Sunday, May 30, 2021

Vivid Hue's Closet Makeover

 I often post photos of my house on social media.  When I share my bedroom photos people inevitably ask to see the closet, too.  We'll y'all will soon see why I've never showed pictures from inside my closet.  Until recently, it was a dark hidden secret (aka disaster zone) that I purposefully kept behind closed doors!  

I do believe that an organized and well thought out space can provide mental clarity.  You can only imagine what this space was doing for my mental acuity!   I have no idea how I found clothes to get dressed In the morning.  Without further adieu, let's just jump right into this.  


Disaster Zone In Vivid Hue Home's Closet "Before" 


This huge mess started during Covid when one season changed to the next and rather than swapping my closet out for the seasons, I just added the new season right on top of the old.  One sloppily folded sweater after the other and eventually I had built quite the empire for messy closets.  There was no way I could get my head around tackling this mess on my own.  

Enter Megan Guest, from A Tidy Guest.  Tidying and organization is In her DNA and I met her when she came into my shop and became a fabulous customer.  I made an appointment for Megan to come to my home and take a look at the "project."  Within five minutes of consultation I knew she'd be the guru for my mess, er...job.  Eager to get this party started, I asked when she could start.  Much to my delight, she had a few hours right that afternoon to jump right In.  We worked together and Megan would hold up each item In front of me and we would sort into piles of "keep" or "donate."  Megan was gentle but firm In questioning my hold on certain items ("this sweater is filled with holes", "I don't think these stains will come out:).  

Meg from "A Tidy Guest" literally on hands and knees sorting my closet

We sorted and separated and our donate pile quickly grew from a few trash bags to over twenty bags.  What helped me the most, Megan removed every last bag from my house that very same day so there was no opportunity for me to go back into those bags and second guess my decisions.  It also removed the burden of me taking all of those items to donate.  Side note: Megan ended up posting these items on a  local Facebook page where people offer their gently used items for free.  People came to her garage and picked through items they could use.  It's a good feeling to know that these items were recycled back into the environment to others that could use them.  

Vivid Hue Home Donations

Vivid Hue Home Donations Grow 

With the excess clothing and accessories out of the way we were able to assess what was left to be organized.  That same afternoon, we sorted my remaining clothes by type: dress shirts, skirts, pants, dresses and more.   Here's an idea of how much cleaning things were already appearing.  


Before: Vivid Hue Home View of Dresser Drawers In Closett

Before: Vivid Hue Home's Jewelry

In Progress: After Initial Sorting Through Keep + Donate Piles

This purging process alone was therapeutic.  And it got my creative juices flowing.  Suddenly, I not only envisioned a neat and organized closet, but one with style and panache

That evening, I started to brainstorm how I could turn my closet into a more feminine closet boutique.  I don't share this space with anyone else and I became focsed on transforming this closet into a colorful space that would match the rest of my colorful home.  

Vivid Hue Home's Closet Renovation 2021

I needed to do this makeover on a dime and I desired to execute it quickly so I wouldn't derail my main goal: having a fresh and organized closet.  I spent the next several days scouring the internet for sources and deciding upon my design direction.  I changed my mind a few times, but there were a few discoveries that solidified my directly pretty quickly; the rug, the paper and the lighting.  

I picked  Target's Opalhouse Speckled Dot Peel and Stick Wallpaper In Gold for the ease of applying it to my wall and it's quick delivery to my home.  

  I fell In love with the colorful chinoiserie rug designed by the boys from Madcap Cottage  called the Moment Embrace Adventure Rug because of it's style and also the feminine colors. 

And then, are you ready for this?  I nearly died when I discovered the Lotus Flower Ceiling Pendant In Powder Blue.  These were on back order for several months but I thought the style was so unique that I decided to purchase two of them and they would be worth the wait. 

 With all of these fun colors, I new my closet would be transformed.  And yet something still seemed lacking.  I went back and forth contemplating whether or not to paint my built In dresser drawers.  It would open a can of worms to paint the dresser.  Would I have to paint the shelves on the side of the closet, too?  What if the end result looked cheap?  And what about the resale value of my house, would this deter future buyers?  (In the end, the future buyers are going to have a lot more to overcome In my house if they don't like colors and patterns because I have truly turned my home into a colorful space).  


Vivid Hue Home's Guest Bedroom. Photo Credit Christine Petit


Next, I will continue my closet renovation journey and reveal the color I decided to paint the closet dresser drawers.  To continue reading about the next step In the closet makeover, click here.  
Best, 
Heather