Being Brave: Master Closet Organization

I hope this post doesn't scare you. I spent all day yesterday cleaning out my master closet. Now, before I show you the before pictures, let me explain myself.

When we first moved into this house, we had a 2 year old and a 2 month old. I never really had the chance to get it all organized and settled the way I wanted it, so now I am slowly going back and making it work for me.

Also, the pictures you are about to see are not how it's been the entire time we've lived in this house, only for like the past month or so. I've been meaning to switch out my closets from winter clothes to summer clothes for about a month now. During that time, I've just been living out of the tupperwares that hold my seasonal clothes and going crazy one day at a time. These are the before pictures...see what I mean?

Oh my goodness! It almost gives me anxiety just looking at these pictures. I don't know if I really want to re-live this again, but the end result is too good not to share.

I also took a picture of my bed before the madness so you could see that my entire house does not look like this closet.

Okay so to really clean out a closet, you have to take everything out of it. And that's exactly what I did.

You've got to have piles. I started a pile for Brian's winter clothes, my winter clothes, and a donate pile.

Here is my brother in law Tommy going though Brian's donate pile. He went home with some goods.

These were keep piles (below). Oh it stresses me out!

And my closet still looked like this!

This was the first set of hanging clothes I allowed back into the closet. All dresses, dress clothes, slacks, and dress shirts.

This is pretty cool. It's a Space Saver storage box. I found it at Wal-Mart for around $20. But it held all my winter clothes. They were taking up 2 tupperwares before the Space Saver bag.

There was absolutely a point that I wanted to quit. There was actually a point when I wanted to call my momma crying and have her come save me. But I pressed on!

This was the "ready to quit" moment.

But there was light at the end of the tunnel. (There was not light at the end of the day when I was done.) It took me the entire day! Are you ready for the end result?! Drum roll please......

TADA!

Look! It's the floor!

In the picture below, you can see the taupe colored Space Saver storage container thing. It is awesome!

I even found room for a pic of my sweet husband and babies. Brian was a huge help with the whole process. I made him go through every piece of clothing he owns (including his socks) and make a decision to donate or keep. He was a trooper.

Also in the pic above, you'll see a glass jar full of small things that often come out of or go into my purse. Like chap sticks, mints, small lotions, etc. The teacup was a gift Brian got for Addy on Valentine's day that was full of candy and now it's a great place for my most worn jewelry.

I had to share this idea. Above and below, you'll see my new necklace organizer idea. The white hanger type thing you see above and below is actually a belt and or tie organizer. The arms are felt, so necklaces won't slip. Its great! I love it! Had to share.

It's beautiful isn't it!? I thought you'd love it!

And below....the donate pile. It doesn't look impressive, but in person, it's a ton of stuff!

I also took pictures of all the surfaces that you previously saw clothes all over just to prove to you that I actually did fit it all back in the closet or in the donate pile.

Notice that it's dark, but clean in the pictures below.