Not enough light by a long shot. If you want inexpensive and good light, Find some low-profile linear T5 luminaires and run them the length of the closet. Get high CRI (90+) lamps so your colors look right. For light levels do one of two things. (1) Choose two-lamp luminaires and wire them so you can choose single or two lamps at a time. Choose program-start ballasts for the correct light level. (2) Get a dimming ballast for the correct light output and the right number of lamps for the light level that you need.

Chio, if you are worried about the rod collapsing, add extra brackets to hold it up. Then do as suggested, sorting and figuring out what you need. One side can have double rods for shirts and the other side can have a single rod for longer stuff like pants and dresses. Since you are labeling your husband as the culprit, you could divide the closet rod in half. One side is his, and one is yours. He has to find a way to make all of this stuff fit on his side. Another method is to reverse the hangers on everything and if it is still like that after a year, toss it, because it never got worn. I'm sure you will find lots of ideas, but it isn't clear if you are asking how to organize or how to keep his stuff from crowding out yours.

As I am thinking I should be grateful that she doesn't necessarily have an excess of clothes, but she does have a lot of miscellaneous clothing items that don't fit well in her dresser or hang well. I could probably make space elsewear in her room but I like having everything in the closet because I find both of us are more likely to put clothes away if it's a matter of taking a basket of clean clothes into her room and sorting it directly into drawers. Otherwise I tend to live out of laundry baskets of clean clothes in the laundry room. It would be nice for her to have separate bins or drawers for leotards, swim, gloves/hats, etc. Our new house is better, don't get me wrong, but I did love having her dresser in her closet at our old house! Her dresser is low and wide so there was plenty of room for both hanging and shelves above. The only items we hang are dresses and a few "nicer" outfits that wrinkle more easily, but she does have dance costumes that need to hang and they are bulky. Maybe i could do shelves on the left, drawers in the middle, and rod on the right? Or double rod? It would probably be pretty short, what's the minimum amount of rod that isn't ridiculous? i was originally planning on using the door as hanging space for scarves, belts, jewelry (she has a lot for a 10 year old because she has awesome young aunts who give her hand me downs, and it's still a mix of "real" and dress up jewelry, but it's not unreasonable) but I have found that in doing that in my hall closet in the past I didn't love it because stuff was always falling off or swinging when the door opens and closes. Has anyone found good door/hanging organizers they like? Maybe mounting bins or baskets? i was also thinking there might be a way to use the dead space in one of the closet corners for a laundry basket, but would it be too hard to get in and out? Hmorton, were your shelves L shaped? That's something I've been considering. I also like the floor clear, unless it is something easy to vacuum around. It's also possible I'm going about the room backwards. Talkey_sue, I've been working on putting together ideas for a built-in because her dream bedroom is a daybed surrounded by bookshelves under the window. I was planning to incorporate drawers under the bed, but I was thinking they'd be more for blankets, pj's, and stuffed animals. She also has a million "collections," and I thought rather than fight her on them i would try and incorporate closed storage somewhere for her to keep some of her clutter. Maybe I should think about ways of including clothing storage as part of that. When I get home I'll take a picture and measure it. I can feel the brain block finally starting to unblock, so I appreciate the suggestions!

I had that pantry in my first house! I was young and poor and not particularly focused on the pantry (we never expected to stay in that house too long), so I did pretty much nothing ... but if I had that space again today, I'd do these things: - Yes to Elfa pull-out drawers on the lower portion. - You have a hinged door? Then consider the space on the back of that door. Again, Elfa. - Maybe a pull-out cart ... I'm imagining a 3-self metal Ikea cart ... to hold "like stuff". For example, you could have a baking cart to house flour, sugar, cookie cutters ... and it'd all pull out easily. - For smaller things, I'd looks for long, narrow plastic baskets for the upper shelves. You could group "like stuff" (for example, all your Kitchen Aid mixer accessories) together /bring down the baskets when you need them. - Lazy susans (from Bed, Bath, Beyond) for glass bottles. - If you're storing anything metal ... like BBQ tools, maybe ... in the pantry, consider attaching magnetic knife bars inside the pantry. Alternately, could you fit in a narrow pegboard towards the front of the pantry?