closet | Vintage Hearts At Home

Years ago when Mother’s Day was approaching, my husband asked what I would like for Mother’s Day. I like to name off outlandish and bizarre things to freak him out. “A trip to France! A vintage ’68 Mustang! Wax lips!” Sometimes I’ll tell him a new drill or teeth whitening strips, whatever springs into mind at the moment. I’m just messing with him. (Except about the drill, at the time I really wanted a new one with lots of guts!)

One spring, I decided I wanted a closet. A real closet. Like the kind you see in magazines. As I have previously mentioned, I have a very old (131 years old) house with 2 closets in the entire house. One is downstairs in the entryway and one is in the middle bedroom upstairs. And we had the perfect space in our bedroom for one. It was called a “nursery” originally, just a tiny open room off our bedroom measuring 7×9.

So when the hunny asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day that year, I had a bullet in the chamber. “A closet! For real this time, I want a closet.”

Something about my hunny, he is not a handy man. His talents lie in other areas and building things is not one of them, but he did it! He made me a closet!

I could finally see all my clothes and shoes and organize everything. It was fabulous! I am slightly OCD about a few little things and organizing my clothes is one of them. I like to hang them by color so when I feel like wearing pink, I can go to my “pink section” and choose what I’m in the mood for.

I have a dress form I love with a few bags and race medals hanging on her.

I have all my shoes organized by heels or flats, boots are in boxes because I need more shoe shelves.

My jeans and pants are folded and I can see what I have, which makes pulling a pair to wear easier and my leggings are all in one place so I can see what I have.

What I need and am on the hunt for is a small piece of furniture or bookshelf to make into an island to float in the closet to put my jewelry case on with shelves for baskets for my gym clothes or shoes.

I bought this jewelry case at an antique store, decoupaged the bottom shelf (which originally had some ratty fabric lining the bottom) with a copy of a French document I purchased in Paris at the flea market.

I added a tassel for a handle, and put my favorite jewelry pieces inside, both to display and to make it easier for me to remember what I had. Almost every piece that is my favorite my friend Susan Jacoby made. She makes the most fabulous jewelry from broken vintage pieces and found objects. (I will make her the focus of an upcoming blog, so stay tuned.)

And what closet would be complete without a chandelier? (I like to call the tiny ones “chandies” pronounced “shandy”) Here’s my chandie…

Funny thing, I am outgrowing my closet and secretly dream about moving my hunny’s clothes out so I can expand my dresses and skirts and shoes and cardigans and blazers and did I say skirts?