Once upon a time, you might have been a master at the game of Tetris. Yet there still comes a point where your natural packing and organization skills simply aren’t enough to keep a small closet from falling into disarray.
It might even feel like you get it perfectly reorganized on Monday. Then you open it on Tuesday and it’s back to the same state of chaos.
If you are the victim of a small closet in desperate need of a makeover, then you might want to try a few of the following tips.
Find Ways To Add More Shelves
A little bit of extra shelf space will go a long way toward helping you keep everything in its place. You might want to invest in adjustable shelves that let you move the additional shelves up or down at a moment’s notice. This will let you maximize your horizontal storage space without having to sacrifice functionality.
Divide & Conquer
Shelf dividers and drawer dividers let you compartmentalize your closet to then maximize your horizontal storage space. They also go a long way to giving everything its own place. Drawer dividers in a dresser or a built-in drawer will also keep small, light, loose items from intermingling into some sort of neo-junk drawer.
Add A Wallpaper Backer
The back wall of a small closet is one of those drab places that could really use a fresh coat of paint or perhaps a sheet of decorative wallpaper. While it won’t really add anything to the functional storage space of the closet, you’d be surprised how much it can enhance the ambiance when your small closet matches the rest of the room’s décor.
Add Color With Fabric Totes
Does your small closet have cubby spaces or open shelves that look like an eyesore when loaded with loose items? One of the best ways to address a closet like this is to invest in some inexpensive, yet colorful cloth totes. They are available in a wide range of colors, patterns, and sizes. They’re a great way to add visual flair to your small closet makeover, while also providing a lot of functional storage.
Shoe Cubbies For Small Hall Closets
Hall and entryway closets are convenient places to keep the family’s daily-wear shoes. Though if you have kids or a haphazard spouse, you’re probably dealing with shoes that end up in an ugly pile. Not only does it look unsightly and disorganized, but these footwear fandangos can rob you of a lot of lower storage space.
Installing shoe cubbies gives everyone in the family a place to keep their shoes. Placing shoe trays at the bottom of each cubby spot also helps catch any dirt, water, or grime that might drip off the bottom of a pair of shoes while it sits in storage. If you have one or two people in the family who are struggling to use the cubbies or fighting over the best cubby in the row, you can easily add some personalized labels.
Let’s Get Seasonal!
One of the biggest things crowding a lot of small closets is outdated seasonal items that are just lingering on shelves and hanging on rods. Your Fourth of July swimsuit and your Ugly Christmas Sweater should remain perfect strangers, never hanging in the same closet at the same time. Making it a point to empty out and cycle through seasonal items four times a year and storing them elsewhere in your home will inevitably open up storage space in your small closet.
Wire & Wicker Baskets Oh My!
Baskets are some of the best ways to hold lightweight loose items. Sometimes this comes in the form of a stylish wicker basket that holds items or tools that you need to take out of the closet for certain occasions.
Though these days wire baskets are sort of the new hot way to make the most out of small amounts of vertical space. You can easily install them into pull-out rails to create lightweight basket drawers. The zephyr nature of the wire baskets is a great way to store loose items that you need to see at a moment’s notice.
Add A Looking Glass
If you’re dealing with a small bedroom closet, then you might want to think about adding a mirror to either the front or the backside of the closet door. Not only does this let you check your look before you step out for the day, but it frees up other space in the bedroom.
It also lets you treat your small bedroom closet as a dressing area, without having to enter the fray of kids and a spouse who are all vying for the bathroom mirror in the morning.
Get Hooked
Hooks are a great way to hang scarves, necklaces, and other lightweight stranded items. There are some stylish hooks that you permanently mount into the backside of a small closet door or onto the face of a rigid shelf. They’re just as stylish as they are functional.
If the idea of permanently mounting hooks into woodwork makes you cringe, you might want to look into contact adhesive hooks. They stick to just about any flat surface using the magic of chemistry. Yet they pull off in an instant without leaving a single mark behind. Since they’re so easy to reposition, you can move them around as you see fit to meet your needs anytime you want to add or subtract something from your arsenal of accessories.
Pull Down Shelves For The Vertically Challenged
Are you a little vertically challenged? Do you have a lot of unused overhead space in your small closet? If you answered “Yes” to either of these, then you might want to consider having a pull-down shelf installed. Some use special spring-loaded hinge mechanisms and others have cranks that let you bring the shelf down when you want.
They’re a great place for keeping boxes and lightweight totes. Not to mention a good place to store all those seasonal items you need to keep out of your way. Once you’ve retrieved what you want from them, you can easily send the shelf back up toward the closet’s ceiling.
