Julia’s Cure: Chaotic to Calm Closet & Drawers

Well, I sort of wish I had a bunch of hot-to-trot “After” pics to show you of Elfa systems and snappy storage boxes, but this closet clean out was a pretty utilitarian affair. Once I reviewed the contents, I realized this closet is like our basement (we don’t have one), so my goal became to find everything a clearly-labelled home, and to see the floor. Yes, seeing the floor of the closet was a big moment for me.

Here’s the after. I know, so not sexy, but so much better. The lessons I learned are 1) Let things go in a timely manner. We had way too much baby gear (me) and old computer-related stuff (husband); I think we both had a ‘well, maybe we’ll use these things in the future’ narrative going on, but when the what-ifs start cluttering up reality, I guess it’s time to move on. I also learned 2) Give everything its own container/space. Divide and conquer or jumble and perish.

After tackling the closet I got the let’s-make-order-out-of-chaos- bug and became excited to clean out my dresser drawers. So, without further ado, my other Cure result that I’m pretty happy about. I’m going to show everyone my underwear drawer.

Here’s what my one of my drawers looked like before. We’re all friends here, right?

A black hole of underthings and tank tops, x 3, because all my drawers were similar. It just never ended. A funny sidenote: I found at the bottom of this drawer three pairs of nude-colored pantyhose, and I’m not talking pretty silky stockings, I’m talking reinforced hose. I have no idea when I bought them or if I wore them — perhaps I auditioned for Tootsie and don’t remember? Anyway, it was kind of a great moment. My kids walked in and found me laughing maniacally holding multiple pairs of hose. I consider that moment to be a January Cure outtake. But then I did this:

Ah, so much better. I bought a simple drawer divider and created one section for bras, one for underwear/socks, and one for sports bras and camisoles. For my t-shirt drawer (below) I implemented Faith’s one-minute-tip and filed my t-shirts vertically. It’s still pretty cozy in there, but at least it’s no longer a battle royale.

I also dedicated a separate drawer to workout clothes and yoga pants, but second verse same as the first, so I won’t show more pictures of my drawers. And then I went on a binge and re-did everyone’s dresser drawers.

One of the more fun things I did for the Cure was framing some prints to put around the house.

I’m half Texan, so when I found this “Hey Y’all” print on Etsy I was pretty excited. Now it’s framed and sits happily under the lone cowboy.

A final Cure-inspired change was an impulse buy of an IKEA Besta to store dishes. We had been using a wire baker’s rack, which looked great, but in practice the open shelving did not work (two kids and cats). Sorry I don’t have a “Before”, but I’m happy that our pots and plates are neatly stored away. I also like how clean and bright it looks, pretty summery really, which is funny considering the day I took this picture the high was below zero.

So those are some of the hits from my Cure. I accomplished about half of what I set out to do, but I’m so glad I finally tackled some of the problem areas I’ve been avoiding. I currently have the flu, so no party for me this weekend, but hope all of you do-it-up in your newly Cured homes!

PS: I’ll end my liveblogging with this: While cleaning out the closet for the Cure, I came across these Cure tapes. Some Cure for the Cure. Plus, cassette tapes. I still had some cassette tapes.

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