Creating a closet all by yourself is so fun and also a rewarding experience.  Exercise your unique views and creative side by diving into a fun, DIY closet project.  Cookie-cutter closet systems are often a waste because they don’t accommodate exactly what you need and end up wasting space, instead of saving space, in your closet.  You are much better off either creating your own system or buying a modular system that helps you to make the most of the space you have.  Use these guidelines to learn how to best determine what space you’ll need and which items can save you the most time, space and money.

1)  Take an inventory of what you have, getting rid of whatever you can as you go through each thing.  Experiment with categories of clothing, arrangements by length, color, use, or whatever you can think of that makes sense to you.  The most common way to organize a closet is to put the things that you use most often in the front and center of the closet.  Everything else will go around that central area getting further and further away as its frequency of use declines.  You will need to decide what is most likely going to be effective for you and your habits.

2)  Next you can play around with whether your clothing will take up less room hung or folded.  Some things don’t necessarily need to be hung, like pajamas, for instance, but you may find that they take up less space when hung on hangers.  You may be able to adjust the height of your hanging bar and add an additional bar near the floor, just high enough for your pants to hang.  Play around a bit, taking measurements of folded stacks and calculating hanging bar space.  You may want to consider clothes hangers that cascade from each other, making 2, 3, 4, or 5 items take up the space of one.  This trick can save you a lot of space in the closet.

3)  After you determine what is to be hung and what you want to be folded or kept in a container or drawer, start thinking about what types of storage would be most useful or efficient.  If you use clear containers, you will be able to easily see what is inside.  This will often times mean that you can use slimmer, deeper, or taller containers instead of bulky, shallow ones that take up too much space.  Keeping shoes in plastic stackable bins allows you to free up closet floor space by stacking shoes up one corner of the closet.  This space can be used for a laundry basket, out of season clothing storage, or whatever you need.
Work with your closet containers, shelving, hangers, and spaces to create a custom closet that is perfectly suited to you.