A dark secret

In this adorable cottage there was a very dark secret...

BWAHAHAHA...

Just kidding.

It's just my closet.

Although it was scary in there

See...

Yes, I know you've probably seen scarier closets, but to me, this was a nightmare.

I'm a tad OCD, so it was driving me nuts. Especially after seeing so many bloggers posting all their brilliant closet makeovers.

Now, before you get excited, this isn't going to be that 333 project or some glamour shoot with a chandelier.

One:

I wear vintage dresses most of the time, so there's really no mixing and matching and when you wear something you just throw on with some shoes, you tend to want to wear more than just four things.

Want to have an easy wardrobe?

Wear dresses.

Cold?

Put on some tights and a sweater and/or jacket.

It's that easy.

Two:

As much as I would love to turn my closet into one of those beautiful wallpapered, chandelier type looks, it's really just a functional, tiny, walk-in space, that I had built in my dressing room, with clothes. 

And really, who has the money to invest into a closet that no one else sees.

Can you imagine... 

"Hey! Come see my beautiful closet!"

No. 

No one cares.

Sorry.

I can't promise you that I won't do something more with it, just for me, but for now, I'm a happy camper and I can find everything, so.... YAY! :)

Anywho...

This is is part way through the cleaning.

This is the atrocious amount of shoes I had to go through.

Seriously?

I wear saddle shoes and Keds most of the time, unless I'm going out (I wear heels then) or it's winter and some of them were 30 something years old.

Enough already!

The giveaway pile kept growing.

So did the vintage clothes I need to sell or repair.

I tried every. single. thing. on.

It took FOREVER.

But finally, after 3 or 4, maybe 5 hours... I was done.

On this side I have a multitude of belts, a few skirts, and dresses.

On the opposite side I have... jeans, pajamas, robes, slips and coats.

I have my purses on one side, going around to the middle....

and heels on the other side.

Straight ahead, I have... tank tops, blouses, t-shirts and one scarf.

I didn't separate seasonal, because I use quite a few things in all of the seasons.

Most of the so called "normal clothes", like modern skirt suits and fancy dresses went into another closet.

I'm not about to count everything, because I don't really want to, honestly, but I will wear all of it, I love all of it, and I can find all of it.

And that's what really matters to me.

The hardest for me is that I have to live two separate lives.

Vintage and not vintage (or normal clothes, as I call them).

Some people my family (my kids excluded) and strangers think the way I dress is odd, so I have to conform on certain occasions.

If it was up to me, I'd only have vintage dresses and a few jeans and t-shirts to work in the yard, but such is life.

Funny, people can walk around in what is basically tights and a bra or pajamas in public and it's okay, but wearing a dress that's from the 40s or 50s is wrong somehow.

Anyway, enough of that...

my closet is finished and hooray for me!

:)

xo

rue

The pantry

For such a little house, I have a great deal of storage. 

From what I can figure out, Margaret, the first owner of my home, must have grown her own things on the property, because in the plans, she included a root cellar and a large pantry downstairs. She had plenty of room then because she owned most of the land surrounding the house, before it was sold off by future owners to other home builders, as the years went on.

Growing her own food makes sense, because from the information I've gathered about my town, there wasn't a full fledged grocery store in the area until after the house was built in 1930 or right about the same time. I'm sure there was a general store for supplies, but nothing like the Piggly Wiggly that came into town later on, but has since left.

She must have been a very busy bee as one of the first female lawyers in Arizona, much less the only woman lawyer in this town, and also taking care of the growing and canning of food, even if she did have help in the form of a maid and then later, her widowed sister.

She is what I would call a tough broad ;)

Did I mention she was 41 and single when this house was built?

The same age and status I was, when I bought it.

Anyway, in the post about my tiny mudroom, I showed you this picture of the stairs that lead down to the laundry room and my bedroom. Off of my bedroom is the root cellar, which is odd, but I guess since (I think) my room was the maids quarters, she wanted her to have access to it?

More questions I'll never have the answers to.

Anyway, there's also a good sized pantry right when you round the corner of these stairs.

I'm not going to show you the hallway down there just yet, because it's another project that I've yet to finish, but here's the door:

Before I show you the inside, let me just tell you that before I spent an entire day organizing it, it was a disaster.

No, I didn't take a before photo, but just picture an area that had extra stuff, like boxes of pictures, cans of food, candles, extra dishes, and miscellanies thrown into it for 5 years, because I was lazy didn't know what else to do with it and you'll have an idea.

Scary stuff!

Anywho, it's not one of those fancy pantries that you see on pinterest or other blogs, because really... it's a working area and don't need to make cleaning anymore difficult for myself. I just want to see what's available, "shop" from it, put away things with ease and get out.

Kinda like my own little store ;)

So here it is...

I have my stored food on one side, with vases lining the entire top and my holiday warming supplies below. 

On the other side is my ridiculous supply of candles, paper goods, extra plastic baggies, pop for Annie (I don't drink the stuff), a step stool and power cords.

Straight ahead, I have my extra set of dishes, wine and champagne glasses, serving platers and dishes, extra booze, and paper sacks.

You have no idea how fabulous it is to finally have all my holiday servers together, instead of the garage and upstairs in my other pantry, not to mention how nice it is to finally be able to see everything.

Yay me! ;)

Oh and totally off subject, but I want to leave you with a dose of pretty and then the reality, instead of just a boring pantry.

So here's the pretty:

And here's the reality:

Bubba wants to know when dinner will be ready ;)

xo
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