I’m currently craving colour. Colour and order. Perhaps this is a backlash from the last few days of monochromatic posting, or perhaps it is the result of spending lots of time in a fabulously merchandised, colour blocked store recently. Whatever it is, my constant penchant for cleaning, purging and organizing is taking on yet another layer of complexity. The desire to colour block my closet! I’m imagining a perfect world in which I has so much storage space that I can keep every outfit and accessory together in small, harmonious colour groups. Where pink angora sweaters brush up against musk coloured wrist gloves and hot pink patent shoes. Of course, this is entirely impractical as I struggle to simply store everything as it is, let alone spread it out like this! (Oh the trials of a collector.. sigh..) I suppose it all stems from this weekends BIG activity – the yearly cleaning of the wardrobe.
I don’t mean the seasonal culling that we all undertake, but and honest to goodness, soap and water scrubbing. With a wardrobe full of vintage beauties, you cannot neglect their care lest a sneaky moth or twenty decide to make their home their. After finding three holes in three separate (cashmere!) garments this week, it seems that I am overdue to wage this years war. So I got stuck into it today, only to find yet more ways to confuse the situation by wanting to make it look even prettier in the end. Stumped for innovative storage ideas, I turned to the fountain of inspiration that is Flickr and promptly found some great OCD storage sets. Perfect.
So aside from this Everest of a task, there are a few other minor things on the agenda.
Creating good wardrobe Karma by packing up all the unused items for a women’s and children’s shelter.
Experimenting with the new hair cut. Currently taking daily photos after yesterday’s hot roller set, so that I can show you the results as it evolves to see if day four is as good as day one….
Discovering that those Air hostesses know a thing or two about leg wear, as I find my legs both warm and super comfortable in light compression stockings! Who knew they were the perfect solution to a winter chill?
Letting go of a ridiculous amount of glossies that have accumulated over the last few years. Why do we get so attached to these?
Playing surgeon in the toy animal hospital – I had ten patients in surgery this morning!
Image by Elegant Mint
… and taking lots and lots of photos of everything for more eye candy next week!
It’s almost time for me to wage my war too! I always try to find new ways to organise my wardrobe… The best way for me is by item so all my dresses hang together, then skirts, shirts etc. and each shelf has tops or trousers. Then I organize by colour.
Show us some pictures when it’s done!
Ugh, I hate moths.
Apparently a good way to repel the little buggers non-toxically is to hang dried lavender sachets in your wardrobe. And you can just squeeze them every now and then to make sure the fragrance is potent enough that they don’t feel the need to set up home in your cashmere!
Lol… Or you could smell Baby Boomer Asian by using Moths Balls! hehehe… I love my grandma…
If I were in the area, I would volunteer my help with the closet, since I am one of those crazy people who actually likes cleaning and reorganizing.
I also constantly wage war with my storage space. Hope it goes well for you xxx
Oh noes! Hope all the toy animals are on their way to a full recovery
Have a great weekend!
HAHA what kind of surgeries did you perform?
Meream: Lots of stitches and re-stuffing. Miss Two often greets me in the morning in a halo of fluff from some “friend” she has disemboweled!
Rachel: You too.
Wendy B: Much tea and biscuits were applied in the recovery process.
Jaede: Some of us just never manage to stay on top of it hey?
Rosie: Thank you. I’ve had lots of offers for help, but unless Dr Who pops in with his Tardis making technology, there is not a lot of hope of the immediate horizon!
Grace: Ewww! My Dad did that somewhat heavyhandedly and just about fumigated himself out of his own house!
Allison: Yes, I have all those sorts of tr4icks in place, but nothing beats a good clean out. It is super important to do a yearly condition check and it helps me get on top of any repairs that may have been overlooked too.
Angel: I keep changing my organisation system. Sometimes by season,by colour, by length… it all just depends on the space in the end…and I can sense that MR. SKM’s space is about to get smaller.
Hello! A great tip for cashmere! Before you store, place sweaters is a ziplock bag and put in your freezer over night. This freezing process will kill any mites and other little wool eating critters!
Vanessa: Yes, that does work wonders and is a trick I use all the time when bringing new vintage pieces into the house. It seems that it isn’t putting things into storage I have a problem with, just the day to day. I have so many things in the wardrobe and a carpeted floor (terrible for keeping bugs at bay!), that it is important to keep on top of the general state of things. No spider webs, keeping the floor vacuumed out, soaped shelves and surface spray for any critters. And that is IN the wardrobe cleaning if ,as you know, you want to keep your vintage tip top.
Having gone from my own flat with two closets of my own to one room in a house with a tiny tiny closet, I feel your pain. How to fit everything in without a) squashing it & b) not having to give away lots of nice pieces and c) being able to find stuff
My solution is a bed which has space underneath. I store shoes & accessories there & clothes in the closet. I also make copious use of those ‘sweater organisers’ for things like handbags, jumpers, jeans & bulky items tthat really need to be flat rather than hung. I also adore ‘space bags’!!
PS- Do you mean the actual, real compression stockings, or the 20 denier type with light compression? I’ve only known one colleague who wears the ‘full on’ kind. I tend to wear the 20 denier body support ones because ours aren’t allowed to be too dark either… Ambra is a nice brand which doesn’t break the bank as I tend to go through about 8 pairs in a busy week… any tips for making them last longer? aside from clear nail polish? Hehehe…
Traytable: You wouldn’t believe the lengths I have gone to to store some of my pieces. I have boxes, big plastic roll aways,space bags, hooks, hangers, all sorts. Unfortunately my bed is too low for underbed storage as I used to do that too! Mind you, it wasn’t critters I had trouble with then, but the puppy who would hide under the bed and chew through things! I once found her looking like the Joker – big red grin- and found she had been gnawing on a painting I had stored under there!
Certainly not as fancy as the Ambra (lovely), but I find that they seem to be more snag and tear resistant.
As for the stockings, I’m wearing the 20 denier ones on a day to day basis at the moment, but I do have a pair of the hard core ones too, but only for travel really. To make them last longer I always wash by hand, DON’T use fabric softener, sometimes I rub moisturizer into them when wearing them to reduce static cling. But I find that even with the rigors of children, I can get a few good months out of them! This is actually breaking my cardinal rule as I generally HATE pantyhose, but in this case I am using them to replace pants for the warmth factor. Currently I’m loving those Sheer Relief ones as they have the reinforced heel which gives them a more vintage look. I figure if I’m going for the Nana stockings I may has well take it all the way!
Hello, not at all related to your post–I keep getting “wrong password” when I try to email you. I had commented on a previous post, and I have a request? If you would please email me, I will explain in more detail.
Thanks! Gail
Oh my, I hope you’re able to chase off the all the moths! I remember an elderly neighbour telling me many years ago that both mint and cloves were handy old fashioned home means by which to ward of these pesky creatures. I’ve never tried either, but given how easy both are to come by, I would give it a spin if a moth colony ever took up residence in my closet.
…Love the immensely adorable Dal photo, BTW
Wishing you a beautiful – and moth-free! – week ahead!
<3 Jessica
Jessica: Thank you. It seems that it is not moths that are the problem but even worse… silverfish! Those little buggers are hard to repel and even harder to find. Still, I am on top of it and I love your idea for the mint and cloves. I’ll definitely give that a whirl.
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
You’re very welcome, honey. Silverfish, how awful! I’m afraid I don’t have any tips to deal with them, but I can relate to having creepy-crawlies take up residence in your pad. My last place (a rather dark basement suit) was overrun with house centipedes. Though more or less harmless, they were creepy as all get-out and I was always fearful they’d decide to turn my closet into their palace. Luckily we moved from there last summer and our new apartment has proved to be nearly bug free.
Fingers crossed that you’ll be able to get rid of the silverfish!
Have a wonderful Friday & weekend,
<3 Jessica