Dorm Style: Closet

Before coming to college, I stressed for months over my dorm room, but was still not all that prepared for the challenges living in a tiny, dated, industrial-feeling room with another person. I hope this Dorm Style series helps you if you are preparing for college, moving or just living in a smaller space.

One of the major adjustments I had to make in my dorm was the closet. I have a walk-in closet at home that contained everything. Now, my clothes are split up between hanging in my closet and folded in my drawers elsewhere in my room. This post will focus on my closet, and I will have another about my drawer system. (I apologize in advance for the pictures. It is not physically possible to get far away enough to photograph the whole closet #smallspaceprobs...)

The closets in our room are big metal boxes that have two sliding doors. Inside we have one bar for hanging clothes and a shelf above that. They are painted the ugliest color of yellow possible, but they are magnetic, which is fun. I try to make it a little less awful by using cute magnetic letters (I got the ones you see from Pottery Barn Kids, the brand is Mudpuppy), and putting up pictures and other things.

Because most clothes don't hang all the way to the floor, I have some space to play with at the bottom of the closet. One side has a laundry basket that I keep my curlers and straightener in. Yes, I have two sets of curlers because it really and truly takes 24 hot rollers to curl my long, thick hair (!!). I also stick my duffel bag and extra towels in there. The other side has a stack of shoe/boot boxes. You definitely could put all your shoes in a hanging shoe organizer (shown later), but boots are harder to store. I keep them in the boxes and then stack the boxes biggest to smallest. I like this because it's easy to see what you have without the boxes being in the way.

As for the shelves on top, the bins are so great. you can just throw stuff in them and they still look cute and organized (both the chevron cloth bin and the polka dot metal bin are from Pottery Barn Kids).  I have workout clothes in one bin, swimsuits in the middle one and I keep some random dishes and things in the last one. Weird place for dishes, right? Well, you do what you gotta do... The spaces in between the bins are a great place to stick laundry detergent, lint rollers, Febreeze, etc (BTW, all things you NEED for college...). I have folded up my scarves and put them up there too, scarves are tricky to store and I really haven't found a great place for them. Also on the shelf, I keep a small flashlight. This is kind of random, but our closets are right by the door, so on nights that I come home and my roommate is already asleep, I can just grab the flashlight instead of having to turn on any lights. I would recommend this if you're sharing a sleeping space with someone else.

Because of the two doors, it is hard to get to the clothes hanging in the middle, so I hang my fancier dresses in garment bags in the middle because I don't need those as often. Also in the middle, I have a hanging shoe organizer. This works well for out of season shoes and shoes I don't wear as often. To be honest, the shoes I wear the most usually end up staying out on the floor (lined up in some semblance of an order, but still on the floor...). The shoe pockets are also great for other stuff too. I use one of them to store my tights, but they would also be a good place for nail polish, jewelry, or anything else you don't need to have out all the time.

The best way I have come up with to organize the clothes in my closet is to have tops and shorts on one side and dresses and pants on the other. I know it seems kind of random to separate shorts and pants, but I find during the fall/winter, I have more layers on top (button-ups, sweaters, vests, etc.) so they take up most of the left side and don't wear as many dresses, so I have room on the right side for pants. I have most of my clothes on those skinny velvet hangers. I never thought those hangers were really any better than any others until I saw how much less space the same clothes took up when hung on those rather than regular hangers.

That brings me to my next point: DO NOT BRING ALL YOUR CLOTHES. Do not bring all your clothes. Do not bring all your clothes. You will simply not have room for them. Every time I go home (which is not that often, maybe every 6 weeks or so...) I am taking back clothes I haven't worn much or are out of season and bring back other things from my closet at home. I know this is harder if you are really far from home. One of my friends from out of state keeps a large suitcase in her trunk with those clothes that she doesn't need for a while

I most certainly do not have anywhere near a perfect system, but it has worked well for me. I'd love to know your closet organization tips!

Have a great day!
- Christine