luckily, they were absolutely *perfect* for another purpose! I needed somewhere to store my (embarrassingly large) belt collection, and this totally fit the bill. I hung the divider from the ceiling using cup hooks, and then used S hooks to hang the belts. Since the dividers that I purchased came in three separate pieces (the two sides and the one middle rung) I was able to take the middle rung from the 2nd set and add another row for my sunglasses! (These are the dividers that I purchased)



5. Stagger your shoes. Finally, keeping shoes staggered (one shoe with the front facing forward and one with the heel facing forward) saves a lot of room! It isn't quite as pretty as having them all facing you, but you can fit a lot more shoes in a small space this way! :)

paint by number

Saturday night at 2am I got a random urge to paint a mural in my bathroom... so I did! I found a vintage paint by number online for reference, printed it out and then hung out in the loo all night with pencils, paint and a brush! I stopped around 5am, got some sleep, then finished it off Sunday morning. I'm super-duper incredibly happy with how it turned out & so glad I just went ahead and did it!

My bathroom wasn't especially pretty ... the paint was peeling and I had a lot of obvious holes where I'd stuck push pins over the years. So this mural covers up all the uglies! I only did one wall so far, but I'm planning on continuing the scene onto the door & other wall when I have a chance! :) I can't wait until it's all finished.. I'll definitely share photos of the whole room when it's complete!

ps. While working on the mural I finished Felicity on netflix ... [Spoiler alert!!] I never watched it when it was on so this was my first time, and I totally did not expect a time travel storyline! That just came out of left field.. and how was Elena alive at the end? Totally mind-boggling to me. I loved it, but it was just so completely unexpected! Although I was sort of rooting for Noel the whole time, so I wasn't incredibly pleased with how things ended up in that department ;p

a canopy of frocks

This week I finally converted my dressing room back into a functioning bathroom. Unfortunately, I was a little ahead of myself and forgot to find a new place to house all of my clothes! My parents are going to clean out their walk-in closet and give me a rung in there, but until they do, my dresses are all hanging around my canopy bed! If I wasn't afraid of having too much weight on my bed frame, I'd totally consider this as a permanent storage solution. It actually looks really lovely, especially when I wake up and the sun is shining through the dresses, giving them a beautiful halo.

my dressing room.

Since I use my closet as a workspace, I had to find a place for my clothes and stuff.... so I converted our extra powder room into a dressing room by covering up the bath tub with a sheet of plywood and making it into a raised closet. I use my mannequin for hats, glasses and scarves and hung up some curtains on the walls in the tub to conceal the tile.... I probably took a big chunk of money off our selling price by messing around with the sink counter top. It was an ugly builder's fake marble laminate (blech) and I wanted it to look modern but worn (well, it made sense to me..) so I painted the whole thing a bright orange color with oil paint, then painted over it with light blue latex after it had dried. Then I peeled away some of the latex so it would look distressed. I think it's totally awesome, but I doubt an average suburban family will feel the same :-\

Anyway... it's been pretty awesome having a separate room for getting dressed, and it's one of the things I'll probably miss the most when we move...

please excuse the messy slept-on bun...