The Great Closet Overhaul: Part One

When I look at our closet, I hear angels sing. After a solid week of sorting, laundering, purging, rehanging, and furniture-assembling, I've finally been able to take a good look at my wardrobe and figure out how to maximize its potential.


Just for a bit of context, here's what the ol' closet looked like before:

Ok, so I probably shot it at its most pitiful. Still, the lack of hanger space, drawers, and streamlined storage made it hard to find a damn thing in there. Which lead me to whine "I hate all of my cloooooothes!" consistently enough to convince my finance to help me reorganize. And oh, did we.

I don't feel that a full on narrative is necessary here (let's just say it involved a lot of sneezing, toe-stubbing, and screams of "f--king IKEA and your shitty f--king instructions!"). However, I can offer a few words of advice:

1. If you don't have enough drawers, buy a dresser or two. There are only so many things you can hang, and folding your clothes and stacking on shelving only leads to it falling off/ looking messy.

2. Invest in uniform storage containers. I know it sounds anal retentive, but the consistency of all-white boxes (or all pink, or all polka-dot, or whatever strikes your fancy) creates important visual cues. In other words, when you're looking for something to wear, your eyes aren't drawn to all the oddly-shaped moving boxes/ milk crates/ Trader Joe's bags full of old clothes and can instead focus on what's actually hanging in front of you. Trust me, it helps.

3. Invest in slimline hangers, preferably felt-lined. Not only will they maximize your hanging space, they're also just prettier. Which makes your clothes look prettier. And your clothes deserve to feel pretty.

4. Before deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, wash, iron, and hang up everything you own. I know it's a lot of work, but I ended up keeping a lot of items I hadn't worn in years simply because I hadn't taken the time to revitalize them or try them on again. Every item is worth a second look, and there are always ways to restyle the old stuff.

5. Once you have decided what to get rid of, decide how you want to get rid of it. Is it worth trying to resell? Is it something you want to keep for a clothing swap? Or does it go straight to the Goodwill? Also, this is where the laundry part I mentioned above comes in -- it's always classier to give away clean clothes.

Thankfully, the hard part is done. Now on to the fun stuff -- restyling, altering, embellishing, trading, and making some well thought-out purchases.