Coat Closet: Organized

We have been on an organizing frenzy at our house lately. I am much more inclined to clean this time of year instead of the spring. I want my home clean for the holidays and if I am going to be cooped up inside all winter, I don't want to be in a mess!

One of the projects I did on Saturday was organize the coat closet since I am now using it every day. We had all of the mittens, gloves, scarves, and hats in a plastic tub in the top of closet. Any time we needed something we had to stir through the mess, and it was particularly hard when short on time in the morning.

My solution to this problem was to buy an over the door shoe organizer. I got one at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. With the 20% off coupon that always comes in the mail it was only about $12. Sooooo worth it!

All of the gloves and mittens have their mate, and everything is easy to see. I have only been using it for two days but it has been so helpful to find the right color of gloves and just go!


If your winter gear is in need of an overhaul, I would highly recommend this method! I just love looking at it! All the neatly organized bright colors just make me happy (including my red rain boots!) AND I have more space in the top of the closet now!

In case you are wondering... yes, I will be doing a Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale this weekend for all items in my Etsy shop. There will be percents off and even free gifts for the early birds! Come back late Thursday night to be the first in line!

Boot Storage

If you are like me, your boots get stuffed in the closet all jumbled and misshapen like this. You can see an example in this post. Poor sad boot. Then one day I was reading Already Pretty and the author suggested using bottles or magazines to stand your boots upright! Genius!

Just grab a magazine, roll it up, stuff it down the boot and....

voila! It stands up straight!

I had to do this with all of my boots of course.

I loved how it looked so much to husband's chagrin, I commandeered this shelf in the closet. Where there used to be a pile of old dirty work shirts, there is now a lot of boot eye candy! I am happy to have a bit more organization in my closet! Makes it much easier to shop my closet : )

And I am happy to finally have some weather where I can wear my boots! Too bad we skipped straight from summer to winter!

How I Organize My Closet

I have a lot of clothes. They are mostly inexpensive clothes, but a lot nonetheless. It has taken quite a few years to find a closet system that works for me but I have gotten to the point where I can stay organized, even sharing with my husband now. I thought I would share some tips in case you need some help with your closet.

I inherited this wire shelf from a friend who was moving and couldn't take it with her. It fits perfectly in every closet I have ever had. It adds an extra shelf to my closet to stack my pants on. I have one pile each for jeans, work pants, denim shorts and capris, and other shorts and capris, and old pants.



I have found this to be the best system for my shoes. I have tons of shoes and cannot seem to just put them back where they go when they are all laid out on the ground. I just end up chucking them in the closet. This way I can still chuck them in the closet. but they are organized by type of shoe so I only have to look through one cube instead of all the shoes.

Flats Heels

Sandals Wedges

Flip-flops Tennis shoes

Random shoes I can't seem Boots

to get rid of


All of the shirts hang over this shelf. This is my shirts all piled up on my bed. I pulled them all out to straighten them on the hangers, see what had fallen off the hanger,s and fix the color order so it was perfect.

Yes, I hang my shirts in color order: maroon, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, navy, purple, pink, melon/salmon, brown, cream, white, gray, black with various shades in between. This makes it SO much easier to find what I am looking for.



Color order also helps a lot with mixing and matching outfits. When I buy a new cardigan, it's easy to look in the color sections to find all tops that can go under it. If you haven't tried color order and are looking for a way to organize your closet- THIS IS IT!

Skirts hang in the bottom section. I have fewer than I do shirts that I don't do color order.

Jackets- also in no order (coats go in the coat closet by the front door).

Dresses and belts. Only skinny belts fit on this organizer so...

... I recently asked my husband to hang more hooks in the closet. They are perfect for wide belts and long necklaces that don't fit in my jewelry organizer.

Scarves go on the back of the door with Spencer's hats.

Purses up on a high shelf.

Plus, all of Spencer's clothes are in there too.

Cleaning out the closet every once in awhile can remind you of peices you may have forgotten about or inspire you to create new outfit combinations.

For example, I had totally forgot about this blue Old Navy t-shirt. I think it would be a great layering peice for this gray jacket. I might wear it tomorrow, in fact.

I also think this is a fun combo. I have had all 4 of these tops for a long time and hadn't put them together until I cleaned out the closet again.

And the best part? I found that Spencer has a tie that matches my jacket almost perfectly! We need to take new family photos! Ha ha!