update 2 -- master closet

I'll be the first to admit, our house lacks storage...big time. We're trying to come up with creative ways to add storage in many places throughout the house. Kurt's dad is a custom home builder, so he really understands what people want and creative ideas with how to make this happen. We all agreed {some sooner than others!} that adding storage to our closet was the first place we needed to start.

One of the first days after we'd moved in, Kurt called me on my way home from work and said, "I put all our clothes in the closet{s} today and I think you're really going to like the set-up I came up with." I can't stress enough how thankful I am for having a boyfriend who likes to help out with all the house stuff, BUT I'm a very anal person. After hearing this, I made sure to thank him for putting all the clothes away, but let him know that we'd still need some major help in the closet department. {I stressed that we should both be able to fit our clothes in the master closet so that we can use the guest closet for extra storage for lots of other things.} So, for the first two weeks, clothes were shoved in random spots, nothing was put away in drawers, and the closet floor was such a mess I could barely find clothes to wear to work! Kurt started taking everything out of the closet before I thought to get a 'before' picture, but here's what the closet storage looked like before adding anything.  

The left side -- one hanging rod and some shelves.

A view straight in from the door.

One rod on the back wall.

The right side -- one more hanging rod.

Because we already had our clothes hanging, the only place we had to put them while working in the closet was on our bed. Try to imagine all these hanging on 3 rods.

The clothes were covering our entire bed and stacked up pretty high!!

Shoes, shoes, and probably more shoes...

Cooper was bored throughout the whole process...no one to play with and not many places to go! He was being so good, and of course, CUTE!

The first thing I wanted to do was take off the door. There was absolutely no need for a door on the closet that's already inside our master bathroom. No one, but us, is going to see it! By taking the door off, we added space on one wall to add hangers for Kurt's ties and some more for our belts/scarves. It's also opened up a wall for one shoe rack to stand.

We haven't put the hooks up yet, but at least we can access the shelves and have a shoe rack!

We also raised all of the closet rods to about 80in. That allowed us to add another closet rod under each one. Basically, instead of having one rod on each wall, we now have 2 on 2 of the walls and left one in the same spot for long dresses/skirts. {This is the wall with the second shoe rack.}

 

 

Kurt's side -- two rods to use. 

Looking straight in -- 2 for Kurt on the left, 2 for me on the right.

The right side of the closet -- all my long clothing is behind Kurt's ties. 

So, we basically doubled our storage in the closet! We're both able to fit {almost} all our clothes. We've really had to put away off season things and shoe storage is still a problem. It's not the most ideal closet in the world, but it's great for now. Have any more ideas for maximizing space in small closets?