Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Build Closet Dividers

Closet dividers are an easy way to organize clothes.


If you're like most people, you wear 20 percent of the clothing you own 80 percent of the time. The rest hangs in a cluttered mess in your closet, making it more likely that you'll continue to wear only the 20 percent of your wardrobe you can find. Closet dividers are an easy way to organize your closet and bring forgotten items to light. Does this Spark an idea?


Instructions


1. Wrap a tape measure around the hanger rod in the closet to measure its circumference. Add half an inch to this measurement to determine how big to make the opening on the closet divider template.


2. Open a drawing compass to half the measurement you determined in Step 1. Stand the point of the compass on a piece of paper, then move the compass pencil around the point until you have drawn a circle. The circumference of the circle should match the measurement from Step 1.


3. Cut out the circle. Fold it in half to make a semicircle, then in half again to make a triangular shape with one rounded side. These will guide you when you draw lines through the circle later. Unfold the circle and glue it to a new sheet of paper.


4. Follow one of the creases to draw a line through the middle of the circle that extends 2 inches past one edge and a 1/2 inch through the other. Follow the other crease to draw a line that extends a 1/2 inch past either edge. The endpoints of these lines mark the edges of the closet divider.


5. Stand the point of the compass in the center of the circle. Open it until the pencil reaches the top and side points of the "t" you formed in step 4. Draw two arcs to form the top edges of the closet divider. Open the compass until the pencil reaches the bottom and side points of the "t" and draw two arcs to make the bottom of the divider. You should now have an upside down egg shape with a circle inside of its widest part.


6. Cut out the egg shape. Poke scissors through the center of the circle within it and cut toward the circle's edge to begin cutting out the circle. Remove the circle so that you have an upside down egg shape with a hole in its widest part.


7. Draw a slanted line beneath where one of the side points of the "t" was. It should slant upward and stop at the edge of the circle within the egg shape. Draw a parallel line 1/4 inch beneath this one. Cut out the rectangular shape formed by the parallel lines to make the opening where you will hang the closet divider.


8. Trace the template and repeat Step 6 to make as many closet dividers as you feel you will need. Make at least one more divider to keep as a master template.


9. Glue the template to a piece of card stock, poster board or cardboard. Cut out the shape, then color and decorate both sides to finish the divider. For best results, choose a single color that stands out from your clothing hangers. Repeat this with each closet divider.


10. Hold a closet divider against a hanger rod at the place where you made the slit in Step 7. Push the divider toward the rod, gently and quickly, to hang it in place.

Tags: closet divider, shape with, side points, center circle, circle that, circle within, Closet dividers