What the Pros Know

"If you have to hunt for it, you're probably not going to wear it." Gillian Wells, personal organizer

The Three Principles of Closet Design

According to the Container Store's Brooke Newton:
1. Visibility: You must be able see what you have.
2. Accessibility: You should be able to reach what you need without having piles of clothes falling on you.
3. Flexibility: Your wardrobe and your needs will change, so your closet should be adaptable.

Defining the Space

Measurements: To determine how long your rods should be and how deep your shelves should be, follow these guidelines.

Overcoats: four to six inches of rod.

Suits and bathrobes: two to four inches of rod.

Shirts, skirts, pants: one to three inches of rod.

Sweaters: 10 to 14 inches deep when folded.

T-shirts, turtlenecks, laundered shirts: 9 to 12 inches deep when folded.

Shoes: seven to eight inches wide per pair.

Lighting: Fluorescent is the safest choice, though incandescent lighting shows clothing colors more truly and is safe if enclosed or recessed. Don't use halogens; the fire hazard is too great.

Surface-mounted incandescent lighting needs a minimum clearance of 12 inches from clothes.

Fluorescent and recessed incandescent lights need six inches of clearance.

Color: You want a clean white backdrop so you can see your clothes clearly. George Papadopoulos, who runs a painting company in Norwalk, Connecticut, suggests washable semigloss paint. He recommends Benjamin Moore Regal AquaGlo in white (about $30 a gallon, Benjamin Moore, 800-672-4686 for store locations).

Doors: "Choose bifold or full-swing doors," says David Smith, president of Are You Organized?, a closet-organization company. "With a sliding door, you lose accessibility to the center of the closet."