House Tour :: Master Closet

The master closet is at the far end of the master bathroom.  We recently changed our dresser situation to make it look and function slightly more custom-closet-ish, rather than the subpar closet  it was (and still kind of is).  The closet consists of two wire shelves on the two short walls, and one long hang wire shelf on the long wall.  I personally do not care for wire shelving, because it doesn't look nice and it is hard to store things on the shelves. But, it is what it is, and I am fine with working with that.  Several months ago I had an estimate done on getting the closet custom tricked out and it was about $5000. Ahhh, no.

Let's get to the photos.  And keep in mind, this is about (mostly) working with what we have and adding a few thoughtful things like matching hangers and a low dresser to, as I said above, make it a bit more custom-closet-ish.

This is the bathroom, and when you walk straight back through the center door, you are in the closet.  You can see a hint of the Ikea dresser in there.

Lights on, here is the entrance to the closet.

 My side of the closet is on the right, Dave's is on the left.  Note the wood explosives box on top of the shelf. Its just for storage of hats.  There aren't actual explosives in there, though there used to be.  Dave is in mining, so he thinks stuff like that is cool.  Which, it is.  I believe that box came from Allentown, PA, when we lived there.

We'll talk about my stuff first.  Below is a close up of my scarves, hanging on an Ikea organizer.  This is the line between my side and Dave's side.

Note in the photos that almost all of our hangers are uniform.  They are light colored wood, from Target and Ikea.  Having matching hangers makes a world of difference in the neatness of a closet.  Everything hangs at the same level, your eye isn't distracted by a jumble of colors and shapes of crappy store hangers, and they don't get tangled with each other.  Go to your closet immediately and throw your store hangers into the recycle bin!  You don't have to get wood hangers, necessarily (though they are very inexpensive at Ikea), but at least use the same size and shape hanger throughout your closet.

My blouses, shirts, dresses, shoe rack  ::

I wish that there wasn't so much wasted vertical space.  Ideally, there would be another shelf or cubbies 18 inches or so above the shelf where my clothes hang.  Any time you have a lot of white space in a closet, that is your signal that there is space to be utilized!  If I need to store something here, though, I will have to install another shelf (not a big deal, really... just have to pick up a matching shelf at Lowe's), install hooks or just simply use large bins or boxes to sit on that existing shelf.  For now, though, this isn't a concern because the closet is roomy and I try to not store a lot of things that I don't use or love.

Continuing to move past my shirts and dresses, clockwise, here is my vast now-almost-pointless collection of fleeces and winter gear.  I also have various jeans hanging on the right.  The woven baskets store hand bags, hats, and there are sweaters folded (?) on the shelf beside the baskets.

I also have a few chairs stored in here.  I keep them in the closet because there is no where else for them, yet I want to have access to them quickly for seating more people for dinner or whatever.  I often lay re-wearable clothes on the white chair so that I remember to wear them soon (like lounge pants, or PJ's).  It's like an informal  valet, I suppose.  The Trader Joe's bag hold items to be donated to the thrift store.  There is almost always a small pile or bag going there and when it is full or gets in the way, it is time to run out to the donation drive through.

In the photo above, notice the oval indention in the carpet.  That is where my laundry basket lives.  I couldn't bring myself to photograph it, as it was a disgusting, overflowing pile of dirty clothes.  I hadn't done laundry in some time when I took the photos.


Continuing clockwise, there is an oval mirror, as well as a heap of jewelry and a few necklaces that are hanging on small 3M hooks.  The heap needs addressing.  Sometime.

(Side note: some day I won't suck at white balancing.)

Moving along, past the door to the bathroom, and here is Dave's end of the closet  ::

On the short wall, left to right, top to bottom:  dress shirts, fleeces and sweatshirts, token pair of khaki cargos, jeans, short-sleeved shirts.  Dave's shoes that are not worn daily are on the left (daily worn shoes are kept by the doors).  On the right, I recently started hanging Dave's frequently worn t-shirts.  In the drawers are underclothes, shorts, bathing suit, lounge pants.  For some of the drawers, I tossed in some baskets I had on hand to contain items that like to get out of control.  This also means I don't have to fold things like socks or undies.  I kind of think that it is a waste of time to fold those things anyhow.

One last feature of the closet, which I posted about here is the luggage storage.  We installed hooks so we could have our luggage readily accessible (since we frequently travel), but out of view.

Stay tuned for "indecent order" shots of the closet, as I continue the house tour.