Apartment Closet Makeover with House of Turk
I recently had a whole closet makeover, designed & organized by Kate of House of Turk. I’m sharing all of the photos/the whole experience, answering all of your Q’s, & sharing how you can get a FREE consultation from her in this post!
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Last week I had the absolute JOY of collaborating with House of Turk for a major closet makeover. House of Turk is an organization and interior design firm owned and run by Kate (her last name is Turk 😉 ), who lives in Malvern, PA. Kate’s background is in marketing, design, and organization, and she showed up at my apartment wearing leopard flats and a bright J. Crew coat, so needless to say we were fast friends. Seriously, I think it took us all of three minutes to realize that we were going to get along WELL. Major shout-out to my friend Diana, who I’ve become friends with through my job at Lilly, for connecting us. 🙂
With KonMari trending and Spring cleaning season right around the corner, this felt like the perfect time for Kate to come in and work her magic on my closet. For a little context, I live in a high-rise building in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. It’s a nice sized apartment for city living in your early twenties (ha), but my bedroom closet is not huge by any means. It’s a slight walk-in, and only because I’m short enough to make it one 😊. I used to think closet makeovers were for only big, spacious walk-in closets—the kind that has an free-standing dresser island in the middle of it filled with velvet-lined drawers for all of your baubles. Wrong. My itty-bitty city-living apartment bedroom closet got the royal treatment and was the perfect candidate for this process. So, no matter the size or scale of your project, I couldn’t recommend this service more.
The timeline was as follows: First Kate came over for a closet consultation in which I walked her through my current closet set up and nervously tried to justify the amount of straw bags I own. This took about an hour—it was so comforting to meet Kate in person, realize how awesome she is, and share with her all that I wanted out of a newly organized closet space. Then, Kate spent about a week planning out and shopping for the new pretty details and organizational features she would need for the redo. I took this time to clean out a lot of clothing and jewelry and do a rapid fire closet sale on Instagram Stories (more on that in the Q&A below). The following Friday, I left for work and Kate, along with her best friend Rachel who is often her organizational wing woman, took over my apartment for the closet redo.
They spent the whole day there, stripping everything out of my closet, coating the entire inside with gorgeous metallic wallpaper, sorting all of my things literally piece by piece, setting up all of the storage containers and shelving, and then putting everything back in its new place, one by one. I came back to my apartment around 6:30 pm and was blown away at the progress they had made in just one day. It was 95% complete and absolutely stunning. They had me go through all of my bags (definitely in hopes that I would get rid of some of them… I got rid of a FEW, right Kate?!), along with some of my sweaters and my “college heels” that they had somehow easily identified (think: black velvet Chinese Laundry stilettoes that smelled like beer). We also got rid of almost all of the storage bins I had previously had in my closet. Turns out that they were not the most functional use of the space and actually caused more issues than help. The next day Kate came back to my apartment and added on the finishing touches (like the floating shelves and the bag hooks) and then we photographed it to share on here and on her blog.
Before I get to the Q&A let’s share the before and after photos…
BEFORE
AFTER
white stackable shelves / acrylic clutch divider / woven baskets / labels
As you can see, it turned out beautifully. It was a seamless experience, with a WHOLE lot of behind-the-scenes work from Kate and Rachel to make it all happen so quickly. They were professional, creative, savvy, and fun, completely personalizing my closet to fit my preferences and style. What else could you want for a dream closet?! Here are some more of the direct results that I’ve noticed after a week with My 2.0 Closet:
- It’s literally stunning. I leave the door open to my closet 90% of the time because the inside just looks so good. I’m not kidding.
- I can fit about 20% more of my hanging clothes inside it on the hanging bar.
- All of my shoes are now displayed for me to see, whereas 50% of them used to be hidden from my sight.
- All of my clutches and bags are no longer squished together in the depths of an old plastic bin, but they are lined up in chic acrylic dividers and hanging on gold metallic hooks in clever spots throughout the space.
- Miscellaneous things that were scattered throughout my room– like my gift wrapping supplies, packing supplies, all of my random electronics/cords, and my stationery (which isn’t a light collection ehem), are now in my closet, which de-cluttered my room and centralized my things where they made most sense.
- It’s now much easier to pick out my outfits and pack for a trip, which is very important to my lifestyle of working in fashion, blogging, and constantly being on the go and unpacking/re-packing for trips. I just packed for my trip to NYC last night and very clearly noticed the difference. (although I am now on the hunt for a chic step-stool—lmk if you have any suggestions!).
I’ve received so many responses about the process and love that so many of you are as enthusiastic about organization as I am. I asked for questions regarding the experience and rounded up the below Q&A. I hope they’re helpful, but don’t hesitate to reach out with any other questions you may have! And make sure to read Kate’s blog post on the redo, which shares her behind-the-scenes logic of her organization and décor decisions for the closet.
Why use House of Turk over another organizational company?
Two major reasons. One- Kate runs her own company/brand she does not have to cater to a larger company’s regulations or way of doing things. She has full ownership over her projects which allows her to make your wildest organizational dreams come true. Two- Kate has a skill set that combines both organization and design. So, she does not only know how to strategically purge, simplify, and systemize your space, but she also thinks about how to make it the most aesthetically pleasing. My closet now does not only function 100x better than it did before, but it has a major WOW factor in how gorgeous she designed it.
What did you purge beforehand?
About a week before the closet redo, I held a “rapid fire” Instagram story closet sale. I had a relatively large pile of clothing and jewelry that I had worn once or twice (this isn’t unusual in the blogging world where you’re constantly taking photos and cycling out styles to keep everything current). I purged sweaters, tops, skirts, and statement jewelry—pretty much anything I either had a few versions of or knew I wouldn’t be wearing again. I donated the majority of the styles but kept a number of things to sell on Insta stories. It ended up being such a rewarding experience where I got to chat over DMs with SO many peeps and dozens of you ended up with new clothes a few days later. J I wound up mailing packages to over 22 different states— WOW. Much love to everyone who shopped and requested another sale. I promise to do another one sometime this spring!
How much does it cost?
See Kate’s full rate breakdown here. Kate’s full service organization projects start with a $50 consultation fee and then it’s $85/hour for her organizational work. BUT, she is offering a FREE consultation service to all I Believe in Pink readers if you mention this post! In order to have her physically do the re-design and organization you have to go through this service. But, say that YOU have the KonMari bug yourself and want to go full steam ahead on your own but don’t know where to start/which best containers to use/what your space really needs to get life-changing results. Then, you turn to the professional (duh) and hire Kate for a $350 consultation flat rate where she will walk through your space (this can occur over Facetime!) and create a detailed project plan for you, along with a shopping list of her recommended closet or space organization bins/décor (she found the chicest things for me!). She gets a discount from the Container Store for the business so she was able to get all of the containers at a discounted price. You can also let her know if you have a budget you want to stick under for the supplies and she will cater to that.
Tell us about the wallpaper!
Kate actually brought a roll of this wallpaper with her for the consultation (she has a knack for figuring out what you’ll like) and pitched the idea of lining the entire inside of my closet with it to make it look more like a jewel box lined with white and gold. I was instantly sold. It’s on sale right now if you want to snag it yourself!
What are the details on all of the storage containers?
I’m going to link all of the products Kate used in my closet in the widget below. If you have any additional questions, I’d recommend reaching out directly to Kate since she sourced them and chose them for reasons specific to my space. She also gets a discount to The Container Store, which she uses to buy the supplies for your project.
Does Kate do projects other than closets?
Yes! I asked Kate about this too. She does pantries, kitchens, garages, etc. She can also unpack your house if you’re moving and do the organizing right then and there. Omg, the dream!
If I don’t live in Philadelphia or the Mainline can I still use Kate?
Yes! She can travel anywhere. Reach out and see if she can come to your home! 🙂
How can I get in touch with Kate?
Visit her website and send her an email at hello@houseofturk.co. Find her on Instagram here. Or reach out to me and I can connect you. She is offering all I Believe in Pink readers a FREE consultation service so be sure to mention that. 🙂
This was too much fun to put together for you! I love sharing different types of posts on here, and promised to share more of my apartment décor this year, so this is a start to say the least. Not promising anything will top this anytime soon, ha!
