Last weekend I reworked my living room closet. It was a very low budget rework. I took everything out of my closet and sorted like with like. I knew I wanted my closet to look neat and I wanted to be able to find and get to items easily. I have a large full grab-and-go bag and a backpack for geocauching in the closet. The grab-and-go bag had been on a nail and the backpack was usually sitting on the floor. I also had an old handbag that was holding a GPS system and a walking pole I use when geocauching. I wanted these items to hang and be easy to reach. I looked at Home Depot for hanging rack systems. The closet ones all seemed too flimsy for the heavy, bulky items that I wanted to hang. My eye was caught by a hanging system meant to go in a garden area to hold shovels and other tools. “Why not?” I thought. It works perfectly. You can see it on the right of the picture. I also wanted to make the shelf look more attractive and be able to find and reach my most used items easily. I bought 3 baskets at Home Depot. Two are on the shelf and one on the floor to replace the ratty box the cats like to hide in. I sorted and put the items in the baskets on the shelf with the two most used items (my dance shoes and my purse) on the top of each basket. I just need to reach up and grab those items. Both baskets have labels on them. I made the labels from old name holders from conferences. I had 3 bags I use for overnight visits or for carry on. I put 2 bags inside the third one and they are on the shelf on the left. I have some nice paper bags with handles beside them. I use those for items I want to send home with friends. My wrapping paper remains in the closet but I took the cover off so that the bags could hang above it easily. My yoga mat is behind the paper but easy to reach. I have been using the system for the last 5 days and it seems to work very well. I would love to hear about any innovative ways you have set up your closets.
