My husband and I co-exist in a 500 square-foot apartment. This pint-sized piece of Manhattan somehow squeezes in a bathroom, sleeping alcove, kitchen, living room and two closets. Needless to say, none of these spaces are particularly roomy — I’ve been in hotel rooms with bathtubs that are bigger than our entire apartment. (Mostly in Orlando.)
Renovations are desperately needed across the board, but a clotheshorse has her priorities. The first thing to go? Our puny closets.
Welcome to my personal hell. This is our main closet, which faces the bathroom. It is so crammed, our hangers break on the regular. This single cubby currently contains our fall/winter wardrobes, including:
- 33 men’s shirts
- 51 dresses
- 1 wedding gown
- 23 skirts
- 10 pairs of pants
- 60 blouses
- 2 sagging suitcases
- 5 billion socks and scarves
- 12 handbags
- A partridge and a pear tree
I haven’t even MENTIONED the coats, which live in the other closet alongside the detergent and Ouija and Monopoly games. (Shoes are crammed into plastic green tubs or stacked on bookshelves next to the door.)
Once a renovation was imminent, I skipped Pinterest and started scouting ideas from real-life closets. First up is the closet of fashion designer Alyssa Key, owner of Love Brigade. (Here’s a profile I wrote about Alyssa back in 2006.)
Alyssa’s gorgeous closet is the holy grail: It has double-hanging racks, copious shelving shelving for her boot collection and a floor-to-ceiling mirror covered in positive messages that look like they were drawn on with lipstick.
Everything is arranged so artistically, the closet looks more like a high-end boutique than a storage space. (This makes sense — the interiors of Alyssa’s stores in Brooklyn were meticulously merchandised with a hipster-medieval flair.)
Another inspiration? Natalie Suarez Cahill’s closet, which houses the impressive wardrobe she deploys for her day job as a Fragrance Marketing Manager at Dior. (Here’s my Q&A with Natalie about her sophisticated work wardrobe.)
Natalie’s closet also has double-hanging rods, as well as built-in cubby holes for sandals and sweaters. Every square inch is compact with zero redundancy.
I’m hoping to take some cues from both these closets by combining efficiency and artistry. I don’t want to just STORE my stuff — I want to display it.
Alyssa’s jewelry, hats and scarves have the perfect bohemian mise-en-place:
And Natalie’s hand-held purses look as neat and delectable as chocolates lined up in a box:
This week, our closets were gutted, and the transformation will commence. Stay tuned for updates — and if you have any closet design tips, let me know!
