Organizing does no good if you don’t make it usable. Going with a standard idea of how a closet is supposed to function can leave you wishing that you had done something different. Sure, it might look great at first, but it will slowly get back to the way that it was if you don’t personalize the storage and make it a closet that meets your specific needs. Follow these steps to get it organized in a way that is accommodating to you and your lifestyle.

1) Figure out what the worst traits are about your closet currently and make a list. Some people have a problem mountain of shoes or dirty laundry that ends up on the floor. Do you have a lot of specialty items, like yarn and knitting supplies? Do you have too many suitcases and backpacks that you’re not willing to part with? Whatever you have a lot of, you need to make special preparations for.

2) Before you decide what you will do, pull everything out of the closet and clean it. People don’t get into their closets and dust very often, so while you have it empty, get it really clean. You may even want to slap on a fresh coat of paint. Light colors will help you find things easier and make the closet seem more spacious.

3) Take a look at that problem pile of stuff. Prioritize space usage based on what was really bugging you about the way your closet was. You could decide that you want to leave room for a large laundry basket in the bottom of the closet. Or, you may want to build a giant wall of cubby holes for all of your hundreds of shoes! You can probably get rid of some things and reduce the amount of space that you’ll need, but make sure that you have room for what you’ve got and what might be coming in. Use the vertical space, all the way to the ceiling if you need to, and use the back of the door if you can.

4) Make a space for things that don’t normally go in the closet that you would like to keep in there. Craft supplies, photos, ski equipment, a giant jar of coins, whatever it may be. If it’s important to you, then make a space for it.

5) Design the rest of your closet space around your special needs. Make it look really nice and neat by using wooden hangers. Wood hangers keep clothes perfectly separated on the bar and will keep clothes from getting wrinkled. Your clothes hangers need to meet your needs as well. If you don’t choose wood hangers, then choose ones that are sturdy enough that your clothes won’t end up on the floor.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for wooden hangers. Get all of the wood hangers and closet accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Does your closet look like a disaster area? Clothes falling off the hanger, shoes stacked up, piles of junk, and shelves that are packed can make your closet useless. It can be a big project to get things in order if you don’t know where to start. Getting your closet organized is easier if you follow these steps.

Set some limits for yourself. You can’t store and keep more things than your closet space will allow. You will need to get rid of everything possible. Then you can concentrate on making the most of the space that you have and coming up with a system that works best for you.

If shoes are scuffed, too uncomfortable, old and misshapen, or simply out of style, get them out of the closet and into a charity bag. People keep shoes for way too long and they end up taking up a lot of room. Find a shoe rack that makes the most of the space in your closet. For some people, this is a hanging rack that fits on the back of the closet door. If you have a reach-in closet with accordion doors, you might rather have a tall skinny rack that goes up the left or right side of the closet. Another option is a floor rack, just make sure that this isn’t an area that you would rather use for a laundry basket or some other large organizational item before you use it for shoes.

Coats can take up a lot of space, and many of us own way more than we wear. Go through and decide which ones are your favorites, which ones you wear most often, and which ones are in the best shape. If there are some that you like but never seem to wear, get them out of there. Find a Christmas charity in your area that donates coats to needy families. You can also eliminate coats from your bedroom closet by utilizing an armoire, rolling garment rack, coat closet, or spare bedroom closet.

Sweaters need to be kept on a shelf or in a drawer. Hanging them often can misshape the shoulders unless they are very lightweight. Try to make a space for sweaters and other garments that you do not want to hang. For storage, bags that can be sucked flat with a vacuum cleaner attachment can be very useful.

Take other items that don’t really have a place and categorize them. Purses, luggage, and tote bags will need a place to go. You can often store purses and duffel bags inside of your larger suitcases and then stash them under the bed, getting them out of the closet all together. Put the smaller items into a trash bag before storing them inside of the suitcase so that when you need the suitcase, you don’t have to dump everything into a pile.

Utilize as much of the vertical space as possible in your closet. Once you’ve thinned it out, take a look at your clothes hangers. Your hangers can make your closet look disorganized even when it’s not. The clothes hanger should not make the clothes slide or hang at a slant. The top hooks of your hangers shouldn’t be able to cross over each other and they should be easily slid down the bar. Coat hangers should always be used for coats and suits. Wood hangers are a great option for your entire closet, because they keep everything perfectly spaced and look great. Enjoy your organized closet space!

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Boutiques are more popular than ever because of the unique and custom designed clothing that they sell. Boutique owners need to find interesting and unique ways to showcase their clothing to stay ahead of the competition. Promoting and merchandising are a little different for boutiques because of the cutting edge ways in which they need to go about it to work on their brand image.

First, consider the feel of your store. The atmosphere is set in many ways, but for boutiques, it’s all in the details. Your lighting alone should showcase certain areas of the store and set the tone and mood. Customers should feel a certain way as soon as they walk in. Using lighting to calm or excite is one way to start out. Many boutiques use drop down decorative spotlights and lamps to keep things highly illuminated without resorting to harsh overhead lights.

Think about what customers will see when they come in, as they walk around, and as they look through your clothing racks. They should initially see varied textures and displays at different heights. Use tables, garment racks, and interesting things to hang from, such as antique armoires or hat racks. You can even hang art or abstract items on hooks from the ceiling to accent different areas of the store.

Make sure that your displays are always kept orderly and neat. In a boutique, there are often a lot of unique items that don’t fit into categories. These can be showcased in a lot of different ways, just make sure that you don’t make any one area cluttered, or people won’t feel like sifting through. Many boutiques effectively maintain an orderly disorder and it adds to the charm of the boutique.

Details come in many forms. Think about what details you want to add from floor to ceiling. The floor may call for interesting rugs. Be careful not to put rugs in heavily trafficked areas where people might trip over the edges. Hopefully customers will be looking at the merchandise and not the floor! Use rugs in small areas where you have seating or larger items that sit on the floor so that they don’t become a liability.

Your garment racks themselves can be interesting. There are many on the market that are designed for boutiques. They have decorative details and designs that entertain as they display. You can also use other things, like dressers and tables to display so that it doesn’t end up looking like a regular retail store. Avoid a lot of circular or really long racks. It doesn’t do much for the eye and will end up being ignored for more interesting displays.

Have your tags and hangers custom designed. Many wooden hangers can be embossed with your logo, a saying, a picture or a brand. Wood hangers also add to the charm and sophistication of the boutique. Plastic hangers may be cheap, but they’ll say something about the quality of your clothes and are much more likely to damage your inventory. Wood hangers exude the sense of quality and strength. They also come in a lot of different styles, like shirt hangers, skirt hangers, and dress hangers. The specialty hanger sizes and styles are well suited to the custom clothing that you carry.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for wooden hangers. Get all of the wood hangers and closet accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.