In The Closet

Now that we’ve cleaned up our act, it’s time to take a quick look into our closets. If your life seems unbalanced or chaotic, your closets may be to blame. Think of the state of your closets as a feng shui test of your self-esteem. In feng shui closets, are connected to your innermost, your deepest, and often hidden feelings about yourself. Think of the state of your closets as a feng shui test of your self-esteem.

• How healthy is your self-esteem?
• How clean, peaceful and beautiful is your inner world?

Here is the thing about closets – most people think of closets as an “out of sight, out of mind” deal. Not true. Especially in feng shui terms, where we know that everything is energy. It is important to understand that with the feng shui energy, the “out of sight” strategy does not work. You cannot cover, conceal or pretend not to see low energy, because, in the world of feng shui energy, there are no boundaries.

Unfortunately, most homes have busy, cluttered and just plain ugly closets. This always puzzles me; if you just take a moment to think about it, once you open an ugly and messy closet and put your clothes on, you start carrying this ugly, messy energy with you! Please understand I do not mean this as a metaphor, but as an actual experience.

So, if you are working on improving the feng shui energy in your home, do not neglect your closets, put them high on your feng shui to-do list. For optimal feng shui or energy flow, take a look at your closets’ contents and doors, which may be keeping you awake or causing unnecessary grief. Explore relatively simple ways to redirect the room’s flow and help you get back on track.

Open your closets and take a look. No worries, nobody is looking, it is just you and your closet.

• What is it telling you?

If your closet is asking for some loving care, here are some easy feng shui tips:

Reflecting on Energy

Mirrors on the outside of  bedroom closet doors are a feng shui no-no, reflecting yang energy, which affects relationship, intimacy and sleep, explains Ann Bingley Gallops, a New York city feng-shui consultant. Rather than replacing the closet doors, simply hang curtains in front of them. That way you can close the curtains before climbing into bed, and open them when you get up. If you prefer, cover the mirror with peel-and-stick frosted paper or with wallpaper. Pink, blue and green offer ideal feng-shui curtain or wallpaper colors, representing multiple emotions, including love and tranquility.

Color and Light

If you have a walk-in closet, be sure the lighting is friendly and warm. Good quality lighting is extremely important for your well-being, be sure to pay attention to its quality in your walk-in closets.

No matter big or small, walk-in or not, if your closet has not been given any attention for years, be sure to refresh your closet with a fresh coat of paint.

Yes, I do mean it and I am not crazy. Unless you plan to call California Closets for a complete makeover, you owe your closet space a fresh coat of paint. Plus, you get to take all your clothes out of your closet before painting, which should make the next step much easier!

Clean and Paint

Start by taking everything out of your closet completely. Take a bucket with 1 gallon hot water mixed with ½ cup vinegar and 1 tbsp of tea tree oil. After vacuuming the closet thoroughly, wipe clean the whole closet starting from top to bottom, including the walls and baseboards.

A fresh coat of paint will work wonders at this point. Leave the door open so the paint dries well, it should take 2 to 3 days. If in a hurry, a hand held fan will speed the drying process.

Clear the Clutter

If you open the closet door and don’t know where to begin, it’s best to remove everything. As you do this, sort each item into piles or boxes, such as what you’ll keep, what you no longer want or need, what you plan to donate to charity or sell, and items you plan to throw away.

Before you can apply the principles of feng shui, you need to make sure you absolutely love everything in your closet. The average person only wears 20 percent of his or her wardrobe, meaning that there are likely quite a few pieces in your closet that you could donate or re-sell without ever missing them. Plus, when you look and feel great in your clothes, this has a significant effect on your positive energy and how you see yourself.

To separate what stays and what goes, take everything out of your closet, then try everything on. Each item that fits, looks amazing on you, and makes you feel fabulous, goes back in. Anything that’s dated, worn, stained, unflattering or doesn’t fit stays out — for good. Decide which discarded pieces you could sell on consignment, if you’d like, then bag up the rest for donation.

• Note: Tomorrow we will be exploring some great ways to use these items to beautify other areas of our home, so before you make a trip the Planet Aid bin, stay tuned for what’s on tap bright and early tomorrow morning.

Organize

As you return items to the closet, do so orderly, using woven bins to keep small clutter items neatly out of direct sight. A quick trip to IKEA will arm you with all you need for an organized closet. From baskets to boxes and everything in between, you need to have a clear system as to what goes where. And for how long. Keep your closet up with the seasons and have a clear system of dealing with seasonal clothing.

The Fifty Percent Clearance Rule

This rule means that try to have your closet clear of fifty percent of the stuff so it is clear. There should be enough space in your closet so that you can see what is there without unsettling everything. If there are shoes on the floor of the closet, they should not be touching the stuff hanging in the closet. Try to give away all that you don’t need, doesn’t fit or you haven’t worn in more than a year. When you get rid of old, unworn clothes, you make up more space for fresh new clothes in your closet.

A full length mirror at the back of the closet will give the feeling of space and also help you locate items that are in the back.

Hanger Hangups and Solutions

Something as seemingly insignificant as closet hangers can improve feng shui flow. Match the hanger with its clothing. For example, use durable wood hangers for heavy coats or suits, and satin-covers hangers for lightweight dresses or lingerie. Rather than using hangers, use hooks to create space and improve closet organization. To help closet clutter, add a closet organizer system to help keep your wardrobe orderly and accessible.

Give Your Closet A Cohesive Look

Once you’ve properly aligned your clothes, you’ll want to make sure your entire closet space looks uniform. Simple changes, such as having matching hangers, making sure all hangers face the same way and placing items you can’t hang up in identical, labeled bins can bring unity to your closet. Doing this creates a harmonious flow by ensuring each component is standardized and easy for you to locate.

Beautify

Yes, beautify. This means treating yourself nicely and respectfully and creating a sense of beauty in your closets. Be it a small photo that brings happy memories, some feng shui crystals or well-displayed pieces of jewelry, beauty is the most healing energy and should be everywhere around you.

Easy, isn’t it? Easy and simple. Watch for profound changes coming along as you start treating your home, especially your closets, with proper respect. Ultimately, the respect you show your home speaks of the respect you have for yourself.

7 Closet Makeover Tips

How organized (or disorganized) your closets are can set the tone for your whole day.

If you can pick the perfect outfit with ease, and it emerges from the closet unwrinkled, ready-to-wear and with the right accessories standing by, you’ll begin your day in a more positive mindset. It’s a small thing that, 365 days a year, really adds up.

Whether you have a large walk-in or a small close in a New York City apartment, some of these 7 closet makeover tips are sure to give you better organization and more space.

1. Customize –

Customized solutions, such as clear plastic bins you can stack however you like, wire drawers, or hanging canvas shelves for shoes or sweaters, give you the storage solutions you need. Double hung rods can make the most of a small space, especially if the bulk of your wardrobe is pants and shirts (rather than dresses). Best of all, these do-it-yourself customizations don’t cost a lot.

2. Roll underwear –

Rolling underwear in plastic bins with drawers of different sizes helps you easily sort by style or color. Plus, rolled clothing takes up less space and stays neater.

3. Select the right hangers –

Fine lingerie and evening dresses should be hung on satin hangers. Hang coats on heavy wood hangers. Whatever hangers you select, make sure clothes stay on them, because there’s nothing zen about shirts on the closet floor. Short on space? Select slim profile hangers which can double or triple available hanging space.

4. Store clothes the right way –

In addition to getting the right hanger for each job, fold items that can stretch easily, such as t-shirts and sweaters, and stack on shelves.

5. Think outside of hangers and shelves –

Hang belts, ties, and even jewelry and scarves on pegboard lining the back or sides of the closet walls. A door with pegboard on the inside adds space to a small closet. Use hooks that hang on the closet rod for bags that might lose shape if they get stuffed inside a drawer or tucked on a shelf.

6. Shoe solutions: Bins or board? –

A diagonal plywood board takes up space but displays shoes conveniently and fashionably. Clear plastic bins or hanging canvas shoe shelves are good solutions for a smaller space.

7. Color-coordinate –

Once your closet is organized, you can go the next step by color-coordinating items of the same type (i.e., shirts, tank tops, skirts, pants, etc.) This gives a cohesive, professionally organized look to any closet. It’s easiest to organize items in the order of the colors of a rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and then black and white.

The biggest challenge to organize is having items with no set space. Keeping an uncluttered home is really easy. Create a place for everything and, when you’re done using it, the item goes back in that place. This is especially true for closets.

You’ll reduce the amount of time you spend putting away laundry, because it will be a no-brainer every time. You’ll also reduce morning stress. You might even spend less money because you’ll know exactly what you have to wear; you won’t fight those “nothing-to-wear-blues” that lead to shopping sprees.

You might not believe that an organized closet can change your life, but you’ll see that it can.

Extreme Closet Reorganization

When it comes to closets, we could all use good chi. Classic feng shui strategies can be integrated into your space so that every time you open those closet doors you experience serenity and calm, rather than disorder and chaos.

If you want to go to extremes, with your feng shui closet reorganization, or if you love to be thorough, you can create a positive energy flow with your pared-down wardrobe. by doing the following:

Place your clothes in this order, going from left to right, for each category:

• Your work clothes: these represent prosperity.
• Your casual wear: the clothes you wear on the weekends or when you’re hanging out with your family and friends represent your relationships with loved ones.
• Your creative wear: anything in your wardrobe that you wear when you’re crafting, gardening, baking and so on — these represent inspiration and your artistic side.
• Your formal wear: these items represent success.
• Your love life items: clothing you wear on date night, and your lingerie, represent love.

Color plays an important role in feng shui, even inside the closet. Once you have your clothes in the right categories, arrange them in the following color order, from left to right within each section: black, brown, blue, green, purple, red, orange, pink, yellow, white, metallic and grey.

Alternatively, rainbows symbolize blessing, hope, and a good future. Rather than opening your closet doors to a chaotic mix of colors, organize your clothes, use the rainbow as a guide — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple, and then black and white — to improve your home’s energy.

Arrange Clothes by Function

Organize your clothes in such a way that there is a system to them. Hang your shirts together, pants, skirts and dresses together. Then hang t-shirts together, tang tops and long sleeves shirts together. Finally arrange each piece of clothing by color. Hang all white dress shirts in one part, blank tank tops in another and so on. The same rule applies to your shoes at the bottom shelf of the closet. Make sure the shoes all point in one direction, facing the door. It’s a good idea to buy new hangers so your closet wears a new and neat look.

To the left of the closet, put your work or business clothes. That’s where your knowledge and prosperity are. In the middle of the closet place your casual, formal and weekend wear for your health, fame and career. Finally put your intimate clothes on the right of the closet to promote creativity.

Organize clothing by type

After you’ve organized by color, arrange your clothing by type within each hue. Place items from long sleeve to short sleeve and long dresses to short dresses (or vice versa). It doesn’t matter how you order your clothing types, just that you stay consistent in each section.

Here are a variety of simple inexpensive ideas for extreme organization. Note the heavy reliance on hangers and shower curtain clips:

Oh my! Does anyone actually have this many clothes? That they love, wear, and must keep?

Sources:

• Do It Yourself
• The Spruce,
• Home Guides,
• California Closets,
• Ken Lauher