The Master Bedroom Closet and a New Wardrobe

A couple thoughts as spring settles in:

Hello, springtime. Let's talk about clothes. 

1. Goodbye, Winter Clothes! I don't want to think about winter ever again. In fact, every year as soon as it gets warmish, I boldly take all my coats and hats and heavy sweaters and store them away, out of sight. This is partly so that I have more room in my closet to see the stuff I'm actually using, but also because I hate winter and I don't want to be reminded that it will eventually return. (Actually - it's supposed to snow in a couple days. [sigh])
2. Hello, Spring Clothes! Just as the winter stuff is getting put away, the summer stuff is coming out of hiding. It's fun every year to pull out the things that were stored away a few months ago- something between getting a bunch of gifts and being reunited with old treasures.
3. What fits? To make things more complicated, this time last year I was massively pregnant, so none of these spring clothes were getting worn. In fact, between being pregnant for 9+ months, and then spending another 9+ months slowly losing the weight, it's been a really long time since a lot of my clothes fit me. I boxed up a bunch of them to put them out of sight, and now I'm starting to dig through everything to figure out what I have and what fits now.  
4. Less is More. One of the things I really liked about being pregnant was that I had a really tiny wardrobe (as in, number of items, not size of clothes). I refused to buy a lot of temporary clothes, so I literally only had about 5 outfits- which meant each day I knew exactly what I was going to wear. There are plenty of examples of smart people choosing to have a really small wardrobe to avoid wasting mental effort on trivial choices, so let's go ahead and argue that this is my intent, and not just being otherwise lazy and cheap.
5. See what you've got. An important part of being organized is being able to see everything you have. You can easily group similar items, and then avoid buying duplicates and know if something's missing. One major issue my closet has is that I can't see what's in it. There's a clothing bar hanging in front of shelves, blocking them from sight. I have a tall dresser hand-me-down with really deep drawers that clothes seem to disappear into. Plus, there are boxes of extra clothes hidden under the bed and various other places - so I have no idea what I have because I can't see any of it.  

The current master closet is this whole wall long, accessed through the door on the left

View to the right: It's a long and skinny closet, with a hanging rod in front of shelves 

So - with all that in mind - I decided to turn my efforts to my closet and the clothes in it. You may remember that our big plan is to convert the current master bedroom, the spare room beside it, and the old sleeping porch into one big master suite. We started it during the Big Renovation, which is now several years ago, when we turned the closet of the spare room into our washer/dryer closet. That small step was a huge improvement for laundry - but a big loss for closet space. We lost a very useful closet that the Spouse Man had been using, so he moved into the Greenroom and I had to move into the closet in the master bedroom. Despite the fact that it's quite big, the closet in the master bedroom is long and narrow, making it really difficult to actually see what's inside - turning it into a huge blackhole for clothes. Our plan is to create a new walk-in closet in the spare room which will be more open and accessible, and to knock down the current useless closet - making the bedroom bigger. I decided to start on making the new walk-in closet so that I could get my wardrobe better organized.

The Long-term Plan for a Master Suite

Step 1. Paint.
I started out by repainting the future closet space. When we first moved in, we (I) picked a tragic shade of baby blue. Then, when the contractors covered over the old door to the old closet, they left the new sheetrock primed white. I figured the new closet needed to be as light and bright as possible, so I just grabbed a leftover can of the slightly off-white shade that we used in the basement.

the corner of the spare room at the start, needing a paint job

Step 2. Get Shelves and Brackets
I priced out the options for wire shelving units, and was surprised to see that they were more expensive than getting real wood - which seems much more solid and attractive anyway. So I ran over to the Depot, picked up some 1x12 boards and brackets,  cut them down to size, and gave them a quick coat of white paint.

Step 3. Install Brackets and Shelves.
Then my spouse very nicely agreed to help me install the new shelves and brackets, which was great since it's easier as a two-man job, and he's not really benefitting from this project just now. He's still using the greenroom closet, so this project is all about me (for now). We just drilled pilot holes to find the stubs, then screwed the brackets into the studs- and then just screwed the boards onto the brackets. We made one high shelf for rarely needed items, one accessible shelf for things I use often, with a hanging bar beneath it, and then one lower shelf for shoes. We added a mirror too, and moved the bookcase that I made for the old office into the space.

brackets going up, saucily

Step 4. Move Everything into the New Space
Very quickly, I moved all my clothes over to the new spot. I was overwhelmed and confused to see that I had so much stuff, knowing that I wear a very small fraction of said stuff. It was clear that I needed to get organized and get rid of some things.

so much stuff.

Step 5. Make a Wardrobe Design Plan
Following my appreciation for a super small maternity wardrobe and my affinity for making design plans before a renovation - I decided to create a capsule wardrobe, if you will. Before we renovate a room, I spend an inordinate amount of time making a design plan. The process is really helpful for me to figure out what we have that I like, what we need for function, and then what looks good and goes together. This takes way more time than you might expect, but it's totally worth it. Once a design plan is done, I have my marching orders - I don't expect to get everything at once (though I occasionally toy with the idea by putting everything in my carts at once to see what it would cost), but I know what to watch for sales and things to keep my eyes open for. I figured the same process would work for a wardrobe too.

So, I scoured my go-to online shops for items I liked, put them all together in a powerpoint slide, and then culled and tweaked until I had a good collection. I tried to build off of the things I already have and like, adding in the stuff that is missing. It's built off a strict color scheme, so that everything goes with everything. I tried to balance the number of items - having more shirts than pants, some long-sleeve and some short-sleeve, etc. I also tried to balance the types of clothes I need with the lifestyle I actually have, (ie, one thing for a date night, one thing for a big meeting, lots of things for the average work day).

My Wardrobe Design Plan

Top Row: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Second Row: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Third Row: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Fourth Row: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Bottom Row: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Step 6. Cull Ruthlessly
Once I had set my wardrobe design plan, I went back and got rid of anything that didn't fit it. Anything that was outside of the color scheme was easy to get rid of. Next were the items that would definitely never fit again (I'm still losing baby weight, so I had to walk the fine line of keeping clothes that were slightly too small and would likely fit again, while ditching the clothes that were way too small and probably never fit to begin with.). Then I started working on shifting the proportions of things to more accurately fit my lifestyle - 5 black evening gowns were excessive, so I just picked my favorite one or two. It was striking to me how out of proportion everything was - I clearly like to shop for evening dresses and cardigans- you'd think I go to a lot more galas than I do. I had to ask myself, "Do I really need 5 blue v-neck sweaters?" (answer = no). I got everything down to a smaller number of clothes that I actually liked, that fit, and that went together. Everything that was culled went into a pile for goodwill (which will actually hang out at the house for a week or two in case i have second thoughts on anything).

Step 7. Shop with Purpose
Lastly, I had to pick up a few items that were missing. The design plan and culling process identified a couple items that were clearly needed, so I made a list. I did some targeted online shopping as things I had been eyeing went on sale, and then I actually went to the mall. I hate the mall, so I went during a weekday afternoon with a list in hand, knowing that I would be in and out as quickly as possible. I can't express how much I actually hate the mall - but there is value in actually trying things on sometimes.

all done 

from another angle

new use for my bookcase

lots of bins for gym clothes

the top shelf is great for things I don't need often

room between the hangers! 

a mirror on the other wall- framed by my race bibs

Concluding Thoughts:
Obviously the new closet isn't finished. This is only half the storage space we are planning on, and it's lacking some walls, doors, lights, etc. But, it goes a long way towards defining the space and figuring out the best layout for eventually finishing it. For now, this is a huge upgrade for my closet space and really allows me to see what I have. Plus, I'm now completely out of the closet in the master bedroom, so I can toy with the idea of just knocking it down to enlarge the room (perhaps a fun idea for a slow day this summer).

The whole wardrobe process really clarified for me that I have been shopping wrong for a long time. Clearly, just randomly ordering stuff that was on sale didn't result in a useful wardrobe - it just wasted money and left piles of randomness to take up space. I'm really embarrassed by the number of items that got donated with their original tags still on. So, now that I have a better closet space that allows me to see everything I have - I'm committing to being a better clothes shopper, knowing what I have and only shopping for what I need. The idea of a capsule wardrobe is to get down to just 37 items. I'm still way over that, but I made a lot of progress. I see this as more of an aspirational approach that will take constant work. While this is a project that will never be done, for now, it feels so much better knowing that I have a plan and a system in place.