Design Ideas for a House Closet

by Kaye Morris, Demand Media

An organized closet is a thing of beauty.

A chief complaint from most homeowners is the lack of closet space. No matter how much bigger closets get, it never seems to be enough space to properly organize your wardrobe. If you spend most mornings rummaging through your closet for work clothes, then dashing out the door your standard 5 minutes late, it’s time to redesign your closet for maximum efficiency.

Two Hanging Levels

Older homes, especially, often have closets equipped with one hanging rod that allows long garments, such as dresses, to hang all the way down without wrinkling, but not many people have a full closet of dresses. The first way to create more space in your closet is to determine how much space you need for full-length clothes hanging, then add an additional clothes rod mid-way down the wall in the rest of the hanging space. A common organization is to place shirts on the top rod and pants, skirts and shorts on the bottom rod.

Drawers and Shelves

If you have a lot of clothes that you fold and stack, use one section of the closet to install floor to top shelf drawers or shelves. Stacking is especially suited to sweaters and silk blouses that can become misshapen or imprinted by hangers. Shelves offer the advantage of being able to see all your stacked clothes, but drawers offer the advantage of protecting clothes from dust, especially during long periods of nonuse.

Purse Bins

Rather than let the space above the top shelf and the ceiling go to waste, set a couple of 1-foot-square bins on top. Bins are sold in 1-, 2- and 3-foot heights, so choose the one that takes the best advantage of the available space. Once the bins are in place, simply slide your purses in each cubby for easy viewing and retrieval. Place specialty purses that are not used as often in the highest bins.

Shoe Boxes

If you have designer shoes that need to remain in the boxes for protection, use shoe stacking shelves on the floor of the closet and on the top shelf to hold the boxes. Using shelves, rather than stacking the boxes one on top of the other, allows you to pull a single box out without upsetting the entire stack. For shoe-finding efficiency, tape a picture of the shoe on the front of the box.

Ceiling Hangers for Ball Caps

Everyone knows about over-the-door hangers for hats, or the stretch racks that can be mounted on walls or doors, but you can hang your hats and make use of normally unused space at the same time. Screw plant-holder hooks into the ceiling down the middle of the closet and hang your ball caps from the hooks. Unless your ceilings are very low or you are very tall, the hats should not brush against the top of your head.