Samantha Marcus Yanks, a fashion and accessories director based in New York City, has always had a thing for coats. She once owned a whopping 40 of them. But for years the way she stored them was anything but glamorous. The entryway closet in her family’s 1,200-square-foot apartment housed her beloved outerwear alongside such miscellaneous items as bulging laundry bags, bath towels, hostess gifts, and wrapping supplies. And — hard to believe, but true — somehow a vacuum cleaner balanced precariously on top of the entire heap. As a result, “the closet held some of our most practical belongings, but we hated to open it,” says Samantha, 32, who lives with her husband, David, 34, and their 10-month-old daughter, Sadie. “I would never ask anyone to go into that closet unless she planned on taking her life.” By donating extraneous objects and categorizing what was left, order was restored.

Before the Makeover: What She Has Always Loved

The closet’s nine-foot-high ceiling, which is tall enough to accommodate two rods of clothes.

Well-lit built-in shelves offer plenty of storage.

Before the Makeover: What She Wanted To Change

Not being able to reach the upper levels. Samantha, who is five-two, literally used to climb the shelves to retrieve items.

The black-hole factor: “I had to hunt for everything I needed,” she says. “And I had no idea what was on the bottom shelves — none.”