Sharing our home is something I have been wanting to do on here for awhile now, but it took about 6 months before it all came together how I imagined… I mean, I was still getting pieces in until about a week before the wedding (i.e. last month)! I guess it’ll never *fully* be done, but for now– she’s just how I want! It needs to be noted that this labor of love was not done alone, I had the creative geniuses over at Maple & Murphy help me hone in my tastes and create a house both Sam and I could feel at home in.

I’ve lived in ‘bachelorette pads’ for about three years now– never taking into account that a boy might move in there. I’ve had white fluffy rugs, gold and marble everything, chanel surfboards over the dining room table… a whole ‘glam’ moment. But of course, over time your tastes change and you begin to want a little something different. For me, that was something a little more warm (which was a bad word in my aesthetic dictionary abut 2 years ago) and something a little more masculine/gender neutral. More on the aesthetic of our entire home at a later date… right now, we’re starting in my favorite room of the house– my CLOFFICE (closet + office).

Well, that was the original idea behind it. Now it has morphed into more of a ‘dressing room’. This is where my items that I wear all year round stay and where I get ready– hair and makeup.

This entire room was once a guest room (without a bathroom), so we just ripped the closet door off, widened it and added shelves– BAM shoe wall! This is where I keep my heels, booties and dressier sandals. The sneakers I wear every. single. day. and more casual shoes are in the closet I share with SD in our bedroom (thats where t-shirts, gym clothes and other tops are as well). I try and rotate my closet seasonally in order to create more space– meaning I pack sweaters and thicker tops up in the spring and summer and switch them with light weight tops… I usually leave basic tees out all year long, for layering in the colder months and solo when its warm. Also, as you’ll see below, I leave bombers and denim jackets out year round for layering.

Back to the shoes– I have a theory that if you can’t see it, you won’t wear it… in previous houses this has proven to be the case, especially with shoes. When I moved into our house, I knew I wanted to be able to see all of my shoes and what I couldn’t see/fit I was going to sell or donate. There is no sense in being a pack rat– because in the past, I have been. I wanted this house to be a ‘no harding zone’, and so far we’re successful. If it wasn’t worn in the last year, it was sold (follow my closet on instagram where I sell things: @ottecloset) or donated and never made it into this house! WHICH made moving SD in last month a breeze.

classic tees are always in style

Want to know a folding hack to keep your jeans on display and still look neat and tidy? Tuck the triangle part of the (for lack of a better word) crotch in and fold them in half and then half again! I think your denim selection look almost retail– which I love. I make sure to hang the denim that I want to keep and fold the pairs that I wear more often. This is also a portion of my closet that I can stand to purge– denim seems hard to get rid of though. I’m a work in progress, I just can’t help my clothes hoarding ways.

MUST HAVE DENIM | FALL THROUGH SUMMER

The shoes that made the cut– as you can see, we’re on a strict one in/one out policy now. So be sure to follow along on my closet instagram account (@ottecloset) to see if any of these pretties make the transition. I love them all and would keep them forever if I had the space… but sometimes it’s easier on my OCD heart to just keep them rotating.

BOOTIES TO KEEP ALL YEAR ROUND

STAPLE SNEAKERS

HEELS FOR THE YEAR

Something I will never be able to put away, no matter the season, is my leather jacket collection. they are me. I am them… so they stay right here where I can look at them– even when its 98 degrees outside. While I don’t bust them out in the spring and summer, I do rotate bombers and denim jackets all year round– they’re something you conniver have enough of.

LAYERING FOR ALL SEASONS