Closets

New Year’s resolution: Organize your cabin.

- Janice Brewster

If your cabin’s closets feel overstuffed and undersized, it could be that you’re not using every inch of space you have efficiently. Smart closet design will help you store and organize your clothes and gear.

Taking inventory

Start your closet overhaul by assessing your space needs, which will vary depending on how often and during what seasons you use your cabin. “For my family, we are constantly lugging clothing from our house in the Twin Cities to our little cabin in Wisconsin, so we mostly live out of our bags on our cabin weekends,” says Sara Pederson, owner of Time to Organize in Shoreview, Minn. “However, there are some items that always stay at the cabin, so maintaining order in the small cabin closets is a must.”

What do you currently store in each bedroom and coat closet? Are there items in those closets that would be best stored elsewhere? Hiking boots or life jackets that might be better located near the door? Puzzles and board games that could find a more convenient home?

As you sort through your closets, take the time to jettison things you haven’t used, that no longer fit or that you just don’t like. “If you can’t get this done by yourself, a professional organizer can help,” Pederson says. “The closet design system should come second, after any purging takes place.”

The price tag

Your closet makeover can cost nothing but a few hours of your time or run up to thousands of dollars, depending on your end goal. If you simply need to de-clutter, you can attack the project following a plan you devise yourself or find in any of the myriad sources of information on de-cluttering.