In August, we gave you lots of ideas to begin your closet reorganization on a budget. Here is the second part, filled with more ideas. Remember this – 
the more ideas you can incorporate into your own closet, the more organized it will be and the more room you will have for your clothing and accessories.
If you have the space, I highly recommend adding a low but wide dresser which will fit neatly beneath an upper clothes rod. Any old but sturdy dresser will do and will suit your needs. Although you can also outfit the space with shelving, bins, and baskets instead of a dresser, I like the horizontal space on top of the dresser for other things. If you’re messy by nature, it might not be the best way to go, but if you can keep the top of the dresser contained, it might serve you well.
Some great uses for this horizontal area on the top of your dresser:
- A small, cookie-tin-turned-sewing-box to conveniently replace a button, sew a stich in a loose hem, and hold a small pair of scissors to cut off store tags
- A place to lay out your jewelry, socks and other accessories for the following day
- A mirror on a stand to help you when putting jewelry on
- A desk drawer insert tray to hold the jewelry you take off when you walk in the door if you don’t immediately put it elsewhere. I personally love having a tall, locked jewelry cabinet disguised as a simple full length, adjustable mirror in my bedroom. But sometimes the jewelry doesn’t make it back to its designated home until the weekend, so a partitioned tray holds it in the meantime.
- An unlidded small box will be convenient to hold odds and ends, such as small notes you might have tucked into your pants pockets
Within the drawers, empty shoe boxes become your best friend. These sturdy boxes you would otherwise breakdown to recycle are perfect to line the inside of some of your drawers. Separate your types of underwear, your athletic socks from your dress socks, tights, leggings and any other smaller apparel into them to keep them neat, organized and handy.
Use another drawer to hold pajamas, swim suits, or sweatshirts, and another for jeans if you choose to keep them in drawers. Dividers that stand up vertically on shelves keep piles of clothes contained and separated, and so you may choose to use these instead for the same items. Make sure you design your closet for how you live.
The back of your closet door is precious real estate! If you don’t put things away right after you change out of your clothes after work, you might want to add hooks to hang your clothes on. I personally find hooks here to be useful for both my robes and pajamas. If you choose to store your shoes in the closet, consider attaching several tubular towel racks to the back of the door to hold heels.
Most closets will have some shelves. Consider clear plastic shoe boxes here – whether for shoes or for other items. You can get these on the cheap at your local dollar store. The idea is to be able to see everything at a glance, so you don’t waste time and make a mess looking for one particular item. But baskets also do really well on shelves as long as you know what you have in them. Lightweight canvas handled baskets can be used for pajamas, scarves, sweaters, and purses and other items that don’t stack neatly. Of course, if you have the room to display your purses, go for it! But since we’re talking today about smaller spaces, baskets might be a great option for you.
If you wear a lot of scarves or have many belts, for a few bucks you can buy a specially-designed hanger for this purpose. Or, just dedicate a sturdy
wooden one to hold your belts and a satin-covered one for your scarves.
You may want to consider an outfit staging area if you like to plan out what you’ll be wearing the following day. That’s simply a fancy way of saying you’ll have a designated hook on which you’ll hang those clothes. You can also pull your underwear, socks, and accessories out and place them on the dresser top. If you don’t have the room for this (or the inclination), it’s certainly not necessary.
A small hamper and tiny garbage pail are nice to tuck into a corner, but also not necessary. A long mirror to check your appearance after dressing is very convenient but also not necessary or viable for the smallest of closets.
If it’s important to you to have your space pretty as well as practical, by all means dress it up! Paint or wallpaper an accent wall or add photos to unused wall space. If your main concern for this private area of your home is the practicality of it, then that, too, is a luxury and not a necessity.
Although you can invest in very pricey and fancy closet systems complete with hydraulics to lift and lower shelving and clothing rods, most of us live
with a humbler set-up. Thoughtful planning, and some light renovation, will accomplish what’s needed to reinvent it into the practical space that you need and desire. A redesign to make use of every square foot possible doesn’t have to be costly.
And if the thought of adding or moving shelves stresses you out, just call D4 Construction. Mike and his crew are the affordable way to have renovations made. You can reach Mike at 250-572-4812 for an estimate – and let him know you read about it here. Mike will install shelves and clothes rods – or reconfigure them – to create the organized and practical clothes closet you’ve dreamed of. Small changes really can have huge benefits.
We would LOVE to see your before and after closet re-do! Please take photos and call Mike or Joann to let them know; your photos just might get published in this newsletter!
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