Walk In Closet Organization Principles That Will Help You Design and Plan the Best Walk In Closet

The essential sections of walk in closet organization are:

• Double hang
• Long hang
• Drawers
• Shelves

Hanging Sections

The first sections to determine are the hanging sections. It is usually the most important thing in a walk in closet. You may add drawers in a bedroom, but hardly ever some more hanging space. Measure in linear feet the amount of hanging clothes you have now, and that will give you an idea of what you have to have in your walk in closet.

Drawer Sections

Next consider drawers. Depending on the size of your closet, you can have as many drawers as you want.
Above the drawers most of the time there are shelves, sometimes cabinets. In some rare cases, when drawers are very deep (24"), you can hang clothes above, that is if your drawers are no more than 42" high.

Shoe Shelves

One very important part of walk in closet organization is creating enough space for shoes, so that they are not all over the floor. You can create a section that has shelves every 6" appart. Slanted shoe shelves are very popular. Other ways to create shoe storage are pull-out shelves, 24" deep, with two pairs back to back, hidden away in a cabinet or an island. Some people throw their athletic shoes into a pull-out basket.

Do you have many shoes? Shoes need shelves 12" deep. Women's shoes need 8" width; men's shoes need 9". Men's shoe shelves need a multiple of 9" and women's shoes need a multiple of 8". 16-24-32 or 18-27-36. If you are sharing the shoe section, make sure you are planning for multiples of 9 for his shoes.
These shoes will go behind the door or on a wall less seen.

Do you have designer shoes you love to see often? In this case, take the most "seen" wall, maybe the one with the drawers. Create whatever amount of slanted shoe shelves either above the drawers or on either side in tall narrow sections.
You can also have your designer draw slanted shoe shelves behind glass doors.

Sharing a Walk In Closet

If you are planning one WIC and you will be sharing it, you may want to split it in 2 parts: if she has the most clothes, her side should be bigger. Possibly you share a set of drawers and a section of long hang, unless these are duplicated. Most of the time 2 to 3 Ft of long hang is enough for two.

Additional Elements for Walk In Closet Organization

Hampers

If your WIC is big enough, you may want to consider a hamper, or maybe two. You can fit two drawers above a hamper, or two hampers on top of each other.

Cubbies

Cubbies are cute and kind of fun, but they are often not the best use of your space because you loose flexibility and you waste space. If you can't resist their attractive look, I suggest you be sure you know what you want to put in them because their size is not going to change.

Ties and Belts

There are several ways of organizing ties or belts in a WIC: The simplest way are tie rack or belt rack. Or you can design a tie/ belt tall narrow drawer with hooks on both sides. You can fit two on top of each other with a 96" closet height. Another way of keeping your belts or ties in one place, is to have drawers with dividers.

Ideas For How to Hang Clothes

• Use all the same hangers
• Use special hangers for pants
• Hang your uppers by color and by sleeve length.
  For each color, from right to left. For example:
  • long sleeves
  • short sleeves
  • tank tops
• Hang pants by the waist, cuff or folded over. Order by color, style, use.

By following these principles you are applying the same rule of organization as in the rest of the house, like things together, and to each thing its place.

Getting dressed becomes a fun and easy thing and you can start the day with calm and all the desired focus on the things that are important to you that day, rather than wasting you time trying to put together your outfit.

How to Best Organize an Existing Walk In Closet

If you already have a walk in closet, here are a few things to look at before you start putting things away:

• Is anything adjustable in this closet?
• Can you remove rods or shelves?
• If so, are there sections that are of equal width, that would allow you to move rods or shelves to a different place? This way you can divide the closet whichever way works best for you. A section can contain two rods, one rod and a shelf or two, 7 or 8 shelves, or a combination of rods and shelves.
• Even if the sections are all of different width, you may be able to change a double hang section into a long hang or vice versa.

Make sure the lower part of the section has the most depth, no one likes to fish for something on a 12" deep shelf that is located below a 24" deep hanging section.
If your existing closet has nothing but a shelf and a rod all around, it may be time to think walk in closet organization and get a closet designer to draw a new walk in closet design that will use the space more efficiently and add value to your home at the same time.