operation pretty closet

I hope you had a lovely Memorial Day.

Memorial Day passing means it's officially summer, huh? (I know that technically doesn't happen until the solstice in late June, but if white shoes are now acceptable to old ladies, and school is out, then it's summer.)

I spose the coming of summer means we missed the "spring cleaning" window, but I am still determined to do a major closet refresh in the next couple of months. Both because we have lots of stuff we need to get rid of (and stuff to make room for), and because our closets are the last frontier in our place. Everything else has been renovated, every other surface changed in some way, but the closets are exactly as they were when we moved in. Popcorn ceilings, yellowy white walls, dusty rose clothing rails and all.

This is a photo of our master bedroom walk-in closet from last year, with bad lighting that reflects the bad lighting in the closet. Trust me, it's much messier in there now.

Image by Bethany Nauert from Apartment Therapy

And the guest room closet behind those doors? A disaster waiting to happen, whenever someone opens a door without being prepared to hold back the torrent.

One thing we do have going for us is that we've already upgraded to matching felt hangers that are slim and grip the clothes well. I hear that professional organizers like that kind of thing. :-) So we've got the basic hardware in place. We just need a little sizzle and a lot more function.

The easy part is the purely cosmetic piece. Pick a bright, sexy color and do a little painting. And maybe change out the light fixture in our master closet. I think a rich, saturated jewel tone would look great, especially since the rest of our place is colorful but with a much more muted palette. I like the idea of statement colors in the closets. (What do you think? Bad idea? Especially if we sell our place?)

Image from Russet Street Reno

I've been inspired for some time by this coat closet from Russet Street Reno. My only concern: I have so many black clothes, that I'm concerned such a dark tone will make the clothes just blend into the background and give an overall monochromatic (and overly dark) feel to the closet. But this color scheme could be perfect for the guest room closet, since it already has a lighter blue accent wall. What color would you paint a master closet full of black clothes?

Then there is the very big function question. There are so many beautiful and functional closets in the world, but many come with a hefty price tag. Naturally, I would love to achieve a perfect closet on a shoestring budget, but have it look like we spent a pretty penny. Why can't a girl have it all? Ha!

For today, let's just put aside cost questions, and look at some pretty closet examples from Better Homes and Gardens. These are some of my favorite inspiration (minus the wire shelves -- I'm not a fan).

Images above from here

What projects are you determined to tackle this summer? Any major projects you've been putting off? Or little projects you're excited to tackle? After the closets are done, I'm thinking about what I might do to jazz up our balcony garden. Stay tuned!

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xoxo,