Remember that very busy Mom/Nurse/Professor from the “Bathroom Built for Business” post? The one who works nights so has trouble sleeping so often works in the middle of the night at home? Well that’s not limited to her master bath, but also spills over into her beautiful, expansive master closet. Because her closet is so big, it also tends to be the landing ground for everything everyone in the house doesn’t want to be responsible for.
She needed an outsider to come in and first explain - nicely - to her family that the master closet was not for keeping items meant for Goodwill or old school projects they weren’t ready to part with, or anything else they don’t want to throw away but also aren’t willing to keep in their own closets. It’s meant to be a calming space for Mom and Dad to get ready in and for Mom to occasionally pay some bills or grade some midterms in.
The biggest part of this project was purging. The client and I worked together to go through everything in the closet and threw out or donated old suitcases, bags/backpacks, papers, books, clothes/shoes that didn’t fit, even some old toys tucked into the corner from when her now teenage kids were little.
While this can be an emotional and taxing process, once you’re finished a huge weight is lifted as you start to view the space for what it will be: a peaceful way to start and end your day. It can be something you don’t realize in the moment, but closet trips often happen multiple times a day. It’s one of the first rooms you see in the morning as you dress for the day and one of the last you see at night as you change into comfy PJs. Having this space feel inviting, calm and organized can help bring those same feelings to the start and end of your days.
Once the purge is complete, the fun starts as you get to create zones for dress clothes, work, exercise, lounge-wear, everyday-wear and more. Remember her working habits? We didn’t try to break those, we left her filing cabinet and plenty of floor space to spread out and work whenever she needs to. All she has to do is grab the basket with her pens, notepad and tablet from the bathroom and bring to the closet and she’s ready to go. She even had a fun high-heel shaped chair to use. Who wouldn’t want to sit on that while they’re reading term papers?
