Awhile ago I did a tour of my dressing room on Instagram Stories, and I got loads of requests to do it as a blog post. So I am happy to say I am finally here with that much requested post! There was certainly a lot of photography gymnastics on Patrick’s part to photograph this somewhat tight space. About a month ago I tried to shoot this on my own and it ended badly, so I really am thankful Pat was creative and patient enough to get these shots.

When it came to house hunting, we quickly realized that closet space was an issue. So much so that Patrick decided to measure how much closet rod we used and began to measure closet rods in the houses we were looking at. This house has just under what we needed, but we knew an easy solution. The really amazing thing about this house is that it has a dressing room as part of the master bedroom, complete with built in vanity. And, yes, it was a major selling point for us. The dressing room connects also with the master bathroom. Opposite the vanity is the closet portion, which originally featured four doors, and four more smaller doors above for storage. In order to accommodate all of my clothing we needed to install a second bar in half of the closet, which meant the initial bar had to be raised, so we had to rip out the entire closet. I’ll admit, I felt kind of guilty about it, but I do know deep down, if someone really wanted this closet be back to how it was originally, they could still do that.

In our old apartment, our bedroom had a similar style closet, in the sense that it was a “walk through” closet, with the master bathroom being on the opposite side, and rods on either side of the closet itself. Over time I noticed my clothing getting quite dusty. I wasn’t a fan of that. But I didn’t want doors again either. Inspired by the Golden Horseshoe at Disneyland, we opted for red curtains and gold tassel pullbacks, creating a dramatic and elegant effect. Overall, I wanted to keep the dressing room sleek and functional, but I had to throw in a bit of my personality, and chose to frame three of my favorite records that also fit with the vibe, including a Golden Horseshoe record!

This large cabinet was originally a built in hamper (I know! So amazing!) but I desperately needed storage, so Patrick removed the hamper and put in a shelf. Now the cabinet holds belts as well as some shoes that are too large to reside in the shoe storage above my hanging clothes.

The sconces are vintage, but not original to the house, they were found by my dad, who never ceases to amaze me in what he finds! I have been in love with these style of light fixtures for years now, and while they do make them new, they cost a pretty penny! You can buy them new here from Rejuvenation.

The drawer pulls are new, we replaced the also new ones the previous owners had installed, which were silver, and I was going for a gold theme. We picked up these at Austin Hardwoods & Hardware in Santa Ana, you can buy them on-line here from The Knobbery.

Storage Solutions

I get a lot of questions about how I store my clothing, and I utilize a lot of different things, both new and vintage!

Closet

Most of my clothing hangs on slim, felt/flocked hangers. These are thinner than the average plastic changer, which allows for more room within my closet. Additionally it’s a little gentler on many garments. Plastic hangers can often had bits of flash that can snag clothing. I do use some plastic hangers for garments that are more difficult to get on and off of the felt ones, including the handful of t-shirts I hang up. For skirts I use two different styles; one the classic with the two clips, and a larger, clamp style for thicker skirts. To save space I do double and sometimes triple up skirts on hangers. Clip hangers are also used for strapless or halter style garments.

I rotate a portion of my clothing seasonally, which for California is based more on color palette than say warm weather verses cold weather. Out of season clothing lives in my collection of vintage suitcases that sit at the base of my closet.

Beyond the Hanger

I also use the two Heywood Wakefield dressers and vanity outside of the dressing room for items I don’t mind folding, including tees, shorts, jeans (slacks are hung with skirts), sweaters (including sweater dresses), work-out clothing, socks, and unmentionables. The important thing with sweaters, especially woolen ones is having cedar blocks inside the drawers to keep moths away. You can also purchase cedar blocks with hangers screwed into them for your woolens that you hang.

Buy ‘Em!

Felt Hangers on Amazon
Clip Skirt Hangers on Amazon
Clamp Skirt Hangers on Amazon
Cedar Blocks on Amazon
Hanging Cedar Blocks on Amazon

Shoe Storage

During one of our many outings antiquing in Orange, I came across these fabulous vintage clear plastic (with glitter) shoe drawers. I bought all that the dealer had, which was about 18 I think. I became obsessed with them, seeking them out on Ebay and Etsy, and when we moved in I was excited to put them in, but I ran into a problem…in all of my shopping I had purchased three different styles (made by three different companies) of these shoe drawers, and when put all together, they didn’t align right. Additionally, some of my shoes fit in some styles, while they didn’t fit in others. Patrick then wondered if perhaps someone made these shoe drawers new, and it turns out The Container Store does make brand new versions of these! But sans glitter sadly. We decided to commit to filling the entire upper shelf with shoe drawers, whether or not I needed that many or not, knowing full well I would fill them up one day! The biggest plus, these drawers are made in the US.

You’ll spy to hooks on the small portion of the wall, I use these when I am creating my outfits, and once settled on an outfit for the next day I leave the dress or top and bottom on these hooks, and my accessories on the counter of the vanity.

Belt & Gloves Storage

So what did I do with all of the vintage shoe drawers? They fill a variety of purposes now. Some have been relegated to the coat closet, holding my vast collection of Minnetonka moccasins, a pair have been put into the bathroom to hold hair accessories, a pair is used to hold gloves, and eight more of them hold most of my belts.

I store less flexible belts, including vintage copper belts in a drawer of my dresser. I also have chosen to keep two belts of Egyptian theme with some of my Egyptian Revival jewelry.

Buy ‘Em!

New Shoe Drawers from The Container Store
-They also offer larger size ones for “men’s shoes”

Jewelry Storage

I try to organize my jewelry by theme/style – putting all of my western together, all of my Egyptian pieces together, all of my copper pieces together, etc. However, sometimes themes are split up between multiple areas.

I store my jewelry in a variety of ways, first is T-racks, which hold a good majority of my necklaces, charm bracelets, and plastic bangles.

The two tier T-rack sits upon a book box of Advanced Potion Making, which holds my Harry Potter themed jewelry.

I don’t have pierced ears, but that isn’t a problem when you wear vintage! As most vintage earrings are of the clip-on and screw-back variety! For my earrings I use vintage spiral racks that turn.

I also store jewelry in this massive jewelry box. I actually have a second one in the little nook too. That one stores my holiday themed jewelry, as well as rhinestone jewelry. Meanwhile, this big blue one is home to rings, Egyptian Revival, western themed brooches, and my turquoise.

I purchased these jewelry boxes by Wolf at Home Goods, and they weren’t cheap, they were $100 each, however they retail regularly for about $600. So I guess it was a pretty good deal! Additionally, they are lined with a special fabric that means silver won’t tarnish, which is a big plus.

The drawers of the built in vanity have even more jewelry, which I use vintage stocking boxes to keep everything organized. I cannot fully express how versatile these puppies are! I use them for jewelry, scarves, hair related things (like hair ties, bobby pins, hair clips, etc.), belt buckles, socks, and of course actual stockings.

Buy ‘Em

Necklace T-Bar on Amazon
Bracelet T-Bar on Amazon
Earring Rack – search “vintage spinning earring rack” on Ebay or Etsy
Jewelry Boxes by Wolf
Stocking Boxes – search “vintage quilted stocking box” on Ebay or Etsy

Hat Storage

You’ll see I have some hats hanging within in the closet. These are my more regularly worn hats, while others reside within vintage cardboard hat boxes within our bedroom.

Now, some of you may be asking, where are Patrick’s clothes? Well, he uses part of the long Heywood-Wakefield dresser located to the right of the closet, as well as the closet in the office. That may seem a little harsh, but the office is actually connected to the bedroom by way of the bathroom, so it’s not like he has to go across the house to get dressed!

I hope you enjoyed this little tour and got some ideas on organizing your own closet!

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.