It’s March! Soon the garden will beckon. So let’s tiptoe into spring with a real morale booster – a newly designed clothes closet. The words storage bins, baskets, wire shelves, new hangers, lovely, scented sachets, and pretty shelf paper always excite me. Check out Housewares for baskets in different sizes and shapes. Be creative and find items not for their intended use to corral odds and ends and make them easily accessible. Take a picture of your shoes, put them into plastic boxes and tape the picture to the front of the box for easy access without opening each one.

Begin by emptying your closet and, as you do so, try on each item of clothing to put into one of three piles: “keep”, “throw away”, and “donate.”  No waffling. Force yourself to be decisive. Get rid of the skinny jeans you haven’t worn in three years! If you lose weight you can reward yourself with new ones.  Keep editing. Each time you do this it will feel like shedding pounds. (Not a reason to keep those jeans!).

An empty closet always screams out for a fresh coat of paint. Pick a color that makes you smile, maybe one you wouldn’t use anywhere else. I like Benjamin Moore’s Hawthorne Yellow- very cheerful. For a more subtle color; Benjamin Moore’s Sea Salt (a fog gray with a great Nantucket vibe!) or a seafoam shade like Beach Glass, Shoreline, Harbor Haze or Whispering Spring (love the descriptive names).

Buy new clothes hangers especially for each garment. Absolutely do not keep the wire hangers you bring home with your shirts from the cleaners! Use wooden or padded hangers for jackets, blouses and dresses. Put bulky sweaters in same size storage containers on the shelf above. A peg rack or evenly spaced hooks on the inside of the door is the best way to access belts, purses, and scarves. Separate out of season clothes in a hanging zippered clothes bag. Arrange all clothes by color with items that go together. Be creative with storage items like Mason jars and office supply holders. tin paint buckets - great for socks, scarves, etc. Affix labels to the front of each. Check out the kitchen area for modular containers as well.  If there’s room above the hanging rod, add a shelf. Finally, slide a fold-up step ladder in one side for easy access to top shelves. Happy almost spring!