Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Closet: Before

Oh hello there! Notice anything different? Depending on if you are reading this in a reader perhaps you see a little linkymajig over thattaway ---------->
That's an Amazon affiliate link, just in case you are so inspired by my tales of zen organizing that you're interested in buying the book. Amazon will toss a few pennies my way if you click there to do it. If you would rather buy it from your local bookstore or whatevs then do that but seriously this is a MAGICAL BOOK that has CHANGED MY LIFE. I'm not getting paid to say that. Well, that is, unless you click the link.

Anyhow, if you've been paying attention to my zenning updates you may remember that when I made my bedroom into a sanctuary, I decided not to include my closet. I justified this because the closet is actually located outside the bedroom and because the very idea of starting that project was, like, astoundingly overwhelming.

So I picked up the book and Regina Leeds (the author) had once again READ MY MIND. This month, I am supposed to be working on the "hidden areas" of my home. This is the part that tends to inspire the most confused looks from people-- why on earth would you spend so much time organizing cupboards and closets?, they ask.

Well, according to the book, people tend to accumulate things. And we tend to shove things in unseen, out of the way places when we don't want to deal with them. All of the things that don't quite fit into categories or don't have a specific, consistent use are tossed into cabinets and closets to be forgotten and take up space.

Um. Yah. I'd say I'm guilty of this. Random crap from high school? Got it. Books I never open? Check. Hundreds of miscellaneous items? Yup. But when I was reading this chapter I started feeling doubtful again-- I hadn't yet worked on my closet, so how was I supposed to worry about the hidden areas? And the answer was, yet again, right there in the book. Maybe you haven't done your closet yet, it said. Now might be a good time to flip back to that chapter and work on it for awhile. Uh, first of all, HOW DID YOU KNOW? Second of all, okay!

So with this in mind, here's a look at my closet before pics.
Clothes, clothes everywhere.


Zenning my closet is exhausting because I decided that I would remove everything, sort through it all, and re-put back only the things I was sure I wanted to keep. Bowie has found this extremely exciting and keeps wanting to be ALL UP IN MY BIDNESS.

 I also decided to get rid of my combination bookshelf-plastic drawer-shoerack closet organization system and get something a little more ZEN. I bought two sets of these modular storage cage thingies from Target.
 I had someone else put them together for me because who am I kidding? And then I maneuvered them into the closet.
Next up: re-putting the stuff back in!