6 Simple Small Closet Organization Tips

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Last Updated on March 24, 2021 by lindseymahoney

Last Fall I finished our master bedroom makeover and I am finally getting around to writing the closet organization post. Just in time for Spring cleaning!

Our home has incredible storage with large closets in every bedroom and even more spacious closets in the hallway.

Unfortunately, even though we are blessed to have so many closets, they lack the organizational systems we needed to keep everything orderly. Today I am excited to share the simple changes I made to make our closets much more functional for our family.

Here is a snapshot of my closet before this makeover. It’s not terrible by any means, but I knew the function could be improved.

Here is that same closet after. Much better!

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6 Simple Closet Organization Tips

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Scroll to the bottom of the post for a full source list for this organization project and the transformation of 2 more closets!

1 | Donate & Toss Old Clothing

This is one of the most important steps when organizing your closet. Channel your inner Marie Kondo and ask yourself if you love each item that is hanging in your closet. It feels so good to clear out a jam-packed closet and finally see each item you love.

Bag up your clothes and send them off to a Goodwill drop center or a friend who may be interested in new clothes. If you are clearing out a child’s closet, reach out to a friend with a younger child to see if they are interested in gently used clothes. If you want a little extra cash, take your kids’ clothes to a place like Once Upon a Child where they will pay you for the clothing!

2 | Paint Closet Interior

Once all of your clothes have been pulled out, take the extra step of painting the closet. Giving a fresh coat of white paint makes a huge difference. A nice clean backdrop for your clothes will give your organized closet a professional look.

3 | Add Closet Shelving

Increase closet organization with shelves. I purchased a Closetmaid Organization System that included a center shelving unit and 3 clothing bars. You can also purchase shelving (and the brackets) to go over each clothing bar that is sold separately.

I am so happy to have a dedicated spot for my sweaters! Before our bedroom makeover, I kept most of my sweaters in a bin under our old bed, so the new shelving is a great option to store them.

When I was figuring out where all of our clothes should live, I focused on keeping my nicer items in the closet and my lounge outfits in the dresser drawers. The dresser now holds items like workout clothes, pajamas, and painting clothes. My closet now holds jeans, sweaters, and “going out” items.

4 | Add Dual Closet Rods

The original layout of our closets included a single hanging rod at the top of the closet. There is so much wasted space under hanging items like shirts and jackets. I added double hanging rods on one side of the closet and a single hanging rod on the other side to hold any longer items like dresses.

5 | Matching Closet Hangers

I purchased 80 new hangers, all black velvet, and got to work hanging our clothes. I focused on removing all wire hangers and colorful plastic hangers we acquired through the years. The plastic hangers went into the kid’s bedrooms and coat closets.

I compiled all of our wood, suit jacket hangers, and made sure they had suit jackets hanging on them. It is amazing how much of a difference this can make when all of the same clothing items have the same form. When hanging our clothes, I made sure that each item was facing the same direction. This small step makes a world of difference visually when everything is hung in the closet.

6 | Categorize & Group Clothing

One of my favorite tips from watching The Home Edit is rainbow categorization. It gives your closet a sense of order and is visually pleasing. It is also a great way to see what item you have too much of and where you are lacking in terms of staple wardrobe pieces.

6 | Shoe Organization

There are lots of great organizational hacks for shoes to be neatly put away. I used two shoe racks (similar) to store most of our shoes and slid my flat shoes under the hanging clothes. I also like to use boot forms to keep my boots standing straight and to keep their shape.

Implementing these simple changes has made our closets so much more functional for our daily lives.

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Here is Chris’ closet before the closest organization makeover.

And here is his closet after! I love seeing all of his shirts sorted with similar items and facing the same way.

Here is the third closet in our bedroom that we never really utilized properly.

And here is the same closet after! I used this closet to store all of our rarely used clothing items like Chris’ suits and dresses I would wear to a wedding. This closet now doubles as a linen closet for our master bathroom.

Closet Organization Source List

• Closetmaid Organization System
• Closetmaid Shelves & Brackets
• Velvet Hangers
• Wood Suit Hangers
• Boot Forms
• Shoe racks (similar)

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