My Bedroom Closet Makeover

I decided that I had waited long enough to show off my bedroom closet project even though it isn’t 100% done, and to be honest, I didn’t spend much time styling everything to take ‘perfect’ photos. I have been waiting since early last Fall for the drawers for my closet, but at this point they may never come in so I decided to go ahead and take some pictures of this update and share it today.

I am spoiled and have my very own, spacious closet right now. It does have the house HVAC vents in the middle, but I kind of like that it gives me two separate sections in the closet to organize my clothes. I don’t have a separate dresser, so I have everything in one space. It definitely took me several years to get around to this update, but I felt so much more organized once I tackled it.

As embarrassing as it is, I will show you this before (above). I remembered to take a picture as I was pulling everything out which makes it look even worse, but to be honest, it was never well-organized to begin with. I’d intentionally not had the builder install the wire shelves in the closet when we built, so I had been improvising with my clothes storage for the last few years. I spent a lot of time considering at closet solutions but either they were too expensive, too much work to DIY or some just looked too rickety to be worth the effort. In the end, I went with individual IKEA Pax units and just bought the ones that fit my space.

There are some gorgeous true hacked, DIY closets out there, but that seemed like more effort than I wanted to make for a small space that only I used. I measured the walls, then calculated the best units for my space taking into consideration what I wanted to store, putting them together like a puzzle to fit the space. I wound up purchasing 5 Pax units, though I still need one more for my long-hanging dresses that will go in the far back corner.

I also still need all the drawers to fill the unit under my purses and jewelry. They have been out of stock since I began the project last Fall (though I haven’t checked in a few weeks). If and when those come in, everything will get switched around a bit and most of my stacked t-shirts and athleisure wear and such will go into the drawers.

I went back and forth on what depth to get but in the end the shallower Pax units worked fine and gave me more room. I have the deeper ones on the other side, but I do now wish I’d kept them all the shallower size for more space to move around in the closet. I have one unit completely for shoes, its tucked behind the door, and I like that I could customize the shelves for the varying heights to fit more in. A favorite organizer’s trick is the heel/toe display so they line up better.

Since this is my space and only my space, I added decorative touches like some pretty peel and stick wallpaper. The cherry blossom pattern is feminine and therefore works nicely in a closet space, (it is this paper). I hung a vintage mirror over the chest and added a key rack to hang some favorite necklaces.

I used one shelf for jewelry, including earrings which I keep in a velvet tray, and hung up my bracelets and watches on a holder for easy access. I repurposed a file holder to keep some clutches in place, a simple trick that keeps them from sliding around. I finished off with a vintage French print I have had since I was a child and a Wedgewood dish that I keep my rings in when I am not wearing them.

Truly this was one of those projects that once done, I felt Iighter and less encumbered by “stuff”, I wish I’d done it much sooner. I am in the process of a major purge, in fact I almost didn’t photograph this space because I am working to reduce how many clothes I have that just sit around unworn. It’s a process to edit, especially those ‘real world/office working girl clothes’ I have kept just in case but I find myself more and more ready to travel a little lighter with less stuff to manage.

One of the tricks I have always held myself to is to not buy additional hangers, so when I bring in new articles of clothing, then something has to go out. For aesthetics I kept each section with the same hangers, these pink and gold ones hold all my blouses and are a favorite.

The sources for most of what I used is in our Amazon store here, (in the closet organization category) if you have questions feel free to leave a comment!

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