closet makeover

This past Friday, I spent the day with my good friend, Jenn, reorganizing her closet. Jenn is a clothes person and she has some great pieces but they were getting lost (to say the least) in her closet. I will just say it how it is or rather was - her closet was a disaster. But I am very happy to say that after a few hours of work and a couple of purchases, it is a beautifully, organized space for her fantastic collection of clothing. Here is the play by play:

We began by taking everything out of the closet and removing the hangers. We needed to get rid of all the dry cleaner hangers as they are not intended for long term storage and tend to get stuck on things. I also wanted to dispose of all the color hangers and just use white ones. White hangers fade into the background allowing her clothes to stand out while color hangers tend to create more clutter (for men's clothes I would recommend using black or wooden hangers). 

After removing all the clothes and shoes, we vacuumed, cleaned the shelves and sorted out the white hangers. I did a quick sketch with measurements and then we headed to Target and The Container Store to get a few key organizing pieces.  

The main area in Jenn's closet that wasn't being utilized was the tall space to the left and right of the built in drawers. I wanted to find something that would allow her to store her accessories (purses, belts etc.) but was narrow as the space is only 11" deep. We ended up finding stackable open bins and pairing them with a wireframe basket (both white). We also bought 180 white hangers (not that I was counting or anything). 

We returned to the house and began filling the closet. Clothes and purses were organized by color while shoes were sort and placed by frequency of use. When organizing heels, we discovered it is much more space efficient to put one shoe facing out and one shoe facing in. We also decided to store some of her winter items. Here is how it turned out!