Ok so regular visitors know my love of overhauling wardrobes right? Well as it turns out, whilst I may well love cleaning out other people's closets, sometimes it's my own closet which cries out for attention. And this was the case last weekend.
So I did what any self-respecting closet cleaner (who actually bought a domain name to start a business about cleaning out closets) does and I got to work.
My hanging space was fine, it was my three accessories shelves which required the most TLC. In these three nooks I store everything from cuffs, jewellery, scarves, sunglasses, earrings, watches, bangles, and bracelets to wallets gloves, hats and handbags.
I think it's a fairly simple process. A set of shelves the size of my three requires about 45 minutes. But stay focused people. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT allow yourself to sit yourself down on the side of your bed pouring over through your old Italian leather bracelets, one for every town visited, whilst reminiscing about how much you love Italy. You need to stay on task people. You can always come back to the leather wrist bands.
The starting point is to take everything out and place on a large, cleared even surface. I recommend a flat, neatly made bed. Then comes the sorting phase. So put all your bracelets together, then your cuffs, necklaces, headbands, jewelery boxes, earrings, cuff links, small yet strong collection of international stick pins etc, together in piles.
Next comes the edit. While I usually advocate a ruthless "if you haven't worn it in 12 months approach" I suggest a far more gentle approach in the accessories department and this is for two reasons. Firstly, many of these items have sentimental value to you. Like Carrie and her Carrie necklace purchased at the markets with the girls all those years ago, you will unearth many a trinket that you actually don't wear. But this doesn't render it useless. It's still special to you (unless it really isn't) so keep it. Secondly, with accessories I think they tend to come back into style more easily than clothes so you may find that polka dotted Miu Miu headband is just about ready to make it's second round appearance this summer coming.
A good rule of thumb is to firstly confirm that you either still like/love the item and if you don't that you still need (I of course use this term loosely) it. If you do then keep it. If you don't then it should be thrown away, given away to charity or passed on to a friend who you think will wear it better than you. Sometimes you'll remember that one of your BFFs loves that particular piece and she may still love it so follow that up before throwing away. (PFG, remember me if one day you may get sick of the YSL bone-handled bag or the new Willow black shearling jacket for that matter).
After the edit phase it's time to consider your desired layout. You want to have taller things at the back and smaller, everyday items at the front. You want to be able to see most things or at least know where they are so that you don't end up reverting to the same old pieces every day. You want that lovely moment in the morning before work where you spot that fabulous turquoise Dinosaur Designs choker your lovely pal gave you a few years back. Otherwise you fall in the trap of rotating the same three neck pieces.
Also, it's very worthwhile to hang onto all your old boxes from watches, wallets and necklaces because they of course become your containers to store all your lovelies in.
Now's the time to also consider content for each shelf. This time round I removed scarves from the bottom shelf and gave them their own shelf with handbags/clutches. Scarves are a favourite accessory of mine so I have a decent sized collection. I think they deserve their own space where they can be displayed in all their glory (or as the case may be, where they can be stacked in a semi neat manner).
OK so once you've planned it out start assembling the pieces of the puzzle together. You want minimal overlap again so that you see as many options as possible. And then, it's done. Easy peasy lemon sqeasy and well worth your precious time.
Another thing you may know about me is that I truly love a before and after shot. So here's the before shot of my bottom shelf.
Yes so as you can see, it was a little chaotic. However, you will be as thrilled as I am to learn that it now looks like this:
So I did what any self-respecting closet cleaner (who actually bought a domain name to start a business about cleaning out closets) does and I got to work.
My hanging space was fine, it was my three accessories shelves which required the most TLC. In these three nooks I store everything from cuffs, jewellery, scarves, sunglasses, earrings, watches, bangles, and bracelets to wallets gloves, hats and handbags.
I think it's a fairly simple process. A set of shelves the size of my three requires about 45 minutes. But stay focused people. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT allow yourself to sit yourself down on the side of your bed pouring over through your old Italian leather bracelets, one for every town visited, whilst reminiscing about how much you love Italy. You need to stay on task people. You can always come back to the leather wrist bands.
The starting point is to take everything out and place on a large, cleared even surface. I recommend a flat, neatly made bed. Then comes the sorting phase. So put all your bracelets together, then your cuffs, necklaces, headbands, jewelery boxes, earrings, cuff links, small yet strong collection of international stick pins etc, together in piles.
Next comes the edit. While I usually advocate a ruthless "if you haven't worn it in 12 months approach" I suggest a far more gentle approach in the accessories department and this is for two reasons. Firstly, many of these items have sentimental value to you. Like Carrie and her Carrie necklace purchased at the markets with the girls all those years ago, you will unearth many a trinket that you actually don't wear. But this doesn't render it useless. It's still special to you (unless it really isn't) so keep it. Secondly, with accessories I think they tend to come back into style more easily than clothes so you may find that polka dotted Miu Miu headband is just about ready to make it's second round appearance this summer coming.
A good rule of thumb is to firstly confirm that you either still like/love the item and if you don't that you still need (I of course use this term loosely) it. If you do then keep it. If you don't then it should be thrown away, given away to charity or passed on to a friend who you think will wear it better than you. Sometimes you'll remember that one of your BFFs loves that particular piece and she may still love it so follow that up before throwing away. (PFG, remember me if one day you may get sick of the YSL bone-handled bag or the new Willow black shearling jacket for that matter).
After the edit phase it's time to consider your desired layout. You want to have taller things at the back and smaller, everyday items at the front. You want to be able to see most things or at least know where they are so that you don't end up reverting to the same old pieces every day. You want that lovely moment in the morning before work where you spot that fabulous turquoise Dinosaur Designs choker your lovely pal gave you a few years back. Otherwise you fall in the trap of rotating the same three neck pieces.
Also, it's very worthwhile to hang onto all your old boxes from watches, wallets and necklaces because they of course become your containers to store all your lovelies in.
Now's the time to also consider content for each shelf. This time round I removed scarves from the bottom shelf and gave them their own shelf with handbags/clutches. Scarves are a favourite accessory of mine so I have a decent sized collection. I think they deserve their own space where they can be displayed in all their glory (or as the case may be, where they can be stacked in a semi neat manner).
OK so once you've planned it out start assembling the pieces of the puzzle together. You want minimal overlap again so that you see as many options as possible. And then, it's done. Easy peasy lemon sqeasy and well worth your precious time.
Another thing you may know about me is that I truly love a before and after shot. So here's the before shot of my bottom shelf.
 |
| Bottom shelf BEFORE I launched my assault. |
The middle shelf used to be an outstandingly disorganised collection of stuff.
 |
| Middle Shelf BEFORE. |
 |
| Middle and Top shelves AFTER |
 |
| All 3 shelves AFTER |
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