creating my closet - part 1

Old houses have very limited closet space.  Homeowners get creative with maximizing space, like the gentleman who previously owned our home.  He had partially finished the attic space by the master bedroom (read: still open to the outdoors with swinging temperatures and bugs space) to hold his surprising amount of clothes.  Check out the sleeveless turtleneck sweater - totally awesome...

Before shot #1 - the attic space

Once we moved into our house and realized I wouldn't have a closet, we contemplated finishing this attic space and turning it into a true closet.  During these seven or eight months, my clothes lived here:

Before shot #2 - hanging rack in our bedroom

Before shot #3 - guest bedroom closet

Last weekend though, we made the plunge and headed to ikea's winter sale to pick up a hemnes wardrobe that was drastically discounted.  This post and this video by Michael Penney gave me the confidence that an ikea piece could stand the test of time, be multipurpose, and be painted to look a lot better.  We bought the piece in those huge ikea boxes, trekked home, and built it - all in one day.  No small task.

Then I spent the next few days reading through Kendi's working closet posts, and organizing my clothes to make my new closet work for me. 

1. First I purged a few items to be donated to Goodwill.  Mainly I rid my closet of stuffy button downs, painful high heels, and any other items that I don't wear anymore.
2. I separated my clothes by leaving anything I would wear in the dead of winter in my bedroom and putting everything else back into the guest bedroom closet.  Pretty easy!
3. Finally I started filling the empty wardrobe with clothes...

 So, what do you think of her?  I am a bit smitten.
 Stay tuned for closet assessment and shopping in part 2 tomorrow, friends...