Decoration: 15 ideas for arranging your closet

In a small apartment as in a large house, storage is essential. Here are some tips for organizing and tidying up your cupboards.

Whether you live in a big house, move into a small apartment or rent a studio, storage is essential in a living space. And that you have a lot of placards or not, it is essential to arrange and store them well. Here are 15 ideas and tips for arranging closets and storage furniture, a bedroom or a kitchen.

1) Use the bottom of cupboards as storage spaces

Below 40 centimeters in height, visibility is not ideal and access is not easy. It is therefore not recommended to store everyday objects at the very bottom of cupboards, whether in a room , in a kitchen, or in an entrance hall. It is preferable to use spaces below 40 centimeters for storage , especially heavy elements. Drawers or sliding shelves (which can be purchased as a kit or made to measure according to needs and means) will facilitate access to objects stored at the bottom of the cupboards.

Arrangement of storage: use low spaces in storage / Credit: Unsplash

2) Store light items at the top of cupboards

Just as visibility and access are reduced for the bottom of cupboards, the high parts, beyond 1.80 meters, are not practical for everyday objects. However, they are ideal for store light items that are rarely used . In a bedroom or dressing room, seasonal clothes, such as ski gear and summer swimsuits, can follow one another at the top of the cupboards, for example; in a kitchen, it could be bulky household appliances; in an office, papers to keep, etc.

3) Organize the layout of the cupboards according to the needs

And for the rest then, between 40 centimeters and 1.80 meters? On the lower part (between 40 and 70 centimeters), it is possible to store items used occasionally, such as household linen or bed linen. Between 70 centimeters and 1.40 meters, this is the most accessible part , so the part dedicated to everyday objects. To clothes in a walk-in closet and to plates and other accessories in a cupboard cuisine for example. Above 1.40 meters is the ideal height to install a wardrobe to hang jackets and other clothes in a bedroom.

4) Compartmentalize storage spaces in closets

In addition to an organization according to the height, the ideal is to arrange the interior of the cupboards according to the depth, the height and the dimensions and organize defined storage spaces, compartments . Using drawers, pull-out shelves, shelves, wardrobes or boxes as needed. For a dressing room, for example, jackets will be more accessible and visible on hangers, while sweaters or t-shirts can be folded and stored in boxes. In the depth of the cupboards, prefer little used objects, and in front of the cupboards often used items.

Storage layout: consider compartmentalizing / Credit: Unsplash

5) Use transparent boxes to find your way around the cupboards

If it is good to compartmentalize cupboards or storage furniture with boxes, for more comfort of use, it can be clever to use transparent boxes which will facilitate the visibility of objects and products stored in a cupboard or in a kitchen cabinet. To be used in the case of a closed cupboard: transparent boxes are less aesthetic if they are visible.

6) Opt for clever accessories to organize closets

There is a wide choice of accessories to optimize the storage of a cupboard or piece of furniture . Hooks for hanging belts in a dressing room, tie racks or mobile rods which, by means of a pull mechanism, provide easier access to clothes hung high up; turntables to access products stored in the depth of a kitchen unit. In short, full tips for easy storage and access.

7) Choose drawers to optimize the depth of a closet

In the case of a shallow closet, drawers are not necessarily the solution. But, if the depth of a closet is important, the sliding drawers are perfect for optimizing storage and for using the entire closet. However, pay attention to the weight of the products or clothes stored in a drawer.

8) Install lights in a closet

For practical cupboards, brightness is essential : installing lights, which come on when the cupboard is opened, will facilitate access to stored items for more comfort of use.

9) Choose suitable closet doors

There are many different types of closet doors, from ready-to-install doors to custom doors.

• The swing doors are a classic, timeless for a closet. They allow full access to a wardrobe or storage space. However, hinged doors take up space in the room because you need a step back to be able to open them. They can be wooden, they can be painted white, they can be covered in mirrors, the choices are endless.
• The sliding doors have the advantage of saving as much space as possible in the room where the cupboard is installed because there are no door openings. However, they do not allow full access to the closet: there is always a covered part. The little extra: install a mirror on one of the sliding doors of a dressing room.
• The folding closet doors take up little space in a room and once opened, they give full access to the interior of the closet. They are ideal for small spaces, whether for the storage room of a large house, for the reduced guest room of an apartment or the storage space of a small studio.
• Another solution: leave cupboards open, without doors, which means that the interior must be (very) tidy at all times; put a curtain on a rod to hide the inside of a closet, or bet on drawer storage.

Storage layout: choosing suitable cupboard doors / Credit: Unsplash

10) Optimize the inside of closet doors

In the case of hinged doors, it is possible to optimize the interior of the doors, by installing hooks, pockets, coat hooks or other products adapted so as not to lose any storage space.

11) Maximize empty spaces for storage

You can never have too much storage. Whether in a small apartment with little space, or in a large house, it is possible to use empty spaces to install storage . Install drawers under a bed, for example, to put bed linen in; put shelves in the attic of an attic studio to store books and decorative objects; or even provide shoe boxes under a bench in a hallway.

12) Leave compartments open for a decorative effect

Closets are not just storage furniture. They can also become decorative items. By leaving open compartments of a wardrobe or leaving visible shelves of a piece of furniture, this will create a decorative effect of highlighting objects. Leaving a niche open on a cabinet, for example, allows you to nicely store a vase, a bouquet of dried flowers, a work of art and many other things.

Arrangement of storage: cupboards are also good for decoration / Credit: Unsplash

13) Multiply the storage spaces from the creation of the house or apartment project

It is not once the work is finished, in a house or in an apartment, that the question of cupboards and storage should be asked, but well before the project. In the case of a purchase of property with work or an unfurnished rental, you have to think about storage spaces and their layout for the to optimise from the start. The ideal is to multiply them in the different rooms for more comfort and simplicity.

14) Using System D

If many products and tips are available in stores, sometimes, you have to use the D system and creativity. A magazine rack can be transformed into storage for cans in a kitchen; a hook can accommodate a broom in a cubbyhole, a series of magnets can be used to hang knives (and other kitchen utensils); a flowerpot can become just a pot. The possibilities are limitless.

15) Sort out the cupboards regularly

Over the months and years, objects, products accumulate in cupboards, in furniture, on shelves. And, even if the storage has been well thought out and well laid out, sometimes it overflows. It is therefore necessary to sort regularly and get rid of unnecessary products . Think about selling or giving away what is in good condition, and not necessarily throwing everything away.

Arrangement of storage: it's beautiful when it's tidy / Credit: Unsplash