The Top 3 Tips for Sharing a Custom Closet

Heather Towner • Jun 02, 2022

Sharing a custom closet might seem challenging, particularly when one or both of you have a lot of belongings. With a custom closet, you’ll have more usable space and you’ll both have the opportunity to have input on features that will make the closet work for each of you.

Some of the top strategies for sharing a custom closet include:

Clean Out the Closet
Make a Division of Space
Set Up A System

Between successful closet-sharing strategies and the addition of custom elements to make the space more functional for both people, sharing a custom closet should be doable without any hardship.

Clean Out the Custom Closet

It doesn’t matter whose clothes and accessories are currently edging the other person out. If the current closet setup isn’t working for both of you, and especially if you plan on customizing the closet anyway, it’s best to start from scratch. That means emptying the closet completely, getting rid of what no longer is needed or wanted, and then putting back what’s being kept in an organized manner.

The Dumpsters.com Blog suggests going into this with a plan. Don’t just start pulling items out one day; mark a date on your calendar when you both have time. Have containers ready to sort the clothes – you’re going to designate some to be kept, some to be given away, and some to throw away. You need containers for the “give away” and “throw away” piles. Put the items you’re planning to keep on the bed, that way you must finish before you can go to bed that night.

Make sure once you empty the closet, you clean it fully. Wipe down shelves, clean walls, vacuum the floor and deodorize. As long as you’re not inhibited by things in your way, you may as well make sure your closet is perfect.

Once you’ve divided the closet items into piles, go over your “keep it” piles again. Do you really need that sweater? Are you ever going to wear that dress again? Be realistic. If you haven’t used the item in a year, you’re probably not going to.

Make a Division of Space

Creating a design plan will help with dividing the space between the two of you. A custom closet designer can help give you a “your side” and “their side." You might or might not need the same types of organizers; it depends on what kinds of clothing you each wear.

Take some time to ensure each person is getting about an equal amount of space, even if they’re using it in very different ways. Furthermore, even if you and your partner do need some of the same closet features, you’re still better off each having your own space within the closet instead of sharing each section.

You don’t want to be hunting through all of your partner’s things to find yours – that’s even worse than hunting for something through all of your own belongings. The two of you are likely to have different organizational habits even if you’re both being neat and careful, so you may as well each have your own space to practice those habits.

Set Up A System

Speaking of organizational habits, it’s common for them to be very different from person to person. Sometimes it can be that one person wants to arrange their shirts by color, while the other wants to arrange them by style. Other times, it can be that one person is significantly messier than the other – throwing clothes on the floor instead of in the hamper or pulling things off the hangers instead of sliding them down the rod to look through them.

According to the Sparefoot Blog, it’s important to set some ground rules between the two of you. It’s fine if you each want to arrange your shirts differently – that’s why you have your own sections of the closet. You do it your way and let your partner do theirs. Bur very different levels of cleanliness may not be workable for long. You can agree on a certain way of doing things – such as “put something back where it belongs every time,” or “don’t let the mess on your floor cross over to my side,” or you can agree on regular, specific cleaning days each week where everything gets picked up and put back.

Some custom closet features may also help – if it drives you batty to see unfolded clothes, your partner might have drawers instead of shelves for the things they don’t fold, so you don’t have to see them.

Conclusion

Sharing the closet peacefully depends on cooperation from both parties. Each should be equally responsible for cleaning, and each should let the other have their own space in the closet as well. Fortunately, customizing the closet to meet both partners’ needs and preferences should make it much easier to share.