DIYers often install systems without first measuring their stuff, then try to make their stuff fit. Instead, first size up your contents.
DIYers often install systems without first measuring their stuff, then try to make their stuff fit. Instead, first size up your contents.
Photograph by: Thinkstock, Postmedia News
There's always a trigger, experts say. When someone finally checks into rehab or jumps off a bridge or breaks down and organizes their closets, some event sets it off. For me, it was moving to a house with smaller closets.
While I considered pitching myself off a bridge, I settled on getting smarter about closet organizing. In my new place, closet space isn't just smaller overall, the master closet area is divided into three closets: his, hers and I don't want to go there.
Because I purged when I packed to move, all the clothes I brought to my new digs were staying. Every garment fits, looks good, all the zippers work and nothing bears some sorry hope of coming back in style.
As I set about organizing my new closets, I knew they would have to meet minimum standards -no belt snake pit, no sweater stack that comes with an avalanche warning, no underwear drawers that look like chickens live in them and no hangers so tangled they look like they've been in a barroom brawl.
More than that, what I really wanted was a closet so organized that I could pull together an outfit without taking a step.
I started by sorting. I grouped clothing by colour, then by season. I divided clothes into fat days and skinny days, by short and long, by categories (pants and blouses), and by function (work, casual and dressy).
This got so complicated, I called a professional . Lisa Engel, vice-president of marketing for Closet Maid, knew my pain. "Moving is a major closet-makeover trigger," she said, sympathizing. Other ones are having a baby and getting married.
The recession is also having an effect. "Before, when people got married or had a baby, they often got a bigger place," she said. "Now people are stuck, so they're making the closet space they have work harder."
To help me get the most out of my closets, Engel shared some inside-thecloset scoop. Here, she said, is what most consumers don't know:
. The typical three-metre-wide wall closet with a pole and a shelf holds three metres of hanging clothes and three metres of stacked folded clothes on the shelf.
That same closet with a system can hold just over three metres of hanging space, five metres of shelves for folded items, plus drawers and racks for belts and shoes.
. After a point, additional cost buys strictly looks. For a relatively minimal investment, you can have a wire-closet system that does everything a pricey cherrywood system does: organize and add useful, differentiated space.
. DIYers often install systems without first measuring their stuff, then try to make their stuff fit. Instead, first size up your contents.
Measure how many feet of longhanging items you have. Start your plan there, then add upper-and lower-hanging racks for short-hanging items. Next add a shelf tower, bins and racks for ties, scarves and belts.
. The best hangers curve like shoulders to keep garments in their ideal shape, but contoured hangers can hog space. Next best are flat, thick (halfinch) wood or plastic hangers, which take less room.
. The primary rule of closet organizing is put what you wear most within easy reach, said Engel. Archive items you won't wear until the weather cools.
Consider under-the-bed storage boxes. After that, how you arrange your clothes is personal.
. Don't hang what you should fold, and don't hide what you should see. Fold and stack T-shirts, sweaters and exercise wear, and don't keep shoes or jewelry in boxes, which wastes space and makes you forget what you have hidden.
. Buy systems you can adjust. This way you won't worry if you make a planning mistake. Plus, you can take flexible systems with you when you move, which you may not have to do if you get the closets right.
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