closet tour!
Welcome inside my closet! :)
I’m so excited to share this with you today! My goal was to keep this post real and also fun to look at. So just keep in mind, this is my closet, but on a really good day — like school picture day. It’s not always this clean and organized. :)
Ready to jump in? Today we’ll look at my closet, my chest of drawers, my garment rack, and my off-season storage.
THE CLOSET
Want to know my favorite thing about my closet? Those folding louvre doors. Swoon. They are original to our house and I freaking love that about them.
Anyway, my closet is where my capsule lives. I’ve got a shelf for jeans up top, a clothing rod, and two shelves for shoes. I’ve even got room for my laundry basket — which is tiny, I know, but I’ve been using it for years and I like it because laundry can’t pile up with a basket that small. Literally, hah.
I’ve also got three canvas bins up top. I don’t reach for them very often and I should probably repurpose them to be more useful. Right now they are holding random athletic gear and seasonal accessories.
My hanging clothes are kind of organized by color, kind of organized by type. You can see I’ve got dresses on one side, outer layers on the other side, and tops sandwiched in the middle. If I’ve got a delicate knit that shouldn’t be on a hanger, I either fold it over a hanger, like a pair of pants, or I can stash it on the shelf above my shoes.
I use wooden hangers from IKEA for just about everything, but I also have a few velvet hangers for camisoles or tanks that might slip off a wooden hanger.
THE DRAWERS
My chest of drawers is from IKEA. I’ve had it since 2013, and somehow it’s survived many moves — IKEA for the win! I use their Skubb drawer cubes to keep it all organized and I use the Konmari folding method so I can see everything at a glance.
My drawers house my non-capsule items. I’ve got one drawer for PJ’s loungewear, one for workout gear, one for undies socks, and one for garment care (like my travel steamer, lint roller, and depilling sweater comb). But today I wanted to give you an in-depth look at one drawer in particular: my home life drawer.
I’ve been keeping a home life drawer for about two months now, and it’s going so well that I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner.
This drawer contains “home clothes” that are a step up from PJ’s or loungewear (my PJ’s and loungewear are one and the same and you can see more about them here.) These clothes are cute enough that I feel dressed, but none of them are precious — I can clean the house or do yard work in ’em and they’ll be just fine.
The point of this drawer is to repurpose and extend the life of older clothes — clothes that are in great condition but maybe shrunk up in the wash or just don’t feel like my style anymore — so every piece is sourced from earlier capsules.
Keeping a home life drawer also means that my nicer capsule clothes don’t get worn out prematurely — yay!
In the box on the left, I’ve got long sleeve tops. In the middle cube, I’ve got tank top base layers. In the right box, I’ve got short sleeve tops. And then I’ve got a pair of jeans and a few sweaters scattered around, so it works all year round.
If you’ve got kids, coupling a regular capsule with a separate home drawer could be an excellent solution when you need a nice wardrobe, but also need clothes that can handle spit up, sticky fingers, and lots of washing.
THE GARMENT RACK
I never knew how much I’d love having a garment rack — it’s shockingly useful (and it looks pretty sitting out in a room). Now, I don’t think I could do without one. Mine serves as a:
- SEASONAL TRANSITION AREA: I hold pieces here as I’m transitioning from season to season. You can see I’ve got a pair of booties and a few outer layers there, just in case the weather swings. It’s nice having them close by, but separate from my wardrobe.
- LAUNDRY DRYING STATION: Many of my clothes can’t go in the dryer, so I air dry them here. In this photo, the grey tee you see in the back is currently drying.
- PACKING SPOT: When it’s time to pack, I clear the rack, start adding what I might bring, and edit down. Once it’s all gathered and ready, packing is a breeze.
- PURCHASE DECISION SPOT: See that pink tee? I ordered it online, but the jury’s still out. So I’m keeping it visible and out of my closet to remind me to take action on it — either decide to keep it or send it back.
You can also use a garment rack to experiment with a smaller wardrobe — without cleaning out your closet or doing a capsule. Leave your closet as-is, close the door, and just move a small collection to your garment rack. Pretend it’s all you’ve got for a week and observe how you feel.
My bamboo garment rack is from Amazon ($45). But if you’re looking for options, here’s a rack with a cool, minimalist design ($189), and an industrial style rack ($60), and a modern white rack ($98). And if you’re looking for something a little bigger, here’s an cool open wardrobe ($99).
OFF SEASON STORAGE
A lot of you have been asking about my off season storage, and I’m excited to share it!
Currently, I store off season clothes in two medium sized plastic bins — the most basic bins you can find. In the past I’ve separated them into warm weather stuff and cold weather stuff, but right now I’m trying out a box of clothes and a box of shoes.
You can see I use the Konmari folding method here too, so I can see everything at a glance and I don’t forget about stuff.
I take a basic approach to storing clothes: I give them a good cleaning before I store them and I keep fresh lavender satchels inside each box to naturally repel moths. I know there are plenty of ways to upgrade my storage situation, like swapping my plastic bins for cedar or linen boxes, wrapping clothes in tissue paper or linen bags, etc. But so far, this basic system has worked well for me.
It’s important to me to keep my off season clothes accessible, so I keep these bins in the closet next door, with the gift wrap, cleaning supplies, home decor, and guest linens. They’re circled in white below:
• • •
And there you have it — my closet, chest of drawers, garment rack, and off season storage. I hope you enjoyed seeing it all because I had a blast putting this post together! My plan is to give you a (much shorter) closet tour each season, so you can see how it changes from season to season. Cool? Cool.
Now I want to hear from you! Think you might try a home life drawer or a garment rack any time soon? Got any clothes organizing tips to share? I’d love to hear ’em — share away in the comments.
Tomorrow is the last day of capsule week! We’ll be chatting some capsule FAQ, including how to make a capsule work when the weather is all over the place. See you then!
xo,
