Give Your Wardrobe a Makeover

We buy new clothes and make ourselves look good, but what about our actual wardrobes? All too often they easily become overloaded, with too many clothes piled in to a small space, shelves bursting with jumpers or accessories and shoes littering the floor. Is this really the proper care your clothes deserve? Most definitely not! So, before you pile in any new purchases, read on and discover how you can give your wardrobe a much deserved makeover.

Set a regular time to clear out your closet – Ideally, this should be a task that you do regularly, not just once in a blue moon. The changing of the seasons, such as the summer or winter, are good times to choose as they also signify a time when you’ll need to dig out thinner or thicker clothing and, as they come around regularly, it could serve as a reminder to act.
The clothing reality check – It’s easy to hang onto some clothes for sentimental reasons, cling to the idea that they may one day come back into fashion again or in the desperate hope that you may one day manage to fit back into it, but sometimes you need to take a reality check. Sort through your clothes and ask yourself, honestly, if you’re ever going to wear that again. If you’re in any doubt, ask yourself when you last wore that item and, if it’s a year or over, then ditch it. It’s hard to part with favourite clothes, but there’s no point in keeping things endlessly.
Sort the shelves – If your wardrobe has shelves, then sort these out too. Items that are folded, such as jumpers, tops or trousers, can easily become jumbled, crumpled and out of sorts, so take everything out and carefully re-fold them. Not only will it help the appearance of your shelves look better, it will also have a positive impact on how your clothes look when you wear them.
Store seasonal clothes separately – If your wardrobe is bulging at the sides, consider storing seasonal clothing separately, and out of your main wardrobe. This way, all your clothes stand a far better chance of hanging nicely and getting less creased or wrinkled. Invest in a few good clothing boxes or zipped bags, wash and iron all the clothes you’re putting away, and then fold them up carefully into the boxes or bags. Store in a cupboard or under the bed until the season ends, then do the same with your summer or winter clothes.
Clear the floor – The floor of wardrobes can notoriously become cluttered and piled up with shoes or handbags, plus it can become dusty. Take time to remove the entire contents of the floor and sort through it. Again, put yourself to the reality check when it comes to excess shoes or handbags – do you really need them all? Use a duster to thoroughly clean out the floor of your wardrobe and make sure there are no unwanted stains lurking on it.
Re-organise your hanging clothes – Improve the appearance of the inside of your wardrobe by re-organising your hanging items. Try categorising them according to item, with all your jackets, skirts and trousers hanging together and any shirts, tops or jumpers together. You could also put tops on one side of the wardrobe and bottoms on the other. That way, everything should be easy to find, especially if you’re in a hurry.
Improve the scent – There’s nothing like the smell of freshly laundered clothes, but after they’ve been hanging in your closet for a while the aroma can fade. You can practically tackle this by adding some scent to your wardrobe, either through specially scented products hanging from your hangers or through putting packaged scented soaps or pot pourri in your wardrobe.

Get some storage boxes – Tidy up any other accessories or knick-knacks littering your wardrobe, like hats, scarves, gloves or belts, invest in some pretty storage boxes and transfer the items into them. Not only will it keep everything organised and together, so that you’ll know where to find them in an instant, but it will also make your wardrobe look much tidier, too.

Giving your wardrobe a makeover needn’t take up too much time and can really improve the look and feel of your clothes. Plus, when you come to open it in the morning or evening, you needn’t feel depressed or down at the sight, as everything will be smelling nice, looking great and ready to wear!

By Rachel Newcombe
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(Related Categories: Maintaining Your Wardrobe & Storage)