Are Sloped Ceilings Ruining Storage In Your Closet? TikTok Has Some Helpful Advice

House hunting is a tough job. When we daydream about the kind of house we want to live in, we think about the features of a home, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the size of the kitchen and backyard, if there's a basement or an attic, etc. Useable spaces are part of the vital list to look at when finding a new place to live in, but one thing folks don't consider is the house's structure and design. For instance, A-frame houses are a popular style people love because they're charming and make great homes for severe weather like snow, but they have some drawbacks. One that's crucial is their sloped ceilings. They make decorating and furnishing more challenging and make a room tighter. 

When you have vaulted ceilings in the living room, bedrooms, and closets, they reduce the available space. The limited space makes things disarrayed and chaotic if they're not constantly arranged. While you can't remove sloped ceilings to create more space, you can use functional display systems to help provide ample room for all your belongings. TikToker and interior designer Emily Rayna has a few tips on adequately organizing a closet with sloped ceilings by utilizing partitions and shelving units to keep clothes, accessories, and shoes in one place. Working with the sloped ceilings instead of against them will help you transform a claustrophobic closet into an open, organized space. 

Interior designer Emily Rayna stitched another TikTok video from user @MaggieMcGaugh, wanted to reorganize her sloping ceiling closet since it had turned into a disorderly state. While she has hanging racks for her shoes and clothes, there isn't a fundamental layout where the items have their designated space. Rayna suggests implementing partitions for slanted closets to create a frame for the interior — dividing the area to hold all the hanging clothes. Rayna claims adding two rods will extend storage space and allow you to hang more clothes in one area. Plus, if there's enough vacancy on top of the rods, you can add a shelf for storage bins full of extra clothes or accessories.

When renovating your small closet and filling it with everything you own, take the time to sort through your items and throw out or donate anything you don't wear anymore for a clean slate. Create piles of clothes you haven't worn in years, items you wear seasonally, and clothes you wear multiple times a week. Donate or gift the clothes you don't wear often, and pack seasonal clothes into a box to put in your garage until it's time to take them out. Decluttering before organizing your clothing will make your most worn items more accessible in your new closet space.

Once you have your partition set up and your clothes out of the way, you can work efficiently with the rest of the space. TikToker Emily Rayna advises installing custom-built shelving units around the slanted ceiling. Pre-made shelving units negatively impact a closet with sloped ceilings because they don't usually fit perfectly — eating up closet space and condensing the available area. Instead, custom-built shelves allow you to add multiple shelves in various sizes straight down from the slanted ceiling. It's best to install shelves that support additional storage bins to hold more clothing that doesn't need to be hung.

Further, Rayna suggests wrapping more custom shelving below the slanted ceiling and adding corner shelves to the adjacent wall to extend the storage space. The shelving underneath the ceiling could hold shoes, while the corner shelves could display purses and other accessories. Properly storing your items on the shelves will prevent you from stacking boxes or items on the ground. When you figure out the best way to organize your things, you can decorate the rest of the space with rugs, knick-knacks, and lighting. Another way you might increase storage for clothes is by adding a moveable rack or hanging rods on a vacant wall. You can style it with items you plan to wear throughout the week or clothing pieces that fit with the season.