How many of you would love to have a custom designed closet makeover? Space for everything in your closet, and on top of that, having an actual system that lets you keep things organized. Pretty much all of you I would guess. Well, if you're ready to take the plunge and go for it, and design the perfect closet - whether it ends up to be a few extra hangers, boxes and shelves in a teeny tiny closet, or a super walk-in closet with an armchair and full length 3 way mirrors and the ultimate in custom closet features, what we're going to create is a closet perfectly suited to your wardrobe and accessories.
So first, what is it that you need in a closet? Here's the list that I would start with:
- organize my shoes
- organize my formal clothes
- organize my work clothes
- organize my going out clothes
- organize my casual clothes
- organize my workout gear
- create summer and winter storage
- organize my accessories - jewlery, belts, hats etc.
I know that once we get started, this list is going to grow, so I'm just going to add a little extra storage space which will give me a bit of room to expand.
Where to start
Well where do we start? The first step is to take a look at what it is that we're going to be storing/organizing in the closet. We have to be realistic in our goals as well. That means that if space is limited, then the stuff that you're going to organize should also be limited. What am I saying? The thing that everyone dreads hearing. YOU PROBABLY NEED TO GET RID OF SOME OF YOUR JUNK! Yes, it's true. Organizing doesn't solve all of our problems. More often than not, part of our organizing dilemma is the fact that we just have a lot of stuff that we really wouldn't miss, and just cutting down and minimizing will be the best thing you've ever done to accomplish your organizing task.
So take a bit of time and consider what you really need to keep. I'll be writing some posts on that in the future, check back soon for a step by step as I go through this exercise with one of my own closets that has gotten out of control.
What next
Ok, now sort your stuff into groups so we can figure out how much space we need to store each group. We want to be able to easily find it (and more importantly, put it back) once we've got everything stored, therefore sorting your stuff into organized groups is the best way to get your organization system started. Go back to the list above, sort your things into those groups - or in your case, groups of things that suit you.
One last step - you're not going to like this one
Ok, so we've decided on the space that we have to store stuff - big or small closet, it doesn't matter. All we're concerned about is creating the best closet design for the space that you have available. And we've taken stock of what we want to store - keeping in mind that we have to be realistic in the amount of stuff that will fit in our particular space. We've done the 'getting rid of junk' step, and we've sorted our stuff into organized groups.
Now what I want you to do is go back to the 'getting rid of junk' step. Yes, you heard me, I know that you only half-heartedly got rid of stuff in the first part of our design process. And more than half the stuff that you haven't used in the last year (or more), you just added back to the pile because "I might end up using it eventually". Well, lets give ourselves, say, 3 free 'retro' items, 3 free 'I'll fit into it in 6 months' items, and 3 free 'sentimental' items. THAT'S IT!! I know it's going to be hard, but this is neccesary. And you're going to thank me for it.
Ok, that's it for now. This will probably take a day or two in itself. Don't rush this step, because this is like the foundation for closet organization. If you build a closet design around a lot of unused stuff, your entire closet design is eventually come collapsing down, and you'll end up right back at the same spot as before. Well, will have a few extra boxes holding up your pile of junk, but I can tell you that your new 'system' is not going to work unless you take this 'Closet Design for Beginners (Part I)' seriously.
Happy organizing, and make sure to read 'closet design for beginners' Part II.
