Closet Confessions

Oh dear, my stomach is kind of in knots thinking about posting this and showing the mess, but I think it has to be done.  Since part of our Spare Room project will be creating a closet space, I thought it was appropriate to show you what we are currently working with and why we desperately need the extra storage space.

Back when I wrote the first post about our Spare Room I showed this picture of the doorway to the Spare Room from our Master.  Those cute doors to each side are our 'his' and 'her' closets.  They are pretty cute because they are original to the house and should never be changed; except there is nothing cute about a closet that measures 33" x 40"!!!!  That is one of our biggest complaints about living in our old house, NO CLOSET SPACE!!!!

So we had to get creative, and here is where that 'knot in my stomach' feeling comes in.  I feel a little embarrassed to be showing where and how we store all of our crap stuff.  Why?  Because it certainly is not cute or organized- and I pride my self on my organization skills. 

So here is where we stand today with our existing closets, and thankfully we are currently working on a solution!  I will let Alex go first!  

He has all of his dress shirts hung on a very small bar (can you see that the right side of his closet has the Dutch Colonial slant/dormer, so his closet is even smaller than mine). Then he has Ikea wire baskets filled to the top on the left side, jeans stacked right on the floor so you can't access anything behind them, then old Yaffa blocks on the left (remember those.."Go Yaffa", I had a bunch from my dorm in college that have followed me since) holding all of his t-shirts and what looks like a messy wad of stuff towards the bottom.  I have not a clue how he finds anything- oh wait, I DO know.  When Alex can't find something I end up seeing him toss a pile of stuff (while swearing) onto the bed to sift through and find his 'needle in the haystack'. Sorry honey, you know you do!

Alright, now it's my turn!  So here it is, itty bitty closet #1 (I had to use 2)!  Notice you don't see the wall at all?!?!  I have all my clothes packed so tight in that little space.  I hang all my shirts on the hanging rod, sweatshirts and jeans up top, scarves covering the wall to the left, necklaces and belts on the back of the door, and tons of random things in the drawers below. Usually, when I pull something out another 1 or 2 things would come with, so annoying!

Now here is itty bitty closet #2 which is in our guest room.  There was no way everything could go in just one little closet, and it has been really annoying having to search through 2 rooms to put an outfit together!  So in this one, I mainly stuffed away sweaters, dresses, jackets, shoes, and purses up top. I always felt bad too if we had guest come that wanted to hang something up and they opened the closet to see this cluster.  Other than those 2 closets I switch out seasonal things (like swapping the sweaters for shorts in the warm months) in a giant storage tote in the basement, doing anything I can to maximize the space!

It truly was a sad state of affairs.  I am so glad to report that I am getting ready to move on out of of those 2 itty bitty closets, so we should have fun pictures to show soon!  Alex has been hard at work, I think he is also excited that he won't have to hear me yell "Avalanche!!!!" every morning. 

So, I guess I still think it is embarrassing, but I can't wait to show the 'afters' which should paint a much better picture!