Monday, March 22, 2010

Closet and Makeup Organization


It's Spring!  Even for you gals covered in snow right now!  Is your closet crying for some attention?  I'm all for even decorating your closet to make it a welcoming place.  If you've seen my "color" posts, you know I'm a big believer in color affecting mood.  Well, organization and having a clutter-free dwelling also impacts your mental health and overall happiness.

My Colorful Life

Take small baby steps - and one small room to try is your closet!



I am a naturally organized person and always have been.  I suspect my "sensory issues" impact my need for a clutter-free life.  When my surroundings are in disarray, I feel stressed.  The sense of calm I get from cleaning and organizing makes me desire to do this daily.  lol  (One reason I LOVED home staging before my health crisis - loved helping others also!)

I wanted to share what we have done in my closet for my makeup area particularly.   Not being able to bend, lift or twist requires me to reorder many areas of our home and I love what we were able to do with this.

To start, we have had this large metal cabinet for years, to keep things locked up that kiddos don't need access to.  We deliberately chose a tall one to use for my makeup station and being 5'8, I can walk right up and the mirror is at my head level.  No bending necessary.  (My next project will be to make a decorative fabric cover for this "ugly" metal cabinet.) Here are some photos:


Rug at the base of the cabinet to protect carpet from all the things I drop!  To help pick those items up (since I cannot bend ever again), I use a grabber - $9.99 at stores like W.almart.  I have 5 around the house and it is also how I do laundry.


These grabbers/grippers can pick up a bobby pin off the floor.  I love them!

So, on the top of this cabinet, I have always kept my make up mirror, but I had to lean down a bit and had my makeup and other items scattered all around the top, along with in the carousel to the left.  Made it hard to keep clean, dust, etc.  I asked my engineer hubby for help on getting the perfect organizing storage items and this is what we came up with.  I love it!





This is actually a makeup carousel AND a plastic 2-tier lazy susan (from wally world) below, holding the makeup palettes.  The makeup carousel had broken and on longer turned.  This worked perfectly and holds all the smaller items.


This is one of my favorite all-time gifts.  My dear mother got this for me from P.ier One several years ago and it holds earrings and other jewelry, along with anything else I throw in there.  And it is so pretty!  Those are ceramic drawers.


We purchased this metal organizer at wally world and then purchased a small bag of plastic bean bag filler beads at M.ichaels.  This makes a perfect medium to put the brushes in and they stand up and come in and out easily.  I found it now much cheaper at J.o Ann's.

Since I originally posted this, I decided I needed a cleaner 'look" for the makeup brushes and found this ceramic container on sale and with a coupon.  It works better and looks much cleaner.

Michaels also had a 40% sale on the Loew Cornell paint brushes, and I was able to get the Maxine Mop brushes (purple handle with white brush bristles, although in the photo above, the handles look more blue than purple - they are to the right hand side of the photo) for 40% off.  They are originally $3.99 and $5.99 or so?  How awesome is that?  These work JUST as well as the MAC brushes, which can run over $30 each!   There were 2 displays of the Loew Cornell and American Painter brushes, but a separate section had a mixture of natural bristles.  We were able to get the percentage off showing that coupon (they didn't ring up automatically on sale). 



Ok, now to the large drawers on the main unit.  Of course, my engineer hubby had to go to Lowe's and get me some non-skid rubber mats.  Love him!


Top drawer holds my different creams.  If you want to feel utter bliss, go to Simply Divine Botanicals and order their Samples Pack - this is all those smaller white containers. 


Middle drawer has separate organizer drawers (of course, lol) and holds eye liners and gels, lip products, concealers, and then mascaras.



Back to organization.  Do you have an old tie rack from years ago?  Hang it and use it to hold necklaces!


For my clothes, I recommend sectioning shirts, pants, dresses, etc.  And for me, nothing beats color-coordinated items!  Even little things like this can make a huge difference in what your brain perceives as clutter.  Quick dressing and beautiful to look it - perfect!



Now for shoes - I don't keep the original boxes as that "looks" cluttered.   These plastic see-through containers can be purchased very inexpensively and protect your shoes. I've seen some folks take a photo of the shoe inside and put it on the outside edge, to make it even faster to find what you need.   I have narrow feet and cannot purchase cheaper shoes, as they fall right off my feet.  When Andy met me 24 years ago, I was selling higher end shoes and I warned right then and there that if he had a problem with purchasing quality shoes, I wasn't his girl.  Not to worry, as I found out - his favorite shoes then were Allen Edmonds to the tune of over $200 a pair (in 1986!!).  What I spent for shoes paled in comparison to this, so I was safe.  ($50 was expensive to me.)  Match made in heaven. 



Sadly, I can no longer wear ANY of those shoes.  These are the dressier shoes that can no longer be worn.   Heels or any shoe that is not perfectly flat presents a danger to me.   I am slowly discarding these.   Sigh........  These are the shoes I CAN wear:



Notice how no bending is required?  I can just slip them on.  Dankso shoes are very safe for folks who need stability and require ideal shoes for posture.  Nurses and health professionals love these shoes.  Definitely pricey, but they last forever.

We vacuum every week, so I keep the floors clean and tidy as well.

I am willing to sacrifice the entire left side of my closet to be able to iron peacefully!!  I recommend it!  The shirts are next up for ironing.   



And finally, we keep a file cabinet for our private papers and I use the top for additional storage.


This keeps the bathroom counter clean and tidy, as I can reach in quickly to get what I need.

When I met Andy, he had the most organized closet and was one of the most organized men I had ever met.  Nowadays, not so much (lol), but I wanted to show you his closet.  This is how he prefers to keep his closet - and I don't impose my color-coordination on him.  lol



I will be linking to the following:




Have a glorious day!




Share/Bookmark

31 comments:

  1. Cheri,
    I can use your wonderful organization at my home! Way to go... Dee Dee

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great organization!! It all looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! I suddenly have the urge to clean my closet ... and buy makeup! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm glad to know someone likes make up as much as I do .... and has as much :0 I am also stoked to see that belt holder for necklaces. Ahha moment here. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks for sharing.
    Pamela

    ReplyDelete
  5. ok i have got to organize my closet...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Boy am I impressed at how organized you are. Thanks for stopping by my blog and your sweet comments about all my creations. Your comment put a smile on my face!
    Blessings...Sherry

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cheri-
    Is arch4@yahoo.com still your email? I am trying to get in touch and my email bounced back.
    Thanks-
    Vicki

    ReplyDelete
  8. Vicki, it is aCrh4 - you are transposing the R and the C. I realized this was confusing long after I set it up as our email. lol Try the aCrh and it will go through. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great, great tips...and some I will be using....Enjoying a Saturday of blog hopping and reading all the Easter posts. Hope you will stop by for a visit.
    On Sunday night I will be drawing for
    $100 GOODIE BASKET.



    Happy Easter

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! What an amazing closet. I used to have one that was large enough to iron it. Loved it!
    I also love your Pier 1 find.
    I love your tips.
    I have to be organized. We very busy and if I don't put appointments on the calendar well, it's not pretty.
    Today, I forgot that I had a doctor's appt on Wed. Ugh!
    Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love all your organizing! I also like to hang my top/blouses by color! Everything looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You are very organized. I could use some of these ideas at my house.

    -Rene

    ReplyDelete
  13. HI Cheri...

    So nice to have you join in with the Sunday Favorites party today! What a great post! I love how you organized your closet...a girl after my own heart! Hehe! Great job, my friend! Ohh...and by the way...I love that little cabinet that your mother gave you. Love, love, LOVE all those beautiful ceramic drawer fronts and pulls! Great ideas and tips for organizing our closets, Cheri!!!

    Warmest autumn wishes,
    Chari @Happy To Design

    ReplyDelete
  14. Found you at Kelly's Korner.

    LOVE the three-drawer makeup container. Definitely going to be looking for one of those. I currently have mine in little "stackable" trays, but the drawers will be so much better.

    RE: the tie hanger .... I currently have my purses hanging from one of the older 'hat racks' (the kind that open similar to an accordion, attach to a wall, and have the wooden pegs).

    ReplyDelete
  15. Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog and in accession
    capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts.
    Any way I�ll be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently rapidly.



    Look into my page; muslim dating

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have observed that over the course of constructing a
    relationship with real estate owners, you'll be able to get them to understand that, in each and every real estate contract, a commission amount is paid. Eventually, FSBO sellers will not "save" the commission rate. Rather, they try to win the commission simply by doing a agent's
    job. In this, they invest their money as well as time to
    perform, as best they will, the jobs of an adviser. Those jobs include revealing the home by marketing, offering the home to all buyers,
    constructing a sense of buyer emergency in order to make prompt an offer, booking
    home inspections, ing on qualification checks with the loan provider, supervising repairs, and assisting the closing of the deal.


    my webpage - titebites.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. Appreciating the persistence you put into your website and in depth information you present.
    It's good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn't the same old rehashed
    material. Fantastic read! I've saved your site and I'm including your RSS feeds
    to my Google account.

    Stop by my web-site - herlig.net

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lovely blog! I am loving it!! Will come back again.
    I am bookmarking your feeds also.

    Also visit my website: facebookofsex

    ReplyDelete
  19. I would like to point out my gratitude for your generosity giving support to those people that
    really need help on this area of interest. Your real commitment to passing the solution all through turned
    out to be astonishingly helpful and have consistently empowered
    w much like me to reach their ambitions. Your entire insightful
    help entails so much to me and substantially more to my fellow
    workers. Regards; from everyone of us.

    Also visit my web-site :: wiki.percorsi.debiase.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. As I web-site possessor I believe the content matter here is rattling fantastic
    , appreciate it for your hard work. You should keep it
    up forever! Good Luck.

    Feel free to surf to my site ... facebookofsex

    ReplyDelete
  21. You made some good points there. I did a search on the subject matter and
    found the majority of persons will go along with with your blog.


    Also visit my site: free dating chatting

    ReplyDelete
  22. Something more important is that when searching for a
    good on the web electronics shop, look for online stores that are frequently updated, retaining up-to-date with the hottest products, the top deals,
    and also helpful information on product or service. This will make certain you are doi shop that really stays ahead of the competition and give you what you
    ought to make knowledgeable, well-informed electronics buying.
    Thanks for the critical tips I've learned through your blog.

    Review my weblog; http://www.uo-even.de/wiki/index.php?title=Benutzer_Diskussion:AnneSpear

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks a lot for the helpful posting. It is also my belief that mesothelioma has
    an particularly long latency interval, which means that warning signs of the
    disease would possibly not emerge until
    eventually 30 to 50 years after the original exposure to mesothelioma.
    Pleural mesothelioma, and that is the most common type and has effects on the area across the lungs, might result in shortness of breath, torso pains, along
    with a persistent coughing, which may produce
    coughing up maintain.

    Feel free to visit my web blog :: http://www.alojared.com/wiki/index.php?title=Usuario_Discusión:MalindaHa

    ReplyDelete
  24. I like the helpful info you provide in your articles.
    I will bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently.
    I'm quite certain I�ll learn plenty of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!

    Have a look at my blog - facebook of sex

    ReplyDelete
  25. wonderful post, very informative. I wonder why the
    other experts of this sector don't notice this. You should continue your writing. I'm
    sure, you've a huge readers' base already!

    my page :: granny dating

    ReplyDelete
  26. This actually answered my problem, thank you!


    my web-site fuckbook

    ReplyDelete
  27. Simply want to say your article is as astonishing.
    The clearness on your submit is just great and that i could assume
    you are a professional on this subject. Well along with your
    permission let me to grasp your feed to stay updated with drawing close post.

    Thanks 1,000,000 and please carry on the rewarding
    work.

    Feel free to surf to my webpage skype sex

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your lovely comments!