It's time to transition your wardrobe for fall!

The warm weather may be here for now, but it won’t be long before the temperature drops and the snow falls. To make sure you aren’t caught unexpectedly without the right clothing, jackets, and shoes, start transitioning your wardrobe and organizing your closets for the fall season! Below, we’ve got some suggestions on how you can get the process started:

Don’t switch everything at once

Once September hits, you may be tempted to put away all your summer clothes, but the truth is Calgary can still get warm weather right up until the end of the month, but we can also get cold weather as well! No one can predict what kind of clothes you’ll need, but it may be a good idea to keep a few pieces from your spring and summer wardrobe, like t-shirts and darker-coloured blouses or tank-tops, just in case it stays warm outside. It also wouldn’t hurt to keep a pair of flats or lighter shoes for this reason. As we get further into the season and the warm weather is gone for good, these items can be put into storage with the rest of your clothing and accessories.

Declutter! 

Whenever you’re taking a large amount items out of your closet and putting them into storage, it’s time to go through them! Take this opportunity to go through your spring and summer items, and determine what should stay, and what should go. Did you wear all your items this summer? Chances are there are a few older pieces that are out of style or don’t fit anymore that you haven’t touched all summer, and there is no reason to keep these items for another year. If they’re still in good condition, donate them to a charity or bring them to a consignment shop.

Make sure everything is clean

Before you put everything into storage for the next summer season, make sure all your items are clean. Take this time to run everything through the wash one more time, or send them off to the dry-cleaners if they are more delicate items to make sure they are ready to be put away. You can also take this time to make sure everything is either hung nicely on a clothes hanger, or folded nicely into a drawer or storage bin. Depending on what kind of clothing you have, you may want to use different methods to avoid wrinkling the fabrics too much.

Organize your storage

 Once your clothes have been cleaned and are ready to put away, sort each item by type. Put like objects with likes, whether they are t-shirts, shorts, blouses, sandals, heels, or purses. Avoid using wooden or cardboard boxes as they can affect the clothing and it is harder to determine what items are stored in what boxes. Instead, try using clear plastic bins to store your items. Alternatively, you can use a section of your closet or a closet/wardrobe in a spare bedroom – just make sure you remember where you put everything by using labels or signs.

Sort fall items by type and colour

When you take your fall and winter items out of storage, you can also do a declutter of items that don’t fit, look out-of-date, or probably won’t be worn. Once this is done, organize each item into type, like sweaters, pants, jeans, and boots, and then sort these items by colour. This way, it will be easier for you to create outfits and find specific items of clothing when you need to. Leave hanging space for blouses, dress pants, skirts, dresses, and jackets/blazers, and fold the rest of your items.

Place items practically

Clothing and accessories that you are more often to wear, like jackets and boots, place in a more accessible location, like your hallway closet by your front door. This way, it will be easy to find and put on before you leave for the day. Clothing that you wear regularly should also be stored at eye level and within easy reach, whether it’s in your closet or your wardrobe. Other items, like heavier-weather clothing or special occasion items can be kept on higher shelves or towards the far right/left sides of your closet, because you won’t need to access them as often.

Don’t waste time trying to find the right clothes for the season. Take the time before the weather starts turning to get your wardrobe organized!

Home organization trends for Spring 2017

Spring is in the air, and new trends for home organization are making their way through homes across the country. Spring symbolizes a chance for many people to renew and refresh their living spaces, so why not take this opportunity to re-organize the way you store the items in your home? Below we’ve compiled a few of the big trends that are projected for Spring 2017:

Custom closet cabinets

A popular new trend in closet storage is all about customizing your options to fit your clothing and lifestyle. Custom racks to store ties and shelves for shoes that fit in the space you have are increasing in popularity. With customization, you can make sure that all of your belongings have a proper home and stored easily. Proper storage and display can help prevent the collection of clutter, because when your items are displayed nicely and in easy access, you can use the items you have and need more often.

Open storage

Rather than hiding away all your items, why not show them off? This concept is especially popular for kitchen cabinets and shelves, allowing you to showcase dishes and appliances. Open storage is also handy for bedroom closets or storage units and garage storage, as it is easy to grab and pick up items as you need them. Even better, knowing that your items are always on display is a great incentive to keep your belongings organized and uncluttered!

Maximizing space

Utilizing the space that you have is always a priority, and it can now be achieved not just through the furniture you buy, but how you designate and layout the rooms in your home. Multipurpose rooms are a new trend this spring, which allow you to get many different purposes out of the rooms in your home. For example, the guest bedroom can also be a library, and office, or a second entertainment room. Instead of specifically designating a space for guests that only visit a few times out of the year, make the room usable for your everyday life as well. These fold-up murphy beds are a great way to easily transform a guest room into an usable daily space, like an office.

Goodbye winter, hello spring!

We can still expect snow in Calgary for the next couple of months, but there is no denying the higher temperatures and the fast approaching spring season. However, the change of a season means re-organizing your wardrobe and swapping out heavier coats and shoes for lighter items.

In Calgary, it’s difficult to determine what pieces to put into storage and what items to bring out, especially because our spring weather is always changing. Many of us have clothing that we can wear year-round, so Calm Order suggests that a good remedy for this situation is to pair-down our clothing and consider looking at capsule wardrobes.

For anyone not familiar with it, a capsule wardrobe is made up of basic pieces of clothing that are easy to mix and match. This means you can make many different outfits of fewer pieces of clothing, which makes transitioning from season to season easier, so you don’t need to worry about having specific clothes for specific seasons.

According to the Vivienne Files, a capsule wardrobe is typically comprised of a black turtleneck, a t-shirt (in gray, white, or black), a button down shirt (white or blue), a black cardigan, a denim shirt, a long-sleeved black shirt, khakis, jeans, and black pants. 

These items sound very neutral and plain, but to add your own creative style or make them more seasonal, they can be accented with colourful accessories that can be tailored for each season, like shoes, scarves, jewelry, and bags.

A capsule wardrobe is not only easier to manage and organize, it also takes up less space in your closet, and is very economical. For people living in Calgary, having a year-round wardrobe that can be mixed and matched for whatever weather we may be facing is the perfect solution. To learn more about capsule wardrobes, go here.