The state of your hall closets probably doesn’t keep you up at night with anxiety. Nor do they have you fist pumping the air with glee. Yet an ugly disorganized hall closet that wastes space and burns up your precious time by sending you on a wild goose chase for things you know should be in there, can put a frustrating spin on your day.
If you’ve got a hall closet or two like this in your life, you might want to consider taking on one or two of the following tips to get them organized, keep them organized, and perhaps even reinvigorate their style.
Behind the Door Hanging Pouches
Ordinarily, the backside of a hall closet door is a boring, disused space. Yet when you hang a system of over-the-door pouches or storage racks it transforms it into a discreet, innovative storage space. This is great for extra pairs of shoes and out-of-season loose items. Dedicating one of the upper pouches for potpourri or other scent-enhancers is a handy way to keep hall linen closets smelling fresh.
Behind the Door Removable Hooks
If your hall closet door isn’t blessed with a lot of space between it and the shelves, or the top of the door is too tight to the jamb, you can still make use of the backside of the door by applying removable hooks. High-strength Velcro or contact adhesive backers make it easy to move the hooks around. Especially if it’s an apartment or condo where you aren’t allowed to make any permanent changes. You can use behind-the-door hooks in just about every kind of closet. In the entryway, they can hold scarves. In the bathroom hall closet, they can hold luffas and small mesh bags. In a hall closet near a bedroom, you can use hooks to hold everyday necklaces and ties.
Make the Most Out of Small Bins
Hall closets tend to be a catch-all for all kinds of small, lightweight, loose items. This includes things like keys, forgotten junk mail, spare facemasks, and hand tools. All of which can transform into stubborn clutter as they pile and intermix.
Implementing small, labeled storage bins gives all these miscellaneous items a home while maximizing your available hall closet space.
Add Adjustable Shelves
The inventory of a hall closet tends to change with the season. Especially in linen closets and bedroom hall closets that house blankets. Installing adjustable shelves lets you change vertical shelf spacing in mere moments. This is usually as easy as adding a small track system in between existing shelves or a series of adjustable dowels.
Use Shelf Dividers
Just like how adjustable shelves help you make the most of your hall closet’s vertical space, shelf dividers make it easy to maximize the horizontal space. They’re a great way to keep loose items from intermingling on a shelf.
For a hall closet near a bathroom or bedroom, you can even use shelf dividers to create personalized spots. That way each person in the family can find their own sheets and personal hygiene items at a glance.
Under-Shelf Wire Baskets
Wire baskets can easily be installed under static shelves in hall closets that can’t be easily adapted for adjustable shelves. They’re a great place to store lightweight, loose items that need to be spotted at a glance.
Depending on what you want to store in them, you can go with open-face Wire bins, or wire baskets mounted to sliding rails that act just like drawers. This lets everyone in the family find what they’re looking for with just a glance. They slide out with ease and the high visibility makes it easy to see when you’re running low on something.
Personalized Cubbies in an Entryway Hall Closet
A lot of homes have a deep hall closet near the foyer or entryway for jackets and shoes. Though you’d be amazed at how an ad hoc closet pole with hangers can breed family dissent. Yet you can create a series of personalized cubbies for each member of the family. Everyone gets a place to hang and store their things. While also encouraging everyone to put their outdoor items in their place.
Implement a Labeling System
Labeling is a hall closet organization’s best friend. Especially if you have a family member with a nasty habit of putting things back in the hall closet at random.
When you label a shelf, bin or basket it encourages everyone to put things back where they belong. Without a doubt about where it all belongs.
You don’t have to use permanent labels either. Little clear plastic tabs can be affixed to a hall closet shelf. Then you can replace small paper labels as you change the inventory.
Give Seasonal Items Their Own Place
Seasonal items easily get in the way of any thoughtful organization system. Since hall closets often go under-appreciated, it makes them a magnet for all sorts of out-of-season items. Suddenly you find yourself wondering why your holiday lights are tangling with your hair care products, and you know you have a problem.
The best way to exercise out-of-season items is to move them to less common areas in your home. This might mean putting winter coats in low-profile bins that slide under beds. Holiday decorations can go in heavy-duty totes with reinforced corners that let you stack them high with only a minimal footprint.
Bring Bulk Goods Elsewhere
These days a lot of families are saving money by buying in bulk. Since hall closets often serve as catch-all spaces, it seems almost natural to keep bulk items in them. Yet you ultimately find yourself wrestling with giant stacks of toilet paper while trying to find a way to wedge your folded sheets into the linen closet.
