Step Inside My Closet

Husband and I have VERY important guests coming to visit us this weekend. In preparing for the VIP's first European trip, we naturally are busy cleaning, working out, scrapbooking, rearranging rugs, and of course, blogging. I am a Master Procrastinator.

Without further ado:

The first thing I should tell you is that walk-in closets are practically unheard of in Germany. Most people use a wardrobe inside their bedroom to hold clothing. When Husband and I saw this walk-in closet while viewing our flat, we jumped at this opportunity. 

While we are so lucky to have a walk-in closet, it is still quite a challenging space in our flat. It is about a 1/3 of the size of our closet back in Texas. And yes, those are two piles of dirty clothes on the floor.

90% of our clothing is folded on shelves. (These shelves were free btw!) With limited space, I had to get creative, Monica Geller creative, in how I stored my clothes. I won't discuss Husband's random nonexistent organization of his half of the shelves. 

Everything on my half of the shelves are organized by shirt type; tanks, t-shirts, short sleeves, 3/4 sleeves, long sleeves, sweaters, jackets, and then a shelf for pants. Within each category, the shirts are placed in order according to the rainbow. This system saves me time when picking outfits and I love the coordination. (Although... it takes more time when putting items away)

With only 4 shelves a piece, Husband and I now are on a seasonal rotation. Each spring we change out our bulky winter sweaters to warm weather items. Then again in the fall, we store our spring/summer clothing and bring back out our sweaters, boots, and cold weather accessories. Our stored clothing is kept packed away in the keller so it does not take up more space in our flat.

Opposite of the shelving, Husband and I have a three door wardrobe from Ikea. Inside we are able to hang dressier items that shouldn't be folded. Behind the mirrored door I keep the majority of my craft items.

For years I have stored my jewelry in clear plastic shoe dividers, again, color coded. Lately, I have been thinking about what I can do to make this system work better. I am finding that a lot of the accessories get buried at the bottom of a pocket and I forget about what is hiding. Do you have a recommendation for easy to see jewelry storage? Maybe I just need to clean out what I am not wearing?

Our shelving system is okay...for our current situation. I do find clean laundry piles up, waiting to be folded and put away for days at a time. I am terrible at this part of the process! More often than not, Husband and I have a pile similar to this one inside our bedroom. At least the clothes are clean, right? 

For old time's sake, here is our closet back in Texas:

Not too many newlyweds down-size in their late 20s but it is all about the experience right? I miss the double hanging rods, long shelves, and ample shoe storage. When we return to Texas, I plan to put a chandelier inside with a sassy rug. Maybe get some cute large baskets for the top shelf?

Make Life Beautiful,