Welcome to our closet!! It's the first time in my life that I have a walk-in closet, and it brings me so much JOY. When we first moved into our home I attempted to organize our closet like the ones you see on Pinterest. I sorted everything by colour, which looked pretty, but for me, it wasn't functional. I also have more clothing than most of the closets you see online, so it didn't look as pretty as I had hoped. Keep in mind that not all, but a lot of those closets are staged for photos. In an effort to be real, I didn't remove anything from my closet when taking these photos. The only items that I keep in a different closet are my long evening gowns.
Since the space wasn't organized based on functionality, overtime it became a big mess. I kept putting it off to take care of other projects and the mess kept building. That's where Cassandra from Organizing Made Simple came into the picture. She saw the disaster I liked to call a closet on Instagram and offered her help.
Here are some tips she gave me/ what she did to make my closet look as beautiful as it does!
1. Remove
Take EVERYTHING out of your closet and lay it on the floor or on your bed
2. Clean
Wipe down your shelves, drawers, knobs and so on.
3. Purge (my FAV!)
Go through every item you own and decide if you're keeping, donating, selling, giving away (to family/friends) or tossing. Make a pile or designate a bag for each category. If you have clothes that do not fit BUT do not want to get rid of (i.e. maternity clothes) Put them into a tote aside and when ready, swap the clothes out.
Pro Tip: Put the items you're giving away immediately into a bag to prevent remorse LOL
4. Categorize
Within the "keep" pile, make categories based on how you like to shop your closet. For example, I have A LOT of dresses, and I organized them the following way:
- Mini
- Maxi/ Midi
- Off Shoulder
- Button Down
- T-shirt
- Sweater
- Night out (think dinner and dancing)
- Fancy (think bridal shower)
- Plaid
Although this isn't ideal for everyone, it's what works for me when I'm looking for a dress to wear. I organized every other category within my closet in a similar way. What I found VERY helped was these clothing dividers that Cassandra suggested. We labelled them using my label maker but they have been a game changer in helping me keep my closet organized.
5. Hang
Once you begin hanging your clothes, ensure they are all in the same direction, and nothing is inside out. Ensure that your most used categories are at the front/
Welcome to our closet!! It's the first time in my life that I have a walk-in closet, and it brings me so much JOY. When we first moved into our home I attempted to organize our closet like the ones you see on Pinterest. I sorted everything by colour, which looked pretty, but for me, it wasn't functional. I also have more clothing than most of the closets you see online, so it didn't look as pretty as I had hoped. Keep in mind that not all, but a lot of those closets are staged for photos. In an effort to be real, I didn't remove anything from my closet when taking these photos. The only items that I keep in a different closet are my long evening gowns.
Since the space wasn't organized based on functionality, overtime it became a big mess. I kept putting it off to take care of other projects and the mess kept building. That's where Cassandra from Organizing Made Simple came into the picture. She saw the disaster I liked to call a closet on Instagram and offered her help.
Here are some tips she gave me/ what she did to make my closet look as beautiful as it does!
1. Remove
Take EVERYTHING out of your closet and lay it on the floor or on your bed
2. Clean
Wipe down your shelves, drawers, knobs and so on.
3. Purge (my FAV!)
Go through every item you own and decide if you're keeping, donating, selling, giving away (to family/friends) or tossing. Make a pile or designate a bag for each category. If you have clothes that do not fit BUT do not want to get rid of (i.e. maternity clothes) Put them into a tote aside and when ready, swap the clothes out.
Pro Tip: Put the items you're giving away immediately into a bag to prevent remorse LOL
4. Categorize
Within the "keep" pile, make categories based on how you like to shop your closet. For example, I have A LOT of dresses, and I organized them the following way:
- Mini
- Maxi/ Midi
- Off Shoulder
- Button Down
- T-shirt
- Sweater
- Night out (think dinner and dancing)
- Fancy (think bridal shower)
- Plaid
Although this isn't ideal for everyone, it's what works for me when I'm looking for a dress to wear. I organized every other category within my closet in a similar way. What I found VERY helped was these clothing dividers that Cassandra suggested. We labelled them using my label maker but they have been a game changer in helping me keep my closet organized.
5. Hang
Once you begin hanging your clothes, ensure they are all in the same direction, and nothing is inside out. Ensure that your most used categories are at the front/ most accessible. A long hanging area is ideal for dresses, and sometimes it's just a matter of removing a shelf or raising a bar to make this space available. For a more cohesive look, make sure you match your hangers. Velvet hangers are the BEST, because they save space and keep clothes in place. Here are the ones I have. Lastly, colour coordinate ONLY if this does not feel overwhelming. In my closet we colour coordinated within each category.
6. Fold
Hang as much as you can, if you have the space available to minimize the amount of items that need to be folded. If you need to make sacrifices, fold the following items:
- Bottom; with the exception of dress pants
- Knit sweaters
- Workout clothes
- T-shirts and tanks
Use baskets or bins for top shelves or as a neat folding space. We used baskets for Joe's cycling clothes since they're impossible to fold and in our drawers we use organizers to keep smaller items, such as socks and underwear, in place.
7. Clear the floor
This not only makes the space look more organized, it helps keep things from building up (don't we all look for a place to throw things to do "later"? LOL). I had some boxes and baskets underneath everything that was hung. Together with Cassandra, we were able to purge and find a home for everything I wanted to keep, so that the floor could be nice and clean. I only left one little box in the corner, because she was pretty and my panty hose needed a home.
8. Stay Organized
- All spaces should be 80% full to stay organized. This means you shouldn't cram everything into a drawer, because once you go searching for it, it's going to be impossible to keep anything in it's place.
- Tidy your closet each season
- Use a folding tool. I don't use one daily, but I like to use it for items I don't wear often, or for seasonal items that are on higher shelves when not in use. This helps me fold everything evenly, which keep things looking pretty.
Although I LOVE to organize (I find it therapeutic), I'm slowly learning that I can't do it all. This experience helped me realize that sometimes you need to let others help clear things off your plate and it will help clear your mind, I PROMISE!! My clean closet gives me SO much peace of mind, now let's see how long I can make it last!
As always, leave any questions below!
Xo
Caroline
*This post was created in collaboration with Organizing Made Simple
Shop this post
