Simple Closet Organization Anyone Can Do

I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge fan of seeing people’s closets.  It’s taken me a while to do a closet post because when we moved into our house 4 months ago the closet in our bedroom didn’t have any rods or shelves.  What we did have was a 2 week old baby and closet dreams that went out the window.  For the last 4 months our clothes have been either hanging in a closet in another room or still packed in boxes, but thanks to holiday vacation time we finally have a functional closet!

It’s not amazingly spectacular or pretty, but it’s organized.  When everything has a place my heart does a little happy dance!

And, does anyone recall me saying that if Benson weren’t married to me he’d be a minimalist?  Well yeah…I’m actually a little embarrassed by this picture because I look like a hoarder compared to him!  And what’s worse is that the left side of the bottom half–all those coats–aren’t even his.  They’re mine!  Oh, and the section behind the middle wall that you can’t see yet…also all my stuff.  This picture puts me to SHAME, so let’s move on quickly…

After mulling over systems from different closet companies, Ikea, The Container Store, and approaching general contractors to custom build one, we landed on this Rubbermaid kit.  It hit all the notes of having a customizable closet at a comparatively good price point, and we are quite pleased!  Another compelling aspect is that it’s a flexible and adaptable system, so if we ever want to change our closet structure in the future it’ll be extremely easy.  Rather than ripping out the entire closet and starting over, we can add more shelves, rods, drawers, or move them around as we need.  Pretty cool!

We set up double rods on both sides with extra shelving on Benson’s side.  The middle section (shown above) has a full length rod for dresses with more shelves.

The top rack holds tops and cardigans.  Some people like to arrange strictly by color or strictly by type, but I tend to arrange things in a more nuanced fashion.  First by type (sleeveless, short sleeved blouses, short sleeved tees, long sleeved tees, long sleeved blouses, collared button ups), then into subgroups (solids, prints), then loosely by color within each subgroup.  Cardigans are in the back, grouped by type (thick, thin), then by color.

I don’t think there’s a “best” way to arrange clothes.  To me, it’s really just however your brain works best and what will help you find your clothes quickly.  Mine’s a little complicated, so let’s not analyze what that says about my brain and move on!

The bottom rack has blazers, jackets, pants, and skirts.  Pants are hanging two on a hanger and aren’t by color, rather by usage.  I wanted ones I wore often to be easily accessible.  Skirts used to be hung by type (knee-length, maxi), but right now they’re all over the place since I put some in the back that are on the chopping block.

The dividing shelf holds my small collection of sweaters, growing collection of Everlane tees (I don’t wear any other tees anymore!), and jeans that I don’t wear often.  Like, boyfriend jeans that I can’t wear in the winter or old jeans that I don’t wear anymore but use for outfit pictures of what not to wear.  These were things that desperately needed a place in our old closet.  They kept ending up in piles on top of our dresser, but now they have their own shelf, and the world is right again.

Dresses are in the middle section behind the middle wall.  That wall is kind of annoying, but oh well.  I used to hang these by type: short dresses first, into groups of sleeveless or short sleeves, then maxi dresses, but now all of the nursing-friendly dresses are in the front.  The others are chilling in the back waiting to be loved again someday.

On the shelf above the dresses are boxes with scarves.  The boxes are from Ikea (HERE), and one box has lighter scarves while the other box has heavier ones for winter.

On the other side of the middle shelf (near Benson’s side) we installed a tie/belt hanger for each of us.  Even though the Rubbermaid system has a ton of attachments besides shelves and rods, (drawers, a pants rack, shoe shelves, etc.) this is the only one we’re using so far.

Way up top are purses that get less use.  I got rid of a bunch when we moved and will probably get rid of many more.  I pretty much only use a handful of bags now, which we store in our office, and more often than not I’m using the diaper bag!

Workout clothes, shorts, pajamas, and undergarments are in a dresser I share with Benson.  Yall don’t need to see the unmentionables, but I will say that these Ikea drawer cube organizers are the bomb dot com.  I use different cubes to store socks, underwear, etc. so that they all have a special place and don’t overflow onto each other.

Shoes and Jewelry
We don’t wear shoes around the house, so mine are in an entryway closet.  That’s a mess right now, so we’re probably going to set up another Rubbermaid unit in that closet to organize all of our shoes.

My jewelry hasn’t been set up yet since we *just* unpacked it all.  I’ll save that for another post whenever it’s finished.


I’m not trying to be a commercial for this closet system (this is NOT a sponsored post even though it sure as heck sounds like one), but I’m sooooo glad we found it.  Our closet isn’t huge, but it fits more than our walk-in closet did at our old place, and the kit didn’t cost much considering it allows you to have a custom closet.  It’s an organizational system than almost anyone can do!  There are different versions for different sized closets, anywhere from 4ft to 10ft kits.

What’s aspect of your closet or wardrobe needs some major organizational help?

previous post
next post