Mar 28, 2013
It is that time again. Every few months my closet becomes unbearable. Everything is out of place and clothes are piled up on the chair and etagere in the dressing room. Stuff is everywhere! Time to reorganize.
I am fortunate enough to have a large walk-in closet/dressing room. But, even if you have wall closets there are so many things that you can do to personalize and beautifully organize your storage. Here are some of my favorite tips & tricks…
When I am working with a walk-in closet I always make room for a piece or two of real furniture. It usually will include some kind of chair or ottoman/stool and some style of dresser/chest or etagere. By bringing furniture into your closet you are saying, this is a room too! By adding new materials, shapes and details you are making your closet more than a room of racks. Where I can, I will usually also add some kind of throw rug or runner as well. This adds color, pattern and texture as well as, a sense of luxury.
It doesn’t matter if you have a walk-in or wall closets, lighting is key to not only telling the difference between black and navy, but seeing everything in your closet in general. The majority of today’s closets are fit with fixture that are both ugly and woefully ineffective for lighting your closet. The good news is, you already have the wiring you will need to change to better, brighter more beautiful fixtures. I use chandeliers and pendants in walk-in closets and track and ceiling mount fixtures in wall closets. A little trick I employ with wall closets is putting a new/additional fixture on the wall just above the door frame on the inside of the closet. This allows the light to spill down in front of the clothes, instead of getting blocked by the top shelf in your closet. You must have light that gets all the way down to your bottom shelves and hanging racks for it to be truly useful.
The thing that most people forget in their closets are the walls and ceiling. This is the perfect place to add wallpaper and/or paint to make your closet a beautiful boutique you can call all your own! I almost always use wallpaper on the back walls of a closet before the storage systems are installed. I already know what you are saying to yourselves…”I don’t want all that pattern to clash with my clothes and make me crazy”. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong! Truth be told, you will lose most of the pattern when you fill your closet but trust me, it will still shine through enough to make a bold and beautiful statement and that statement is, FABULOUS! The same goes for your ceiling. Get a color or wallpaper pattern up there. Both add instant glamour to any closet, I even do it to linen closets and coat closets!
Two things a closet/dressing room should never be without? A laundry hamper and a full length mirror. By full length mirror I do NOT mean one of those cheesy little plastic framed 4 foot mirrors that you hang on the back of the closet door. I mean a floor mirror that you can see your entire body in from head to toe without having to back up into the next room. A hamper is mandatory for me and I insist that it be good looking. You might consider an old trunk or lidded box that can double as your seat. How is that for doing double duty!?
My favorite indulgence in my dressing room? It is that I have a full size ironing board so I can give anything a quick touch up when I am getting ready. What would your dressing room indulgence be???