FAMILY & HOME
His & Hers Closets
After the Wedding Day
T
here’s an old joke that says, “What’s mine is hers, and
what’s hers is hers,” the implication being that after
the ceremony, women gain ownership of everything,
including the closet space. But that’s so 1970s. These
days, men’s fashion is a billion-dollar industry, and men
are paying more attention to what they wear and how they wear it.
In the interest of sharing “half and half,” and starting a marriage on
the right foot with the right shoe on, equality in marriage means equal
everything, including closet space.
Home organization expert for modularclosets.com, Marty Basher,
offers these tips to get organized after you both say “I do.”
Merging two closets into one means it’s time to toss a few items
In order to get clothes and shoes from two closets to fit into one,
perhaps bigger, but nonetheless single closet, the key is to triage. It’s
time to go through each closet and decide what stays, what goes, and
what might need to go into storage for a little while. The dress you wore
to your high school prom? You might want to toss or store that. The
suit that you wore to a wedding last month? Keep. The jeans you were
hoping would fit again one day? Toss. Your lucky espadrilles? Keep.
It’s a long process that you have to be willing to endure without
too much in the way of emotion. If you think with your heart instead
of your head, you’ll end up keeping everything. Once you’ve done the
triage, it’s time to design a closet that works.
Take inventory of what needs to go into the closet
Look over everything from shirts and shoes to handbags and ties.
While a ClosetMaid survey states that women typically have 132
items in their closets versus the 43 that men have, those numbers
are changing. Do you need several drawers for socks, underwear and
lingerie, or will two do the trick (one each)? Do you need high rods for
suits and dresses, or is the bulk of what both of you wear more in the
jeans and khakis department? Take stock to decide what you need.
It’s a good time to look at other storage in the house to see where
less frequently worn items could go. For example, a basement storage
area could be modified into a closet using modular closet pieces to
create a space for seasonal clothes. No need to have your lined jeans
and parkas in your everyday closet in July.
Measure, measure, measure
Modular closets are perfect for enhancing any closet space, whether
with a pre-designed system or something custom to suit an oddly
shaped space. You can mix and match, depending on your inventory
results, to get the closet that works for both of you, and that gives you
more evenly distributed space. Does he have more shirts than shoes? Do
you have more shoes than slacks? Allocate space fairly so each of you
has access to all of your favorite pieces.
Then take the time to measure it accurately so that you are buying a
system that will fit, and can be put together easily and quickly, choosing
the design that suits you both. An easy-to-assemble system that is
designed to measure is the most cost-effective solution to avoid arguing
over space.
More than one closet?
If you’re really lucky, you might even have more than one closet. At
that point, it often comes down to deciding who gets the bigger one, or
the walk-in versus the standard closet. Basically, it will come down to
who has the most shoes (no, not really).
Even with separate spaces, the important factor is efficiency. A well-
designed closet system will allow even a smaller space to be highly
efficient for storing, finding and keeping track of all your clothes and
accessories. No more searching for your favorite sunglasses because
they’re right where you left them - in your accessories drawer.
And once you’re done with the bedroom closet or walk-in, start
looking at your other storage needs. From the laundry room to the entry
hall closet, child’s bedroom or your home office, there are probably a lot
of other places where finding a way to organize and store all your items
will keep arguments at bay. After all, a newly married couple can find a
lot of things to argue about. Closets shouldn’t be one of them.
Modular Closets are high-quality, easy-to-design closet systems that you can
order, assemble and install yourself, in no time at all. Visit modularclosets.com.
SAVVY I SOPHISTICATED I SASSY
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