A Closet That Gave Up The Ghost

September 26, 2025

My cousin recently sent me a message from Europe with a story that perfectly captures the ups and downs of organizing. While she was away, her closet shelving brackets “gave up the ghost”! She had seen some of the “before and afters” I had posted online and joked that she suddenly had a “before” of her own. What I love most is the humor and honesty in how she described the process of tackling this project at home with her husband. It’s such a great reminder that organizing isn’t always glamorous. Sometimes it’s problem-solving, improvising with what you already have, and being willing to laugh at the chaos along the way. She very kindly agreed to let me share her story here, in her own words, to inspire you in your own organizing journey.

I pulled out and repacked two plastic totes that were keeping the door from opening. I’m steeling myself to go in and excavate the rest. I’m going to try to do some purging as I go. I have a portable clothing rack that I can hang stuff on. Mike is planning to run a piece of wood horizontally and screw it into the studs and then use better anchors to rehang it.

Been procrastinating on that closet… just remembered that Mike’s birthday present is hidden in the far end of the closet. And his birthday is tomorrow! I’m about to go lock in.
Thankfully I had some existing organization in here that made this easier to manage. There were three plastic totes. Originally, they kept the closet door from opening all the way, but once I got their contents reassembled, it got a lot of stuff out of the way quickly. I had all of my handbags on a little hanger thing, so I could extricate all of them at once. And of course my garment rack came in clutch. It’s listing pretty hard to starboard, so I’m actually about to run to Lowes and grab a second one. Not a lot of junk or trash, which was kind of a surprise. I felt like this was an area where doom bags/boxes sometimes go to die.

So, here’s where the closet currently stands. Hard to tell whether the little plastic hangers or the wall anchors gave up the ghost first. Ultimately, I guess it doesn’t much matter. Mike is going to attach a wood strip to the studs and use beefier anchors and mounting clips. The rack I got at Lowes last night was way sturdier. I transferred everything from my little foldable rack onto it. The one support bar is at a different angle because there was a screw holding the stud to the framing directly where Mike was trying to screw that support.
Birthday gift successfully extracted!

Getting there! My bathtub is still full of the bin of baby stuff. The bin cracked and I just replaced it. And we’re going to put that other shelf up level with the higher ones to put my luggage on. Got some very large carabiners to hang back packs and command hooks for hats and stuff. I’ll prob move the hand bags and tote bags to the baggage shelf. Purged about a kitchen bag’s worth of stuff that no longer fits or is no longer my style, which made room for the new clothes I bought this summer. I saved three pairs of pants that don’t fit well right now, but I think will realistically fit again. They aren’t pieces that could easily be replaced in my current size, otherwise I would have let them go, too. (Fleece lined boot cut winter pants from Eddie Bauer, a pair of purple corduroys that I thrifted and a pair of purple knit Ponte pants that are very comfy for pants that dress up a little). We’re hanging that last shelf tomorrow, so I’ll send pictures when it’s installed and the luggage is up there. Oh. Mike also ended up not running a board along the studs. When he got in there to pull the remaining old anchors out, he realized that the original installers found all of the studs and intentionally sank cheap plastic drywall anchors right off of the studs, rather than using them. No wonder it collapsed. He pulled all of the old anchors out and patched all of those spots and then I repainted the whole closet. Because the initial installation was done stupidly, we attached the shelf clips and braces to studs where we could and used very sturdy metal wall anchors for the rest. If it had been done in a reasonable way and failed, we would have attached a board across the studs and put the shelves into the board.

The main shelf was level when it was empty and it’s tilted downwards away from the wall now that I’ve put all my stuff back in. I reorganized all of the baby stuff into a new tote, and put the bin up on the top shelf and it immediately fell on me. So, we’re going to pull the braces out and re-angle them a bit. Mike had to work last weekend. And I think honestly, we’re both emotionally just not prepared to empty the closet and pull the braces back out. And patch the wall. The wall is going to be hidden behind all of my clothes though, so i don’t think it will matter cosmetically until we’re ready to sell, which won’t be for a long time. I’m willing to let it be a problem for Future Us. I still haven’t organized my luggage or the last few things in my bathtub.

We pulled the braces out and re-angled it. That was an easy fix. I bought a rack to put on the wall under the suitcase rack to hang backpacks and stuff on, but we haven’t put it up yet. Aside from putting the last few things away, it’s DONE for now!