How to Properly Arrange The Clothes in Your Closet

Believe it or not, there is a proper way to arrange the clothing in your closet that will maximize your space and extend the life of your wardrobe. Whether you have a custom closet or not, you can get the most out of your closet space and have everything you need easily accessible and ready to wear at a moment's notice.

When deciding how to best arrange your closet, you'll want to consider these factors:

What to hang versus what to fold
What kind of hangers to use
How to organize clothes based on season
How to organize clothes by color
How to arrange shoes on a shoe rack
How to store accessories

Keep reading to learn exactly how the above tips will help you banish clutter and get your closets looking neat and orderly.

What to Hang Vs. What to Fold

The first step in arranging your closet is to determine what clothes are going in it. To help you decide, you need to determine what garments are best stored on hangers versus being folded.

Organizing guru Martha Stewart provides a handy manual for making this very decision.

Hang

Linens
Flowy fabrics
Suits
Dresses
Blouses
Ties & Scarves
Anything that wrinkles easily

Fold

Knits
Sweaters
Jeans
Shorts
Most T-shirts
Leggings
Workout wear
Socks
Gloves
Anything that will stretch out if hung

Choosing Hangers

Choosing the right hangers can preserve the life of your wardrobe. Eliminate wire hangers from your closet as they can actually do more harm than good.

Instead, choose:

Padded or slim fuzzy hangers for delicates, lace and silk items
Wooden hangers for heavier pieces, such as dress pants and heavier slacks
Plastic hangers for T-shirts, dresses, and cotton items
Suit hangers for suits and blazers
Clip hangers for lightweight slacks and skirts

Hang dress shirts with the cuffs and collars buttoned to keep them crisp looking.

Organize by Season

The best way to organize your clothes by season is by using the rotational method, suggests the pros at How Stuff Works.com. Rotating clothes in and out of your closet each season also gives you an opportunity to assess your wardrobe. Take the opportunity to toss or repair any damaged items and donate pieces that no longer fit.

Clean clothes before storing, but avoid using “bleach, fabric softener, sizing or starch,” which can draw in bugs, according to the experts at HGTV. Store freshly laundered, out-of-season clothes in a spare closet or vacuum-sealed bags. Use a different-colored bag for each season: yellow for summer, green for fall, blue for winter, and pink for spring. Label each bag by season.

Organize by Color

There are several ways to organize your wardrobe by color. The Spruce suggests the following two methods:

Rainbow Method
Light to Dark

In the Rainbow Method, organize your closet into sections, with the following categories: dresses, skirts, pants, blouses. Then put clothing into sections by color. Organize colors in this order: white, tan, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, gray and black. Multi-colored items should be grouped together within each section.

In the light-to-dark method, organize clothes in sections from the lightest to the darkest: From whites to neutrals to pastels, grays, and finally black. In addition to your clothes, you may want to color-code accessories as well to maintain the same color theme. Choose neutral colors, white, wood, or colored plastic hangers and color-coded baskets to keep the look uniform.

How to Arrange Shoes

Start by sorting your shoes by season and then grouping them by category. Depending on how many pairs you have in each category, you can organize them into groups like:

Athletic shoes
Casual/flats
Dress shoes/pumps
Sandals
Special occasion heels
Boots

Shopping and lifestyle blog Closetful of Clothes.com offers up these options for storing shoes:

Floor racks
Over-the-door racks
Wall racks
Shoe Boxes
Shoe cubbies

Organize shoes by how often you wear them. Put frequently worn pairs in easily accessible locations in the front. Store special occasion shoes and boots, and other seldom worn pairs on the top shelf or in the back row.

How to Store Accessories

For storing accessories, The Spruce suggests sorting items into groups and storing like items together:

Belts
Scarves
Purses
Necklaces
Earrings
Sunglasses

The gals over at One Crazy House.com have some creative suggestions on how to store accessories:

Hang long chunky necklaces from a wall peg coat rack
A wall wine rack can hold wallets and clutches
Use shower curtain rings for heavy purses and bags
String wire across a picture frame to hang sunglasses and jewelry
Install towel bars on closet walls to store purses
Hang scarves from drapery hooks installed on closet walls or door backs
Use a tiered hanging basket to store belts, scarves and small clutches

Custom Closets

Perhaps the best way to arrange your clothes is in a custom closet. To help determine the costs, the pros at DASI Innovations outlined the six factors that come into play in:What Factors Influence The Cost of Purchasing Custom Closets.

Things to consider include:

The area you have to work with
The type of materials you would like used
Your design preference
Style of doors and drawers
Additional features
Cost of installation

Conclusion

Learning how to properly arrange the clothes in your closet doesn't always have to be a dreadful experience. The key is to begin the reorganization process one step at a time. Organize items by category, determine what pieces need to be folded versus hung up, evaluate accessory storage options, and if all else fails, research investing in custom closets.