Anyone living in a big, expensive city like San Francisco or New York will tell you that good storage/closet space is really hard to come by. When I made the decision 5 years ago to find my own place, sans-roommates, in San Francisco, I was shocked at how little one got with so much money. I looked at many tiny studios that had a joke of a kitchen and bathroom, much less a decent-sized closet, before finally finding the place I now call home. (Thanks, Mom, for having the brilliant idea of searching for “condos for rent!”)

Now, before I go any further, I should clarify that I’m very fortunate to have this apartment; it has a lot of storage space! However, I realized a while ago I haven’t been utilizing that space very effectively. I’ve got tons of shoes (it’s my vice) and I’ve been using both my hallway linen closet and a portion of bedroom closet to store them all. Those spots are prime real estate, and here I am using them for shoes, rather than what they were meant to house.

This got me thinking about redecorating my room, and so for the past 6 months I’ve been accumulating ideas on how I can get myself better organized and maximize my space. As I work through actually implementing my plans in the next coming weeks/months, I’ll be sharing my tips and findings over a mini-series of home decor and organization posts, culminating in a bedroom and closet before/after reveal when everything is done!

First up: Build a shoe closet! I’m pretty excited about this.

If you’re looking for a source of inspiration for your own closet organization, I started a Pinterest board of beautiful closets. I’ll add more pins as I find them!