I mentioned the lack of organization in the new house. Not only in the form of unpacked clutter, but a lack of storage space. Sure, the mountain house is larger than our first house, but the current storage is inefficient at best. Take our entry closet for example.
On the top shelf are two floating store-bought shoe racks. Neither are wide enough for the closet, nor tall enough for Ben’s work shoes. So we’ve got a pile of shoes on the floor. I did add a large hook for my purse and a hanging Ikea organizer to corral the most used shoes from the pit below.
The boys’ bedroom closet is rocking a similar look. A heap of clothes and bins of diapers at the bottom, crammed clothes on one rod (we’ll add a second rod soon) and two shelves above.
The linen closet is my best friend right now. It’s huge and holds the usual linen-y stuff; towels, blankets, and pillows. But, it’s large enough to pull double duty as our vacuüm and toy closet. Supervision required board games on top:
Bins of toys (which lived in our entertainment centers at the first house) on the bottom. And a chair so I can reach the top shelf.
Of all the existing storage, the master closet is the most useful for us. Plenty of shelves to hold my purses, pajamas, and such.
Ben’s side is similar, holding his t-shirts, socks, underwear, and shorts. Plenty of hanging space for each of us, including hooks for belts and hats.
In fact, we’ve got room to spare. This center shelving is bare, as is most of that top shelf.
I can hang all my clothes on one rod, leaving room for hangers and a huge pile of laundry on the floor. Gotta get a new outlet to get the dryer hooked up. Overall, we love the house. We’re just missing our built ins and organization. Did you notice I finished the paint? I love the color, Ben said. “It’s okay…for a closet.” He said he hated it at first, but I think it’s growing on him. Maybe not enough to paint the bedroom walls though.
How do you organize closets? Do you prefer built-in shoe racks? Hanging systems? Do you sort your clothes by color and sleeve length like I do? Have to have matching hangers? Share your secrets!
ourhumbleabodeblog.com 
We gave up our dressers when we moved to our house and only have a closet each with Ikea drawer organizers in it. They work fairly well but I’m not that organized with the color and shapes! It’s definitely more full now but I still can keep a semblance of organization!
http://seventhandw.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/closet-love/
I know *exactly* how you feel. We moved into a new home over this past weekend. It’s larger than our old condo, which is good because we will have space for everything plus some breathing room. But, like your home, the closets leave a lot to be desired. Most of the bedroom closets have one shelf and the clothes hang from the shelf. So there’s a lot of room below to just pile stuff up…piles and piles and piles.
I had installed shelving systems in our old closets which made much better use of the space in our old home. — no piles!
But at least I have an excuse to go shopping for some organizing goodies!!!! Those are my favorite things to shop for 🙂
Enjoy your new house!
Uh, YES my clothes are sorted by season & by color. So are my socks & unmentionables. And YES again to the fact that ALL HANGERS have to match! Crazy questions. btw… My shoes are also organized by color. My daughters are the same way for the most part. It makes getting ready easier & faster.
It seems like it take years to get the closets the way you want them- at least it does for me! Colin and I finally have fully functional closet organizers that are tailored to our specific needs, and I love them. My office and our coat closet are still lacking in the organizational department. Whoever decided the standard for a closet is to have one rod and a shelf above is an idiot! 🙂
I agree with Emily. The builder-standard shelf-and-rod thing has got. to. go! What a waste of space!
I have made the best use of our master walk-in closet by adding another full-length shelf ABOVE the original shelf (about 1 foot down from the ceiling, with still about a foot between it and the original shelf). I find that the space above the original shelf is wasted, and clothes can’t be piled that high without toppling over anyway. So, by adding a higher shelf, I can put out-of-season clothes, linens, etc. up there. Works great. I also added a cheap wire 3-drawer thingy for my husband’s clothes. It sits right under his hanging shirts with plenty of room.
I still need to do a better job of organizing my shoes, but that’s a project to be done another day. 🙂
I too was unsure of the color you chose for the master closet at first, but now it really makes the shelving pop! Nice work!
http://www.snsbabee.com
I have the opposite problem with my closets! Most of them are totally empty because we have a TON of closet space and not enough things to fill them!
We hardly have any closets at all, so I totally feel you! Ours are completely inefficient as well – can’t wait to add some organization to them!