‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is a popular attitude towards the chaos that may be hiding inside our closets. Instead, many of us choose to focus on organizing and decorating more exposed areas of our apartments.

However, opening up your closet is one of the first things most people do every day, so seeing a nicely organized space will often reflect positively on you and it’s a great way of getting off to a good start each day.

So, here are some of our favorite tips for organizing your closet and making it a space that looks and feels nice.

Empty Space

If your closet looks cluttered and disorganized, or if your hanging space is just too full, think about what empty space is available in your closet. Quite often there are areas of our closet we don’t think to use.

One useful area of empty space to make use of is the back of your closet door. You can make use of this space by hanging an organizer. This could be used for small accessories, shoes, and T-shirts.

You could also place hooks on the door to store your bags. If you don’t have space on the back of your closet door, you could attach hooks to the inside walls of your closet. Make sure that any hooks or organizers you add don’t make your closet feel too cluttered.

Consider your floor space if you still need more space to store your bits. Could you put some items into organizer boxes on the floor? Are there any items you can store in stackable containers?

Nevertheless, having some empty space in your closet can make it look nicer. First, make sure that you have plenty of space to display and store all your clothes in an organized manner. If in the unlikely event that you still have empty space, then you may benefit from leaving deliberate areas of your wardrobe free of any clutter.

Organizer

An organizer is a great tool for making use of any vertical space in your wardrobe. A popular type of organizer is the vertical shelves you can hang off the rail of your closet. You can find these in all kinds of sizes and designs. They work well for hanging any clothes that you don’t need to hang up; activewear, swimwear, jumpers, underwear, and more.

Some organizer shelves can also come with drawers. We recommend using these shelves as they can make your closet look neater, it’s also easier to take your clothes out if you can pull them out of drawers. You can also get organizers that hook onto the back of a closet door. These are great for hanging accessories such as ties, belts, gloves, or even shoes.

Hangers

One easy way to make your closet look more aesthetically pleasing is to use matching hangers. Investing in matching hangers draws any attention away from the hangers themselves and you can instead focus your attention on your clothes. Incorporating natural materials, such as wooden hangers, it can make your closet look nicer and feel clean.

Hanged clothing

If you are wanting to use matching hangers, make sure to have a mixture of hangers to suit each clothing item. You will probably use the regular shirt and dress hangers the most, but having specific trouser hangers will help make your wardrobe look more organized. Clothes that slide off the hangers or don’t fit properly can be annoying so having a variety of matching hangers will help you find more peace in your closet!

Just make sure that all the hangers match, so if you’ve chosen wooden hangers, make sure any unique hangers like tie hangers, belt hangers, and scarf hangers are all wooden too.

We also recommend limiting the number of hangers you have! As well as having a mix of different hangers, too many hangers will make your closet feel cluttered. Plus, by limiting the number of hangers you have, you can also limit yourself from owning too many clothes. This is particularly helpful if you would like to live in a more minimalist apartment.

Arranging your clothes by color will create a much more pleasant color palette for you to look at when you open up your closet. When you color-coordinate your closet, it has a massive effect on how organized your closet looks. Furthermore, if you color-coordinate your clothes, it makes the space look less cluttered.

Also, if you color-coordinate your clothes, it can make the process of selecting an outfit much easier and may even have a positive effect on your style and what you choose to wear each day.

Reorganize

Another way of making your closet feel more organized and less chaotic is by taking the time to reorganize it every so often. We recommend reorganizing your closet each season.

This is particularly beneficial if you have a very full closet. If you struggle to fit everything into your closet, then why struggle? Why not make things easier for yourself by taking out the bits that you don’t need for a particular season and storing them somewhere else? With the arrival of winter, you can reorganize your closet by taking out all the lightweight summery clothes and accessories that you just aren’t going to wear. You could place these in boxes under your bed or in any other extra storage space, you have around the house.

If you don’t have additional storage space you can still reorganize your closet seasonally. When it starts to warm up, you can move your warmer clothes to the front of your closet and to areas that are easier to reach and move your cold-weather clothes to the back of your closet.

For many people, the closet is not a space we focus on when designing and decorating our apartment. But maybe this shouldn’t be the case. There are so many benefits of having a nice, clean, and organized closet; it can cut the unnecessary time we spend each day trying to select an outfit, it can make us feel more organized in our lives, and it can help us dress in a way that reflects how we want to look. Now, if you’re already in the mood for organizing, how about continuing in the kitchen? Also, check out our other Village House blogs for many more useful tips all about Japanese apartment life!