Readers often ask about closet ideas for small closets. Small closet designs can often be tricky. The smaller the closet the bigger the need for an efficiently designed space.
When I sit down to begin the design process I need to answer a few questions first. Without a proper consideration of fundamental elements it is impossible to properly design a closet organization system. You will, in all likelihood, end up with a design that does not not suit your needs.
The first question you need to address is the purpose of the closet. What items do you intend to store in the closet? If at all practical, a small closet should be designed to hold homogeneous items. A good example would be cleaning supplies. Once you have decided on what type of items will be stored in the closet you must then determine the general size of the items and the natural of the items. In the case of cleaning supplies you will need shelves that are spaced in such a way that will be 2 or 3 inches higher than the average cleaning supply bottle. Furthermore, you might be well served by some small bins to store rags and brushes and some hooks to hang brooms and mops. Now knowing what you intend to store you can design a small closet organization system with the proper shelves, bins and hooks.
Another issue that should be considered is how often you will be accessing this closet. Often small closets hold "annual-use" items such as Christmas decorations or winter blankets. In these cases, the stored items are generally taken out, left out and then returned to the closet. As a practical matter, I do not recommend paying a great deal of money to organize these types of small closets. Although all closets benefit from proper organization, I recommend cheap closet organizers for those closets that are only accessed once per month of less.
More on closet ideas for small closets in my next post.
