Ever heard the saying about the cobbler’s children who have no shoes? Sometimes this adage holds true for professional organizers as well!

I have a confession to make…there are areas in my own home that are in desperate need of an organizing makeover (audible gasp).
 
One of my resolutions for 2014 is to set aside time in my schedule to revamp these spaces. As I alluded to in my last blog post, I took advantage of the Container Store’s annual Elfa shelving sale in January and completed the first project – the guest room closet makeover.
 

 
This closet serves as a storage area for gift wrapping supplies, photos, scrapbooks, fabric, sewing machine/supplies, and empty shopping bags. These items are seldom accessed, but when I do need to retrieve something, I usually end up uttering a few choice curse words as I sift through the closet contents. This is particularly true when it comes time to retrieve a gift bag:
 

 
During the “makeover” process, I followed the same steps that I do with every client I work with, beginning with assessing the space. As you can see in the top photo, it’s quite clear that storing items on the floor is not working. My new storage system needed to take full advantage of the vertical space in the closet. I determined that the best solution for my specific storage needs is a set of freestanding deep drawers for each side of the closet. In addition, I decided to change out the stationary shelving and replace it with a track shelving system. In addition to giving me the benefit of adjustable shelf height, the track system allowed for the addition of a third shelf to be installed at the top of the closet to store smaller, lighter items.
 
A quick aside…I must rave about the Container Store’s customer service! I called the store to place the order for my closet system the day before my road trip to the Columbus store. When I arrived, they had all the components of my system wrapped up and ready to load in my car. I also love the cute bags that they use to store the small components and hardware:
 

 
Once I returned from the store, the transformation began. After removing everything from the closet, the next step in the process was to sort items into categories and purge unwanted items. It was then time to remove the existing shelving system (no small feat), patch the holes, paint, and begin to install the track system:
 

 
Do you see that horizontal piece at the top of the closet? It’s called the top track, and one of the awesome features of the Elfa easy hang system is that this is the only piece that attaches to your wall. Fewer holes in your wall is always a good thing.
 
Ready for the reveal?
 

 
What was once my least favorite closet is currently my most favorite. I go in there several times a day and open the drawers to admire the perfectly organized contents!
 
It would have been ideal to remove the closet doors for the photo shoot, but Dear Hubby said it would be too much effort. I’ve done my best to capture the changes in the photos below:
 

 
Here’s a close-up of the amazing drawer system. Elfa drawers can either be attached to the track or set up as part of a freestanding system. I chose the freestanding systems, since they allowed for the wider and deeper drawer size that my project required. Let’s take a look inside those drawers, shall we?
 

 
This is one of the two shallow top drawers, which contain small gift bags, wrapping supplies and tissue paper.
 
Now the gift bags are easily retrievable. I even have separate drawers for everyday gift bags and holiday-themed gift bags! I seem to have a gift bag and gift wrap fetish. So I’ve implemented one of the rules that I teach my clients when it comes to controlling clutter…let the container set the limit for how much you can keep. I can only keep as many gift bags as this drawer can accommodate:
 

 
Of course, the last step in organizing the drawers was to label each one so that everyone else is clear on what items live in each drawer:
 

 
Let’s shift our attention to the closet shelves. Empty boxes for gifts and the seldom-used sewing kit are the perfect items to be stored up high:
 

 
The lower shelves are used to store my scrapbooks, photos, and unfinished projects. I love the addition of the storage baskets for corralling those scrapbooks!
 

 
More basket eye-candy…
 

 
The left side houses my print photo collection (notice the archival quality storage boxes). There’s another basket that contains gift wrapping ribbon.
 

So there you have it! I’ll leave you with a few Before/After shots. Onto the next home project…

Interested in learning more about Natalie Gallagher and Refined Rooms?
Visit www.RefinedRoomsLLC.com.