Closets: Find More Space When You’re Out of Space
Whether you’re renting or own your home, storage is always an issue. Closets in particular are areas where most property occupants tend to get the most frustrated, as they never seem to have enough space for our ever-growing collection of stuff. Because they’re often small, dark, and out of the way, we might not always think of closets as modifiable, but in reality they’re tiny rooms of the house that just happen to be for storage purposes. They’re nearly endlessly adjustable, and it’s important to remember that with closets, what you see isn’t necessarily what you get.
So how is the savvy homeowner or renter to maximize their closet space? Not surprisingly, this is a common issue and the remedies for it are relatively inexpensive. With a bit of creativity, a few bucks, and some elbow grease, any closet’s storage capacity can be increased by a surprising amount.
For starters, get rid of old clothes or clutter you may be hoarding or tossing into the closet for convenience. If you don’t use or wear it, consider getting rid of it. Donate it to charity, sell it, or give it to a friend. Most of us will find that downsizing and getting rid of clutter frees up a lot more space in a home than we ever thought was there to begin with. With clothes, don’t be afraid to store them seasonally: put winter clothes in the attic during the summer months and vice versa. If you’re a parent, you can easily accomplish this by having two changeovers per year, storing winter clothes on a spring cleaning weekend and doing the same for summer clothes during the back-to-school bustle. Even if you’re not worried about storing clothes for your children, this is a good practice for everyone, not just parents.
Seasonally rotating your closet storage is a good way to maximize space, but how does one really take advantage of and make the most use of the actual dimensions or physical space within the closet? Your closet may be a finite area, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of it. Most of us tend to see a hanging bar for clothes and a floor for shoes; in other words, we think of the space in a lateral sense. The best way to shed that state of mind is to go vertical!
The easiest way to go vertical is to realize that your closet has width, height, and depth. Look at the space from top to bottom, up and down. The first thing you should notice is that the hanging bar is placed around ¾ of the total distance from floor to ceiling, and this is purely for convenience rather than making efficient use of space. The second thing you should notice is that probably none of your clothes hanging on the bar reach even halfway to the floor; why not add a second bar below the top one? Not many people consider this at first because we’re used to the convenient placement that comes by default in nearly every closet, but for most garments and closets, there is ample room for a secondary bar. Installation is very simple, as the existing bar is probably already affixed to a stud. All you need to do is line up the lower bar with the top one and use one of several cheap, do-it-yourself hanging bar kits available at most hardware stores, and just like that, you’ve doubled your closet’s garment storage capacity!
Drawers and shelves are another helpful and storage-friendly addition to any closet. Remember, it’s all about thinking outside the box. Chances are you store your shoes on the floor of the closet, which is true for most people in the same way they never seem to question the placement of the hanging bar. Again, you can easily double your closet’s shoe storage capacity by simply adding a low wall shelf or a wide and low standing shelf on the floor. Most of these are inexpensive and easy to put together even if you’re not a particularly handy individual. As an alternative, a hanging shoe rack is another example of thinking vertically, and can free up floor space for shelves by collecting all of your shoes in a narrow, organized vertical rack. If you find yourself with newly free floor space, drawers or box shelves with sliding compartments are incredibly useful for storing accessories, odds and ends, or bedclothes and blankets.
Get creative! Shoe racks, for example, don’t necessarily have to hang from the closet bar. There are several styles that are designed to hang from the back of the closet door, which you may find to be even more convenient in addition to saving space. A top shelf, as another example, can store items that may not receive much use. The sky is the limit, and there’s no reason to think of your closet as a confined area with entirely too little space because there are literally innumerable ways to modify or add to it to maximize the space it does have.
Finally, it’s worth considering adding lighting to your closet, especially before considering additions. Most newer homes already have lights in their closets, but older homes may not. There’s a reason children are scared of their closets, and it’s not because they don’t have enough space; it’s because they’re usually dark! A lit room looks infinitely bigger and more inviting than a dark one, so keep that in mind. It’s not necessary to route wiring and electricity into the closet and install lighting in most cases, as an inexpensive battery-powered tap light or LED bar will work just fine and give plenty of light. There are even motion-sensitive ones that will activate when the door is opened and turn themselves off when no more motion is detected, saving you a bit on the cost of batteries. Not only will this make your closet easier to navigate, it may also help justify some of your additions or modifications because as the closet gets fuller, getting to the item you want often requires the ability to see it clearly.
Our view is that closets aren’t a what-you-see-is-what-you-get affair; most people grew up with simple closets and therefore don’t even bother to consider that they may not make the most efficient use of their space. We suggest getting creative, looking at the closet in all three dimensions, and thinking outside the box. You’d be surprised at just how much storage capacity your closet really has! Be sure to check back with us each week for more advice on real estate investing and home ownership, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
- Get It Right Solutions