Weekend Wrap-Up: Plaid and Peacock, Plus Closet, Accessory and Jewelry Swap-Over!

Welcome back, my friends! I've got a massive amount of goodies to share with you, from the last outfit of the season to my Spring/Summer Closet Swap-Over! Let's get to it so I can get back to my real life! 

Friday's work outfit incorporates my wonderful plaid peacock duster, so appropriate for ending my fall/winter season.

It holds memories of Christmas and a Rifflandia music festival, and it felt like wearing a dressing gown (a good thing).

• Duster - Aratta Silent Journey, consignment; last worn here on Christmas Day December 2023
• Wool sweater - Lord & Taylor, consignment; last seen here (2nd outfit) for brunch in January
• Jeans - Ralph Lauren, thrifted; purchased here for $19.95
• Boots - Prepare Map, Fluevog; last worn here in November 2024 with orange and purple
• Coat (below) - Ilse Jacobsen; last seen here in October 2024

I always pose like this, with a hand in my pocket of whatever's worn under it.

Which in this case, is my new-to-me thrifted white jeans. I went for a baggier, low-waisted style and have done one big cuff of the long legs. 

Demonstrating the pockets of the duster. 

I had to remember to flip the bottom hem over my legs when seated or it would get caught in my chair wheels. 

This is the best part, of course - this is a piece that you can't fully appreciate in pictures. 

I swooshed it and "Darth-ed" around the office. 

Thank goodness for my lovely coworker, Viz, who is the newest recipient of my Dolce & Gabbana jacket. 

He loved it! And it looks fabulous on you! Thank you for all your sartorial support, my excellent colleague. I'm so happy it's gone to a good home.

My own jacket was the Rain Pickle. 

It's a rather silly coat and I can't help but smile when I wear it. 

I did not need it on the way home - just picture this with the pink leather gloves.

It was warm and sunny, and I hopped the bus to get home sooner. 

Accoutrements and stuff: 

I walked to work in my purple boots, which are a half-inch heel after Shoe Math. I liked how they worked with the duster. 

• Leather gloves - consignment
• Belt - vintage 00s, consignment

Colourful bling: 

It felt good wearing all this colour! I tucked the necklace into the wooly turtleneck. 

• Austrian crystal necklace - vintage 50s, gift from L
• Orange bracelet - thrifted
• Bird/eelskin bracelet - vintage 80s, consignment
• Enamel/gold bangle - Lauren G. Adams, consignment
• Gold/amethyst ring - Frances Jewelers, c. 1965, Dad's
• Gold/turquoise ring - consignment
• Earrings - thrifted

After work, Vizzini and I had some carry-around cuddle time. 

"Don't tell them I drool!"

He totally does, all over my shoulder. 

After a laugh-filled evening of board games and music, L and I were up early to go our separate ways. I skipped brunch this week so that I could get an early start on my closet.

Closet Swap-Over! 

I do my closet swap-overs slightly different every time. Feel free to dig into last October's here, and then get ready to settle in and enjoy lots of pictures - there's a video too! 

Before Pictures.  I'm pretty good at maintaining my closet in a semblance of order.

Wearing my Adidas track pants and a Mother Mother concert tee. This is messy, sweaty work and I'm ready to go. 

I have three shoeboxes that hold my "swish around and find one" scarf collection. These tend to be the scarves I wear for warmth or coverage.

The back box is raised with another shoebox, which is where the out-of-season stuff is stashed. 

Next to that is my tall lingerie chest where I keep camisoles, small t-shirt style tops, vintage lingerie (slips, half-slips), and tights (out of season).

The top of the adjoining bookshelf is for my purses. Below that are three shelves of sneakers and walking shoes. I've jammed a bunch of bags between them, and my tights bags are a mess. It works for me! I need to see everything. 

On the other side of the den is my Wall of Accessories. I go through the belts, purses and scarves and cull pieces here and there. Shoeboxes under the bins/scarves are more off-season storage. 

L's shoe shelf is on the right - he has quite a collection and does his own seasonal swap-over.

The Decisions

Starting on the left of the closet on the top shelf, I remove everything, clean the (real solid wood) shelving and then put back anything that I think I might want out for the spring/summer season. As you can see, there's a lot of crossover. 

I then went through my long skirts on the mid-hang under the shelves, and then I did the same with my dresses, tunics, trousers and long dusters on the long-hang to the right. Yeah, let's keep these out! 

As I pull out pieces, I fold them up into piles, ready for packing away for 6 months. The big bags on the right are what was hiding under the long skirts and dresses. I use every corner of my closet! 

You can also see I'm coffee'd up, have another drink ready, and my cleaning supplies are in place. I usually forget to eat when I'm doing this - much appreciation to L for picking up dinner! 

Moving to the other side where I keep my short skirts and blouses, and below those my blazers and jackets. I noticed that my short skirt collection is dwindling but my trousers and jackets are growing. 

I then removed all the shoes and line them up down the hallway...which I DID, but totally forgot to take a single picture of it! Sorry! 

Look at all this stuff that went away! It's not as much as it looks - winter stuff is very bulky. My long Phool vest alone takes up a full bag.

Now that the rest of the bags and the big storage bin have been pulled from under the other side of the closet, I'm ready to unpack it and hang it up.

Will I have enough hangers?? I have mostly wooden hangers, plus a few flocked ones for slippy blouses/dresses. I also have a mix of pant-hangers from my old job at Fairweather, plus some assorted vintage ones. 

If I run out, I have either move things into Limbo, or I must pull more pieces for storage. The whole time I'm working on this - which takes about 6 hours - I'm also taking out pieces that no longer work for me for whatever reason. Off to Limbo they go! 

After Pictures. Starting on the left side of my closet and working around to the right, here's how it all looks.

Top to bottom:

• Shoe archive, fancy hats/fascinators, tiara. There's also two shoeboxes behind with stored/archived shoes. 
• Two piles of trousers, dressy and sporty; cardigans. 

Cardigans are trendy, and wouldn't you know it, I have zero interest in cardis right now. Ha! 

I sort my clothes differently as my styles and tastes change. More pants means two stacks of them, and more Weird Adidas means it gets its own pile. 

Top to bottom, left to right: 

• Adidas and sporty tops; black and fancy sweaters; long-sleeved thick and mid-weight sweaters for layering.
• Thin tops and mesh tops for layering; fancy small tops (some solid, some print, one beaded vintage); sleeveless sweaters; kooky things for layering over tops.

I'm happy with all these colours.

Long skirts and my hanging trousers. 

Spring/summer skirts are less bulky than my wooly, thick winter ones, so there was room to put my trousers back on this rail. I'd had them with my dresses on the long-hang the past season. 

And here are the dresses, caftans, tunics, long dusters/jackets. You can see two dresses ready at the front for their first styling.

You'll also note that all of my hangers are turned around "the wrong way" so that I can measure my efficiency in wearing everything. About 4 pairs of shoes and 6 garments didn't get worn this past season. 

Short skirts that I still enjoy wearing with tights/boots. I am not feeling blouses much these days, but still have a few. 

I had enough room on the upper rack to hang my Adidas jackets together, which makes me so happy.

I am very much a blazer/jacket person! I wear them as coats once the weather starts to stay warmer. 

I always do a rainbow-ish line-up with my clothes, but I vary it up every time to make sure my eye doesn't get used to the same pattern and skim over pieces that I love. 

And onto the shoes! Starting at the ceiling of my closet where I keep my highest heels, plus two shoeboxes of shoe storage. I still wear all of these shoes on the top shelf, but not very often.

The next shelf down has higher open-toes shoes plus one fancy pair of lace-ups.

I put a bunch of boots below that. Some practical, some more office-y/weekend-ish. 

My lovely bright Fluevogs, plus some tall boots. 

Everything under this is stuff I'll be wearing on a regular basis. 

Mostly - but not all - Fluevogs. I see room for another pair beside the blue metallics! 

Flats and low heels under those, with my summer-only sandals basically hiding for now. 

My fluffy stool has some new-to-me things on it that still require their first styling. 

Revealing my sandals, laying in wait for warm weather. 

I have a feeling it will be a while...

I kept out most of my boots - the weather here will still be rainy and cold at times, so I'm ready for anything. 

Ah, all free from cat-hair...for now. 

Big Finish! 

Here's a peek inside - it never quite photographs well due to the chandelier, so enjoy a very tippy video (narrated by me!) here of the final reveal. 

But that's just the closet and the clothes! We still have to do the accessories! 

Scarves - pulling out the spring/summer pieces and putting away the fall/winter scarves.

Vizzini was "helping" by reminding me that it was dinnertime. Most of the time he hides from the vacuum cleaner. 

After! I've gone through my large bags, belts, purses and scarves.

Everything looks so neat! It doesn't stay that way.

And on the other side, it's all freshly cleaned and ready to be used.

Walking/outdoor boots and shoes. The jumble on the lower left are my next Art Projects. 

The top of the lingerie chest is where my not-yet-worn accessories sit. Currently, it's just a purse and a scarf.

The plastic bag is where I put my Limbo-bound jewelry.

I culled a bunch of my tights - I really didn't wear much of my collection and some of them were looking a bit tatty. 

Two bags with packaged tights and nylons, plus all my sporty shorts, knee highs and anklets. The bag in the lower shelf holds the thicker, darker shades. 

Here's how it all works in practice. 

Two hangers always out for photographing new purchases, the chair for putting on my boots, tights bags at the ready. 

My three boxes of scarves, all looking so tidy and nice. 

I can't wait to mess them all up, heh heh. 

I pulled out 6 bags for Limbo.

Some great stuff, but I can't keep everything, and I do plan to keep shopping! 

Jewelry Swap-Over

Before. Dusty, pretty jumbled up from pawing through everything. 

I'm a visual organizer - I need to see everything, so I use thrifted plates, bowls and containers to group things. 

I pulled out my one shoebox and bag of the off-season jewelry that's been packed away. 

No more storage allowed. If I'm not wearing it (aside from a small archive), it has to go. 

This is what was in the black velvet bag - necklaces and bracelets. Ooh, I'd forgotten about so much of it! 

I wear more colourful jewelry in spring/summer, with more plastic, glass and silver, although I do still have some golds. 

Time to unpack the shoebox! 

I find this part the most fun. Spread it all out! 

An overview of everything unpacked.

The dark wood boxes are some of the drawers from my big jewelry box. 

I do the same thing I do with my clothes, I pull out anything that I don't want to wear in spring/summer.

A few things, but not much! A good view of my full storage. 

I noticed that my Gram S's jewelry box had a sticker on the bottom. 

"Made in Canada" and Made by JASCO, J. Anderson Smith Company Limited, Newcastle, Ont. Est. 1910. About them here (link 'cause I love). 

I packaged up all of my fall/winter jewelry into cloth bags, with a few necklaces across the top. 

Away it goes for 6 months! Bye!

Rings: 

A copper dish from Chile displays my colourful rings; a crystal ring dish for my silver rings; and the ring drawer from the jewelry box. 

The trio drawer stays the same. 

Pearls, a wide link bracelet and my "party" earrings. 

The earring quad drawer. 

Silver earrings, colourful earrings, plus two cubes of gold earrings. 

The double drawer, where I have Bracelets That Might Get Tangled. 

Plus a vintage mesh one of Mom's, and a pearl on a chain. 

The bottom central drawer is for my leather cuffs and lace cuff. 

That's my UVic student card at the bottom, from 2000. In case I need it.

This separated crystal dish was one of the best thrifted finds for organizing - I think it was $5.00? - as it's perfect for my studs and small earrings.

I also keep my Star Trek badge here, extra earring backs/stoppers and my gold ear-cuffs. 

The Fossil tin holds my pendants and assorted chains.

I traded the spooky theme for more silver and colours. 

This candy dish became the holder for my chunky pendants and vintage chokers. 

A copper ball bracelet is clipped around the stem.

Here's my vintage jewelry box all restocked with my colourful crystals, lapel brooches, link bracelets, amd gold chains.

The earring tray has more delicate or vintage earring. Lots of clip-ons. 

This velvet display is for my bracelets that I don't want to get knocked around and scratched. 

These are a mix of metal, plastic, Lucite, Bakelite, glass and carved stone. 

This glass/metal petit-fours display is usually for bracelets only. 

However, this time I chose to put some of my thinner bangles into another candy dish, and put my more delicate Big Earrings on the top shelf. 

There's the bangles in the upper left, with a vintage copper dish holding all my bug/animal brooches. 

The big enameled copper dish holds all of my turquoise and copper jewelry, and the dish on the far right hold my Big Earrings Which Can Be Knocked About. 

And the After. The brocade bag holds all my chunky necklaces. 

Ready to accessorize my spring outfits! 

I shall leave you with a funny picture of Vizzini. 

"Let's get back to cuddling!"

All of my disrupting activities are done, buddy! 

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I organize my closet swap-over! Thanks so much for stopping by!