New Master Closet Reveal

To quote the old adage: a place for everything and everything in its place.

I firmly believe that design should be not only beautiful, but functional.

Of course, I believe the converse, as well. 😉

Let’s remember briefly where this closet began.

At only 7′ x 3’4″, it’s a little tight for a master closet. What poses the greatest challenge, however, is the awkward shape. The door takes up one entire end, with no more than a couple of inches on either side of the door, making the closet VERY narrow and VERY deep, not to mention the fact that a giant window takes up one wall. Bizarre. But I think we found a good solution.

We started by moving our bedroom door. A perfectly logical solution, right? Actually, long story short, there was a random hall closet just outside our bedroom door. Since it was the third closet in that particular hallway, it was really superfluous for linens or other random things. And since it sat inside a little vestibule just outside our bedroom door, we simply moved our bedroom door to the front of that vestibule, giving the master a little entryway.

Sometimes the solution lies in thinking outside the box room. (Hehe – are you tired of my corny humor yet?)  We thereby incorporated another closet into the master, giving us a “his” closet that was able to hold a double bar.

And yes, Mr. Pax is tall. Tall enough to allow a shoe shelf between his bars, allowing us to maximize space in this little closet.

That allowed us to convert the previous master closet into a “hers” closet (aka mine!). The best part was that, by moving “his” hanging clothes out, we were able to move the hanging bars to the back wall and use the long wall for shelves, so many that I even let him use some. 😉

I’ve never had real shelves for my shoes before. Aren’t heels fun to look at all lined up in a row?

I love my boot shelf, too.

And I have to share how I made them stand up so nice and straight. (I confess that I saw this somewhere before, but I can’t remember where – I wish I could give credit!)  Cut up a styrofoam noodle (one noodle worked for three pairs of boots for me) and use the pieces to support your boots:

But I digress… Actually, the aesthetics of my crisp, clean, organized shelves inspired me to design the space to make me smile. Think about it. You enter your closet every morning. Often before coffee. Why not start off the day in a place that will make you smile? Makes sense to me… So I added some frames that some friends had given me (don’t you love the little drop cloth rosettes?).

And before you ask why I relegated a picture of Mr. Pax and me to the closet, let me remind you that I was purposefully trying to choose things that would make me smile. I’m not hiding him away, I promise. 😉

And no, pigeons generally do not make me smile (they are the rats of the sky, after all), but this fountain in Rome has an excellent memory for me. Plus, I couldn’t resist echoing the darling little bird hooks I found on sale at Hobby Lobby, which happen to have accents of the same blue/green color as my other frame (though it’s hard to see in this picture).

I hung my hats (and yes, that is a soccer ball… we’re hiding Little Pax’s birthday present in our closet)…

And even lucked out by finding a laundry hamper for $9 at Ikea that actually fits inside the shelving.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the result, especially for the price: custom closets for less than $200. We reused doors, bars, and shelves from the previous closets. I used paint (remember my confession?) and frames I already had. The only purchases were the shelves (we decided that we could purchase pre-made shelves from Ikea for not much more than the lumber would have cost us to make them… not to mention the labor we saved), the hamper, and the bird hooks. Oh, and my cute little rug. My feet thank me in the mornings. 🙂

Anyone else with a creative closet solution? I’d love to hear it.

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2 Comments

  1. I like the noodles in your boots. I use old magazines that I roll up and put it in my boot. I havent worn some of my boots as my feet have changed, but daughter raids my closet and comes ut with magazines that are like 5_10 years old! Lol Might have to try the noodles. I really need to organize my house, but have no drive to, makes me sad!

    1. That’s hilarious! I bet it’s fun to see those old magazines pop up… Finding the drive to organize is always hard.

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