I can't believe it's not clutter! - reclaiming a closet

Okay there's a bit of clutter but it is cleverly disguised. :)

It's Living Lovely time again with Mt. Hope Chronicles! This week's challenge was to reclaim a space for beauty or function. I must have been on Heidi's brainwave because I had just started a massive overhaul on my closet after I posted photos for the world to see how seriously messy it was. I blush! I grimace! I hide in shame!

Using only things I already had (okay I bought a can of spray paint and a can of spray glue but that's it!) I completely redid and reclaimed my closet space so that it was both beautiful and functional.

Want a sneak peek?



Now hold on to your eyeballs (not literally please) because this is a photo heavy post.
There was a lot of work involved and I wasn't letting any of it get away undocumented. ;)

Before my closet was dingy white walls, mismatched hangers, clutter and chaos of unimaginable proportions.

To start I removed everything from my closet. Everything. Then I painted the walls Mid-Day Mocha - a free quart of paint I got from a Glidden promotional deal. It covered all the scuffs and old-ness and brought a wonderful warmth to the small space. I even painted the ceiling.

Next I had that ugly white shelf to contend with. I didn't want to paint it so I decided to hide the fact that I wasn't. Using newspaper I made a little scalloped border to hang down and hide it from being so ugly.

The dangles in the top of the photo are my lightbulb chandelier from this post.

Then I gathered all my boxes and baskets that were just about every color and none of them matched and spray painted everything. I have quite the collection of paints so the only one I needed to purchase was a can specifically for plastic.

I forgot to mention I'm still in a walking boot so kneeling or squatting to get a good angle for photos is completely out.

You saw in my last post how I altered another box to fit into my color scheme needs. So easy to make what you have work for you!

I also switched all my hangers out for white ones simply by raiding all the other closets in the house and trading them out. Wooden hangers would be great someday.

I think the hardest part was cutting down my book collection.

Some I was just keeping around when I didn't need to. Many I gave to people I knew would enjoy them. And now I even have a free shelf to put my extra blankets - amazing!

I used a scrap of muslin and some tension rods to make little curtains to hide the book clutter I couldn't part with.

And if I ran out of storage boxes I found that hiding something with a lovely scarf works nicely too.



All my hats I hung up or stood up with candle holders and sconces - they work great for that!

Vintage suitcases and some of my mom's old sheet music keep with my theme and pull my look together while beautifying and hiding.


For a cost of around ten dollars and using what I already had, I transformed this mess:

Into an organized, functional, and beautiful space.

Linking to: Beneath My Heart's Closet Makeover Party