The glass doors allow for easy viewing of all your shoes, from your everyday sandals to glass slippers (wink)!

Mirror, mirror on the wall!  The use of mirrors gives the illusion of a larger space and lets you make sure you are prim and proper.

Hooks or valet rods allow you to display your outfits for the many wardrobe changes.

With only two short weeks until the official start of summer, it’s time to get a jumpstart on the season by giving your closet a fresh summer look.  Summer is a time where bright colors, fun florals and carefree dresses hold precedent over boots, sweaters and hats.  If your closet looks more like a spring tornado hit, it will be hard to find your favorites and flaunt those great summer trends.  Here are five quick tips to give your closet the visual appeal it deserves and to make your clothes feel new again.

Tip Number One: Purge

The best place to start freshening up your closet is to get rid of the things that you no longer wear.  Did you wear it last year?  If the answer is no, it is time to part ways.  Not only do these clothes take up valuable hanger space, but they also distract your eye from picking the clothes that make you feel great.  A tip that NEAT gives all of their clients is to pick a place to donate that inspires you to get rid of all unnecessary items..

Tip Number Two: Store Out of Season Clothes

 Even the summer months can have some cold weather days but that is not an excuse to wear your favorite wool sweater and corduroy pants.  Storing out of season clothes can accomplish two important things.  First, it can help you to wear only what is appropriate for the season.  Second, when clothes are stored in bins for the season, they tend to feel new again when they are brought back out.  Nothing beats that “new clothes” feeling especially when it is with clothes that you already own.

Tip Number Three: Matching Hangers

NEAT insists that every client have matching hangers in their closet.  It is important to make your closet a place that you are proud of and enjoy opening.  The right hangers can have a larger impact than most people think.  We prefer, “Huggable Hangers” because they are thin and their velvety texture keeps clothes hanging.  When all clothes are on matching hangers it begins to give your closet an unbeatable visual appeal.

Tip Number Four:  Color Code Your Clothes

Color coding your clothes may seem like an over the top type ‘A’ thing, but it will help you to find your favorite green shirt much faster than before.  NEAT prefers to have whites first, then the good old ROY G BIV and finally grays, browns, and finish with black.  If you are really feeling good about the way your closet looks after your color-coding, take it one step further and organize within the color.  For example, put tanks first, then t-shirts and finish with long sleeves.  NEAT prefers to keep all dresses, suits, and pants separate so that clothes that are typically the same length stay together.

Tip Number Five: Treat Yourself

When NEAT organizes a client’s closet, nine times out of ten the client finds something that they either forgot they had or swore they lost.  We hope that by organizing your own closet, you rediscover your favorite top that you haven’t seen in a while.  After some hands-on organizing, the NEAT team LOVES to get a good manicure.  We suggest you put on your favorite outfit from your newly revamped closet and treat yourself too!  Have dinner with friends, go out for a drink, get a manicure, you look good, and you deserve it!

For more information on where to find some of NEAT’s favorite organizing solutions, follow the links below.  To learn more about NEAT San Francisco, please visit our website at www.neatmethod.com

Places to Donate:

Goodwill

Soles 4 Souls

Salvation Army

To store your out of season clothes find your storage bins here

To find our our favorite hangers click here

*If you are a Costco member, you can find the hangers in a box of 50 for a great price!

This??

Besides the absolute obvious, which is that the clothes from Barney’s New York are going to cost you significantly more than Forever 21, as organizers we see this scene completely different.

Lets be honest, Forever 21 is great to find that trendy piece that you have been dying to try, but as total type A’s, we can barely walk in the store without having a nervous breakdown.  That led us to wonder, why does a store like Barney’s always look so much better than a store like Forever 21?  There are probably many valid reasons that could be concluded, but, as organizers we like to think that we have the best answer.

Barney’s has made the choice to set a precedent in their store: sleek, stylish and ORGANIZED.  When you walk into Barney’s, you pick up a shirt that is folded and then do your very best to fold it EXACTLY the way you found it.  This happens without fail whether you are typically an organized person or not.  This is because you do not want to ruin how beautiful the store looks.

But what about Forever 21?  Have you honestly ever seen someone pick something up there and fold it nicely??  No.  You haven’t.  People pick things up, carry it with them, decide they don’t want it, and discard it at the nearest table, rack, or (our worst nightmare) the floor!

As organizers, we see every type of closet there is: walk-ins, reach-ins, shared, etc.  Before we begin, many of our clients have closets that look like….how shall we put this… like Forever 21.  One of the biggest concerns that we hear time and time again is, “So now you are going to make it look nice but let’s be serious, I will never be able to keep it this way.”  Well, here is your answer:

Being organized will turn you from Forever 21 to Barney’s! You will love to shop your own closet so much that when you take something out you will actually want to fold it and put it back where it belongs and not on the floor.  Why?  Because you wouldn’t dare throw a Barney’s garment on the floor would you?? Take a look at your closet right now – are you more Forever 21 or Barney’s?  If you are NEAT you will have a shopable closet that makes you want to stay organized.  If you are more of a Forever 21, save yourself the money of buying new clothes because you can’t find the ones you own and get NEAT! 

Or rainbow?

SHOES!!!!  Whould they face out...

...or...

In??

We have run into this questions while organizing MANY times.  In pictures, I think we can all agree that shes facing out look AMAZING!!  Shoes can be so photogenic can't they?? After testing both ways, here are some things that NEAT has learned that we wanted to share with you:

1.  Nothing looks better faced out than a cute pair of heels or a sleek pair of dress shoes BUT what about the running shoes?  We can tell you that if you you have the space, and it is mostly at eye level they should all face out.  If your shoe space is higher up, the running shoes are better facing in so that you can grab them easier.

2.  Shoes that are facing in are easier to pull out when you need them however shoes facing out  are easy to find when you are looking for a specific pair.  

NEAT's Conclusion:  Shoes facing out will always 'look' better however, you need to do what works best for your closet.  If you have a walk-in closet with adjustable wooden shelves, you should definitely have your shoes facing out.  However, not everyone can have their dream closet so if your shoes fit better facing in on a shelf that is hard to reach than do it.  Function must take priority when working in a small space.

*Photos found here