Client: Sequins and Fringe
THE PROBLEM
She answered my knock in silver sequined shorts and magenta hair. On anyone else that color would look like Mardi Gras. On her, it’s stunning.
She called me to help with her closet after moving into a one-bedroom apartment in an independent living facility for seniors.
“I’ve been so depressed since I moved in,” she told me. “I used to have a big walk-in closet. I love clothes. Fashion is my thing. But look at this.”
She gestured for me to follow her into the bedroom.
“I can’t find anything. I hate getting dressed because I don’t know where my things are.”
She opened the door to the one and only closet.
No wonder she felt depressed.
“I’m going to go home and come up with a design.” I told her. “If you like it, I can have you organized by the end of the week.”
THE SOLUTION
There was no way to fit everything into that tiny closet. I had to figure out how to use her bedroom as part closet, while still making it a beautiful, serene space.
I eliminated the tall dresser and that awful hanging rack thing, and built in two floor to ceiling shelving units on either side of the remaining dresser. With those as support, we installed four hanging rods, two higher and two lower, and organized those clothes by color. Above the dresser, we mounted two long wall shelves. In the units and on the wall shelves, we used labeled baskets–long-sleeve shirts, black leggings, printed leggings, short-sleeve shirts, bras, socks, etc. For the necklaces–we hung a rod under the shelves and added S-hooks. It gives off a total boutique vibe.
Functional? Check.
But it still needed to be beautiful. The sheets on her bed were bright purple, so I took my cue from that and hung long purple ombre curtains to disguise the clothes behind them.
The tiny closet became a shoe closet with cubbies to organize her shoes by color.
On the empty wall in the now shoe closet, we strung lengths of chain, floor to ceiling, to hang her earrings.
THE NOW
She tells me she loves getting dressed again and has gone down for dinner every single night, feeling like a million bucks. In a minute she can find the leopard leggings, the gold beaded top, the fringed sandals, and black feather earrings.
“I’m not dressing like an old woman,” she says with just a little mischief in her voice. “I cause a stir. I love life! Tonight I might try a white top with a black bra–you know, like on Sex and the City!”