I moved into my house this past summer, and even though none of my decorating is 100% done, I might as well start showing you what I’ve been up to. The biggest luxury is my dressing room (aka the shoe room). We have a modest, three-bedroom ranch with smallish closets so I took the smallest of the bedrooms and turned it into my walk-in closet. How decadent!
This is where I blog, and on days when I work at home, it’s where my writing gets done. The best part: The bookshelves full of shoes! See, I bought a Kindle a couple of years ago and I sold most of my books. The few I have for reference (cookbooks and such), I keep in a closet.
Having my shoes on display does make me seem a little like Imelda, but I find I wear them all more because I know what I have. And no, I don’t need to buy shoes for a while!
Putting my costume jewelry on display makes it easy to grab a bracelet, necklace or pair of earrings in a hurry. The necklaces are hanging on simple nails, but I plan to upgrade to small, funky knobs soon. The screened-in vintage picture frame is from the Fremont Sunday Market but it would be a fun and easy DIY project.
I even found a neat way to display my sunglasses. I saw this idea in the Ikea catalog. I tied a ribbon from perfume packaging to the top of the hanger to finish it off.
I removed the closet doors and replaced them with purple curtains so I can open it wide and see everything at once. The soft fabric absorbs sound better than wood doors so the room isn’t as echo-y. Also because the cat box is in there–gotta be practical!
To balance all the dark wood ladder shelves (even my desk is a ladder style), I bought a lucite chair from Ikea. It’s fresh and modern and doesn’t impede light or sight lines.
The ideas in this project translate to lots of spaces. The book-turned-shoe shelves would look nice in a bedroom and would fit in an actual walk-in closet. No matter what your space, I highly recommend displaying jewelry (in my last place, I hung necklaces on my bathroom wall). You’ll wear what you own more often if you can see it.
All I have to do now is paint the walls. What color would you choose?
jeanofalltrades 
OK, let me get my jaw off the floor so I can type… Jean, this is amazing!!! I love the sunnies on the hanger, I remember you telling me about that. The lucite chair is darling, such a great modern piece. And is that a heavenly beam of light I spy, illuminating those fabulous Jimmy Choos?
Ha ha! Thank you, Sarah. And thanks for not saying I’m crazy with this over-the-top setup! You definitely spied the Choos! Those should be under glass! The others are cheapies or consigned. That was a big purchase.
I’ve never been a fan of lucite but I recently learned how versatile it is. I love the modern airiness of it and how it lightens up a room. Consider me a convert!
Oh – I just need a cute little basket now to hide the tangle of cables and my modem!
Love the way you have everything organized and displayed.
Thanks Marla! I’m using things a lot more and it’s easy to get ready in the morning now!
Every girl’s dream!! I finally got a dressing room, too! A walk-in closet is too small for my clothes, shoes and accessories. Love your ladder shelves for shoes! Great idea using a wooden hanger for sunglasses.
Colour ideas for the wall – yellow.
It is a dream come true! Oh, I saw the Ikea chandelier again and it’s cute. It would look great in a dressing room. Small and modern. I like the idea of yellow walls. Bright and sunny (and will still go with purple curtains–complementary colors!).
How awesome is this!! I love this! I was going to do this with the junior room I had in my new old apartment, but I moved to SF unexpectedly and now I share a space with roommates. I will get my dressing room one day. 🙂 I particularly love how you display the shoes. It’s so easy to forget what you have in your closet.
A junior room is a perfect place to do this sort of thing. When you get your dressing room, do post about it! I’d like to see what other dressing rooms are like!
YOU are totally my hero now. Maybe I need to take over the guestroom for such a purpose (No one comes to stay with us, anyway. Everyone expects us to do all the traveling…) I would LOVE to spread my stuff out and have all my jewelry out to browse each morning.
I’d paint it purple, of course! 😉
Thanks! I vote yes–you should turn your guest room into a dressing room. And your guests can still stay there occasionally. Otherwise, it’s wasted space. And then blog about it so I can see what you’ve done. Oh, I might paint the walls purple. I bought a light gray paint for my bathroom and it makes the white toilet look yellow (blue undertones in the paint?) The paint actually looks light purple so I’m going to try it in the dressing room.