Organizing your closet like a celebrity is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
Transform your master closet from a chaotic crisis situation:
To a fashion fantasy:
Your closet is how you start your day everyday. It should be a Zen space, not a torture chamber.
In fact, your master closet should be so well organized and color coordinated, that it looks like your own high end, personal boutique ready for business! Or at least, major bragging rights with family and friends.
It doesn’t take a lot of money to accomplish this luxury… just some creative space management and a few helpful staging tips to feel like your closet belongs on the next episode of MTV’s Cribs.
When I moved from Dallas to Los Angeles nine years ago, I was mortified by the lack of closet space. More like, thoroughly offended! Imagine my shock and awe when I went from a 500 square foot HERS closet with a luggage folding island, 17 foot ceilings and a skylight, to a small walk-in LA closet that was no bigger than my Texas pantry.
Gasp. Groan. Guffaw. I would have turned the darn kitchen into a shoe closet, if I thought I could get away with it. After a long grieving period, I realized that I had better get creative. Nobody puts Prada in the corner!
I learned some very valuable lessons on my journey to re-create a luxury closet in a very small space. Ladies, trust me when I say that you will have the biggest smile on your face when you enter the doors of your closet to find a gloriously arranged presentation and organizational bliss! I give you … the (3) steps to your wardrobe and dressing utopia:
Step 1 – Purge.
Before you can get military organized, it is imperative to remove every single piece of clothing, pair of shoes and accessories from your wardrobe that you either never wear or shouldn’t wear. You know what I’m talking about here, girlfriend. No more denial! I highly recommend hiring a professional Stylist to help you with this process. An objective eye will help you move past your emotional connection to your excess things and understand what is really contributing to your overall image.
We only wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time, so cut the fat and keep only the really flattering items so that you literally LOVE everything you own.
Step 2 – Presentation
Now it’s time for the fun stuff. Presentation! The one real investment you need to make in this rock-your-world transformation is to purchase matching hangers. And, not just any hangers … I’m talking about the PERFECT brand to make your heart skip a beat: Joy Mangano’s Huggable Hangers!
These delightful, lightweight beauties have saved me at least 30% more room in my closet! With a non-slip, velvety finish they not only prevent clothing from slipping off the hanger, but the slim, compact profile helps to conserve precious space in your closet. Total genius. They come in a variety of colors too, so pick your favorite shade.
Step 3 – Coordinate
“Gots to coordinate.” (90’s movie reference from Boomerang! “The mushroom jacket goes with the mushroom belt.”) In other words, time to put all of your like items together on the rack side-by-side so that you can easily find them.
Here is how the groupings should be displayed and hung together on the rack: jeans; trousers; skirts; short dresses; long dresses; tanks; short sleeved tees; long sleeved tees; short sleeved blouses; long sleeved blouses; vests; open sweaters/cardigans; and jackets.
From there, it’s time to sub-organize each of those 13 categories into a rainbow of ROY G. BIV colored sequence. Lastly, find a way to hang all of your belts together and use your shoes, handbags, jewelry & scarves as part of a killer display that is both functional and aesthetically beautiful. And, voila … Your own upscale home boutique!
For the sake of full disclosure, I am an OCD perfectionist, so I did take one extra step towards being nominated for “Closet of the Year”… I poached an insanely organized sales girl with a degree in Fashion Merchandising from one of my favorite retail stores for a few hours on the weekend. This fashion whippersnapper folded my sweaters, tied my scarves and laid out my entire shoe collection into such an impressive showcase, all I needed was a cash register and you’d never know you weren’t inside a store on Rodeo Drive! (Thank you, Alysia!)
Adding a little glam into your life is guaranteed to open doors for you and provide an extra spring in your step. And once you take control of your space, you will only wonder what took you so long to get there!
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