How to organize the closet

My closet 2.o

There are already tons of resources to tell you about how to organize your stuff. To that tidy pile of wisdom, I will add the Bromeliad perspective - which is how to organize your closet in a way that is cheap and fun. If it's not cheap, we can't do it. If it's not fun, why bother?

My personal closet organizing breakthrough came after moving from a shared spacious walk-in closet to having my own closet that was about three feet wide. Surprisingly, I had a much easier time getting dressed every morning from the tiny closet than I ever did from the large one. All that I owned was visible and within reach. Any item that didn't pull its own weight had to be tossed - I couldn't spare the square inches.

The lesson I learned was that being happy with y0ur closet has little to do with the size of your closet or the amount of clothes you have. (Don't believe me? Have you ever noticed how the paparrazi always manage to catch some celebrity going to the supermarket without her stylist? And she's usually wearing something schleppy and awful like jogging pants and tennis shoes? Why is this? Because she stood in front of her giagantimous closet and could not find a thing to wear. )

So, here's my Monday tip to help anyone along the way to closet trimness:

Easy come, easy go. It's a lot easier to get rid of a $3 pair of shoes than a $30 pair of shoes. So buy cheap in the first place.

My closet organizing secret

I did a little inventory of my closet and discovered that everything in it was second hand with the exception of 12 items and one pair of shoes. The "new" stuff was all purchased on sale. A lot of the second-hand stuff was free.

My Spring Cure purge pile

As long as the global garment industry keeps pumping out billions of tops, slacks, skirts and shoes, you can afford to let go of that too tight pair of white capri pants. Let someone else have it.

You will find another pair eventually. Trust me. And it will be at least half off.

Closet makeover

While waiting for my Apartment Therapy spring cure book to arrive, I'll entertain you all with a tour of my closet. I have a feeling closet cleaning will be part of the program. Also, I just love my closet. When visitors come to our new place, what's the first thing I show them? The Manhattan view from the balcony. Nooooo. The closet! Now you all have to see it. (If you prefer the Manhattan skyline, go to the Manhattan category of this blog. What are you doing in Closets anyway?)

Before

So here's my closet before. It's already pretty organized since I regularly groom it. I find it soothing. Also, for the past 10 years, I've worked with closets that were three feet wide. The discipline required was valuable. Compared to what I had before, this closet feels like a Home Depot aisle.

The main changes were decorative, inspired in part by Nicole Balch's closet makover at Making It Lovely. I liked her glass wig head and jewelry tree.

After

After

The 'jewelry tree' is a candleholder my mom picked up at Goodwill years ago. The drawback is that I have impaled my hand more than once on those wrought-iron leaf tips. The wighead and scarf were freebies. The sunglasses are vintage via my mom. (I got the idea about the wighead after taking most of the photos, so sorry about the now-you-see-it, now-you-don't effect.)

Here are some of the organizational details: I hang clothes first by item then by color, jackets and shirts on one side, sweaters and skirts on the other. Out of season clothes go in the back corner of each section.





I have mirrored metal bi-fold doors. Long items like dresses and raincoats are hung on the back with magnets.
Out of season shoes go in pretty shopping bags or beach bags.

Little purses and my horde of decorating magazines go up top.

Belts and jewelry below. I leave the other two dresser drawers mostly empty. After any cleanup, you need to leave some empty space for your dump zone. Otherwise you will dump new things on your closet floor, which is an aesthetic no no.

More scarves and belts are stored inside of the purses. When I'm really organized, the scarf or belt actually matches the purse.

Here's my secret to not overstuffing the closet - I limit the number of hangers I own. I'm Joan Collins about it. ("No wire hangers!") Also, since I'm a little intestinally retentive about my closet in general, the colors matter - I only have black, brown, white, pink or beige hangers. Which is pretty similar to my wardrobe (plus a little green.)

OK, now you can get some chips and go sit on the balcony.

Small Space Big Space

Remember all the yada yada about how much I love living in a small apartment?

That would be true with the exception of the following:

Natalya Kashper's 7,200-square-foot $7 million loft featured in The New York Times.

How cool would it be to host the Superbowl here? Not a Superbowl party. The actual Superbowl.

Close Quarters

House Hunters is on again. (Always.) Another young couple seeking 4 million square feet in a price range involving two or three commas.

Big houses are like dark places out in the country - I grew up with them and now both make me nervous. I don't get it anymore. Don't people get lost in a big house? What's out there in the dark? Aren't they worried?

Mr. Bromeliad and I started out as small space dwellers with a 350-square foot studio some 15 years ago. We could stand in the bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom all at the same time. Two years ago we got our first place with a separate bedroom. We couldn't hear each other anymore. We lost things because there were multiple places to put them down. We followed each other from room to room so there was pretty much always two persons in one room and zero persons in the other.

Our new place is a rambling 470 square feet with a balcony. When the walls stop closing in, we hang out in the bathroom awhile.

Amy Samelson's small space living

Since last month's Elle Decor never arrived, I picked up a back issue of Better Homes & Gardens, which normally bores me to death. But here was designer Amy Samelson's awesome 600-square-foot apartment. The sofa in the living room doubles as a guest bed. The desk doubles as a dining table. Love the neutrals, the unassuming coolness, the adjustable arm lamps, and the multipurpose stools.

Images are from amysamelson.com. The story is at BHG.com.

Free redecorating - rearranging the room

There's nothing cheaper than taking what you've already got and putting it somewhere else. However, I find that rearranging furniture is fraught with emotion. Do other people stress about it like this? I worry that the housemate won't like it. The housemate feels a great disturbance in the force everytime his landing strips are relocated for purely aesthetic reasons. We get out of sorts and a little lost. We bump into things. We lose things. We are annoyed by the other person's choices. And then after a few days, we're fine.

Before: I didn't like the wood chairs (which are actually outdoor furniture) crammed so close to my beloved media center. I didn't like the lamp in front of the window or the angle of the leather chair. And there was no room for a future dining room table. Tom did not like that the TV was plugged into a power outlet on a circuit where the fuse blows every week.

After: Sketching a room layout on paper never works for me. I have to see it in action. So Tom dutifully positioned the media center on every possible wall. We took Karen McAloon's suggestion for small spaces and angled it. She says angling keeps the eye moving around the room. Initially we were freaked.

We tested Law & Order at an angle.

Then, just like Karen, we stole items from other rooms. The Hovet mirror was raided from the bedroom.

Now that a few days have passed, we like it. The focus is on the window. The mirror brings in light. The room looks more open. Total cost: $0. Now we just need Karen to drop by with some lovely accessories.