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:

Motivate me Monday

Metomorphosis Monday

Make it for Monday

Toot Your Horn Tuesday

DIY Day

Talented Tuesday

 Show Us Your Organization Tips!

Nester - 31 Days - Organization

Sunday Favorites

Have a glorious day!