Project Closet Organizing

One of the many downsides to living in an older home is closet space. Apparently nobody thought about walk in closets until sometime in the 80's. We have one tiny little 42" closet in our master bedroom that really isn't big enough for diddly squat! Since the only thing it really had going for it was that it is 8' tall (thank God for that being a 1950's standard!) we decided that we were going to have to rethink our storage options and go high. You see, the closet only had 1 bar for hanging and that left the bottom constantly filled with other random stuff that was quite disorganized.

So the hubs and I take off to Lowe's to get some wire shelving to create a shelf and 2 hanging bars. We were going to get this done. But by the time we got home, got homework done, and the little man ready for bed, it was about 10:00 and the hubs says we should wait until tomorrow to do it. I went to bed sulking. Poo! I wanted my closet done, like yesterday. The next morning I got up raring to go and get er done. Once I unloaded the closet, I realized how yuck it really was. I mean, it's been cram packed full for 8 years. Here starts the embarrassing photos. Look at the stuff that was on the top shelf... my scrapbooks, high school yearbooks, a Lite Brite, a stuffed animal and the quilt my Mamaw made for me. (Random stuff, I know!)

Can you see why this took forever? I obviously can't relocate the scrapbooks without thumbing through them. Isn't my little guy the cutest thing?

The one bar that we had was so unorganized. Mine and the hubs clothes all mixed together, random hangers going in all directions. Yuck! How did I let it get like this?

I pulled the old shelving (and I use that term loosely) down with my bare hands. It didn't even require a claw hammer. That's how rickety it was! And I was left with one fugly closet. I decided to give it a quick coat of paint. Look at the difference. Paint- I love you! Just painting it made it so much brighter which we needed since there isn't a light in there either. The left side obviously already had a coat of paint.

It was time to install the wire shelving. I'm going to save you the play by play because it contains quite a bit of colorful language that your ears might not like to hear. My studs, my drill, my level and my hands just weren't working well together. But I wasn't giving up. I mean, I have a sea of clothes and junk that are piled on my bed that came outta there and I can't sleep until it's done.

Now I'm ready to refill the closet and there is no way all these random hangers are going back in.

So I headed to Dollar General to get 10 packs of new hangers for $10.

After sorting through our clothes and finding 3 big bags to donate, I'm left with a super clean, organized closet. Mine on the left. Hubs on the right. I thought about arranging by color, but then I remembered that I'm not THAT organized so it's just arranged by short and long sleeve. Baby steps people! Baby steps!

Do you keep your closets neat or do they end up a mess like mine was? Check out my link parties tab to see where I am sharing this week! :)