City-dwellers and Bostonian fashionistas especially spend a significant amount of time rifling through their closets for the perfect ensemble each day.  It’s a process.  But the nicer the closet is, the more enjoyable the search becomes.  It’s all about efficiently utilizing space and maintaining a high-level of organization.  Here are five tips to creating the closet of your dreams:

Incorporate a 180-Degree Dressing-Room Mirror

If you have the room, there is nothing more elegant and sophisticated than a three-mirror, 180-degree set-up akin to a boutique dressing room.  We have more than one side afterall, and it’s certainly nice to see how an outfit looks all the way around.  Most home closets have one mirror, which is better than nothing, but it has nowhere near the cache or functionality of a 180-degree mirror.  

Create the Right Mix

Some clothes are better off hung up, while some are fine to be folded and placed in drawers.  The key to creating an impressive and functional closet is striking the right balance.  Use the upper border of the room for hanging rods and mix in some shoe shelving and drawers below them.  If you have enough space, think about placing an island in the middle to serve as the centerpiece as well as extra space to lay out outfits and store clothing for off-seasons.  Working with a designer will help with all of these decisions, which brings us to our next selection:

Go Custom

Sure, you may get lucky and be able to place the right about of shelving, hanging rods and drawers within your closet without extra space, but the odds of that are highly, highly unlikely.  If you have your closet custom made every inch of the space will be used.  Moreover, custom designs always look more refined.  Any stunning, luxury closet you’ve seen in a magazine or a movie is a custom closet.  Working with a designer will help your closet accurately reflect your style and design preferences.  It’s the difference between off-the-rack and custom-tailored.  If you want your closet to look like the beautiful closets in the luxury residences at One Dalton, and believe us, you do, custom is the way to go.  Check out these custom closet systems for some great options. 

Try a Modular Shelving System

If you’re a DIY enthusiast, wire shelving units system may be the right choice for you.  They have grown quite popular over the last decade or so for their colorful options, as well as cold room shelving systems and their customizability.  They add a certain modern flare to a closet without sacrificing much space.  The Montana shelving systems are finely crafted and vary in size dramatically to make the spatial possibilities nearly endless.  

Get Organized

This step does not involve spending any money, it’s basic—it’s all about clearing space.  Take a look at Boston Homespaces for some great options.Take a day and remove everything from your closet—everything.  If you’re like most people you will find an assortment of clothes that you haven’t worn in years and have no plans to wear in the future.  Donate them.  Then break down the clothes you’re keeping into logical, weather-based categories to limit future search time.  An enjoyable closet experience is a stress-free closet experience.  Head over the Apartment Therapy for comprehensive list of organization techniques.