We have lived in our house for almost 17 years now. I consider myself a pretty organized person but as with anyone some spaces in my house get neglected and I would say my closet is one of them. It took me most of the day but I’m really glad it did it and I am excited about the way it turned out.
Here is one of the before pictures. It was a mess, over full, and well in need of TLC!
(Yes, you’ll notice the wire hangers, those of you who remember “Mommy Dearest” can totally year the words “No wire hangers” – lol – my husband loves them for his dress shirts.)
The first thing I did was gut it, and I mean everything!
I learned my husband had more clothes and shoes than me! What?!!!
After gutting it, I vacuumed the floor, the boarder of the floor with a crevice tool, and all the shelves. This would get the worst of the dust out. Next I wiped down all of the shelves, hanging rods, hardware, etc with a clean rag and soapy water.
After everything was empty and cleaned – I measured all the shelves I wanted to organize, came up with a vision, and wrote it down.
I went to the Dollar Store and bought these collapsible boxes to store things in.
I put my husbands baseball hats stacked in one, my hats stacked in one. I rolled up my leggings (boy was this a space saver) and place them in one as well as my yoga pants. I even have a few extra to spare!
I bought pool noodles to put in my boots. I measured a pool noodle in my boot, marked it, and cut it with a saw. Each pool noodle would make 3 inserts for my boots.
I had some of these shoe box bins from Dollar Tree but I went and bought a few more for our shoes that would fit in them.
I use 2 Command Hooks and a tension rod and hung my bags on them. I was able to hang up 2 rows of them.
I made outfits and hung them on one hanger, this helped consolidate space as well.
I used pop tabs for some of my husband’s shirts. Hook one hole of the pop tab on a hanger and hook another shirt’s hook on the other hole. You can do 2 ore more shirts with this method to conserve space.
Using a hanger or in my case a jewelry hanger and some shower curtain rings I can space save for things like my husband’s belts, jewelry, scarves, tank tops, etc.
Purge! Get rid of anything you haven’t worn in the last year for sure, things you don’t really love, don’t fit, etc. We give our items to a variety of charities.
*One big tip I can give everyone – If you are feeling nostalgic it is not your day to clean out your closet. You have to be ready to purge to have a good day or you’ll end up not getting anywhere. When you do purge, put it in a bag or box and don’t look back. If you open it later you’ll be bound to pull stuff back out. Just say no!
When I put our clothes back in the closet, there was a lot less clothing and I matched hangers to give it a cleaner look.
I am so pleased with the way it turned out and I smile when I walk in there now rather than get in and out as fast as I can to ignore it.
Watch me clean my closet in my video with Hometalk!
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Chas, that looks great! What a wonderful feeling every time you open it, right?! It’s so true, a day you’re feeling nostalgic is not the day to organize your closet. I had a dress from when I was 19 years old hanging in my closet! I could still fit into it, but it was no longer age appropriate by any stretch of the imagination, but I kept hanging on to it for sentimental reasons, until the day I was in the right frame of mind!
Thank you so much Jean and I absolutely love your story. I just had a similar situation with my husband – he is nostalgic about his clothes sometimes. He was hanging onto a couple things that were dated and just the other day he came out and said – okay it was time to let them go. The real story was that he was holding onto one of them because his grandma gave it too him. I offered to turn it into something else like a pillow so he could have the memory and it didn’t have to say in a drawer.
Great strategy! It looks like it will be really useful and easy to maintain. The one thing I’m curious about: How can you know what is in each of those identical gray bins?
In my recent article 19 Thrifty Ways to Find More Space in Your Home you can see how my partner repurposed some bins discarded by my office as storage for his closet, and how we converted a bookcase into a closet for our preschooler!
Thank you and great question. I was going to leave the bins plain because I just know what’s in them, but my husband wanted them labeled. I took my label maker and stuck a label on each bin.
You need to get rid of your wire hangers!!! I use one color hanger for my short-sleeved things and another for my long-sleeved so I know what I have as soon as I look into my closet; the same thing for my husband. I like the way you put your outfits together, but some of us don’t work that way and need to see all that we have. I also put my stuff away according to the color it is so that when I am looking for a blue top I go to my blue tops, for instance. It may sound hard to do but it is not.
Thank you so much for sharing Donna. I don’t use wire hangers any more but my husband loves them for his shirts. I leave his stuff alone as it’s his system. The outfit idea isn’t for everyone and honestly it’s just an idea I put out there. I have a couple things that I put together but mostly I like to mix and match so reduce and keep separate. Thanks for the mention on the color coordinating – my husband likes to do that as well.
Hey Chas,
My husband & I are empty nesters & live in an older home that don’t have walk in closets. The two bedrooms on our main level are very small. One closet has a built in three drawer dresser. I’m not sure of the dimensions. All I know is I’d like organize it so it would be easier access for us. Your ideas are very useful. Decluttering is my first step, from there I need help. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Maureen! Thanks for reaching out. I’m thrilled you want to organize your closet and thanks for asking. I’ll email you regarding options.
I am in an older home with lot of closets but not walk-in. I am considering turning a bedroom into a closet any suggestions. My husband passed away 3 years ago. I am now going to get rid of his clothes etc. But I have lot of clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry etc. Could you give me guidance and advice how to utilize my space better? Thank you so much in advance.
I would love to see a video on organizing jewelry organization. I have tons of necklaces and long chains that I don’t know how to organize. I’ve tried the ice cube trays and multiple jewelry hangers but none of them work very well for me. Help!