I forgot to take a “before” the before picture, but it’s time to change up my closet. For years I’ve been looking at the space above the shelf in my closet and thinking that it is wasted. Plus, I’ve been reading the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and she says you should throw away all your old letters and journals. Marie Kondo and I disagree heartily about this, so I need a place to properly store such things. A place that is not a Rubbermaid Container that sits on the bottom of my closet, overflowing and taking up space. Today, we utilize!
Here’s me flat on the floor so I can take the before picture.
Above the door to the closet too! That space can be used.
One trip to Ikea, 30 minutes of precarious balancing and drilling et voila! Three shelves are now installed, bring the closet shelf total to four.
Then it was time for the purge, KonMarie style. I put all of my clothing on the bed (she says the floor, but I ignored) and checked each item to see if I loved it.
Shoes too.
It turned out I did not love very many things in my closet and so bags were filled for Goodwill.
Here’s the stack of things I’m coming for soon.
And here’s the partially finished project. I now have room for 30 magazine files, and my sewing machines are tucked away above the door. The meager amount of clothing I have left has been carefully hung in the closet, or folded and put away. And Tim Riggins has been restored to his place in the closet.
And look! The side of my bed is no longer taken up by a dresser, a laundry hamper, a yellow chair serving as a secondary nightstand. Now there’s a bed (awaiting clean sheets) and a nightstand. It feels much more spacious, and now I don’t have to sidle out of bed every day.
Even better? I realized that the awesome bottle brush lamp that sits on the top of my desk can easily sit on the dresser and now I have light in the closet!
Wow!!! I shudder at what I would need to give up if I read this. But I think I may add it to my list. Well done you at getting so nicely organized. The closet space looks amazing. Exceedingly lovely looking. The OCD tidiness makes me ever so happy. And you are right! Your room looks much bigger!!!
I wish I would have taken more “before” photos. It’s incredible, the difference in the house now. Which is exactly what the author is talking about. And she’s very smart. You start with clothing, because it’s clothing you discard fairly often anyway. Then, having practiced knowing when you feel a spark of joy, you can move on to books and then through the rest of her list. I read the whole book first and then waited to start in on the process after I did clothing. The week I had to wait, I was just itching to get started.
I was so appalled that the book recommends throwing away old journals and letters that I had a hard time reading the rest of the post. WHY WOULD ANYONE SAY THAT? Anyway, you did an excellent job with re-organizing. It looks great!
I KNOW!!!! So wrong! On so many levels. She thinks that the purpose of the letter is expended when the recipient opens and reads it and after that you should discard it. But guess what? She’s wrong. Among other things I found when sorting were the notes Matt used to write me when he would come over to my studio apartment and nap or use the computer while I wasn’t there. They were short and funny and I had forgotten all about them. I greatly enjoyed finding them again and he cackled at his own wit when I showed them to him. Enjoyment all over again! Totally worth saving.