I’ve lived in my house for almost 6 years and the master closet has always bugged me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite big and I’m grateful for that! What bothered me was that the closet is about 4 feet deep and the hanging clothes bar was hung in the middle of the closet depth-wise. This meant that there was a large amount of storage space behind the hanging clothes, which was wildly inconvenient. It was a great place for luggage and stuff I didn’t need to grab often, but I had all of my folding clothes back there and that was annoying! Yes, I could have bought a dresser to go under my hanging clothes, but that would have boxed in whatever was stored in the back even more.
FINALLY last week I did something about it! I decided to rehang the bar so that the clothes were flush against the back wall, and get some type of shelving for my folded clothes against the side walls. It was a super easy project, but damn am I loving the results! Me and my handy drill took out three screws on each side and then screwed them back in a foot over. For whatever reason, there were even outlines of where the screws should go already in the wood. After moving the bar back, I bought a white cube set from Target for the right side of the closet. On the left side, I got what is technically a bathroom cabinet, a cabinet with a door which I put sideways on the bottom, and a little shelving unit. In total I spent $214, your mileage will vary.
Next was putting the clothes away! I grouped them by how or for what I would be getting ready. In the cube unit, I put mostly winter and pajama wear: college/free tees, sweaters, sweatshirts, sweatpants, and pj sets/dresses. In the bottom cabinet on the left side wall, I put casual tees and tanks, workout tanks, and workout pants. In the middle cabinet I have my unmentionables (underwear, bras, sports bras.. there I mentioned them) and also crop tops. On the top shelving is skirts, shorts, and leggings.
Previously my piles of sweatshirts and sweatpants were not only hard to get to, but they were in massive piles which meant they were always toppling over and getting messed up. Pro tip: shorter piles are much easier to maintain! If you aren’t completely redesigning what you have, you can buy risers to fake having more shelves and get the short stack functionality we’re after.
The last thing I want to mention is color coordinating. I color ordered my clothing as I put them away because it’s pretty and fun for a picture. However, I don’t want anyone thinking that I will maintain the color order. Especially since my stacks of clothing are still fairly big, it’s too much work to maintain. So don’t get yourself in over your head with unreasonable standards. Do what works for you and what allows you to get dressed in the easiest way possible!
Your Turn: Did my new closet design give you any ideas for changes to make in your own closet?
