2023 Spring-Summer Closet Swap-Over, and Video Reveal!

Welcome to the 2023 Spring-Summer Closet Swap-Over, and yes, I did another one of my super-low-tech camera videos of the final reveal, just like I did for my fall/winter closet swap-over (here, in October 2022). Settle in and grab fortifications, folks! 

Let's start with the Before shots. I am pretty good at keeping my closet neat - it helps that everything has a place and I can see it all. 

What luxury! My closet is small, but I use every bit of the space. Looking in, I have storage on the left and right, plus I use the lower areas to pack away my off-season clothes. 

The only picture you get of my awesome "I'm working over here!" outfit, in the reflection. Hello! 

My sweaters get a bit jumbly after 6 months, and my belts become a snarl. Time to pull it all out and put 3/4 of it away! 

First, find Vizzini. Yup, he's safe. 

"I don't like the vacuum cleaner."

He sure doesn't, what a fraidy-cat. He comes and visits once it's been put away, and always has to check out the closet when I'm done. 

I'm a very methodical person, and I do the same process every 6 months. I start on one side of the closet, removing everything that I deem to be fall-winter (which often changes), and I fold it up on the floor. I clean as I go, so I'd vacuumed the whole room before starting. 

Some nice piles forming there. I Murphy's Oil Soaped my shelves as I removed the contents. 

A thinned-out dress area. 

Every couple of years, I get ambitious and do my storage area up high. 

I cleaned all these shelves and put back what I wanted to keep out for the next 6 months. 

The very top shelf are my shoe archives plus my fancy hats and fascinators. Lots of room on these shelves for my spring-summer clothes! 

Below that, my weeded-out shirts, blouses, long skirts and trousers. I also put a lot of stuff in the giveaway pile - if I want to keep shopping, I have to let things go! 

Some of my new purchases from Vancouver are hanging on the left. 

The opposite side of the closet - I removed most of the fall-winter skirts, only keeping 3 out for spring-summer. 

I had to put more coats away, since I have a massive collection. I'm a coat/jacket junkie, I confess. 

All my clothes folded and ready for storage. 

What a mass of hangers! 

Now the shoes. Before: 

I decided to just remove them all and give the Tower of Power a good cleaning. 

And now it's empty! See the big storage tub under the jackets? 

What's it got under its jacketses, Precious? Could it be...more clothes? 

But first, enjoy what was on the Tower of Power. 

Yes, all of these fit. There are a few spring/summer shoes there, as they live in shoe-boxes at the very top of the closet.

Down the hall...more shoes and boots. 

I sent these pictures to my brother Dave, as he is boggled by me owning closet to 100 pairs of shoes. 

Looking back down the hall. 

*Snort* I haven't even unpacked most of my spring-summer shoes yet! 

I pulled all the tubs and bag out. There is loads of storage space under my dresses and jackets. 

I am able to store 75% of my off-season clothes here. I gave this a good cleaning/vacuuming. 

Wanna see how much I store underneath? 

I count one giant tub and 9 bags! As I unpack each bag or tub, I hang it up or fold it, then fill it up again from the piles of waiting clothes. 

I also have 3 storage tubs that I keep under the bed. 

I usually store clothes in these, but the bedroom has more moths than my closet, so I changed things up this season. 

I was briefly distracted - someone's come out to visit! 

"Fluevog bags have such tasty strings on them!"

Vizzini, get away from those! I had to put them all up on a high shelf. 

Instead of putting clothes in my flat tubs, this time I put my fall/winter shoes in them. 

This tub held 10 pairs, and I fit every pair of boots and shoes going into storage into the other 2 bins. 

I had to clean and rearrange my purse/walking shoe shelf. 

I had spring-summer purses that wanted to come out and play. I packed very few away for fall-winter. 

I put away darker, heavier belts and cleaned out the velvet hatboxes. 

The shoebox has my wide, flat belts, and the blue shoebox that the middle belt-bin is sitting on is full of velvet scarves. I should be able to survive 6 months without them!  

I added to and rearranged my scarf tower. I also added my Bakelite/mesh purse to the wall. 

I gently folded my Classy Designer scarves, and made a whole shelf of my Smoking Lily scarves. 

The top of my lingerie chest. 

Little scissors are handy for snipping off stray threads and price tags. The empty boxes are where new-to-me jewelry sits until it's first worn. 

I also tidied my hats and did my scarf swap-over, and I still have to do my jewelry and outerwear accoutrement swap, but those will have to be another post. At this point my energy was flagging, as I'd been going for over 6 hours. 

I started taking After pictures, and then thought, "I haven't done a video in a while!" so here you go. 

Click HERE 

to view my final reveal of the full "closet room" swap-over. 

I hope you enjoyed that! Bonus kitty pictures. 

"Is there room in here for me to snooze?"

He likes to investigate and see if I've left any kitty lairs. Having "lost" Vizzini in my closet before, I am very careful NOT to create pockets he can reach and sleep ing.

"There's barely any room here! Outrageous!"

I hope you enjoyed my semi-annual closet swap-over! Thanks for visiting!