I last did a closet swap-over here at the end of April, and woo, these things are a LOT of work. So much work, that I decided I have to reduce my closet by 50% by the time I retire (21 months!) so that I won't have to do this physical task going forward.
Here's a wide-angle shot of our "Closet Room" aka the Den. I'm sitting at the computer, and there's a big section of wall to the left that holds stuff (we'll get to that) and a big shoe shelf on the right just out of frame (you can see the bear's mouth), which you'll see more of eventually.
And of course on the immediate right is the Tower of Power - my shoe display. My tall boots live in front of my off-season items, which are in bags and one big tub under the lower hanging items.
I am very much a visual organizer - out of sight, out of mind! - and started turning this room from a graveyard of old hobbies (painting figures and every book/textbook/children's book L and I ever owned) to a useful space, where I can see everything. I have found I wear so much more, and no space is wasted.
Ready? This is a big post - and I skipped the video this time - so gird your loins, grab a tea and let's go!
Starting with the "Before" shot.
As I've been steadily removing things that no longer work for me, the closet isn't looking quite so overstuffed as it usually does pre-swap-over.
This is everything I've removed over the last 6 months.
L was concerned that I was feeling like I HAD to get rid of things, but nope, I want this. I want to not have this take a full day, not be physically taxing and to have 90% of my closet out all year round.
I took all of the Limbo-bound things and dumped them in the middle of the dining room, where Whateley and Barnabas inspected it all.
There was no chewing or stealing garments. They are such good boys!
As I cleaned out the closet, I added to the pile.
We had a Winesday/MANday mismatch on dates this and last week so MANday was on Saturday night. Knowing that my core Winesday Women would be free that night, I invited them over for a private Pre-Limbo Sale (the sale is in two weeks) to just go through all this recent stuff.
Back to the closet! Having another look at the state of things. I'm pretty tidy, and good at putting things back where they live after wearing/washing.
As always, on the left side are shelves of archives/party things (up high) and sweaters/tops in the lower reaches, with my long skirt section below that. Further in are more archives (Dad's sweaters, my feather boa) and my dresses and trousers.
On the right, we have party hats up high, with jackets and short skirts below that, and under those more jackets, blouses/shirts and hanging tops.
Time to start! I began on the left and pulled my Top 10 skirts aside...then my top 5...then my "but I have to have these" skirts. This really helped me see which skirts had just become a habit or a one-time per season wear.
As always, I vary my "rainbow" every season to keep my eye fresh, and then turned all the hangers backwards.
I did the same with my trousers and long dresses and dusters.
That's my little step-stool, crucial for the very-high shelves up near the ceiling.
Then I went through my short skirts, jackets and tops, doing the same thing.
I moved things around later, as I hung up my fall/winter pieces. Some of these items were pulled out and stored away for the season.
I pulled all the shoes out, and gave the shelves a good cleaning.
Only 6 piles! I used to have close to 20!
See all the bags shoved under the shelving? Those have fall/winter things in them.
This is all I had for storing away for spring/summer. Compared to 5-ish years ago, this is NOTHING.
The pile of hangers was smaller than normal, as I kept a lot of my spring/summer items out - more than I've done in the past.
That shoe/purse shelf also got a thorough cleaning, as did the contents of the lingerie chest (it holds camisoles, small tops, and vintage lingerie, like slips).
I lined all my shoes up down the hallway.
That's about 40-50 pairs. Maybe more.
I didn't count, but it felt like less than previous years. Note Whateley strolling down the hall.
Most of these were keepers - I still have a few doable heels for the last 21 months of office work and special occasions.
I texted this chaotic picture to my girlfriends. This was all up for grabs, and I wasn't even done with the swap-over.
Whateley checking things out.
Now that the closet had room, it's time to pull out the storage, which (as previously noted) was under the clothes in the closet.
I had five bags on one side...
...and five on the other.
Plus that tub. There were also three flat tubs that held my fall/winter shoes/boots - those are stored under our bed.
A few hours passed, head down, not taking pictures, just focusing on being sure to only keep what I LOVE, and to let go of things that have become habitual (fancy hats...which I rarely wear!) or that just aren't me anymore.
Here's my walking shoe shelf and my purses. You'll note that I displayed three pairs of Fluevog boots, all very special. I'm not ready to let those go. I also put my tiara on the bear.
As I unpack the clothes, I hang each item up, and as I complete a section, I move the "rainbow" around and rejig the order or section to keep it fresh to my eyes. I always discover new combinations just from changing things up a little bit!
The top of my lingerie chest is where I put my purse contents (wallet, business cards, shopping bags) between bags, and also where I leave my planned jewelry (out of kittens' reach) for the next day's outfit. The shoe box on the top shelf contains my shoe care (insoles, polish, extra laces). The other shelves are all my sneaker and Shoes I Can Walk In For Long Periods.
And here's the closet, starting on the right. Ah, all nice and orderly.
And the left side. Longtime readers will notice that the up-high sections look different. I got rid of a lot of my "archive" and display pieces, thinning them down considerably. I have pictures of anything I might miss! I certainly wasn't wearing any of it!
I love my closet when it's in this clean and fresh state. There is so much potential for outfits and playing around.
I have really reduced my dresses to only the ones that I REALLY love, that have maximum layering potential (at least 3 of them can be worn as dusters). And speaking of, I have a couple of dusters and one maxi vest (that glorious Phool olive velvet one). This is the lowest number of dresses I've had in years, but I do still have the Dress Archive with all my gowns, but I hope to sell a bunch of them at the next Limbo sale.
I have 13 pairs of trousers/pants, and they are all hanging up. That's plenty.
Let's delve into some of the sections and look at what's made the cut!
Here's what we have:
- Top shelf: I moved my top hat, pirate hat and my fuzzy top hat here. I'm likely to wear any of these for a brunch or other fun event, so nice to have them all together where I can stand on my little furry stool and knock them down.
- Shelf 2: Thick cardigans. Wool/cashmere sweaters. Sparkly seasonal tops. This is stuff I don't wear as much, or only for a few months when it's really cold.
- Shelf 3: Cotton/cotton-blend long-sleeved sweaters. Printed/embellished sweaters. Lighter cardigans. I wear these things regularly.
- Shelf 4: Vests. Two piles of mesh tops (these always devolve into a nest of mesh that I root around in, and I'm okay with that). Tops that go over other tops that aren't vests.
- Long skirt hang: Not as many as I've had, but all firm favourites!
Even fewer short skirts on the right side. These are ones I wear with band tees and tall boots. I gotta have a few, just so I can be a 59-year-old rebel. Next to those are my cropped/short jackets - I'd pulled all the Adidas separately on my last swap, but didn't like it, so I mixed them back in again.
About a third of the bottom hanger is blouses, but I am not a huge fan of shirts/blouses, so those have dwindled (I also accidentally dyed a bunch of my white shirts pink...I should know better than to wash whites with reds and pinks...).
The biggest change is with the shoes, as I let go of a LOT of my heels. I always knew this was coming, so no regrets (and I'll always have the pictures!). Instead of cramming a lot of shoes that I never wear up in the highest sections, I used two shelves for my very thickest sweaters - these can only be worn when it's nearly below freezing.
Below them, two more shelves are dedicated to my thick cotton or bulky (but light) sweaters, and my special patterned/embellished sweaters.
Boots, ankle boots and some of my 2" and under heels. More of these will be let go as I get closer to retirement.
So many beautiful and fun shoes!
The heels get lower as the shelves get lower!
Some of my tall boots that live on the floor.
This is Whateley's new favourite place to sleep, under my dresses.
I need to be able to see them all, or I forget they exist.
Spring/summer clothes are less bulky than fall/winter but even so, I was amazed that I only had two bags to store under the dresses on the left.
The big tub is under the blouses on the right.
No other bags! I let go of so much, I have all kinds of space under there now.
Whateley investigated right away.
I was proud of myself for doing this, and I have zero regrets. It felt really good to have a smaller collection, and I promise I will still have lots of wild and crazy outfits!
Exhausted (this still took FIVE HOURS), I had a nap and then my dear Winesday women came over for the night.
Caro bought me these amazing fall flowers - those are really little green pumpkins! I've had the vase since our wedding - it was a hand-painted gift from our apartment neighbour, Jessica, in 1997.
Yvonne joined us a few minutes later.
My "real" face - no make-up, and in my house clothes for a chill evening.
Vero arrived, and Cat texted that she'd fallen and skinned her knees and hands...and would not be joining us. AW! We sent her a "we love you!" picture.
And it worked! She had a rest, then came over!
Later in the evening, many laughs and much shenanigans. My friends loved just pawing through everything and trying things on.
I know they will go to good homes.
I eyed my three boxed perfumes there, and thought I would revisit them.
Letting go of things so that everything I wear is something that I LOVE. Again, I'm good at putting things back where they live.
It was so much fun to see what each of them fell in love with and decided to add to their own closets. Of course, I sell at thrift prices and much of my frequently-worn long-owned items are free. Even so, I am now ready for a good shop!
And now, back to the rest of the den room, and the accessories. I'm doing it out of order, as I actually did all of this wall on Wednesday when L and I were off.
A "Before" shot. I took everything off each display, dusted it, thought about it, and in many cases...let it go.
I use the drawers of this "Stuff" shelf to store my brooch collection. I meant to take a picture, but forgot.
The shoe boxes underneath are belt and scarf storage. You can see two boxes behind the left side - those were my fall/winter scarves.
I rearranged slightly, spreading out my coat/blazer brooches and pins.
The little bottle of Geoffrey Beene Grey Flannel was my dad's (bought by me in the late 80s), and I bought the Demeter "Grass" perfume in Seattle c. 2001.
My Salvador Dali perfume was bought at Eaton's department store in 1986. The Benetton Tribu is my second bottle (I loved it in the early 90s - it smells like fragrant tea on me), bought at the Bay. The Shi by Alfred Sung is the last perfume I bought, in the early 00s.
I never wear perfume anymore, but one whiff of any of these takes me right back.
Isn't that amazing? I love the nose and lips bottle!
I divested myself of many scarves (but I still have a lot! but I wear them all!) and let go of a bunch of my fancy purses.
I did the same with belts, cleaning off the shelves, wiping down the boxes and putting it all back.
I divested myself of many scarves (but I still have a lot! but I wear them all!) and let go of a bunch of my fancy purses.
I hung up my two caps (I moved one to the other side when Whateley started attacking them), and cleaned my glasses shelving above.
All the scarves and a few belts fit in these five boxes - only one in storage, which is much more manageable. Yes, those purses are leaving (and they are stuffed full of belts and scarves). My friends had fun digging into them and discovering treasures.
I redid our hall stand, pulling out L's toques, gloves and scarves. I used clear pushpins and bulldog clips to hang the toques/gloves, and did the same on the other side for my toque, as my bags take that room on the right hook.
My berets got a dusting/check for moths, and I reviewed my wool gloves that live in a bag hanging on the hook behind my knapsacks.
I pulled out the winter gloves and fur. Whateley absconded with one, and ran off later with a pair of gloves - what a monkey!
And now it's all in reach, easy to see and root around. I'm ready for winter!
I pulled out one box of jewelry - I really need to cut this collection down.
What's in there? Inquiring minds...
The pink bag has some very old things that I don't want to give away or sell. My archives.
From left:
- My grandmother's watch, a hairclip that I made from my grandfather's watch, a fan earring, a plastic cameo, a dangly pearl earring and one of two turtle sweater brooches that belonged to Mom.
- The pearl dangle earrings were worn at my wedding.
- The gold watch was a gift from my bosses at the Christmas store in 1991, my 5-year anniversary with them.
- The amethyst and?? some kind of metal (brass?) bracelet is old, from Mom's side of the family.
- And that's a piece of black coral.
Last season, I did my jewelry post separately (here) - again, so much stuff, and I just don't want to do all this work again in the future. A SMALL swap (and a good cleaning/dusting) I'm game for, so that was the goal.
I'm a visual organizer so I use these glass, crystal and enameled copper dishes to display things.
I've had to use the three boxes for my rings, as Whateley was very intrigued by them as a kitten and carried them off.
I pulled all the drawers out of my Bombay Co. jewelry box (bought in 2003ish?).
I reviewed what I had, decided what could stay and what could go.
The items I wanted to keep I just left on top of my dresser.
Time to see what's been stored away for 6 months.
As I cleaned each storage item, I put the keepers on the bed so I could see them all (L is mid-way through doing the laundry, so enjoy our mattress).
I went through my archives, decided to let go of a lot...and pulled a few things out that I think I should be wearing.
Let's look at my daily set-up - I know what's in each container, but they're also easy to dump out onto the bed if I need a good look.
Under the earring tray is my amber collection. I really liked having this all together where I could see it, and I wore my amber more because of that. In the lowest drawer is pieces from my Myka set, two old necklaces I'd forgotten about (from the late 90s), and my anatomical brass heart, plus my plain chains and a necklace that was my Grandma J's.
Let's look at my daily set-up - I know what's in each container, but they're also easy to dump out onto the bed if I need a good look.
Example: this brocade bag (a bridal shower gift, 1997!) contains my pearls, big chunky chains and my snake necklace. This lives on top of my Gram's (Mom's mum's) jewelry box, and is easy to just move when I need to open that up.
Like so! The top tray comes out, so I can peruse my earrings and other things. I put my season pieces (skeletons, spiders, pins for Hallowe'en and Christmas) in here, plus the collar points and a few odds and ends. "New" old things I found: dragon earrings! and brass salamander earrings! I'd forgotten I even had these - they were a gift from Mom and Dad c. 1986. There was once a big salamander brooch, but the metal was soft, and the tail broke off.
I can twirl my two-tiered glass dessert display.
All my big bulky cuffs, spinning around. This is also easy to slide over to L's matching dresser so that I can access the wooden box behind it.
My favourite copper cuffs live on this pretty enameled copper plate.
It's also easy to just pick up and move out of the way, or dump it out on the bed.
Behind that is a small amber bowl with my eelskin 80s bracelets, plus that one gumball bracelet that didn't fit anywhere else. My finger is resting on a small sorbet dish where I put my bigass earrings.
And way in the back in a stemmed candy dish (the height is a bonus) where I have my copper necklaces and Raphael hand-party.
Those are all snugged up against the perma-open left-side wing of my tall jewelry box. There are 3 necklace hooks, each of which has 3-4 necklaces on it.
At the back are the longer pendants, my Brutalist and 70s gold/brass. In the middle are mid-length necklaces with beads and dangly bits. You might have noticed all my turtlenecks - hello! Guess what I wear them with? On the front hook are my short gold-tone necklaces (I own very little actual gold), which tend to be bold statement pieces.
Back to the dresser-top, these are my ring storage boxes, plus the sweet Egyptian cartouche box with the gold cat earrings (I saw the actual cat here!), a gift I bought Mom while we were in London back in 2010. She gave them back to me recently.
The Birks velvet box is the leftovers, a mix of silver rings with various stones. The square box holds the largest rings I own, the sparkly scarab and the silver/gold cobra ring. The long wooden box is all of my Brutalist/1970s rings. I was happy to see these again - I LOVE wearing them. In the crystal ring dish (a $5 thrift store find) are my "old faves," my silver rings.
This thrifted crystal candy dish is perfect for small earrings. One third are my brutalist earrings - mostly brass but one pewter pair.
I just want to wear all of them! My Tom Binns shark jaw cuff lives on the bottom pedestal.
Another third is my fancy/unusual silver earrings: fingerprints, spirals, crowns, pointy fangs, and a long pair that needs space. The final third are my Martha Sturdy interchangeable gold/spiral/pearl/charms, sparkly crystals, Dior ear-balls and Betsey metal roses. One ear-cuff as I lost its mate.
Beside that dish, holding the other "wing" of the jewelry box open, and close to the wall, is my bangle/bracelet display. I bought this at Good Things in Oak Bay for $6, I think? It's brilliant, and very satisfying to slip the bracelets on and off.
I also have necklaces that are bulky and I hang those on the wall with clear push-pins.
The two chokers are Mom's from the 70s. The big ball necklace is from India, and the copper ball torc has a matching bracelet, bought for $25 at a Vintage Expo at the Crystal Gardens 13ish years ago.
Back to the box! These are the silver necklaces, hung the same way. Long in back, mid-length in the middle and short on the front.
I can see the necklaces by sliding my hand under and lifting them. No necklace missed!
The mirror makes sure I see all of the copper clip-on earrings.
I give this a good dusting as I go, but I used to leave the top open - dumb!
As noted, each drawer is removeable, so I can once again, dump it out on the bed and rummage around.
But I know this is my ring drawer and I know what lives in here. Family/old jewelry on the left, costume stuff on the right. I was happy to have my brass leopard ring back, and the stone pinky ring too.
Next in line is the trio drawer.
One for party earrings, one for looser chain bracelets (one of them belonged to my dad), and my real gold hoops.
Followed by the earring quad. The top left is mixed colours, with brass/bronze tones to the right.
On the left bottom are the gold danglies, with silver dangly earrings beside them.
This drawer is split in half, with my chain and wide gold-tone bracelet on one side, and my copper hinged bracelets on the other.
I would like the copper bracelets out where I can see them, but they don't do well in a dish/plate environment. The plate of cuffs reminds me that these are here, plus whenever I need inspiration, I just go through all the drawers.
The bottom compartment is deep, and I've tried different things in here, but the leather and lace cuffs have been the best.
That's my old university ID hiding in there.
Oh, and missed my little metal box of pendants and chains.
I need some couch time.
These have been collected over many years, going back to the 90s.
And here we are, all done.
Ah, that feels good. I'm excited to wear my old friends again.
Whateley has the right idea.
Maybe not this much.
How do they sleep like that?
The boys have been so good all weekend.
Time for cuddles!
Thanks for being here, my friends! I hope you enjoyed this.
Dazzling! You got so much accomplished. I'm inspired to recurate my own collection.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this a lot! Thanks
ReplyDeleteWow, you've definitely did a great job of getting rid of things. I should take a leaf out of your book but time is the one thing I'm lacking these days. It'll be first on my list when I retire! xxx
ReplyDelete