clothes, purses and shoes. Something like this please...
Mariah Carey has the most amazing closet and beautiful clothes!
Her closet is more like a glamorous dressing room.
It's the prettiest I've ever seen!
I had the opportunity to hear Mariah sing live at an awards show.
She is truly an incredibly talented and beautiful singer!
And we can't forget Carrie Bradshaw's new closet
in the "Sex and the City" movie!
"Just get me a really big closet!"
The whole theater let out a collective "WOW!" when this came on the screen! Mr. Big proposed to Carrie (for a second time)
in the fabulous closet of their new home.
Talk about wedded bliss! Of course they lived happily ever after!
Here are some more of my favorite closets for inspiration. Keep reading to see how I rearranged my closet and added lots of space. It didn't take much time or money and you can do it too.
Eva Longoria Parker
Jamie Lynn Sigler
Kim Catrell
Kimora Lee Simons
Maria Menounos
Nikki Hilton
Paula Abdul
Kips Bay
Kips Bay
Aerin Lauder
Aerin Lauder
Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti of Vivre via Domino Magazine
The most realistic inspiration for my closet make over
came from this picture of the closet with the two doors.
This is my small walk in bedroom closet.
I live in an old Spanish home that was built in the 1930's. Many of the older homes have small closets compared to those of today. I can't sing at all or act... so that won't help me buy a new home with bigger closets. I had to think of a different way to increase the space I already had in my closet.
At first, I thought of knocking out the old wooden shelves
and rods and buying built in shelving that I would put together.
It was going to look fabulous, like the closet with the two doors.
By the time I figured it out the company stopped selling them!
That's ok because it was going to cost me a lot of money.
Although I still wish I could redo my closet like that some day.
Then one day, a neighbor friend was cleaning out her parents home, and she gave me a few rolling clothing racks.
Suddenly I had a great idea!
Truly an ah-ha "light bulb over my head" moment!
I came up with an easy and inexpensive way to add more hanger space in my little closet without altering it or even hammering a single nail! You can do the same! It helped me organize the closet in a more efficient manner and it looks much prettier too!
I used two adjustable rolling racks like this that my friend gave me. The racks can be found at many of the home improvement stores such as Bed Bath and Beyond, Loews and maybe even Home Depot.
I also purchased some simple shelves a while back,
probably from Bed Bath and Beyond.
I can't find a basic photo of them on the internet,
but you will see them in my closet.
I used my discount coupons for added savings!
I got some pretty satin padded hangers too.
No wire hangers in my closet!!
Now it's time to redo my closet!
I wish I could repaint the closet or add pretty wallpaper,
but I just left it for now.
My closet is about 50" or 51" front to back and about 50" across the back. It has two wooden bars on each side and built in shelves above that can not be adjusted. The current hanging space in my closet before the update was only 100 inches.
I need to take the wheels off the rolling rack that you will see in the back. It will increase the hanging space by about 2 inches between the bar and the floor. You don't have to take the wheels off if you don't want to. It will still work either way.
I adjusted the new clothing rack bar so that it was raised up but just lower than the two built in bars so it could fit right under them. I put it all the way in the back of the closet against the wall.
My Closet - Left Side
My Closet - Right Side
Then I adjusted the ends of the new rack so that they fit right up against the walls. The ends can be pulled out and secured into place by twisting the round part that has the groves in it. The new rod is now about 56" across once I pulled the sides out up to the walls. That makes a new total of 156" of hanging space.
However, once I started putting my clothes back in, I realized I lost some hanging space in the back, about 15" to 16" on each side of the old wooden rods. Let's see if I can do the math... Current space on each side is 50" - 15" = 35" each side now. So 35" + 35" = 70" for the revised space on each side. Add 70" + 56" in the back and you have 126" of total hanging space. More is more! It looks a lot better and it's easier to organize my clothes. But we're not done yet!
The new bar is high enough off the floor so
that my dresses can hang nicely in the back.
I hung my colorful tops and shirts on the left side from the old wooden rod. I have some long evening gowns, ok only 2 now, which I hung on the left side from the original wooden rod in the back behind the tops.
I still have another clothing rack identical to this one. And there is enough space to add it to the closet! I took the wheels off on this one too. Then adjusted the bar as far down as it would go.
I placed the second rack in the closet on the right side.
I pushed it back in the corner against the other new rack.
AGH! I spy dust bunnies hiding in the corner!
This picture is an intermediate shot,
before the training wheels came off the rack.
I'll clean and re-shoot this photo soon.
I adjusted the end bars of the second rack too. I made the bar in the back go all the way in so it did not stick out. That way the rack could go up against the wall. If the rack were to have gone in front of the other one, I would have pulled the end piece out.
The other rod in the back on the rolling rack was a previous thought that I abandoned when I got the racks.
I also pushed the front end bar in as far as it would go.
This left about 12 inches in the front of my closet to hang longer clothes from the original wooden rod like bathrobes and fresh dry cleaning.
I hang blouses and shirts on the right side from the original wooden bar. I chose to put my white tops and a few light colored blouses on this side.
I hung my pants on the new lower rack by folding them
in half over pant hangers. They fit better here than on me!
Then I hung my bathrobes and night gowns in the front.
The second new bar is 40" long after it's be adjusted. Remember we loose about 15" to 16" of space in the back due to the dresses hanging down in the back. However, I hung some suits in this corner from the first rack and they don't hang down as far as the dresses. The pants fit underneath quite well.
So, the second rack added about 28" of new hanging space but I only use 22" as I don't have that many pairs of pants. I hung some of my sweat shirts down here too. I would like to have nicer wooden hangers for my pants instead of the plastic ones.
My little closet started out with 100" of original hanging space. This was reduced to 70" in order to accommodate the new racks. The first new rack added 56" of hanging space and the second one added 28" more. So the new total is 154" of hanging space! While that might not seem like a whole lot, it is so much easier to arrange my clothes and there is room for more!
I could even add another clothing rack on the left side if I wanted to, but chose to do something a little different because I wanted a place for my shoes.
I had some shelving that I purchased at one of the home improvement stores, probably from Bed Bath and Beyond.
My Shoe Shelves
I took three shelves and stacked them on top of each other on the left side. This created a space to organize my shoes! I like to keep them in their boxes as it keeps them safe from those dust bunnies. I could place a shelf on top of the bars of the first new rack in the back for shoes too.
I would love to get some but can't decide what color I like best!
My Closet - Left Side
My Closet - Right Side
I put the same kind of shelves up above on the built in shelves on each side. I put my purses and other such items up there.
My Closet - The Middle
I arranged some pretty hat boxes and storage boxes in the middle. I put my hats, belts, scarves, and other such things in them. I also put my cute cherub statue up on the shelf. He used to have a candle in the dish he is carrying. There are little nick nacks in the top now. I draped a colorful scarf over it to look pretty.
There you have it! My new closet!
My closet is no where near as fancy as Mariah's or Carrie's. However, it's much better now and I am delighted with the changes. I hope it gives you some ideas that might make your closet better too.
A girl's gotta have a really great closet!
PS. Incase you are wondering, that secret panel on the left side of the ceiling leads to the attic. Or shall I say, the icky crawl space between the ceiling and the roof. I have only peeked up there once or twice. There is nothing up there but dust. Maybe that's where the dust bunnies hide!
My To Do List ~ Photo Credits:
My Closet Pictures by Me
Pink Shoe Boxes in OCD Closet via Fashionists.com
Before tonight's shimmering moon.
