Wondering what you should store in a spare closet and how to organize it all? Here are my best tips and ideas to help you maximize every inch of this extra space.
If your home has a spare closet somewhere that allows for extra storage space, you’re likely really grateful for this closet, but you also might not know how to use it best. A lot of times, a spare closet in a hallway or guest bedroom becomes the catch-all spot for things that don’t really have a home. This is totally fine, but it becomes a problem when things pile up and you can’t find anything. Here are my best tips and ideas for how to use a spare closet and keep it tidy.
Install Adjustable Shelving
In a spare closet, things change often. It may hold winter coats for half of the year and pool floats the other half. Since the contents in a spare closet fluctuate, you need shelving that can be adjusted quickly and easily without breaking out power tools and putting new holes in the wall.
I recommend this closet system for a spare closet because it’s very affordable, super customizable, and simple to install. I wouldn’t splurge on a pricey system like we have in our bedroom closet because it doesn’t have the adjustability factor like the wire system does. And since you won’t be storing folded clothes or tiny accessories in here, the wire shelves are just fine.
Store Most-Used Items On The Lower Half Of The Closet
By using an adjustable shelving system, you have the ability to utilize the entire wall inside the closet. You can go all the way to the ceiling with the shelving, and you can fill in gaps above and around storage pieces that sit in the floor. For this reason, you need to be mindful of what items get stored at arm’s reach.
Things like coats, in-season accessories, frequently-used household items, cleaning products, and linens should be kept on the middle and lower shelves and rods. By storing the items you use most often in the most accessible spot, you’re more likely to keep the whole closet neater and more organized.
Use Sturdy Baskets To Divide Categories
There are typically a lot of categories happening in a spare closet. In my own guest bedroom closet, we keep our winter coats, my son’s shirts that need to be hung (because we turned his closet into a gaming nook), guest room linens, decor items I swap out frequently, travel accessories, gift wrap supplies, and entertaining linens and table decor.
I chose these plastic woven baskets to separate all these random categories. They are all the same size and color, so the closet looks uniform and tidy even though it’s packed full of mismatched items. I recommend using lightweight bins like these because they have open tops for quick access, and the woven nature allows the stuff inside to breath a little. It’s especially great for linens. (I still need to make labels; it’s on my list.)
Add A Rolling Storage Cart
One of the best ways to utilize floor space in a spare closet is with a rolling cart. There are a lot of great options you can choose from, like the classic three-tier cart to this gift wrap cart I have that includes drawers and cubbies.
The rolling cart can hold anything you’d like, but if you need some ideas, here’s a few to get you started:
-Gift wrap supplies
-Craft supplies
-Guest toiletries and towels
-Seasonal accessories
-Cleaning products
-Pet supplies
-Party decor and disposables
Don’t Forget To Declutter Often
Since a spare closet can become the temporary housing for a lot of miscellaneous items, it can get piled up very quickly. A lot of times we move around things in our home and need a place to store a piece of decor for a while, or we buy gifts in advance and hide them in the closet, or just stuff things away before a last-minute guest comes over.
It’s so important to schedule a reminder in your phone calendar or in your planner to declutter the spare closet. I suggest once every month or two so you can stay on top of it and never end up with a huge mess to clean up. Over time, you’ll figure out what you need to continue to store inside the closet and what can be moved to another location. But be open-minded with your spare closet and allow it to be a rotating door of storage that changes often.
Shop My Closet
Tap the products below for direct links to the items used in my closet.
Want To See The Full Guest Bedroom Makeover?
Head over to this post to see how we turned our boring jail cell gray spare room into a guest space that family members are lining up to stay in. This is actually a very small room, but by changing the layout and downsizing what was in the room, it feels so spacious.
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