Happy New Year!
Becky’s new place was a beautifully renovated apartment with generous storage space, including a big hallway walk-in storage closet with shelves. Unfortunately, the closet was in total chaos. It was the last space she dealt with while unpacking, and it had been too easy to throw everything that didn’t fit elsewhere and close the door. We could NOT see the floor, and the stepstool she needed to access was blocked by other items.
Hallway closet BEFORE: 
Becky didn’t need to declutter since she had done that before the move. She just needed the closet to be usable.
So I cleared the closet completely. I grouped like items with like so I could see how big a section of the closet each type of item needed. Then I started putting things away. Rarely used items went first, since they could be on higher shelves or towards the back. Frequently-used items, such as kitchen appliances, needed to be within reach and towards the front. I kept house maintenance supplies, like tools and light bulbs, in one area to make minor home repairs easy.
When I was done, we could see the floor and there was room for Becky to store her bike there out of season. As you can see in the photo, everything now has a home.
Hallway closet AFTER:
Side note: These blog stories feature real clients and their organizing solutions. To maintain client privacy, all names have been changed.