Closet Envy

{Closet Envy}

Happy Monday! I {SS here} hope you all had a great weekend and are having a fantastic start to the week. KH and I had a great time taking some fun photos in Saint Paul on Saturday night which we'll show you soon. In the mean time what better way to start a blog about clothing, fashion and style than to take a peek into our closets. I mean that's where the magic happens isn't it?

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Yes, this is what I wish my closet looked like. Well maybe not exactly like it, but you get the idea. As a bit of an organizing freak goddess, I have a lot of closet envy. I mean, how fantastic would it be to have a whole room like this to dance around in and try on all your fantastic frocks, a room with custom organization systems (I heart ELFA), drawers, hooks, bars, cubbies and storage galore?! Okay, a girl can dream right...

Let's be honest here, if you have seen what our goals are in starting this blog, you know that we want to create and embellish upon our styles without breaking the bank (which means I have to return that cute Anthropologie dress I impulse bought the other day...). So, you can probably guess that neither KH or I have a closet quite like this. We also don't have nearly enough clothes to fit something so extravagant because we most certainly do not have a budget to afford that. So as envious as I am of the closet castles some people are lucky enough to have, I am okay with the fact that my own closet is only a fraction of the size of those monstrosities.

Now, I recently moved back in with an old roommate... aka my mom, and so I'm temporarily living in my old childhood bedroom, which makes for an interesting set-up. I'm hoping to move into a new place sometime soon (let me just say...short sales have the WRONG name) and have a little more closet room but in the meantime this does the trick.

Here's a peek:
(hover over the items to get more information on them)

SS's teensy weensy little Closet :)

If this were an organizing blog, I'd share some great photographs of well organized closets with you, and give you tips on how yours could be like them, but it's not. However, I thought it would still be fun to give you an idea of how my closet works for me before we go into posts about our personal style philosophies, what style means to us and what our key style pieces are. After all, you can have all the clothes in the world, but if you don't have a smart way to store them, you may not even remember you have half of them. 

* Keep it Simple and Organized: With a tiny closet like mine this is especially important (especially since half of the top shelf is holding childhood memorabilia that I still have to go through). I try to keep my closet as organized as possible so that I can easily see what I have and access it. This means putting things away in their correct spots asap.

* Keep Like with Like: Hanging from right to left (on the left side, barely pictured), I have my clothes organized by category and from casual to formal in warm to cool color order (or a slight variation): tank tops, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, button-downs, blazers, sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets. I keep skirts and pants hung on the right side (jeans go in dresser to left of closet) and dresses are kept in another closet along with winter coats.

* Utilize all of Your Space: Underneath the hung clothes is another set of plastic drawers where I keep less frequently used items which change seasonally (right now it holds, swimsuits, flip flops/sandals, and sleep shorts). On the top shelf, to the right of my sweatshirts I have my tennis shoes stacked up.

* What you use the Most Goes in Front: The clear drawer facing out contains the things I use on a daily basis and need to access quickly (underwear, socks, etc). Thing I use less frequently go in the back or above.

* Store Off-Season Clothing Somewhere else if Possible: Keep note of what you have, often times off-season clothes go on sale and I rush out to take advantage of great sale prices. By knowing what I already have stored away I avoid buying clothes I already have. In the cedar closet in the basement I have my out of season clothes stored in garment bags with a label indicating their contents. I have hats, scarves, mittens, etc in bins along with extra linens.


* Audit your Closet Frequently: At least four times a year, and anytime my closet seems a bit cramped, I go through it to make sure everything belongs. This involves, trying things on, figuring out at least two things I can pair with the item and examining for any holes, rips or stains that can't be fixed. Often times I find things I had forgotten I had and would love to wear, or things I just don't need anymore

* Swap/Sell/Donate: I'm trying to implement the "one in, one out" rule when I bring home new things. This helps to keep my closet from overflowing and also lets me sift through the clothes I just don't use. In the back of my closet I have a canvas bag which I fill with clothes to get rid of. When it gets full it's time to make a Goodwill delivery or try to sell it.

* Use storage outside of the closet too: I have a dresser to the left of my closet where I keep all of my folded clothes (t-shirts, shirts I don't want to hang, jeans and other pants, seasonal items (shorts, capris, etc) and sweaters and workout clothes) and a hamper to the right where dirty clothes go right away.

Because I can't see all my hanging clothes I'm thinking of coming up with an inventory of what I have so that I can reference it when trying to come up with outfits. It would be great to have a binder or notebook to keep snapshots of outfits that worked well so I could grab one for a quick outfit idea in a pinch. I also love the idea of creating an inspiration wall like this :

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Okay my friends, the next step is figuring out how all those clothes can work together to create great, stylish outfits to fit my "new style". Stay tuned for my wardrobe must-haves and what style means to me as well as KH's closet reveal and our Saturday photo session pics. 

 xo, SS