Mini Closet Makeover

I recently went through Lucy's clothes to remove the items that she has outgrown (anything under 6 months) and to reorganize and add her 6-12 month pieces. Our little weed has been growing so much that I had to completely buy her all new pajamas this past weekend. The 6 month Carter's PJs are too short for our tall Lucybug.

I get giddy just looking at her organized closet. We also have all four draws in the dresser filled with clothes, although the bottom two drawers are dedicated to clothes that are for 9 months up to 18 months and even a few toddler items we have. The top two drawers are for 6-9 month pants, pajamas, sweaters and onesies.

Seriously, now.. how many 7 month olds do you know that need 30 pairs of pants?

In my defense I will say that these should last her until she's a year old. But I also can't stop buying her clothes every time we go to the mall. What's cuter than a little baby in skinny jeans? I'm weird about Lucy's wardrobe in that I don't like 'baby' clothes. I know, I know, she's a baby, but I'd rather dress her like a mini me. I buy lots of stripes and polka dots and patterns that I would wear myself along with a fair amount of neutral colors. I was very anti-pink in the beginning, but I've caved in a bit as there are some cute pink clothes that aren't over-the top frilly and 'baby-ish'. Some of the clothes I've bought her I wish they had in my size, like her seersucker dress, striped leggings, her denim dress and gingham grey and white romper.

Back to the point of the post.

I love how neat and organized Lucy's closet looks with the matching set of fabric hangers, so much that I was a little jealous that my closet didn't look so organized.

Here's another quirk of mine: I hate plastic hangers. Those big, chunky plastic hangers that come in all sorts of awful colors. I've been using all metal hangers (saved from monthly trips to the dry cleaners) and have been using them instead since they're slimmer. But as you can see in the below photos of my closet, they still look rather junky and cluttered.

I went to Marshalls and purchased 7 packs of these great neutral colored fabric hangers. I love the clean look and color of these hangers. By choosing a neutral fabric, it doesn't clash with the colors and patterns that are already in my closet. It also helps things look more streamlined and organized, even if I don't necessarily change anything about the organization of the clothes.

I started with 4 packs (72 hangers) and quickly learned that was just enough to do one side of my closet and just a few dresses. While I did take this opportunity to weed through some of my clothes and put together a donation pile, I still needed to purchase a more hangers. They were 18 to a pack and cost $9.99 each. Luckily I had a $50 Visa giftcard leftover from Christmas that I received from work so I only had to pay $20.00 of my own money for 126 hangers. Still pricey, but worth it to me. 

I had ordered some clothes online and waited until they arrived to start the closet redo. Once I replaced all the hangers, my closet instantly looked 10 times better. Just having one uniform color and type of hanger made a world of difference.

(The pictures are a bit blurry, but we dont' get much sunlight in the closet and I hate the yellow glow from using the flash.)

I've tried a few different ways to organize my closet. For a while I tried color-coding everything. I've found that it's easiest for me to navigate when I group similar types of things: skirts, sweaters, long sleeved, tank tops, dresses, etc. rather than by color.

Here's my little helper trying to 'organize' my shoes.

It was the smallest change, but I'm so glad with how much neater the closet looks. I actually enjoy going into the closet and seeing how nice everything looks. That and I'm a little bit of a perfectionist in that I try to perfectly space each hanger. We'll see how long that lasts!

I'm dying to repaint my closet. It's currently a denim blue color as I was channeling my inner Carrie Bradshaw when I painted it a few years ago. Now I want a nice neutral palate (like I'm turning the rest of the house) that doesn't clash with the colors and patterns of my clothes and looks a little more 'grown-up'. 

Pre-baby I would have taken this opportunity of cleaning out my closet to just bite the bullet and paint the closet last weekend just to get it over with. I still have a good amount of Sharkey Gray leftover from the nursery. I wish I could have, but now that I have Lucy, I need to better plan my paint escapades. Hopefully soon though!

Oh and here is just a fraction of the hangers that were tossed.

What a mess.

Sidenote: For those of you wondering, Jordan has his own closet. I didn't kick him out. He was a good hubby and sacrified the walk-in and let me have it. He owns the large closet in the upstairs hallway for all his clothes. I think he likes having his own closet, anyway.