Guest Room Closet Clean Out

One of the items on my goals to do list is to clean out and organize my guest closet. This will likely be a couple of months project because (1) I have a ton of stuff in this closet and (2) I don’t want to rush through it-I want to do it properly. 
The closet is a large one divided into two sides.  One side is primarily office and stationary supplies and the other side is mostly craft and home decor items. 

I’m starting on the home decor side.  First, I’m pulling out containers to see what I have and may keep. And, I may have use for some of the containers in that room or other areas of my home. What I already know is that there is plenty of stuff to donate.
The first thing I have to do though is clean off the couch! There are items on the couch that need to be put away. 

I’ve realized that having decor in containers where I can’t see what’s in the container or access the decor easily doesn’t work for me. I also have changed my style in the last few years and don’t want to have as many items as I currently have.  I do like to the change things up usually seasonally but I no longer feel the need to completely re-arrange ALL of my decor. 
By working through this process, I’ve become aware that I sometimes I feel bad about getting rid of items that I thought I would use and didn’t. I remind myself that decor items or storage containers don’t generally cost that much so I can replace them if I feel the need to do so.

The first thing I had to do was clean off the couch so that I had a spot to place items so that I can review and then make a decision. 

Now that the couch is cleared off, the next step is to separate items that I think I want to keep vs. items that I plan to donate.

The closet is filled with decor and storage items. There are boxes filled with stuff as well as items just cast about. This is why this is at least a 2 month project. I am very good at putting a lot of stuff in a small space!!
Right now, the items on the couch are ones that I plan to keep.  That could change as I move forward. 

As usual, it all looks an awful mess while in the process and I am just deciding to live with that.  I worked hard to clean off my dining room table and I am bound and determined to keep it cleaned. At least with items in the guest room, I can close the door if the mess overwhelms me!

Now that I have the items on this side of the closet pulled out, I need room to work. As I was going through boxes and bins, I found that my office was just getting too cluttered to move around in. In the meantime, I moved items that I plan to keep back into this space and put the donate items on the couch. Having the floor clean is really helpful and gives me space to work and make decisions. I haven’t even started on the office/stationary side yet!!

There are several areas that need addressing in this room and I’ll go through them one step at a time. These areas include finding a place for my paperwork which is in the filing cabinet.  The other items have already been moved into the storage dresser. Then I’ll need to get rid of the filing cabinet. I also need to figure out how I want to house other items namely my exercise stuff once the file cabinet is gone.
If possible, I would like to be able to keep my paperwork and exercise equipment in the closet. I’m open to completely re-organizing the closet in order to do this. This may mean that I will have to get rid of other furniture items that are in the closet and replace them with something else. We’ll see what shakes out!!

So far, I’m really pleased with how this project is going. I know that there is much more to be done but I’m proud of myself for recognizing that this is not a weekend project.
If you have any suggestions for helping this project be successful, please share in the comments.