I know I have let my blogging go somewhat by the wayside due to...well, life. I don't want to be a whiner, but last week...something just had to give! Trust me, I would much rather be blogging about my escapades in 50's housewifery than learning therapeutic holds for patients having a psychotic episode, but you can't always get what you want.
Though today is Sunday and I had company this weekend, I felt the urge to get back to the 50's with a project. My Good Housekeeping Guide to Successful Home Management was practically taunting me from my bedside table - a beast of a book, 316 pages long...roughly the size of an encyclopedia. And not an obscure letter volume either - no, it's definitely of M or R proportions- none of that Q or Z nonsense.
Flipping through this monstrosity, I came to the section on "Clothes Storage." Immediately, a light bulb went off in my head. My closet is a disaster. Honestly, it's a part of the house that no one sees so I have just been constantly putting off the task of organizing it for some time. Also, our house is SUPER SMALL, and so goes the house, so goes the closet. However, it's rather unfair of me to keep the closet messy when it's part of the room I share with my husband. He deserves better than to have to take his life in his hands when he gets up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Because you see, my closet tends to spill out into the entirety of the bedroom, spewing out clothes, shoes, and accessories onto the little floor space we have. It's not pretty, folks.
Good Housekeeping reccomended a few pointers for closet organization which I carefully took notes on prior to beginning the project. This will come as no surprise to those of you who know me well; those who don't should be aware from this point on that I am a chronic list-maker, planner, and organizer. I could have simply referred to the open book on my bed, but no, I wanted my own notes to reference. The tips I found most helpful are as follows:
1. The first step in reorganizing a closet is to find out just how much cubic space you have to work with. Measure the height of your existing shelves, the width, depth, and the height of the closet, the width and height of your door.
Measuring? I really don't do measuring. Frankly, they lost me at "cubic space." It's really rather pathetic how much I loathe calculations of any kind. Lucky for me, I married a mathematician. Lucky for him, I decided to skip this step and call it an even "quite small."
2. A closet hang rod that is too high will be difficult to reach and wasteful of space. If too low, hems drag on the floor.
Well these rods were hung by the previous owners of the house, and far be it for me to destroy someone else's handiwork. For a project that can be handled in one afternoon, I left the rods as they were. This does not mean that the nasty black color the previous owners painted the closet door will remain. Come spring those babies are taking a trip out to our deck to be painted a lovely, simple beige.
3. Crowding damages clothes. Pushing and pulling to extricate one garment from a hard-to-reach spot means strain and wrinkles for all the others.
No kidding! I have known for quite some time that the major problem of my closet is that it is entirely too crowded. I have been telling my husband since December that I plan on having a garage sale in May - today I began my inventory of what will stay and what will go. I was proud of myself, because though I am usually a pack rat, I know in my heart June Cleaver would never approve of the current state of my closet. And who am I kidding, after having a baby, my body is just not the same as it was in high school. Enough said.
4. Closet accessories are so ingeniously and attractively designed today that your closets can look as delightful as the rest of your home, and harmonize perfectly with the rooms they adjoin.
This just makes me want to run out to Bed Bath and Beyond or California Closests and buy, buy, buy. But, since Mama hasn't gotten a paycheck yet, that will have to wait. I really want a shoe organizer for over my bedroom door - God knows how many times my husband has almost sprained his ankle because of a stray heel or boot.
Until my paychecks start rolling in, I had to make do with what I have. I sorted out tons of clothes that I won't wear anymore and put them in a storage bin until our big garage sale. I put my summer shorts, skirts, and capris in a pile for my husband to store in the attic (or maybe under our bed) until spring. I neatly put my "winter shoes" at the bottom of my closet in rows (2 rows of 4 - do you even know how hard it was to decide on eight pairs of shoes to last me through the rest of winter?!). My cardigans, button-down shirts, dresses, and winter skirts are neatly hung on their appropriate hooks. Sweaters are folded neatly on the shelves. My closet is starting to look more like a department store than a disgraceful mess. Victory!
That's when my husband comes in the door from running errands. "Look!" I say. "My closet is totally organized and neat like in the 1950's!"
He looks midly amused.
"The thing is...I still need to clean the rest of the room, so...hopefully that will happen sometime this week..."
I can see him fighting the eye roll, and instead he smiles.
Seriously, we've been together for 10 and a half years. What did he expect?
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