Closet Organization by "The Cook Next Door"

Growing up I shared a room with my older sister Candace, aka The Cook Next Door.  We were 15 months apart and usually around the same size (although she is 3 inches taller).  Even my freshman year of college we shared a room.  If I was to use one word to describe Candace's closet it would be, ORGANIZED.  If I so much as looked at her clothes to wonder what I could talk her in to letting me borrow, she KNEW it.  I remember on multiple occasions she would say, "did you get into my closet?"  Those were the dreaded words.  How did she know?!?!  I'll tell you how, she was ORGANIZED.  So who better to post about closet organization than my big sis. Please check out her cooking blog if you haven't already.  Her button is on my sidebar, but you can also click HERE.  Disclaimer, I am in no way saying that I am organized.  Actually after reading her post, I have a strong desire to go clean my closets.  Take it away Candace...

Since we are renting a house, I have to compromise with a lot of things.  One being closet space. Our baby sleeps in what is considered the den, so there is no closet in there.  Before she was born, I bought a large dresser from ikea so it could double up as a changing table.  I bought drawer organizers from there also to keep all of her little things organized.  The organizers also come in black if you live near a store.  I store all of her clothes in here because I have no other closet space and it's more convenient when the clothes are all together in one location.  I lay all of her dresses on top of each other and rotate them as I do the laundry.  So, when I put her laundry away, I put all of the new clothes on the bottom of the pile and rotate from there.  Same goes with her shorts/pants and shirts.  I also use the organizers in my boys bedroom dresser, which is incredibly small.  I get a lot more use out of the small space from using them.

1 picture--Picture of her dresser/closet

2 picture--Picture of her socks, shoes, and hair bows in drawer organizers

3 picture--Another picture of drawer organizer with medicine/misc. and burp clothes

4 picture--A picture of one of her drawers with clothes.

My closet acts as a storage place for clothes and other household items.  I normally put away my winter clothes in storage bins, but I have no place to store the bin, so they stay hung up in my closet in a different section.  I think it's important to change your clothes out by season so you have out what is appropriate for that season, plus it's easier to find clothes that way.  I also like using the same color hanger because it just looks better.  Someday I will replace my plastic hangers for the velvet smooth slimline hangers.  

1--I like to organize my clothes, for the most part, using the color wheel method.  I start with white, cream, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, brown, black.  Always have, always will.  For each color section, I put the solids first, and then work my way to the patterns.  I hang all of my tops up first, then pants/shorts and lastly skirts/dresses.  My summer dresses don't fit next to my spring/summer skirts, so they are hung after my winter skirts so they can hang straight down.  I have all of my coats hung in one location (at the end by my skirts).  I have my fall/winter/spring/summer coats all together since I really don't ever wear them that much here in Texas.  

2--Since I don't have a dresser and we are renting, I needed to find an easy temporary way of storing items like sweaters, socks, bathing suits, etc.  I got this cube system at Costco and it works for my closet space.  Someday I'll probably find a different use for it in another part of my house, but for now it's great.  

3--I fold all of my sweaters.  If you hang them on hangers, they eventually stretch out in the shoulder area because they are typically  a heavier weight.  

4--I also change my shoes out with the seasons.  I have most of them on these shoe racks that I purchased at Costco.  I love how they are organized and not all over the floor.  The shoe racks are a great way to utilize the space in your closet.