Here's a pic for you -- one hour worth of work, putting back in my favorite items, according to color rather than category.
Findings so far:
I own LOTS of black... but that's okay. I've come to peace with that choice. I tried the ink/navy and it just never works for me. Primarily because as a petite my choices are just few and far between. For ink/navy to work, personally, I think it needs to be the highest quality fabric you can afford -- no dull, matte fabrics. Unfortunately, I have very little luck in this department. I've bought ink or navy core items like suiting, and these pieces just languish in my closet and never feel right to me, because the fabric to my eye looks cheap. Matte black works just fine... but matte navy just feels all "meh" to me. Maybe it is me, and not the clothes? All I know is, I can't find enough navy items I like well enough to make it a workable neutral/core to my wardrobe. So black it is!
So first I put the black pieces front and center because they really do make up the core items of my wardrobe, especially for travel. I mixed items all together -- mixing summer dresses/ sleeveless shells next to fall cardigans and jackets, suits and even a black packable puffer. If you consider that's 4 seasons of black items, that's not too much black. During this process, I did identify a couple of pieces I'd like to update, such as my velvet jacket. I held on to it for now. Maybe I shouldn't have, but it still fits -- I just would prefer a different style.
Then I put back my gray solid pieces -- not too many of these. A pencil skirt, a Theory blazer (my best blazer), a ponte knit dress, the Veda leather scuba (which is supposed to be ink but mysteriously looks quite at home in my gray capsule). I still have a stack of suiting items to sort through, still on the dining room table. I think a lot of these items may get stored away (don't fit right now, or are better for spring). And some may get culled (never fit quite right, out of date).
Then I put back my cream/white pieces, which make me oh so happy! I held on to my favorite pleather jacket, which is cracking around the neckline and I really need to ditch it. It's in there as a "placeholder" until I can find a new one. In this process, I realized I have some gaps --- I need a white crepe long sleeve blouse.
Then I started adding in pieces that combine those neutrals. Anything with black + gray went after the gray and before the cream. Anything with black + white went after the cream.
Then I added accents - and grouped them. Pink, plum, red, purple, and finally, blue, including my jean jacket and trusty cobalt winter coat.
I had a handful of camel / tan items so I added them all the way to the left, and put my burberry there too as well. This was an interesting part of the exercise for me. I realized I have a TON of taupe items which basically just languish because I feel "blah" in them. Taupe works fine for spring so I may hold on to a few of these items, but for Fall I took them all out. I only put in items that are camel -- i.e., cognac -- or that have minimal beige but look great with cognac accents.
Finally I went through my formal wear (far left, tucked out of site in the remotest darkest corner of my closet). I was utterly ruthless and only kept four dresses. It was actually not that difficult because I'd discovered some were covered in closet dust!! That told me quickly which ones I never wear. GONE.
What I love about how I have this organized is that it puts front and center the items I use most frequently: I am a smart casual/ dressy dresser, and I will always be. I just don't do casual all that frequently. Now that I see my closet laid out like this, I realize that the navy/blue items on the far right and the camel items on the far left include what I tend to grab when I want to dress more casually, which is usually just 10-20% of the time. So it makes sense to have them on the outer edges, not in the middle.
Right now this feels like a manageable amount of clothes and I do not want to add anything else. But I still have piles on the dining room table, to cull or to store. In order to store them, I'm going to have to tackle what's already in storage. Ugh. I have only limited space for that.
Note that I keep jeans, tees, gear, loungewear in a dresser. I've already done an initial cull of those items (a few weeks back), but could still stand to cull some more.
Also note that I keep sweaters folded in rolling carts underneath these hanging items. I would really love to hang them for a change, organized by color, but I probably don't have the room (nor the hangers). I'm going to tackle sweaters next, and apply same principals: instead of organizing by type (cardigans, boyfriends, pullovers) I'm going to organize by color and see how that works.
Boots and booties will go on the top shelf -- I think I will also organize by color.
Believe it or not, I've yet to try anything on, except for one suit skirt!
Culling by color rather than category worked FABULOUSLY! Once I was done hanging all these items, I could quickly see what was left on the dining room table, and why!
Spring colors were left... because it's now Fall. Many of these will go into storage. This includes some light grey spring/summer weight suiting I don't see myself wearing, even if I travel south on business.
Taupe and beige was left... because I just feel "meh" in it. Camel/cognac however is okay.
Other items were left over simply because the color just doesn't work with anything in my closet.
Whereas I could also quickly see which favorites went back in, but need updating/replacing. I hold on to them because I adore the colors so much. Now I can replace and practice 1 in 1 out.
You might wonder why I keep my outerwear in my tiny closet: it's because our hall coat closet is not only dark and deep and difficult, but is stuffed to the gills with DH & the kids' huge winter coats. Also there was a long stretch when my kids wore the same size as me, and favorites would get "borrowed" and then disappear. We also have a place in our back hall with hooks to hang frequently used/wet items, but I would rather keep my better coats on a hanger not a hook.
