closet organization and bling maintainence

Bailey Quinn McCarthy's closet, via Rue Magazine. Hands down best closet ever. EVER!!


One nice thing about this house, built in 1954, it has a ton of closet space. Well, more than the average 50s ranch. Case in point, the master walk in. There's a double stack of drawers built in, that pretty much erases the need for a dresser, and a shoe closet, which I don't even use. I'm a visual person though, and I really need to see my stuff. Those drawers are filled with stuff I DON'T need to see, like paint covered tshirts and yoga pants. And I don't use the shoe closet cause I really like to see my shoooes!!!
Tonight, for whatever reason ( I think it was the latest episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, to which I have become unhealthily obsessed), I decided to clean out my closet. I know I need to paint everything in there, but BLEHHH I paint all week. I found a few inspiring photos that might entice me to make this a destination, but at least for now it's an organized little dressing room.

Laura Poole's closet as shown in Domino Magazine I Love the pattern on the walls!( remember, we don't say wallpaper!) and the framed portrait. It's fun to add personal touches and sentimental items to your closet decor.via decor8 I would KILL for that big island, I imagine it's filled with accessories!

via habituallychic.com This photo was described as being a teen's closet. Sheesh.


Here's my little NOT magazine quality closet. I definately think there's potential here. After looking at those inspiring photos, thinking I really must paint the drawers and shelves a lovely shade of pink.

Switching out those vintage pulls is a must as well!


I recently organized the bling with a simple project of velcro-ing cork panels to the wall with industrial strength velcro and clear thumb tacks. It makes getting fancied up that much easier.

I found these bags for 1.99 each and thought they would make great off season storage. I ended up putting boots in them to get them off the floor.

My house. What I did today.

Since I started blogging heavily ( that sounds like a medical condition!), my house has been a major disaster. Could be a coincidence, but more likely....it's that we are trying to get this house ready to sell. In my former life, my former life partner was somewhat of a hoarder, an organized one, but still...the amount of 'stuff' he left behind is insane. Today, for some reason, the bookcase was driving me batty. I decided it was time to thin down the collection, organize it and put a new spin on the whole display.
I had already painted the bookcase Sherwin Williams Grand Canal, which is about as straight up Turquoise as you can get. The inside of the bookcase was painted Sherwin Williams Camelback (aka' the boring beige').

The first thing I did was take every book off the shelf and remove all the dust covers. Then I could see the real color of the book. I organized them into piles by colors, and put the 'colored' ones in ROY G BIV order, starting with blue.

On the next shelf, I placed my daughter's collection of National Geographic magazines, and all the black books, as well as a funky ginger jar I bought about 10 years ago.
The uppermost shelf has all the white and off white books and a collection of glass paper weights.

I covered my gardening books in black and white wrapping paper, because their spines were all beat up. I got that huge Avocado green vase at I O Metro on clearance for 20.00. The urn is from Hobby Lobby, as are the grassy balls (again, a possible medical condition!) I tinkered around with this display for hours until I got it right. The addition of a chuncky, black number 4 finished it off. Sometimes it's best to just move the things around in your house, try them out in places you wouldn't have considered.

I liked the rainbow ordered books so much I did it to the DVDs too, although I have friends telling me that is NOT how your organize movies, and that it is sacrilege to have The Godfather sandwiched in between Pirates of the Caribbean and Independence Day.

Feb. 25....woke up to this blog posting at I O Metro's site.
check it out, all about arranging books.
http://iometro.blogspot.com/2011/02/take-it-off.html

You might notice on my rainbow shelf, a blue book with chairs on the spine. It's a re-issue of Jane Austen's Emma.
I have just started collecting these classics with awesome covers. I got mine at Niche in St. Louis, but they are available at Barnes and Noble as well.

Books are a great way to add a shot of color and culture. Have fun with it!
Via The cultivated home