Closet Organizing Systems Blog

Women all over the world would agree that some of their most treasured possessions are actually housed inside their closets – with shoe collections topping the list.

So how do you take care of these investments in self-expression and style?

One of the first things to do is to let them breathe. Natural fibers and fabrics need air. So don’t keep your dry cleaning in the plastic bags that you bring the items home in. Not only do the bags not allow the fabrics to breathe – but they keep the cleaning chemicals “locked in” – which makes the clothing deteriorate more quickly.

And speaking of plastic, don’t keep your shoes in plastic boxes either for the same reasons.

And don’t wear the same pair of shoes every day – day in and day out. Your feet sweat and the leather absorbs that. As a minimum, give them 24 hours to “breathe out” the smells. At best, put them in cedar shoetrees that absorb the sweat and help maintain the shape.

Another tip that will save you money and time is to actually have your clothing dry cleaned less frequently. Unless the garments are next to your skin and become stained from food or sweat – you really only need to dry clean garments once or twice per season.

And since you don’t want the pants/skirt of a matching suit to ever be darker than your jacket, you should dry-clean both garments at the same time. It’s very common for garments to change color shades when dry-cleaned.

And if you’re interested in more time and money saving tips – sign up to follow our blog and we’ll keep you in the know.

Shoe storage and shoe closet organization are two of the three most requested thing for women’s closets – no surprise, right? And it seems almost too simple to think that flat, adjustable shelving is the most practical for maxing out storage capacity.

But let’s not forget “the pretty” – because we all really want the pretty – those shoe storage solutions that get shoes not only out of the box – but front and center on display.

And one of our award winning closet designers, Carey Ekstrom, had the pleasure of designing a closet that (per the clients request) was “just for shoes”.

Carey worked closely with the client to assess her shoe “inventory” so we could maximize the under stairs storage space and overall shoe closet organization strategy. Then they focused on the aesthetics (aka – the pretty).

The client wanted great lighting and a look to make the shoes look like they we floating in the air. We a used brushed aluminum melamine with matching shoe rails (for the airiness feel). And to make it all even more vibrant – we used gray tone mirrors as backing material for a softer reflection that wouldn’t be too overpowering in the space.

Overhead ighting in the ceiling was already in place and we didn’t want to lose any of its’ effectiveness, so we installed a framed glass upper shelf in each section so the light could filter through. Kudos to both Carey and the engineering department for coming up with such a brilliant, custom storage solution for the client who wanted a closet “just for shoes”!