How to Organize that Beautiful Closet

If your custom closet is looking a little more chaotic than custom these days, it’s time to consider a change. You could search online and find lovely photos of perfectly brilliant organizing hacks for your closet accessories, new ways to fold and roll your clothes, new uses for your luxury hangers. But no matter how clever these ideas may be, if they don’t fit your lifestyle and current habits, chances are they will be difficult to maintain.

Making New Organization Stick:

When trying to make a change like implementing a new organizational system, one of the best ideas is to start small. While design shows make magical makeovers seem effortless, a proverbial organized-ever-after, the reality is that however you live now is probably going to persist if you change too much too fast.

Overhauling your whole space is certainly possible and might be just what you need if you’re building your dream custom closet (read about why you need to do that here). But if you’re needing lasting change that doesn’t include major renovations, experts suggest starting small. Stanford professor of Sociology and author BJ Fogg advises that to make real lasting change in life, humans have more success using ‘tiny habit’ changes that fit into the routine of their existing lives. 

In closet organization terms Fogg’s research-based suggestion might look like adding a laundry hamper in your closet instead of letting dirty clothes pile up. After a few weeks of using the hamper, add another hamper for donation items next to the first. That way when you take off that top that has kept you feeling frumpy all day, you can drop it right where it belongs without disturbing your routine but also be moving toward a more organized you. Fast-forward to today, and beautiful closets have become, as a recent article in House Beautiful “closet organization ideas.”

Regardless of what tiny goal you choose to start with, one thing is clear, you cannot fit new habits of any size into your routine unless you know what your routine is.

How Do You Do You?

Before buying expensive containers and drawer dividers for your custom closet, consider your current habits in these two areas:

1. Using your closet space
2. Dressing and undressing

For a week, pay attention to these two areas and make notes, mental or written, about your current routine. Be sure you include a weekend in your observation so you can become aware of how your downtime differs from workdays. Becoming aware of how you are already using your closest space and what your dressing habits are will tell you a lot about how to start creating new habits of organization that work for you.

How Do You Use Your Closet Space?

Is this space for lounging? A relaxing escape? A place to apply makeup? Notice the things you like to do in your custom closet and then start making a list of areas where an improvement might be made. Do you like to try on outfits in the closet, but lack a mirror? This might be a small change to make to improve your closet system. Do you have an extensive shoe collection or are handbags more your thing? How are they stored now? Can you see each item clearly or is choosing one a source of frustration? However you use your closet space, taking the time to gain awareness over your current habits will give you a starting point on your journey to being {and staying} organized.

How Do You Dress?

Which item of clothing do you choose first when you’re dressing? Pay attention to the flow of your outfit planning and dressing habits and then notice the flow of your closet. Are those foundational articles front-and-center or hard to reach and see? Do you choose your outfits based on what color you’re in the mood for? Your activity for the day? By the weather? Notice this about yourself and then see if your closet is making it easier or harder to work within the natural flow of your preference. Would color-coding your clothing make dressing faster and more fun? Or do you need to organize your closet by category, say with tops at eye-level and pants the next rung down. Find what fits your flow and organize based on that and your efforts are much more likely to stick.  

Room for Improvement:

After you’ve taken the time to observe and see how things are working, you can identify what things aren’t and choose a few small changes to make. Perhaps you realized that you have some clothes that you no longer wear, but aren’t ready for a big declutter, clean, and sort like we wrote about here (insert link to Declutter article). One small idea is to choose a category, let’s say tops. Hang a door hanger sign at one end of your closet rod, or simply tie a thick ribbon loosely there. Each time you wear a shirt place it on the opposite side of the door hanger. After a while, you will have a good idea which tops you wear regularly without disrupting your daily habits much at all. And all those tops that are still on the ‘wrong’ side of the door hanger can go straight into the donation bin. 

However you choose to organize, gaining awareness about your daily habits, and starting small will always help you create lasting change in your custom closet.