Much like the rest of the world, I bought a first class ticket on the Marie Kondo train and we’re going full throttle to the land of JOY. How do we get there? By sorting, tossing, and organizing our way through every closet and crevice in Casa de NixonPack. Withhold the side eye for our “before” shots please. I didn’t clean up for you ahead of time, wanting to show the true picture of how inept the wire system was, and how I had lost all motivation to keep her tidy:

Phew, it’s over. I’m sorry you had to see that! Since we’re knee deep in the master bathroom renovation, we figured the first place to start would be the master closet. I say “we figured”, like it just happened by chance. It was actually very carefully crafted, for a number of reasons. The first of which is resale. Since we’re both Realtors, we know that masters and kitchens sell homes. We’ve also seen our share of buyers creep through every cupboard and closet in a listing, judging along the way. You may have heard this before, but it bears repeating. We’ve witnessed it for ourselves when it comes down to a home inspection. Organized closets = meticulous sellers who take more care than the average homeowner. Not just with folding the KonMarie way, but cleaning their furnace annualy, and performing big ticket maintenance items too. Also, buyers want to envision a clean, organized life, just like the rest of us. And offering them just that on a linen and gold plated platter? Sold!

Another thing that drew us to California Closets was their personalized design service. We adored the designer they paired us with – Amy Walker. She was phenomenal! Amy came to our house for the initial consultation not only to look at the current closet situation, but to get a feel for our overall design aesthetic. Having toured some “dream homes” with NixonPack, I felt like our space might not fit the bill. You know the closets I’m talking about, right? With the dazzling chandeliers over the center island filled with jewels and Louis Vuitton bags? They do those all the time. But Amy never made me feel like ours wasn’t, or couldn’t be that. She designed three plans to show us low, mid and (fabulous!) high-end options.

Knowing we were on a tight budget, she never tried to upsell us with any unnecessary (for us) upgrades. But I have to tell you, in the next house I am SO saving for the backlighting and stunning resin inserts. I am still swooning over those in the showroom. Amy even offered to email me the design templates to show future buyers how they could customize the closet to fit their needs. What an awesome selling feature – it is still totally customizable to swap out what doesn’t work, or upgrade in the future if you decide you really need drawers, or a jewelry case, or that backlighting after all.

So for the first time in 6 homes together, and over 12 years of marriage, Jon and I are now sharing a closet. And would you believe with room to spare? I could barely fit my own things in there with the old wire system and now I’m like, hold on a second, is that s p a c e I see? Let’s go shopping.

One of my 2019 resolutions was to get organized (every year!), but a new one for this year was to write reviews. So often, I look to the reviews of others before I make a big purchase, yet I rarely return the favor. I loved the ease of the whole process, the quality of the construction and materials, the warmth of the entire California Closets team. Fun fact: the owners of California Closets Albany/ Syracuse are a husband and wife team too. And they’re also college sweethearts from Siena College – same story as Jon and me!

This was a total game changer for us in terms of having someone else take care of a project. As you know, we DIY all things home. But letting someone else take the reins was a welcome change and the results are pretty dreamy! What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments below!