Closet Plans and Dreams

Oh, how I love a nice, organized, well-stocked closet.

Since my accessories and shoe closet has seen its own transformation, it's about time that I focus on the second closet in my bedroom. This one houses a lot of my clothes-90% of which are for work.

Here is how my closet currently looks:

There is so much wasted space at the top and bottom of the closet. And that wire shelf. The worst. And they are in all of my closets (sans the accessories and shoe closet since I removed it).

I got out my notebook and a pen and took some measurements. I measured the amount of space each type of clothing took up in my closet. Here is a very rough sketch that I came up with:

This sketch utilizes every square inch of closet space. And, so, because I love sketching and playing designer, I took this sketch to another level:

Meow! Love. I showed this to my dad, the handiest man of them all, and he was like, "Yeah! We can do that." Sweet.

In my quest to get this closet into tip-top shape, I did a lot of looking around online. I've checked out Ikea, The Container Stores Elfa system, Martha Stewart's system at Home Depot, Closet Maid, and a few other websites that provide suggested configurations based on your measurements. Ultimately, they didn't give me the all of the options I was looking for and they all wasted too much space. Custom it is.

Now to be honest, these measurements may be inaccurate, so we'll need to measure twice a few times and cut once when things actually get rolling... which probably isn't for a long while. I'm still renovating my kitchen.

Since nothing is physically in the works, and I'm pretty excited about the great possibilities this drawing brings, I thought I would share what I've got brewing. I'm also thinking about adding beadboard in the closet since it's currently sporting the ceiling-esque swirly plastered style stuff.

Any other ideas or solutions I should consider?

Favorite Places to Shop

I get really jazzed up about my major shopping deals, so I thought it would be fun to share where I enjoy spending my time shopping.

I love weekends because I get to go to TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshall's and at a leisurely pace. Since no two of these stores are the same, I sometimes find myself going to a few different TJ's on the same day. Crazy and in love. 

Shopping at TJ's and Marshall's for home accessories is much more enjoyable for me than clothes. I don't enjoy digging through the clothing rags--plus, they never have a lot in my size. I do enjoy browsing their shoes though! Yum.

These sister stores offer HUGE savings over retail. Seriously, they were selling the large size Method laundry detergent for $7.99 and on that same day I was in Target and it was priced at $12.99. Hello!!!! 

Banana Republic is relatively expensive, so unless something is on sale (with a sale on top of it) or there is a promotion going on, it's not happening. I won't buy anything for less than 40% off. They frequently have promotions going on, lots that are 30% off, so I just hold out until the big one comes around. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that 97% of my wardrobe is from Banana. They just get me.  

I should note that I am trying not to buy clothing, so I am also trying really hard to ignore the pretty promotions that are 40% off. 

Home decor and other home-related items? Well I can't really put a limit on that. Something will always need a face lift or some organizing.

Choosing a Paint Color

While my kitchen renovation continues to be an ongoing project, the most significant moment being 4 months ago (though the whole process has been more like 7 months if you count planning and design). I'm a little burnt out.

This past Sunday was the first time I'd stepped into Home Depot in well over a month (for a DIYer that's significant). There are so many things I want to do... and a lot of things that I need to do, like sanding and paint the new trim in my kitchen and half bath, but my body is just not as motivated.

So, since I don't feel like sanding or painting trim, I headed to Home Depot to look for a ceiling light for the kitchen, buy a quart of paint for the ceiling in the downstairs hall and bath, and peruse my paint options for the second bedroom that has been used as a storage facility for the past year. 

I came across this lovely palette of taupey-beige colors from Behr.

 

Initially I was leaning toward the middle color, Sandstone Cove. I always lean toward the colors in the middle of a paint strip when I first see them. That's when bad things happen. Turns out, I don't like heavily saturated colors as much as I think I do, especially when all the walls are covered in them.  

When I got home, I held up the chip in the room and realized that White Clay, the lightest of the three, was a better color choice for me. I like calming tones that give you some visual/mental space when you're in a room. At home White Clay actually came across as having a much stronger tone than it did in the store (it almost looked off-white). It gave me more pleasant thoughts than the darker shades.

Lighting is everything. That is the message I am here to deliver.

I'm going to hold up the chip a few more times just to be sure it's what I want. This is going to be my new office, you know.