This Spring we had the incredible pleasure of helping several couples and families get unpacked / settled into temporary apartments and rental homes. These couples and families live here only part of the year as they are professional baseball players/families. Client names are held in strict confidence – always – but if you know me, you know my absolute love of baseball. Specifically the SF Giants. So these projects were a dream come true. If you follow the Simply Organized IG feed, you may spy who these people are because they announced themselves in the feed comments. Nonetheless, although absolutely freaking out on the inside with excitement, I kept my composure and professionalism throughout – these wives were incredibly fun and sweet to work with / for. Those emails and messages (still incoming) are moments in this business I will not forget.
These projects stretched and challenged me professionally. Getting organized and setting up systems is already a big project in and of itself because I plan for the family and their lifestyle / habits. As you can imagine, the pressure is always on to nail it the first time. But getting people settled for only 6-7 months? That’s altogether new and different.
My overall organization goals were for the solutions to work for them now…but also keep it cost-effective, focused on the temporary, and source pieces we could store away for the next season or sell easily when the season ends.
One couple has a storage unit where all of their belongings are stowed away season to season. Each year they live in a new place – sometimes a house…sometimes an apartment. She’s got it nailed down for sure, but each year you don’t know what your closets will look like or how much available cabinet space will be in the kitchen. It’s an interesting life for these sweet families. I admire them tremendously.
Anyway, I have 2 temporary closets I’ll share with you from these projects…this post being one of those.
This adorable family of 4 is in a rental home and the master closet needed a little help. After taking in the contents and available space, I came up with a game plan that included:
- one of my favorite low-cost, high-impact solutions for organizing shoes
- moving a few modular solutions they already had to the top shelves
- streamlining the hangers
- making better use of space by rearranging their clothing … space planning
BEFORE
This closet is long and narrow. She’s also much shorter than he is. And the adjacent master bathroom offers no storage at all, so we were hoping to get the bath towels into this space as well…
The way the clothing was hanging also made the closet feel tight and cramped, not easy to walk all the way into the closet without elbowing items. Everyone needs a little breathing room…
AFTER
And now for the after…which was easy and fun to complete…
Love this closet!
And I love these mesh stacking shoe shelves. They turn wasted floor space (or upper shelf space) into a pretty spot for shoes…or if you have an open area in your low hanging section, like she did, you can make the most of that space with these guys. Love them!
One of my favorite things to do as an organizer is streamline their hanger collections. You’ll notice all of the hangers on the top rod are standard plastic white tubular hangers…while the bottom is slim huggable hangers. Even that small update makes all the difference in aesthetics. Looks clean and crisp.
The modular pieces on the top shelf were left here by the owner of this rental. I moved them off the floor and up top for added vertical storage. And we found a great spot for bath / hand towels…
On his side I added the stacking shoe organizers and streamlined his shirts to give us more walking space…
Love that clear floor space…
He owned this great hat organizer but it was sitting on the floor. By adding a simple wall hook to the side of the closet wall, it’s now upright and easy for him to find his favorite cap…
Love this closet so much! And the shoe organizer is easy enough to leave behind or store away compactly for next season! These can be nested together…
We also had the fun privilege of re-organizing their rental kitchen. Just a few edits to the space and they were ready to cook…when they are in town / not traveling to games of course!…
Who doesn’t love a good coffee drawer?…
To find any of the organizing products shared in this post, you can find the links throughout the blog! Had the very best time organizing this closet and kitchen for this incredible family! Look forward to sharing another temporary space with you soon – an apartment closet…where we removed the closet door completely to make the most of the space.
Hope you have a great 4th of July! More to come soon!
xx,
Sam
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Such an easy, inexpensive transformation! I’m super pumped about that hat organizer! I have never had a great solution for my Husband’s extension collection, especially for his desired storage location – the garage (no idea why . . .) – so this is on it’s way to us stat! Can we also talk about that kitchen – amazing! Once again, you hit it out of the park (sorry, couldn’t help myself!)!!
LOL!!! Too funny!!!!
And am so glad to hear the hat organizer will work for your husband – I loved discovering it at their home. Had never seen that organizer before…I am always learning new solutions on the job – these families are smart!
xx,
Sam
Ok I figured out whose closet this is and I am insanely jealous! Lucky you and great job!!
Omg – too funny! And I was beyond excited…and contained myself pretty well. These are seriously some of the sweetest, kindest, most generous families – hands down!
xx,
Sam
What a great improvement from the “before” photos!
I really do enjoy your style!
Awe, thank you!! I love helping families troubleshoot / problem-solve. It’s a total passion for me!
xx,
Sam