The Maximalist's Closet

In this small corner there is a shoe rack, a display space for jewelry, and framed art.

In November, 2022, I redid part of my master closet. I needed a better way to access my jewelry. I chose to create a display board using an old frame and a used bulletin board cut to fit inside.

At the time I offered this piece of advice: If you want a beautiful space, look to store displays or ads to create your own display. When I create a space that I see as visually pleasing, I find that I am more prone to keep the space neat and tidy. I want to maintain its appearance.

This past week I decided it was time to sort through my purses. Removing all the purses, I sorted them according to color: blacks, brown, not blacks or browns. Yes, black and brown are my default colors.

I had an unused piece of 1"x2"x8' board left over from a project and used it to create a place to hang purses from. I already had a higher layer of peg shelves and wanted to rid myself of the random hooks added here and there. I did not want to go overboard. Honestly, I just wanted a quick fix. I split the board into two pieces and attached it to the wall. The board runs from the left corner to the top of the display board. Then the board continues on the other side of the display board to the other corner.

I removed all the nails and screws and was left with a wall full of random holes. I hate filling nail holes! I hate repainting. I wanted a quick fix. Instead of filling the holes, I grabbed fabric and covered the walls in an act of laziness and maximalist genius (IMO). The picture above shows an old tablecloth, one of a pair that I can not part with. Old tablecloths make good picnic blankets, quick furniture covers, and photo backdrops. It is now the background for the brown purses.

A shimmering shawl covers another area of the wall providing a backdrop to the black purses. This $5 shawl, an oversized scarf, has been used for its intended purpose and repurposed as a tablecloth and a curtain drape over the years. The shimmer woven into the fabric had lost its appeal and of late it has merely been stored. Now it has found another life.

The closet is home to our shoes, clothes, jewelry, purses, and also houses extra linens which include my extra fabric scraps. An earlier closet revamp created a space at the far end for storing linens. Below is the first picture shortly after that closet redo.

Over time, my linens have been changed and added to but the shelves are still proving useful.

The far metal shelves are more filled as I have begun to embrace fabric as a design element to easily change a space. In addition to bedding and random fabrics, I also have numerous pillow covers and curtains I can swap out to change a room seasonally.

I bought two matching chairs to add to the dining table for guest seating. One is at my art desk. The other is this valet chair in the closet. It's nice to have a place to sit and put on shoes or pants.

The shelf at top has taken on lamp storage. I'll admit it could be neater, but I'm shrinking and it is a stretch to reach this high anymore. Who ever thought a woman that was once 5'8" would be called height impaired by her 6 foot tall children? Alas, their nickname Little Mama is an affectionate one, but apt.

My jewelry display board is great because I keep all my costume jewelry out where it can be seen. I love big chunky necklaces layered on casual and dress attire. I also keep necklace extenders on hand so the lengths can be easily adjusted for what I'm wearing. I never wear earrings because of headaches. I own very few rings, a habit from a previous job. I own a lot of jewelry because I shop second hand. The median price is $4 with the range from gifted & free to $14.

About 10 feet up a row of old hats owned by my Great-grandmother hang above the highest row of pegs. The very few non-brown, non-black purses hang around the display board.

When I rearranged the living room these two smaller pieces lost their space. I decided to add them below the jewelry board. My husband found these cartoons for me. They always make me smile when I see them. When a maximalist, one must have a sense of humor about all the collected things.

"I'm going for the look where a lot of things partially obscure a lot of other things."
-cartoonist William Haefeli

This is a cartoon by Roz Chast, a New Yorker cartoonist. A la Keats we have A Limerick on a Grecian Urn: There once was an urn from Nantucket which sat on an old wooden bucket. Though kind of old-timey, 'twas greasy and grimy, and not worth a penny, so chuck it.

After reviewing this I realized that my previous closet makeover was not posted. Here are a few pictures from that project from start to finish:

The shelf at the end of the closet had become a catchall.