I love seeing your closets!! We have his and hers closets in the master, and I'm not satisfied with them (and we haven't even moved in yet). Our trim carpenter suggested a simple layout for rods and shelves, which looks great. Then I asked for shoe storage like rows of cubbies (meaning get more shoes in less space). He put in a slanted shelf along the baseboard. He was so proud of it, I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wouldn't meet my needs. Now, I'm kicking myself because I'm too wimpy to insist that he rip it out and redo it. Also, the floors have been finished now. I'm to the point where I have to pick my battles. Anyway, our best storage plans for our master are to de-clutter before moving in and to keep as much as possible in our huge cedar closet (for out of season clothing and shoes).

This is a fun post. I will say that in my busy working military life, I could get up, shower, shave underarms (daily), legs (3x weekly)makeup (eye shadow, mascara, foundation, powder, lipstick), hair (washed and blow dried, very short), dressed and out the door in 25 minutes. Now, years later, I use far less products and it seems to take far longer. When I was stationed in Spain I could get waxed, from top to toes, for about $7 so I never had to shave of pluck or anything. That made getting ready for work a real breeze. Now, in a typical morning I use: face wash - I use an Oil of Olay-type face cloth. hand wash - Dial Complete on all the sinks, two baths, mudroom, and kitchen. bar soap - I use a liquid soap; DH still uses the bars. :( shampoo - Daily conditioner - Perhaps once a week. hair serum - Never heard of it. hair mouse - No, but I keep a can of hairspray for the 3-4 times I year I might use it. toothpaste - At least five times a day. floss - Yes, but should more often. mouthwash - Listerine; twice a day for gum protection. shaving gel - Ha! The few times I shave I use shampoo. deodorant - Kept in both bathrooms and the bedroom. Wherever I dress I'm ready! body lotion - Rarely, but more so in winter. foot powder/or lotion - Gold Bond all over. face cream - No; but Mom says I should. foundation - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. blush - I'm taking treatments for Rosacea so I'm good on the natural blush! LOL powder - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. eyeshadow - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. eyeliner - No; never liked the look. mascara - Can no longer wear. lipstick - Every day. I love lipstick with colour, but not the pale, dead looking non-color most gals are wearing now. I wear earrings daily, too. I love lipstick and earrings. And that's the daily stuff, add to that the occasional: hair coloring - I stopped coloring three months ago. I'm liking the "salt and pepper," heavy on the salt look! tooth whitening strips - No. nail polish/ base coat/top coat - I cut my nails as short as possible and push the cuticles back once a week. When I worked I kept them short and polished with a pale pink color. I did it my self. I do get medium length dark red gel nails for the Christmas season. nail polish remover - No need cuticle cream - No, but about every four months I'll get a manicure that does not include polish or false nails. They just soak, trim, work off the cuticles and do a hot wax dip. hand lotion - I keep bottles on each sink

Holy moly you guys!!! What an amazing cornucopia of talent we have here! Maybe that's why we're all renovating our kitchens; it's at least half artistic, as opposed to strictly functional. This is such a great thread because it's a way of recognising that each of us has unique talents, and that we should feel good about that! I notice people seem more at ease talking about their anti-talents and being quite self-deprecating about their talents. It's OK to say out loud that you're good at something! cpartist, I saw your drawings up further on the thread, but missed the fact that you drew them! I thought they were photographs of "real" things. WOW!! You are amazing! The flowers are my favourite. Do you sell your art? Where would I get more info on that? I'm asking 100% totally seriously, not just trying to be polite. Do you take special orders? Do/would you frame your art? mushcreek and cpartist, I'm with you on test taking. Between my ability to retain what I read and my skill at test-taking, I'm the perfect student, and that's good because I've been back to college since 2007, with 2 1/2 years to go to get my PhD (2 1/2 years under my belt from the late 70's). It doesn't mean I'm smarter than others; it just means my natural skills align with what universities use to assess knowledge. If I had to do a car repair or paint a portrait or program a computer, I'd be the dumbest person in the room. I'm glad people are starting to realise there are different kinds of intelligences! mushcreek , I'm also an ace speller and perfect at English grammar, and I know the APA 6 handbook like the back of my hand. But I'm hopeless when it comes to crossword puzzles, sudoku, any type of puzzle. I couldn't put together a 100 piece puzzle on my table if you had a gun to my head. I always score exceptionally poorly (under 30th percentile) in any kind of mechanical perception test, like where you see a set of pullies and wheels and you have to figure out where the chain ends, or where you see a piece of paper with dotted lines on it and you have to figure out how to fold it to make the origami object they show you. I'm terrible at visualising anything 3D, which is why it's weird that I can picture interior designs for a room with perfect clarity. But I can't draw anything, especially not floor plans, which is a big reason I decided against going to college for interior design. I would have to draw, draw floor plans by hand and on the computer. I would flunk out, even if I had the best rooms! Even on these forums, when posters put their floor plan here, it is extremely difficult for me to visualise it. If they post photos of the room, I can see it instantly and know exactly what should be done. :-) Funkycamper, I'm glad you keep reading this thread! It's funny how we see things in others as talents, but see things in ourselves as just natural things that anyone could do. Believe me, your gifts in recalling numbers, finding things geographically, test taking, spelling, and multitasking (which mushcreek also has) are TALENTS!! I know they just seem natural to you, but I guarantee people would give anything to acquire those talents. I recently read an article that said multitasking isn't really a thing, except in rare circumstances. People say, especially in job interviews, that they can multitask, but usually the human brain doesn't operate that way, and people actually end up taking longer when they try to accomplish several things at once, as opposed to doing them one at a time. The article said, and I've read this before, that when people are interrupted by the phone, or in person, that it takes 15 minutes to get focus back on what they were doing. SO... what you and mushcreek have described is a rare gift!!! The article mentioned that there are people, like you, who can truly multitask. So stand up and be counted as having an amazing talent!! :-) I'm not a great multitasker; I am easily distracted--shiny!--but I am great at doing things in my head. I almost always write my papers in my head before I write a single word on my computer, and most of my papers are 20-35 pages long. I've got some good sized chunks of my dissertation in my head right now. I can also do grocery lists, lists of errands, and stuff like that in my head. My DS has the same thing. Before he went to MIT, he got a Bachelor of Music in classical piano performance. I used to see him lying on the sofa with headphones on, eyes closed, and fingers wiggling in the air. If I asked him what he was doing, he'd say practicing piano. He'd have the entire work committed to memory before he ever set fingers to the ivory. Funkycamper, may I ask the origin of your screen name? Also, your geographic memory is awesome, and I'd give anything for that talent! I bought my house in October, and before that stayed there as a houseguest of the owners, one of my best friends and her husband, for the entire month of September. I'm not moving in until June, but have occasion to go out there fairly often. I cannot find my own house without GPS, and sometimes even with it! :-) Whenever someone uses the phrase "jack of all trades, but master of none," it reminds me of an old joke in academia. As you progress through college, you become more and more narrowly focused. Your doctoral dissertation will be on something very specific. So the joke is the more education you get, you know more and more about less and less, until finally you know everything about nothing. Haha! Jillius, I LOVE the idea of "one and a half attention spans!" Brilliant! That would make an excellent study. Keeping your hands busy with physical activity you can do mindlessly with muscle memory that enables you to focus on the lecture, sermon, your spouse's long story about their day, whatever...that's a great concept! I'm a note taker too. My ex and I used to go to a lot of baseball games. I LOVE baseball! But I would get so distracted by everything else that goes on in a stadium that I'd miss important stuff like home runs, lol. I finally found the thing that allowed me to concentrate on the game: filling in the score card you always get with the program. It was a steep learning curve for me to learn all the symbols of official scoring, but it kept me super focused on the game because I couldn't miss one pitch. :-) I also put a headphone jack in one ear and listened to the live radio broadcast! My ex thought I was nuts and my friends thought it was funny, but it worked for me! I've so very much enjoyed this conversation and I hope everyone will join in as we celebrate our talents and empathise with our anti-talents! This is fun!

will absolutely need gown hanging space, lots of shoes, room for tall boots (ideas?), purse storage, etc. Do you mean you have a lot of evening gowns that must be stored, or do you mean a hook to hang a night gown you're going to wear again? If you mean wear-again items, do you also need a place to hang worn-once workout clothes or jeans you're going to wear again before they're washed? Regardless, I say start by cleaning out what you haven't worn in a while, then inventory just how many "long items" and just how many "short items" you have ... then you can make an intelligent decision (rather than a guess) about how much space you need for hanging items. Shoes are space hogs in the closet, and 8x10 may not stretch as far as you need with "lots" of shoes. Things to consider: - You can get a shoe ottoman, which opens up and gives you a place to sit down and a place to store shoes inside. - You might take some of the shoes out of the closet and put them into a shoe storage item at the foot of your bed. - In so many online pictures, the homeowners use the back wall for shoes ... seems like a good idea. - As for tall boots, I'd plan to keep them under dresses ... and buy a couple dollar-store pool noodles to make them "stand up" and keep their shape. Why the double doors for a closet? Depending upon how your room is laid out, you might want your doors to open "out" into your bedroom so nothing's covering up your clothes in the room. Personally, I'm going with NO doors on my closet. Use height as much as you can. Yes. If you have high ceilings, you might look into handicapped pull-down bars. If you have the height, they'll allow you to have a third row of clothes ... way up top: For last minute touch ups my fold away ironing board could not live without it! See, this is why you have to consider your personal needs. I gave my ironing board to the Salvation Army a decade ago and haven't been sorry yet! We love having pullout valet bars in the closet especially when packing for a trip. Oh, I want valet bars! I almost always lay out my clothes the night before, and I know I'd use them. A pretty hook would do. I have an over-the-door hanger for this purpose right now, and it's okay, but it isn't pretty. Things I think you should consider: Do you intend to include drawers or shelves for your folded items ... or will you have a dresser outside the closet? Do you intend to keep a hamper in the closet? Do you need to set aside space in the closet for linens? Do you want a mirror in the room? This could go on the doors. The ceiling is a great place to bring in something decorative without wasting space. Don't forget good lighting. You might consider an automatic light, which would come on automatically when you enter the closet. On that subject, consider lighted hanging rods: What would you like to store in baskets? They're prefect for things that look messy even when they're folded neatly (like shorts, swim suits, or pajamas) ... whereas, things like jeans look neat when they're folded. Do consider picking up a bunch of matching hangers, and -- once your closet is perfect -- make a "one in, one out" rule. What accessories do you need to store? Do you wear lots of scarves, or do you want to store jewelry in the closet? Do you need to allot space for coats, or do you have a coat closet elsewhere in the house? If you're short, you might want to include a spot for a small stool. Finally, here's a website with lots of closets I find attractive: https://thehappyhousie.porch.com/20-incredible-small-walk-in-closet-ideas-makeovers/