Taming Crazing Coat Closets

I’m busy working on a client this week so I’ll be insanely brief with a tip on coat closets. Remember this is one of the only closets that outsiders get to see. It’s the living room of closets. Like all shared use closets, they can get jam packed, i.e., every personality in the household interacts with them. First things first, matching hangers. Oh and I don’t mean just any matching hangers. I also certainly don’t mean the hangers from your bedroom. Get basic clothing hangers from the Container Store. They’re sturdy but thin and not insanely expensive. Plus if you need more, you know exactly where to get more. Classics instantly get the need for matching hangers even if they inwardly balk at throwing out perfectly good hangers. 

Next up, you need open bins that you can pull out and grab hats, gloves, scarves. Get matching bins as well. Regardless of your decor aesthetic, closets look 100 times with matching bins than some wonky ones you try to re-purpose in your front hall closet. You also need more hangers and bins than you think. There are always extra jackets and coats that pop up, i.e., new coats, not to mention guest coats. As for bins, you need extra room because if each is packed to the gills you’ll find yourself digging forever in each to find what you need in a mad panic as you rush out the door. Not exactly the definition of organized — being able to retrieve a specific item without stress — even if the three bins you have LOOK organized. If you want the bins to have categories, label them because you’re most likely to get opaque ones — and these will look better than transparent — and it’ll help visual types such as Organics and Smarts to remember that the bins likely have a specific purpose.