My friend went through my wardrobe storage with my permission and was horrified. She kept gasping, "But you don't have anything, is this all you have, you don't have any clothes!" I didn't mind, in fact I teased her, "I have only one body and can wear only one outfit at a time, so this is more than enough clothing!" She was a messy hoarder and compulsive shopper. Her family had built extra wardrobe shelves for her and let her take over her brother's room after he left. She still had piles and stacks of clothes on her floors and could see no alternative. The local norm may be somewhere between the two of us.

What a wonderful idea for a post!

they have some great solutions!

Anna

Http://www.olivegreenanna.blogspot.com

Pretty sure Jane Aldridge's closet is just as unrealistic for most of us as the beautiful empty ones in Container Store ads... sure fun to look at though.

The first and second pictures are definitely more like my closet.

@Anna Lisa

I was thinking the same thing until I clicked through. It's an entire wall in her bedroom! She totally turned the whole room into a closet with a bed in the middle. It's kind of awesome. I could probably pull that off if I was willing to live with it.

The first one seems the most realistic to me. The third just seems like an inefficient use of space for fewer than 20 pairs of shoes.

#1 is my dream: organized, but packed. Very efficient.

This makes me feel better.

I was looking at an Elfa closet system from the Container Store, but it's costly enough that it will have to wait. I'm definitely organization-impaired.

I *just* went through my closet this afternoon. We have an easyclosets organization system because otherwise our closet would be a bare, slope-ceilinged room. It's big by any standards, but I've found that size doesn't equal organization. You still have to launder things, hang them up, put them away.

Christene Barberich is amazing as is her vintage wardrobe!

For all of you who want some more wardrobe inspiration take a look at this amazing collection

33 Exceptional Walk-In-Closets To Accentuate Your Fashion Collections

Ack, how can #2 live with all those wire hangers?!?

My first thoughts about each one
1: Open toed sneakers are a war crime
2: No wire hangers!
3: Oooo, love.
4: I want to go to there
5: Meh. Kinda haphazard & uninspired

these people have too much stuff, they probably do not wear it all.

the best advice is to purge your closets and get rid of what you don't wear. you can have your girlfriends over and make an event out of it, everyone brings the clothes they do not wear anymore, and people can swap. then what is left over goes to salvation army. it's fun !!

oh and to stop buying so much new stuff!!

@noticetothepublic. Some of us wear lots of stuff. It's not necessarily new stuff. For some people, clothes are like art supplies. No need to high horse about it.

Wow, that looks like an old picture of Alix! I'll bet her closet looks nothing like that now.

The best advice I can give after living with open closets for 4 years is:

1. Group items by colour
It may freak some people out to mix all the different clothes together for the sake of colour, but it's SO much neater to look at when the clothes are hanging like a pretty artwork. Hang all patterned clothes together and you'll be amazed at how good it looks!

2. Make sure all your hangers are the same.
I hang pretty much everything so I chose a versatile and very cheap black plastic hanger that I can buy just about anywhere.

Haha, I would seriously kill to turn my bedroom into a closet. I'm not sure my husband would be down for it, though.

Also: How on Earth does Susie Bubble reach her top shelves? (Now I'm picturing her with a Liberty print jet pack).

Christene Barberich is amazing as is her vintage wardrobe!
mens cardigan