FOCAL POINT STYLING: Weekend Closet Organizing Part II: For Him

Guys wardrobes aren't usually as complex or complicated as us gals. They don't have skirts or dresses of various lengths. They also do not have strapless tops, asymmetrical tops, blouses or tunics to be concerned with. Men's pants are either long or short. The same holds true for their shirts - short sleeve or long sleeve. And a few may have jackets or suits. If the reality of your closet world is you need to share a closet space with your partner, help them stay organized with some of these easy tips:

1.Organize by colors

2. Organize shirts by sleeve length

3. Sort space by casual and dressy or work to weekend.

4. Folded tees and jeans work best on shelves, but hang modern tees within color-blocked polos (think KNITS by color). After clearing out the clutter for donations, you're ready to: refresh a small empty space with a fresh coat of white paint (or pale-neutral shade like ecru or grey) plus change those light bulbs to energy efficient CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs. Sort and use what you have on hand first - take an inventory of what you need afterwards (like hangers) to help avoid overspending on closet storage pieces.

Either way you keep your ties, it always helps to c o l o r i z e . . .

Dress shirts are best keep hanging & colorized. By keeping dress shirts colorized, the easier it will be to put away dry cleaning and laundry. You may hang your scarves, but for guys, hanging ties will make it easy for him (or you) to pair the right shade blue or pair that perfect print in the morning. If he has ties, but doesn't wear them everyday, rolling ties to fit into a tray on a shelf or cubbies in a dresser drawer can also work - however, hanging helps to prevent wrinkles. Special wooden suit hangers help keep the shape and longevity of suits, while shoe shelves can also be a place to hold a lint roller and shoe brush. In a walk-in with wooden floors, placing a small rug can add comfort while dressing + keep feet warm on cold mornings.

MEET TWO REAL ROOM AFTERNOON CLUTTER BLUSTERERS:

Courtney's closet chaos and summer clean-up.

Meet Courtney at Courtney Out Loud from his seasonal weekend update.

Rashon LOVES color (especially pink) and shows it off in his closet!

Meet Rashon, aka Mr. Goodwill Hunting

If your space is tall, don't forget to add a small fold-a-way step stool you can easily tuck to the side, but grab when you need. Keeping a small trash-can in the closet will help prevent tiny pins, clips, or dry cleaning tags off the floor. Utilizing one canvas tote of three for dry cleaning now will help with laundry sorting later. (BEING GREEN: TIP: Slide dry-cleaning hangers off to one side in tote to be recycled when dropping-off your load.)

WHEN MOVING: RE-IMAGINE SPACE PLANNING IN VACANT SPACE:

Empty closets we viewed when home searching for our move to AZ.

Our closet in FL was a comfortable walk in, just off our Master Bathroom...

Keep in mind the linear space (length of hang space)

when moving from one closet to another.

When you move, your closet strategy and space planning may change. If you have a guest room closet or office closet, those are great areas for storage of seasonal coats or suits if not used everyday. Baskets, canvas totes or plastic storage bins are a wonderful means of seasonal folded sweater storage + a place for him to keep winter skullies or scarves. Narrow walk-in closets can feel more open by installing a mirror at the end of the closet. If he's an outdoors-man: create outdoor shoe storage in the garage to prevent tracking in fishy flip-flops or sandy sneakers. Installing wall mounted hooks are especially helpful to hang easy access to heavy coats for fall and winter months.

Comparison of FL closet (L&R) to AZ (C): Utilized office closet for suits before:

Now Jeff needs suits more regularly, so they were planned for our joined (mini) walk-in.

The dresser in the bedroom we share, but it's mostly Jeff's. In FL, he had his white tees in the closet with his dress-shirts - Now they are in the dresser along with socks, underwear, and 3 wide drawers of shorts (folded in half lengthwise).

AZ left - FL right.

Polos & modern tees are now hung above the laundry bin section.

The laundry totes have been a HUGE help with sorting to bring laundry downstairs.

Painting the closet a fresh coat of semigloss white

helped to brighten this small space.

Personally, do I implement all of these organizing strategies? You betcha! And thankfully, hubs not only appreciates it, he too can easily help maintain it (it probably has to do with both of us having retail in our DNA!!) Although I usually donate to Goodwill, I have also come across some "Pinteresting Projects" to try to upcycle men's clothing from jeans to ties to shirts...

Denim Pouff

I've seen DIY denim rugs, but this pouff is it a great idea! For those old tees, they are great to use as rags to dry the car with... And if you happen to have a guy who gets sentimental over some of those college tees, try framing some faves for his mancave :) Here are a few other projects I pinned...