The arrival of fall is the perfect time to reorganize your closet. Every six months, it's a good idea to review your wardrobe. Decide what you want to keep, what needs repair, and what should be given away or discarded. New acquisitions may demand new storage strategies, such as rearranged shelves, extra bins, or additional rods. Here are a few examples from my own closet.
1 How you arrange items is just as important as the architecture of the closet itself.
2 A valet hook can be used to hold dry cleaning or an outfit for the following day. And I can't stress enough how important it is to put clothing on hangers designed specifically for the particular type of item. It will extend the life of your clothes.
3 For the center island in my closet, we tailored drawer depths to their contents: 17 inches for ties (I have been obsessed with ties since working in Lord & Taylor's tie department while in college).
4 This drawer pulls out to a sectioned hamper -- keeping laundry and dry-cleaning piles organized and ready to be cleaned.
5 The shoe closet is one of my favorite areas. First, we pared down my footwear then boots went up top, and shoes below, arranged by color. The shelves are protected with nonslip shelf liner.
6 The finished closet.
This is also an opportunity to brush up on the basics. I suggest choosing a grouping principle that makes sense to you. I organize by kind–button-down shirts, blazers, sweaters–then by color, from white to black. This helps me know my options right away. I hang anything that is likely to wrinkle (linen, rayon, all-cotton shirts) or slide around in a drawer (silks and satins), as well as garments that are pressed or have pleats. I also suggest folding all knitwear, cotton T-shirts, casual pants (jeans, khakis, corduroys), and sportswear (in a separate drawer from your other clothes).
1 Windowed boxes covered in tweed make it possible to find a specific sweater in an instant.
2 Make full use of the space beneath your hanging coats in a hall closet. Here, we set up an office-supply storage system on wheels so you can easily take it out and store it when not in use.
3 Another options is to install shelves below your coats. Here, each member of the family has their own bins for hats, gloves, and scarves.
4 Here, basic wooden shelf brackets from the hardware store help to organize your closet when you use them on top of shelves, instead of underneath.
5 Label shoe boxes and bins like these raffia boxes with tags made by attaching unlined index cards to clothespins.
6 Digital pictures, tucked into card-stock tags with windows, identify the contents inside each garment bag so you don't have to waste time opening the bags and pulling the contents out to see what's inside.
7 To help avoid clutter in a broom closet, make sure you only have what you need, nothing more. Use the wall and shelves to help keep the floor clear and group cleaning supplies by what room they're used in.
8 For a tidy linen closet, slip each sheet set into one of its pillowcases, and store the sets by size -- twin, full, and so on -- with colors, trim, or other defining details clearly visible.
Kevin Sharkey 
From: Becky in Kzoo | 9/29/11 at 7:25 am
Kevin, your blog never fails to give me inspiration for my own apartment. This one on your closet has motivated me to work on my own. And I love your shoe collection! Especially all the loafers! Thanks again.
From: Rowaida Flayhan | 9/29/11 at 10:32 am
I love how you color code your clothes and ties. So neat and so inspiring.
From: Laurie | 9/30/11 at 12:36 am
Love your blog, especially the organization ideas. Speaking of Alexis Stewart, I miss her blog so much. Her recipes and cleaning posts were the best. Any idea if she my decide to start another blog?
From: Sonja | 9/30/11 at 4:19 pm
I love the idea of putting the sheet set into one of the pillow cases to keep everything organized. Plus the shelf dividers would be perfect for my large linen closet.
From: Annie | 10/3/11 at 8:09 pm
inspired by your magnificent closet, alexis' closet, and an old MSL in which Martha's Westport closet was shown, I took a small room on the second floor of my home and made it into a walk in closet. I am not exaggerating when I say that it changed my life, organizationally speaking. It is so easy to keep my clothing organized, and getting dressed is a breeze. I actually wear all of my clothing, not just the few things that were at the front of my old (traditional) closet. To create this closet, I used bookshelves which were already built in and added wire shelving from Target. Easy, and it has worked out great for me.