Domestic Science With Michelle Slatalla
I have only good memories of walk-in closets, except for the time I was rummaging around in the back of one—and suddenly came across a high-top sneaker with two kittens sitting in it.
It was a charming scene really, with one tiny kitten gnawing on a shoelace and the other batting at his brother with a fuzzy paw, unless you stopped to consider the cold facts of the situation. My closet was so stuffed with clothing that I hadn't noticed when my cat gave birth to a litter in there several weeks earlier.
How do closets get so overcrowded? How does a pair of blue jeans you had in college manage to surreptitiously elude the Salvation Army dragnet for decades to follow you as you move across the country, back and forth and back again, to each new walk-in closet?
Yet. When I remodeled my house last year, No. 1 on my wish list was a walk-in closet. Less than nine months later, the closet is already a shambles. By last week, every time I tried to walk in, a stray shoe would trip me. The sleeves from blouses were twining themselves, anaconda style, around my neck.
It was time to clean out the closet, drastically and once-and-for-all. I was sick of feeling as if my clothes owned me. I came up with a new strategy: Define the season's wardrobe as minimally as possible—I pared down to 10 pieces—and put everything else into organized deep storage. I know 10 pieces sounds pretty draconian. But if you look at a weather map, you'll see most of us live in climates defined by three-month stretches that don't vary that much. And more minimal is always more peaceful.
My 10 essential pieces include jeans, black pants, khaki pants, a knit dress, a pencil skirt, two collared shirts, a cardigan, a blazer, and a white T-shirt. Here's how to pare down your closet to your own personal 10 essential pieces.
Have you ever whittled your wardrobe to a few key items? Tell us about it in the Comments section below.
Photography by Zoe Quittner, except where noted.
Above: My closet, edited for spring. Photograph by Michelle Slatalla.
Step No. 1: Confront your closet. Can you even see what's in there? Start the cleanout by reaching in to grab every piece of clothing you love. Note: If you hesitate over an item for even a second, you don't love it.
Place the clothes you love on your bed. Arrange the articles by type: jeans, pants, shirts, etc.
Above: My essentials.
Step No. 2: Examine the items on the bed to see if a theme emerges. Is everything blue? Perhaps you chose clothes made only from comfortable fabrics. Did you choose only your best-fitting pair of jeans? Did you leave all the skirts in the closet?
By examining the clothes you love in a vacuum—that is, without the rest of your wardrobe surrounding them and clamoring for attention—you will see a pattern. Maybe you like striped shirts best. Or maybe you really only feel comfortable in black. Next time you're on the verge of a purchase, think back to this moment: How would the new piece you're considering fit in with your favorites?
Step No. 3: Make outfits. How many different ways can you mix key pieces to create different looks? Lay out as many ensembles as possible. (Power user tip: Snap photos with your phone of each outfit; when you wake up tomorrow morning and can't decide what to wear, you can remind yourself of the possibilities.)
Step No. 4: Edit. Are there favorite pieces that didn't make the cut when you were putting together outfits? Take them off the bed.
Above: It turns out I lean toward a blue palette. Photograph via Ralph Lauren.
Step No. 5: Pick and choose. Ask yourself: Is there essential piece missing? If you go back to your closet to get a particular jacket or shirt or pair of pants that you now regret leaving behind, will that article of clothing enable you to create several more outfits? If so, grab it.
Step No. 6: Repair, replace buttons, and iron every piece of clothing that needs attention. If an item doesn't fit properly, take it to the tailor; shorten the sleeves, nip in the waist, lift a hemline to the most flattering length. If you don't want to make that investment, get rid of the piece. Trust me, it doesn't look good on you.
N.B.: Looking for more tips for caring for your clothes? See Expert Advice: 10 Wardrobe Maintenance Essentials.
Step No. 7: Take everything else out of your closet and put it in deep storage. Organize these pieces by season when you pack them away. Maybe you are lucky enough to have a backup closet in a guest room where you can store it for now. If not, get some squish bags; with vacuum-sealed Space Bags ($8.99 for a package of three from the Container Store) you can suck the air out of the bag to store more clothes in a small space. (Three months from now, pull out the clothing and pick your favorites for the next season.)
Above: It was harder to winnow down shoes than clothes. Photograph by Michelle Slatalla.
Step No. 8: Edit your favorites. Which were the 10 key pieces you used most often to create outfits? Put those back in your closet on hangers or shelves where they are most visible and accessible.
Above: A Cedar Hanger is $3.49 from the Container Store.
Fold the rest of your favorites and if you are very brave, give them the squish bag treatment as well. If the thought of that gives you hives, put this second tier of favorites in the back of your closet; you can access them, but only in an emergency.
Step No. 9: Wear your 10 favorite pieces, in as many combinations as possible, for a week. See how that feels. If things are going well, try a second week. If you are missing a key piece, pull it out of the back of the closet; it's not the end of the world if you wear 11 essential pieces of clothing.
Step No. 10: Shoes, handbags, and accessories. This proved harder for me than culling clothes. I love shoes, and have many pairs. For the season, I pared down to three pairs: black flats, black heels, and espadrilles. (I also have a pair of running shoes, but running shoes are ugly and therefore don't count as a pair of shoes.) I winnowed handbags to two—a neutral-colored bag with a shoulder strap and a tote big enough to hold my laptop. As for belts? One skinny, one wide.
I took three pairs of off-season shoes to the cobbler to get new heels and soles, and stored off-season handbags in cloth bags to protect them.
It is now Day 3, post-cleanout. It feels pretty good. I am wearing the same jeans and the same shirt I would have been wearing even if my closet were still stuffed full of clothes. The challenge, I can see, is going to be keeping fewer items looking good: with more ironing, frequent laundering, and fewer stains from messy sandwiches eaten at my desk.
As for my closet? God, an almost-empty closet looks beautiful and so very serene. Not that I have anything against kittens.
Take a look at our own essentials in Editors' Picks: The Essential Minimal Wardrobe. Wondering what to pack for an out-of-town trip? See Style Counsel: Heidi Swanson's Travel Kit.
And read more of Michelle's Domestic Dispatches, including My Worst Design Decision Ever (her tale of paring down her book collection) and Miracles Do Exist: 5 Ways to Banish Computer Cords.
This post originally appeared on Gardenista as part of the Spring Cleaning issue.
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Bedrooms With Julie Carlson
Have you noticed? Clothes hangers are getting interesting. You don't need a closetful; just one or two will do—for displaying a favorite frock or a collection of scarves or necklaces.
Above: The handmade Steel Hanger from March is $40; it's lovely (Alexa has one).
Above: The vintage-inspired collapsible Flex Hanger is $14 from Anthropologie.
Above: Ferm Living's Wire Hanger, of black powder-coated steel, is €12 ($13.19) for two from the Finnish Design Shop.
Above: The wood and leather Georg Hanger from Skagerak of Denmark is $75 for a pair from the Danish Design Store. It's shown here with the Georg Wardrobe Rack; $225. (We like inventive uses for leather cord; see our three DIYs: Leather Lace and Wooden Ball Door Pull, Leather Shower Curtain Rings, and Braided Leather Drawer Pulls for $1.25 Each.)
Above: Designed by Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten, the Sigmoid Hangers are available in two sizes ($6.30 for the small and $8.10 for the large) from Rakuten Global Market.
Above: Handmade in Japan, the Brass Towel Hanger with visible hammer marks is $53 NZD ($40.14 USD). It's also available in Iron for $46 NZD ($34.84 USD) and recommended as a hand towel holder in bathrooms and kitchens.
Above: From Danish design company Hay, we're coveting a set of five Copper Hangers; €10 ($10.78) at the Finnish Design Shop.
Above: A Copper Round Scarf/Towel Hanger from UK shop Posh Totty; £7.50 ($11.73).
Above: Another notable design by Hay, the string-wrapped Cord Hanger comes in several color combinations (gray shown here); a set of three is 129 DKK ($18.99) from Hay.
Above: Fog Linen's brass Shirt Hangers, hand-wrought in India, are $9 each.
Above: The Oksana Coat Hanger from Swiss design studio Bernhard Burkard is made of Ukrainian belt ribbon fitted with wood slats. Winner of the 2014 Bronze A' Design Award, the ultralight hangers are $28 each (less for 10 or more) and can be customized in different woven patterns; for details and to place orders, write to info@bernhard-burkard.com.
See our Clothing Storage and Closet Picks posts for more ideas, including:
This post is an update; it originally ran on March 26, 2014, as part of our Spring Forward issue.
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Architecture & Interiors With Christine Chang Hanway
Daniel Lee, founder of a London-based software development house, works in the digital world but is an architectural enthusiast and designer on the side. For a late-19th century, 3,000-square-foot terraced house in Fulham that he and his photographer wife and their two small children lived in until recently (they've since moved on to the next project), he designed and oversaw the renovation himself. "I worked with an architect to get the necessary permits from the city," Lee says. "Once those were in place, I worked directly with the builder, designing the internal layout and specifying the materials and fixtures, both internal and external." The result? A clean-lined family house with a warm, calm, and uncluttered Scandi aesthetic.
Photography by Rory Gardiner.
Above: On the ground floor, the living, dining, and kitchen area opens directly onto the garden. The oak flooring is from Danish company Dinesen.
Above: Vintage wood stools and an Oval Eero Saarinen Tulip Table create an elegant, informal dining area. Lee added texture and relief to the walls with strips of MDF (medium-density fiberboard). The walls are painted Flake White from Fired Earth.
Above: A row of Gubi Semi Pendants, a 1968 design by Claus Bonderup and Torsten Thorup, hang over the island and draw the eye to the garden.
Above: The kitchen cabinets are faced with Dinesen wood and outlined with vertical blackened steel frames.
Above: An unobtrusive flat-screen television fits in with the overall color scheme.
Above: Favorite kitchen implements are on display above the limestone counter.
Above: "The design was focused around the Dinesen flooring, so we chose simple, off-white walls and used the wood for the backsplash wall and the cabinets, not just on the floor," Lee says.
Above: A daybed from Designer's Guild and a side table fashioned from a log create a quiet reading corner.
Above: Custom steel-and-glass doors optimize the amount of natural daylight that comes into the space.
Above: Lee enlarged the living space by excavating the basement, where he put in a screening room and an office at the back. A modular Charles Sofa from B&B Italia provides seating for movie watching.
Above: Lee designed and built the office's open shelving system.
Above: A skylight brings in an abundance of natural light from the garden.
Above: Upstairs, wood shutters help to modulate the light in the master bedroom. Learn about interior shutter possibilities and sources in Remodeling 101.
Above: In the sink vanity and bathtub surround, Lee repeats the use of Dinesen wood.
Above: The Duravit tub's wood surround creates an architectural statement, and shutters allow for privacy.
Above: Lee designed the handmade raw brass bathroom fittings for his new fixtures and fittings company; contact Studio Ore (website under construction). With its unlacquered finish, the shower thermostat will acquire a patina over time.
Above: In the children's bedroom, storage has been incorporated into two corner niches.
Above: In the guest bedroom, an open frame is central to the quiet composition above the side table.
Above: A view of the house from the back shows the relationship of the kitchen area to the basement office below the skylight.
For more London Minimalism, have a look at:
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