Mission Organization Part I - Front Entry Closet

What's behind door #1?

I'm pretty much doing the running man in my head as I type this. Because I finally got a whole area organized from start to finish. It was hard, but I did it.

 

Yay! Organized!

 

 

The photos aren't going to be glamorous or pin-worthy. However I'm posting them anyway because, well, I said I would and I like to stick to my word even if it takes five and a half years.

 

My scatterbrained self started to go on an organizing rampage all over the house during the holidays. Except I was doing one drawer here, a cupboard there, and I couldn't really say that any one particular area was fully organized.

 

Last weekend I was inspired by our new, cute bench and decided that the front entry was where I was going to start.

 

Here's how it went down. I took absolutely everything out of the closet and dumped it all onto the floor. Next, I sorted everything into three piles: garbage, donate, keep.

 

I have no idea how I had so many things jammed into that closet but we ended up with one garbage bag full of garbage (Alex's old work boots, a pair of my runners that were almost worn through in spots, a mitten without a partner, etc.) and two garbage bags full of items to donate (old purses, old jackets, etc.). 

 

Once I had my pile of "keep" items, I started grouping everything into categories. These are the categories that I ended up with:

 

- mittens / gloves

- hats

- scarves

- high heels

- flats

- boots

- girl flip flops

- boy sandals

- spring / fall coats

- winter coats

- tote bags

- purses

- miscellaneous items (diaper bag, baby carrier, snow pants, laptop bag)

 

I also created a pile of random items that I wanted to relocate to difference places in the house and not the front entry closet (for example, I had been keeping my tripod in the front closet, don't ask why because I have no idea).

 

Top Shelves

 

 

I used a set of three matching baskets that I already had on the top shelf to organize purses (top left), summer flip flops (top middle), and tote bags (top right).

 

On the lower shelf I used three new wire baskets from Homesense to organize hats (bottom left), scarves (bottom middle), and mittens / gloves (bottom right). I like how the wire baskets are open enough to see the items that are inside.

 

Top Shelf: Purses, Tote Bags, Flip Flops

Bottom Shelf - Hats, Scarves, Mittens/Gloves

 

Thankfully I already had a set of nice, wooden hangers for our out-of-season and extra coats.

 

Wooden Hangers, Hooks

 

Notice that there are EMPTY HOOKS!?!? Wahoo, it's a miracle.

Out-of-Season Coats, Extra Coats

To the right of the coats I used three extra hangers to store my snow pants, laptop bag, and baby carrier.

 

Underneath the coats, I used a cheap, wire shoe rack (that we already had) for some shoes. I used the top rack for some tall boots and runners, and the rest of the racks for my uninspiring flat collection. Please don't judge this girl by her shoes.

 

Wire Shoe Rack - Flats, Runners, and Boots

 

Since I hate wearing high heels and only wear them to weddings when I absolutely have to, I only needed a small, canvas hanging shoe thingie to store my whopping six pairs that date back to 1995.

Hanging Shoe Rack - High Heels, Boy Sandals

I was able to use the bottom three slots to store a few pairs of Alex's sandals. There is only one item that is stored on the closet floor, which is Cooper's diaper bag. I wanted it in a handy dandy spot because we use it every time we leave the house. Aside from the diaper bag, the floor is completely junk-free! Amazing, yes I know.

Since our side entry is so tiny and cramped (with dangerous stairs everywhere), I've been getting Cooper dressed for outdoors in our living room / front entry.

I decided to use our new front bench baskets to store his tiny hats, mittens, and shoes.

So, that's that. Our front entry is officially cleaned out and organized. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

How's your front closet looking these days? Have you been hit by the organization bug or is it just me?