Closet Transformation with California Closets

The final installment of our three way room swap is finally here! If you’ve been following along, you know that we have spent the last few months rearranging our home to enable our girls to each have their own rooms. We decided to take the girls’ bedroom, which was a little bigger and brighter than ours, but this also meant taking on a shared master closet which was significantly smaller. Our new closet measured about three feet deep by six feet wide – yikes. Here is the space before we moved in, when it was set up for the girls. You can see how the space has a rod and two skinny shelves so it worked for the girls’ party dresses, but couldn’t accommodate our full wardrobes, shoes, and accessories.

You know I love a good challenge, but after several ruthless editing sessions, I still couldn’t figure out how Jordan and I could fit our entire wardrobes in this space-challenged closet. Thankfully, just as I was getting into a shoe war with Jordan, California Closets came in, like a knight in shining armor, to partner with me and redesign the space.

The first step in the process, was to meet with our assigned designer, Jenn Chin, who met us on site to assess the space. In just over an hour she took a full inventory of our clothes, shoes, and accessories, measured the space, and created a full design plan. She even promised me that we could keep all of our shoes. Impressive, right?

Here is the raw space (Jenn had us remove the shelves and rod to prep for the install):

Our design plan included custom shelving, rods, and hooks for Jordan’s baseball hats and my handbags. Jenn focused on maximizing the vertical space with plenty of adjustable shelves, which she promised would be sufficient for storing both of our shoe collections. Since I am not good at sharing, I had her divide the space so that Jordan and I would each have our own clear sections. We picked our favorite finishes from showroom samples – Linen for the shelves and Oil-Rubbed Bronze for the rod and hooks.

Are you ready for the big reveal? Here is my side of the closet, which magically fit my wardrobe, shoes, and even a few handbags:

Amazing, right? And here’s Jordan’s side which was able to perfectly house his daily uniform of jeans and button downs as well as his beloved sneaker collection:

What we both love most about the space is that we can easily see everything we own at a glance which makes getting dressed in the morning a breeze.  Our socks, underwear, pajamas, and workout gear are stored in this six-drawer dresser from Room and Board:

I have to admit that even though I’ve edited and organized closets professionally for ten years, I didn’t fully grasp how impactful good closet design could be until now. Jordan and I are still both a little shocked at how much we love our small shared space (it measures just 3 feet by 6 feet).

Instead of feeling cramped, or space challenged, we are both thrilled with how perfectly everything fits, and how curated our space looks. Sometimes we just hang out in our closet for fun. Kidding, it’s way too small for that, but we would if we could!

A huge thank you to California Closets for partnering with us on this transformation, and to Vivian Johnson Photography who did some gymnastics to snap the images of this space.

Do you want to transform your own closet into a space that makes you smile each morning? Grab yourself a spot in the Virtual Closet Makeover Program RIGHT HERE.