Before + After: A Primary Closet Transformation in Historic Franklin

February 17, 2023 Caroline Dilbeck

My client in Franklin, TN came to me through my friend and home management extraordinaire, Home CEO. I had the privilege of consulting on her kitchen a few months ago and now I’m revamping her shared primary closet. She has a challenge many of us who live in older homes do - limited closet space and even less time. A myriad of home décor items, seasonal décor and other paraphernalia had overtaken my client’s valuable closet space.

Our mission was to take back her prime closet real estate and create a system that accommodates her busy professional life. In particular, my client travels between two homes and her closet needs room to swell and shrink regularly and with ease. We needed to prioritize suitcase storage and make packing and unpacking seamless. Here is her closet when we started:

It may be difficult to see from the photo, but the ceilings are 12 feet tall which leaves the upper shelving only useful for rarely used items. We also needed to make the most of the reachable space for folded items as the only other drawer storage in the bedroom is a small three-drawer bedside table. Lastly, my client’s closet is right off the bathroom and there is not an established linen closet so we needed to prioritize space for towels and bed linens as well. I think it turned out great, don’t you?

Keep scrolling for more before and after’s and a look at our process. Interested in our services? Click here.

After we took everything out of the closet, we prioritized the reachable space first and established a system for all of the hanging clothes. As always, matching hangers were in order to decrease visual stimulation and create consistency across the clothing. We used closet rod labels to divide like items and make it easy for anyone to put clothes back in the correct spot.

We also doubled her shoe storage so that her closet can accommodate an ever-changing volume of shoes. Above the shoes, we prioritized baskets for items more suitable for folding like athletic shorts, sports bras and yoga pants.

SHOE ORGANIZERS | WOVEN BASKETS | BRASS LABELS

As I mentioned previously, my client has no established linen closet so we made the most of her hanging space by using these hanging sweater storage organizers on one side. On the right side we have a place for her purses. On the shelves above we have sheet sets and above that are lesser-used seasonal bedding sets. As you can see from the pictures, containment is key!

As always, you can shop any of what you see used at the bottom of this post. Keep scrolling for more shots from this beautiful primary closet install.

BEFORE + AFTER:

Its hard to believe this is the same space! And if you are worried about the pillows, they were rehomed to a more desirable location and are thriving. As for my client, now getting dressed is easy and fun.

Shop the Closet:

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