Closet Makeover

Makeover might be a strong term for what we actually accomplished.  But after living with the mess that was our master closet since we moved, it felt like a makeover to us!

When we moved the main objective was merely to get the clothes in a closet.  No rhyme or reason as to how, things were just hung on the rod and we went with it.  It didn’t take long for my patience to run out with our current system but I simply had to bide my time to rectify the issue.  I read several articles, blog posts and organizational gurus ideas about how to organize a closet before I began.  Originally I had big dreams for color coordinating the different sections but as I looked at the grand scheme of things, and thought about myself I realized that would not work for me. 

pre-makeover

pre-makeover 

The first step though was to take everything out of the closet.  Every hanger, basket, shoe, belt and scarf was strewn about the bedroom.  As I looked at the sheer amount of clothing we owned I was more than a little overwhelmed.  I sorted the clothes into two piles.  One pile was all of Coach Husband’s clothes for him to sort through.  The other pile was all mine. 

clothes on clothes on clothes 

I looked at each piece objectively and asked myself three questions:

1) Do you love this piece?

2) How often do you wear this piece?

3) Will you miss it if it is not a part of your closet in the future?

If two out of the three were a negative response it went into the discard pile.  If I answered positively to the majority of the questions it went back into the closet.  Instead of color coding I organized my closet by type.  A section of dresses, sub categorized into maxis and shorter dresses, skirts, work pants, jeans, long sleeved shirts, short sleeved, sleeveless and then my game day shirts.  Yes, there is a section in my closet dedicated to game-day attire.  Such is the #coachswifelife..  Formalwear was a separate category at the very back of CH’s side of the closet. 

skirts ,dresses, pants & jeans

shirts & game-day attire

I also am very picky about my hangers.  I despise metal hangers with a passion and it does not help my hatred that Coach feels those are the solution to all issues.  The man had three to four pairs of khakis on a metal hanger.  The horror cannot accurately be described using words.  I threw away all metal hangers and replaced any attire that were previously hanging on metal on studier hangers.  One day I hope to have all my clothes on the same time of hanger.  Sadly that is not a reality quite yet. 

Once I finished with my clothing I moved on to accessories.  Scarves, shoes, and belts were tucked into new baskets {that match!} and placed on the top shelf.  Summer shorts and swimsuits were also tucked away in a basket on the top shelf.  I found  a precious hook rail during a random Target run that CH installed to hang my monogrammed baseball hats & favorite beach hat on.    

Then came the biggest challenge of all.  Having CH wade through his things.  CH hates to get rid of things.  We are talking the man still owns undershirts from when he was in high school.  While I appreciate his ability to stretch a piece of clothing there are things that moved from his parents house, to a college dorm, back to his parents, into two different apartments, across multiple states for graduate school, and through two moves as married people.  Of all those times, I have never seem him wear these items and some even still have the tags on them!  My large discard pile must have inspired him though!  The man was chunking items faster than I could keep up!  We moved things from the terrible hangers of death to nicer hangers and I categorized his side of the closet in a way that works for him.  He found several pairs of colored khakis I had bought him long ago for work that he hadn’t seen all year with great glee.  His students are going to think he received a whole new wardrobe for Christmas.  He topped off his closet clean out by going through the overwhelming number of beanies, baseball hats and outerwear that comes from playing for a Division 1 football team and being a graduate assistant at another.  He gets some major props for having a cheerful heart and letting go of items!

CH’s side

CH’s side

Once everything we were keeping was placed back in the closet I turned my attention to the discard pile.  We have two different stores in town that “buy” your gently used clothing.  I sorted items into a pile for each store I thought might purchase ad then a separate pile that was strict donate.  CH took the sell backs and received some cash that we will turn around and use for “fun money” in the coming months.  Anything that the stores did not take we added to the donate pile which was dropped off this morning.  Finally CH fixed the light fixture that has been out since the day after we moved in.  Eventually we will replace the fluorescent monstrosity with a chandelier we found hiding in the attic when we moved in.  CH said that was a job for when my Daddy was in town because me “helping with wiring” makes him nervous. 

I was so inspired by the makeover I actually ironed all of the clothing that has been sitting in a laundry basket for almost 2.5 years of marriage that afternoon.  Maybe I will convince Coach I would make a pretty good stay at home wife/mom yet. 

Biggest take away from this project?  If there is a part of your home you aren’t loving, take the time to envision what you do want it to look like and go for it!  I could have easily put this project off or done a halfway job but the end result was well worth the total of six hours (3 for clean out/organization and 3 for ironing…) it took to compete the task.  The closet is now one of our favorite places to be. 

Till next time y’all,