OWNOrganizingcloset organizercloset hacks

What A Really Organized Closet Looks Like

A master closet gets an unbelievable update—plus, a few easy solutions you can quickly implement in your own space from the author of.
By Toni Hammersley
Before:
The Complete Book of Home Organization
Ginny Grocer, Organizing Home Life
"My hubby and I bought a 50-year-old home and have been working on updating it over the last few years. The master closets were reach-in style with very limited space for organizing our things. We were dealing with a single rod, double high shelves, and lots of wasted floor space. (Yikes.) I had been using miscellaneous baskets until we could afford to install a closet organization system—when we did, we evaluated our closets and recognized our unique needs before designing them. My hubby wears business suits, dress shirts, and pants, and has very few shoes. I, on the other hand, have as many shoes as my closet can handle and have long dresses as well as shorter tops and slacks. The new design works so well for both of our needs and hardly an inch of space is wasted. The closets still look almost exactly like they did right after, because the system works. It's easy to put things away when there is a designated place for each piece. We love it!"

Ginny Grover is the expert organizer behind Organizinghomelife.com.

After:
Utilize Every Space
The Complete Book of Home Organization
For those with a limited amount of space, it's important to utilize the overlooked areas in your home that can be reimagined as storage. Add hooks, shoe bags, or racks to the backs of doors, install high shelves for items you use infrequently, and use decorative bins or clear containers to store items neatly and provide easy access to their contents. Think creatively about neglected spaces in your home.
The Complete Book of Home Organization
Maximize hanging space with double rods.
Put Shoes on Display
The Complete Book of Home Organization
Shoe clutter is one of the hardest things to get control of—the average woman owns well over 20 pairs! There are endless storage options: get shoes up of the floor and display them on a shelf, either in shoeboxes or neatly arranged in rows. Clear plastic bins keep the dust off and extend the life of shoes—you probably spent a fortune on them, so care for them well!
The Complete Book of Home Organization
Place purses and bags inside each other like nesting dolls.
Color-Code Clothing
The Complete Book of Home Organization
Closet organization doesn't end after you've purged and categorized. Go one step further by color-coding clothing to finish off the space. It's pleasing to the eye and gives the space a more uniform and streamlined look. A color-coded wardrobe also speeds things up when you are picking your outfit for the day.
Text excerpted from The Complete Book of Home OrganizationCopyright © 2016 by Toni Hammersley. Published by Weldon Owen, a division of Bonnier Publishing USA.

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Before You Go

Organizing Hacks for Your Tiny Closet
The "Leave No Space Behind" Answer to Those Stubborn Angles(01 of07)
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Even though your closet is called a "reach-in," the name doesn't quite fit, since the only way to retrieve clothing from its dark corners is with a stretch, a yank and a pull. If you're frustrated with the dead space on the sides, try blogger Melissa Smith of 320 Sycamore's ingenious solution. Remove the long rod and shelf that go straight across the closet side-to-side and replace it with one that is the width of the doorframe. In one corner of the closet, install two closet rods, one lower and one higher (basically, perpendicular to the new, shorter left-to-right rod). The top bar should hang approximately 75 to 80 inches from the floor; the bottom bar, ideal for shorter items such as shirts and skirts, approximately 36 to 40 inches. Tension rods make this a snap (if you're storing lighter-weight items). For more detailed information, see Melissa's tutorial here. (credit:Courtesy of 320 Sycamore)
The New Home for Your Strappy Party Shoes(02 of07)
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Not all shoes are created equal -- which means wear-only-for-special-occasions heels often get short shrift. But instead of keeping them out of sight in shoe boxes, use crown molding along the back wall of your closet (or even on the inside of the door) in one or multiple rows to create shoe organizers. Just 30 inches of molding can hold four pairs of shoes. If you need more guidance, this Home Depot community forum outlines the how-to steps you can follow to build the shoe racks. (credit:Roeshel at <a href="http://diyshowoff.com/" target="_blank" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="DIYShowOff" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="57e94317e4b0e28b2b550cdb" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="http://diyshowoff.com/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="before_you_go_slideshow" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="13" data-vars-position-in-unit="16">DIYShowOff</a>)
The Upcycle That Will Double Your Space(03 of07)
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Before you recycle that Diet Coke can, pull the tab off to use as a quick way to double the hanging space available on one hanger. As shown in this tutorial from Idea Bottle, simply slide the tab down the hook of a hanger to its base, and then slip another hanger hook through the lower hole of the tab. Voila! Now you can store more clothing on a single closet rod. (This also is a great way to pair outfits together.) (credit:Tara Charlton from IdeaBottle.blogspot.com)
The Leftover Hooks That Are Afraid of Water(04 of07)
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Wondering what to do with the surplus shower-curtain rings lurking in your linen closet? Laura Wittmann, author of Clutter Rehab: 101 Tips and Tricks to Become an Organization Junkie and Love It!, and blogger behind -your-scarves-hats-with-shower-hooks.html" target="_blank">I'm an Organizing Junkie, clips shower-curtain rings to a hanger and then loops scarves through them, which saves space and keeps everything wrinkle-free. (The same trick works for hats and belts.) (credit:Laura Wittmann of <a href="http://orgjunkie.com/" target="_blank" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="OrgJunkie.com" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="57e94317e4b0e28b2b550cdb" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="http://orgjunkie.com/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="before_you_go_slideshow" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="8" data-vars-position-in-unit="11">OrgJunkie.com</a>)
The Slipped-Your-Mind Solution That Takes Less Than 1 Minute(05 of07)
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You could spend $30 on a set of felt hangers; or, you could try one of these DIY methods from blogger Jill Nystul of One Good Thing By Jillee. Take a few pipe cleaners; wrap one around each end of a hanger, starting slightly after where the neckline of the clothing would sit. Rubber bands work, as well. However, Jill's favorite solution is to use a hot glue gun to make a zigzag pattern along the top of the hanger to create a grip, which, she says, is just as effective but the clear glue is less noticeable. (credit:One Good Thing By Jillee)
The Trick You Learned at the Office(06 of07)
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We've worked in offices. We've also woken up to realize the one T-shirt we wanted to wear was at the bottom of the dirty-laundry pile. But it was Ainhoa Vega of the blog A Little Bite of Everything who put two and two together. She installed two towel rods lengthwise, one across the front and one along the back of the drawer; and then placed several metal rods that slide perpendicular to the towel rods, joining them. The result? An at-home closet-filing system where you fold T-shirts on rods in drawers so you can see all your options at once. For a complete how-to explanation, visit her blog post and say goodbye to T-shirt clutter once and for all. (credit:Ainhoa from A Little Bite of Everything)
The Third Shelf You Didn't Know You Could Fit(07 of07)
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If you've already doubled your closet space by installing two levels of hanging rods, you might not realize that there's space for one more rod -- and no, it's not at the ceiling. If you put a third tension rod right below your lowest rod, you can use loset-boot-storage-day-4.html" target="_blank">pants hangers to corral your boots, store flip-flops with bent wire hangers and dangle purses or hats from S hooks. (credit:Roeshel at <a href="http://diyshowoff.com/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="DIYShowOff" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="57e94317e4b0e28b2b550cdb" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="http://diyshowoff.com/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="before_you_go_slideshow" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="3" data-vars-position-in-unit="6">DIYShowOff</a>)
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