Saturday, September 29, 2012

my top five closet storage solutions

I just realized that I never got around to sharing my closet/dressing room here! I've taken some photos where you can spot some of it in the background, but I never did a full-out tour post like I intended. Anyway, it occurred to me that some of my organization methods might be somewhat useful so I thought I'd share some storage tips first, then do the whole closet tour shebang next week! :)



1. Use household items to organize. You don't need a fancy jewelry box to house your collections -- you can display your accessories using containers you already have laying around the house! I used a plastic french fry basket from the dollar store, a mason jar and an old melamine chips-and-dip tray to house my brooches and bracelets! And to keep my lipsticks organized I used nail polish remover caps and a jar lid (DIY post here!) It's amazing how instantly a run-of-the-mill item can be transformed into a useful storage container with the help of a little spray paint! ;)





2. At-a-glance storage. Whenever possible, try to store things so that you can see everything at a glance. If you stack your sweaters on top of each other, you'll constantly be rifling through your drawer and messing things up whenever you get dressed. Storing my cardigans side-by-side (and in rainbow order!) helps things stay neat and tidy. It's also a huge time saver!

For smaller items like tights, using a drawer organizer really comes in handy. I use a soft organizer from IKEA so that none of my tights will snag, and I roll them up side by side so I can see all of the colors at a glance.



3. Roll up pajamas in a shoe organizer. I have a weakness for flannel pajama sets (especially if they have cute animals on them) but I never really knew where to put them. I like keeping sweaters, jeans and unmentionables in my dressers so that leaves little room for big bulky pj's! I came up with this solution and it works SO well! I roll up the pajama set and stuff it into a shoe organizer slot. This makes it so easy to grab a top+bottom set in a pinch, and it doesn't take up much room!





1. Closet dividers to store belts and sunglasses. Earlier this year I purchased two closet dividers (or doublers) hoping to use them to hang up shirts and skirts, but they just didn't work out for me. Luckily, they were absolutely *perfect* for another purpose! I needed somewhere to store my (embarrassingly large) belt collection, and this totally fit the bill. I hung the divider from the ceiling using cup hooks, and then used S hooks to hang the belts. Since the dividers that I purchased came in three separate pieces (the two sides and the one middle rung) I was able to take the middle rung from the 2nd set and add another row for my sunglasses! (These are the dividers that I purchased)



5. Stagger your shoes. Finally, keeping shoes staggered (one shoe with the front facing forward and one with the heel facing forward) saves a lot of room! It isn't quite as pretty as having them all facing you, but you can fit a lot more shoes in a small space this way! :)