I’ve had some pretty amazing closets in the past and have turned my last two offices into a closet/dressing room/home office combination because it just made sense for my work, but this is the first time I’ve had an entire room dedicated to my wardrobe and I have to say, I am very excited about it!
My new place has three bedrooms in the main house, which are all about the same size, give or take. They’re not small per se, but they’re not big either (compared to my last few primary bedroom suites), but now that I have the entire place to myself, and what feels like an overabundance of bedrooms with very little closet space, using one entirely for a closet/dressing room felt logical… and fun.
There are three floors in my townhome and an entirely separate office space below it all. Each floor has one bedroom, and since I chose the main floor bedroom as my sleeping room (because I didn’t want to carry the dogs up and down the stairs), it left this bedroom up on the third floor free to use. It’s the only room on this floor aside from the bathroom and the hallway, which also doubles as the laundry room. So technically, it made the perfect sense that I’d shower and get ready and get dressed and do all my laundry on the same floor.
The room I chose also had the best closets of all, which isn’t saying much, since the closet situation here reminds me of Carrie Bradshaw looking for apartments in NYC in Sex and the City. Thinking back, I can’t believe I never shared my closet in my last house. It wasn’t exactly tiny but it wasn’t big either and I organized it in a way so that almost everything you see in this space (including the two dressers but not the other furniture) fit into it and yet I never shared it… actually thinking back, I never got around to sharing much of anything in the last 3-4 years, but I digress. There are two small existing closets in the room I am also utilizing, but I’ve left closed here because 1. they’re not very exciting, and 2. I have not finished organizing my bag closet 🙂
Anyway, this was the very first room I decided on and purchased 2 free-standing clothing racks in gold almost as soon as I signed the lease so I could move my clothes over as soon as they were built. And if you happen to be turning a room into a closet, I strongly recommend these Vipek Storage Clothing Racks that come in at 3-5 different colors, are fairly easy to assemble and seem very sturdy so far. I didn’t even feel the need to bolt them to the walls, so for a rental, this is perfect because I can take everything with me when I go without leaving major holes in the walls.
I used 2 of the 3 old white Ikea dressers (I’ve literally had since before I started blogging – probably 2005) and placed them back to back in the center of the racks to create an island and to anchor the space. In the corner, in between the racks is a white shelving unit I’ve used for shoes in closets and under the window in my old closet/dressing room. I think this is from my gallery days… and I found this out by the trash. Yes, I’m a scavenger. Anyway, I stood it up and it houses most of my jeans quite nicely.
I also knew I’d be using my grandma’s vintage/antique settee sofa I recently got back from my ex-husband, which was a great surprise. Although it was pretty dirty, it cleaned up very nicely and am so happy to be able to use it in this space. This, along, with the gold racks determined the look and feel I would go with, which is a sort of vintage meets contemporary vibe.
So let’s just start the photo tour… from the beginning, the entryway.
I loved the antique and vintage rosy-gold quality of the room but I thought it would be fun to add a pop art contemporary vibe to create some contrast.
At the entryway I hung my old knockoff Warhol Diamond Dust Shoes in color from when I worked with art.com and above it hung a print of me Chad had commissioned from artists James Haunt a few years ago and re-framed it to match.
Behind the main door to the right (what you don’t see) is a closet with deep shelves where my handbag collection is currently living. I haven’t fully organized it but I figured the closed door would keep them from collecting dust since I only use them occasionally.
As you walk in you immediately see the Victorian couch – settee/sofa (with my old large sheepskin over the seat to protect it and make it slightly more comfortable) and the large antique gold floor mirror I found a few years ago at the local Cedar Glen Resale Boutique (Boys and Girls Club) and used Rub n’ buff to give it this nice gold antiqued look. It was one of the first reels I created on Instagram! Check it out to see the before and after!
The plug in globe pendant lamp hanging from the beam was in my mountain a-frame office DIY room, which I never shared because I never thought it was finished… but it works perfectly here since there was already an outlet for the plug in the closet and the slanted ceiling made hanging the pendant pretty easy.
The glass top vintage side table originally had a white base and I spray painted it gold a few years ago for my office. I wonder why I never shared that DIY… I remember shooting pics of it, but I guess it seemed too obvious. Spray paint. Done. The gold leaf floor lamp was also in my last office sitting area with a black shade. I recently found this dusty rose pink lampshade a local thrift shop and it felt meant to be.
The blush cowhide rug was also in my mountain a-frame office under my desk from the local home decor shop, Jeannine’s.
I don’t know why I’m obsessed with this but I am and had it hanging in my last office as well. It’s the spout of a vintage tea pot that was my mom’s and obviously broke, but the fact that it is a dragon just makes me adore it. So I use that spongey wall tape and stick it to the wall like a little sculpture with a rhinestone necklace around its neck.
The green secretary’s desk in the corner by the window was also my grandma’s and was hand-painted by my grandpa way back in the ’60s. It was in my first dressing room and I used it to store my accessories. Since it was a perfect match I thought I’d use it for the same thing in this closet space but it’s not quite big enough for everything I’ve acquired throughout the years. Much of my accessories were my grandma’s and/or are vintage. Though I haven’t worn accessories or jewelry really in ages, I still can’t part with my collection.
Above it is another faux Warhol diamond dust shoes print from art.com and a vintage suitcase below it from my ex-father in law -which is quietly storing the rest of the accessories that did not fit in the desk above… shhhh don’t tell 😉
I tried to include as much as I could or similar items seen in the photos in the shopping widget above.
As I mentioned above, I created an island in the center of the room and racks with two of my old ikea dressers which if you’ve been following long enough were in my first condo I lived in when I started blogging way back in 2007. I actually have three of them and used them in my old office in my old house as well line up next to each other. They’ve been hiding in my closet at my last house and now they’ve come in quite handy to not only store my clothes but as an island to anchor the space. The third one is down in my bedroom I sleep in and holds sweats and leggings and pajamas 🙂 So I keep loungewear downstairs in my room and the rest up here in this room.
I also use the closet in the guest room for my jackets and coats… Yes, I have not one but 3 rooms to store my clothes.
The little bench with the sheepskin is from Target I think. I bought it years ago and it has an ivory tufted top, but you know I love a fluffy sheepskin for texture. I think it finishes off the edge of the dressers quite well and also gives me another place to sit while getting ready or just admiring the space.
I have stored some of my nicer/designer shoes in their boxes on the tops of the racks as well as my vintage hat boxes and other random boxes filled with stuff.
This framed photo is my great grandma holding me as a baby with my grandma and my mom standing above her. They’re all wearing pink and I actually still have the dress and scarf my mom is wearing in the photo (though I think it’s in storage in the cedar chest full of clothes I still have to go through). It’s a collection… I swear 😉
If you look hard enough you can probably spot some or most of the items I’ve worn in outfits. Especially the vintage pieces, which I never get rid of.
I still LOVE my Paintillio paint by numbers painting I did a few years ago of me and the dogs… and for obvious reasons I hang it in my personal spaces only and not like you know, above the fireplace. But it’s perfect in here.
I try to use mostly black velvet hangers with rose gold and silver to keep it consistent but these pink ones would have been cute too. I didn’t want to have to re-buy hangers, but as my old silver hook ones break, I replace them with the rose gold.
The pretty pink satin and beaded shoes were gifted from Chinese Laundry a few years ago, no, not a super high-end brand, but they look like tortured ballet slippers and I love them. I wore them once here.
Behind these sliding doors are my blazers, blouses and short leather jackets… along with all my sneakers and tennis shoes and sandals and snow boots… and any other shoes that didn’t make it out on the shelves.
The vintage brass bench with dusty rose velvet top was also a local thrifted find a few years ago and was in my last home office in my house. I didn’t really need another seat in this space but it just worked so well so I left it for now.
The old oak shelves my shoes made a home on were my mom’s and randomly fit in this space so perfectly (minus a few baseboards) I thought about painting them white and adding the baseboards to the outside to create a built-in look and just leaving it here if/when I leave, but also, the color of the wood kind of matched everything so I didn’t mind.
The top of the wall is slanted here, so only my flats fit on the very top shelf. Most of these shoes I don’t wear very much any more, but I feel like I’m going to start again.
I also framed a few Lichtenstein prints I had from my gallery days to tie in the pop art … a Lichtenstein Seductive Girl series
I have a collection of perfumes (and it has dwindled actually) but I only wear the Comptoir Sud Pacifique in Vanilla extreme and Vanilla coco (and people always ask if I smell cookies when I’m around and sometimes I tell them it’s me 😉 and sometimes I don’t)
Yes, that’s Jesus protecting my shoes 😉 This bust was also my grandma’s and I’ve had it in all of my closets and dressing rooms for the past 15 years or so.
And now we’ve come full circle! The door you see in the hallway is the bathroom and across from it (what you don’t see) are the washer and dryer.
I know it was long but just in case you needed info on anything I wanted it to be here… but mostly it’s for the photos… and of course, it looks so much better in person. But still, I hope you enjoyed my little closet tour as much I love getting dressed in it!
And here, for reference, is me, exhausted finally finished with the room, in my most glamorous outfit of all 😉
Happy Thursday Lovecats!
* Find all my Home and Decor posts here
* Find all my Townhouse posts here
* Find all my old Closet and Dressing Room posts here
* Find my old Home Office and closet here
