Tips for an Organized Bedroom

The Closet

I have to admit – I’m a little bit anal about my closet. I’m a total clothes horse and shopaholic so my closet is probably my favorite part of the house. However, I’ve never had a big closet. I dream of having a walk-in closet someday! But for now I make do with the space I have with organization and the occasional closet clean out. So here is a look at my closest along with my favorite ways of organizing.

Let’s start with the hanging clothes. I highly recommend investing in great hangers! I used flimsy plastic hangers my whole life and just switched to black velvet hangers this year. I’m so glad I finally took the plunge. They are nice and thin and save so much space in my closet. Plus, my closet just looks prettier with nice, uniform hangers. I completely understand that hangers are probably not a top priority in most people’s budgets, but if you care about how your closet looks then I think they are worth it! I often see big bundles of them on sale at Costco, TJ Maxx and Homegoods. It can be a big expense all at once, so I switched out my old hangers just a few at a time until the whole closet was done. One other hanger tip – when you take a piece of clothing off a hanger, move that hanger to the end of your closet. That way it’s easy to find empty hangers when you’re doing laundry.

I separate my hanging clothes into tops, dresses, skirts, pants and coats. Within my shirts they are organized by color in rainbow order – I told you I’m anal. ;-) I know a lot of people like to organize their tops by style – tanks, short sleeve, long sleeve etc. – but that has never worked for me. I tried it for a while and I got annoyed every time I hung up clothes trying to figure out where each category started. I also felt like I could never find what I was looking for.  Organizing by color is so easy to keep up and it makes putting things away super fast.

For skirts I found these great detachable clips for my velvet hangers. I love that I can remove the clips when I want to use a hanger for a shirt instead of a skirt.

My pants are folded in half and hung on a regular shirt hanger.

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My coats are all hung together and are sort of organized by weight and season.

I have a couple of special hangers for scarves. I found mine at Bed, Bath and Beyond but you can also DIY them with a regular hanger and some shower curtain rings.

On the shelf above my hanging clothes I keep sweaters, shorts, layering T’s and camisoles, hats, belts and purses. My sweaters and shorts are divided by some fantastic shelf dividers I found at Home Goods. I love how the dividers keep the piles of clothes neat and organized.

My layering t’s and camisoles are kept in a clear plastic bin I got at Home Goods. I used to just keep them on the shelf, but they were constantly falling off the shelf and ending up in a messy pile. I like having them in the bin because I can pull the whole bin down, find what I want, and I don’t create a mess on the shelf.

I keep hats and belts in a box I found at Target. The dividers can be pushed in and out to create different compartments depending on what you want to store.

And finally my purses are just stacked in a row.  But I’m thinking about trying this hack.

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I’m lucky enough to have shelves on either end of my closet for storing shoes.

One trick I use for shoes is to alternate the way they are facing. So the left shoe faces in and the right shoe faces out. Storing them that way saves space and I’ve found that I can fit one extra pair of shoes on each shelf this way.

My tall boots sit on the floor of my closet with inserts that keep them standing up. I bought the inserts at Bed, Bath and Beyond but you can DIY them with a rolled up magazine or a pool noodle.

I don’t currently have a great method for jewelry storage. I have a major love affair with necklaces so I have them hanging on clear push pins on a wall in my office. I don’t have very many pairs of earrings and bracelets so I keep them in a thrifted bowl in my nightstand drawer.

Finally, my #1 closest organization tip is to clean out your closet at least every season – if not more often! I am an absolutely obsessive closet cleaner-outer. I hate having things that I’m not wearing taking up space.  I always figure, if I’m not wearing it someone else could be. I take big bags of clothes and other household items to my local thrift store a few times a year. If you have a hard time getting rid of clothes here are a couple of great tips. When going through your closet look at each item and ask yourself – would I buy this again today? That is the ultimate test! Even if it’s something you don’t wear a ton, if you would buy it again today then you know it’s worth keeping. Another tip I’ve heard is to turn all of your hangers around. When you wear an item turn the hanger back the other way. At the end of the year (or season) get rid of anything that is still turned around.

More closet organization tips…

• DIY Jewelry Wall
• How to Deep Clean Your Closet
• Repurposed Vintage Wire Baskets
• Scarf Organizer
• Creative Basket Storage
• Hat Organization
• Tension Rod Shoe Rack
• How to Hang Flip Flops
• DIY Pegboard
• Dish Rack Clutch Organizer

The Dresser

My husband and I share an 8-drawer Ikea Hemnes dresser.  I swear everyone and their mother has this dresser! This isn’t an organizing tip, but a really easy way to make a piece of mass produced furniture look unique is by switching out the drawer pulls. I had been looking for drawer pulls for a while when I stumbled on a post by Jen at With Heart. She has the same dresser I do but in dark brown.

She found these gorgeous gold ring pulls at Lee Valley Tools. I think I ordered them within about 5 minutes of seeing Jen’s post. I absolutely love how they look on my dresser. I think they make it look a lot more expensive than it was!  I ordered the 51mm by 43mm size and they were $2.80 a piece.

My dresser is no where near as organized as my closet but it’s really what works for me! My main tip is to designate drawers for the things you need to store. Everything within my drawers might not be perfectly folded but I know right where to go to find what I need. I have a drawer for stocking and tights, one for socks, one for underwear and bras and one for workout clothes and sweats.

I have tried to keep at least my workout wear folded but it never stays that way for more than one day. So I’ve just given in to the chaos. Sometimes organization means being realistic about how much time you are willing to spend organizing. There’s no point in having a fantastic system that you can’t stick to.

More dresser organization tips…

• Cereal Box Drawer Organizers
• Dip Container Organizer
• Cardboard Drawer Dividers

The Nightstands

Nightstands are one way that I’m able to create a little more storage in my bedroom. As much as I would love to have some perfectly styled, fancy nightstands it just wouldn’t work for my life. I found my nightstands at my local thrift store for $20 a piece a few years ago. I love them because they are deep enough to fit a full sized lamp and a few books and they have two good sized drawers.

Just like on my dresser I switched out the ugly drawer pulls they came with for some vintage inspired ones I found at Hobby Lobby for 50% off!

I only have a couple nightstand organizing tips. First is to keep the top of your nightstand free of clutter! Your nightstand is probably the first thing you see in the morning and you don’t want clutter there to stress you out as soon as you wake up. I like to keep a few books handy and a great candle.

My next tip is to buy or make an organizer for the drawers – if you have them. This is something new my husband and I are implementing because our nightstand drawers tend to be a catch all for odds and ends. My drawer is actually still a mess but my husband did organize his. I’m not even going to show a before picture because it was just too awful, haha. He used this clear plastic organizer I found at Target for all the little things that typically end up in a nightstand. I love the separate compartments for organizing small things that don’t really have a place anywhere else.

More nightstand organization tips…

• Plates as Drawer Organizers
• Silverware Organizer

How do YOU stay organized in the bedroom?