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February 11, 2005
Honey Put on That Party Dress.
Lara-
I love your new site!
I'm interested to know your solution for clothing storage. I'm always amazed my NY friends have great wardrobes and no closets. I live in a good sized house and I am drowning in clothes—3 dressers, a closet, a coat closet. I'm a proud clotheshorse, but how do I keep everything from overwhelming the bedroom?
Thanks!
Heather
Thanks Heather!
Man, do I know your pain. I am also a clotheshorse and a SERIOUS shopper. I can’t even begin to tell you about the shoe situation. It’s intense. Ideally, I’d have an extra room I could convert into a huge walk-in dressing room, but alas, I have not yet won the lottery.
There are the standard solutions:
- California Closets-esque setup (Ikea has terrific inexpensive solutions, so does Lowe’s)
- Dual rods (upper and lower, a cheap way to have two closets in one!)
- Several plastic under-bed boxes (Target!)
- Plastic or cedar boxes of any size for stashing in an attic or up above the kitchen cabinets (see here)
- Skirt and pants hangers that hold multiple garments
- Those sweater-holder things and other similar stuff from Hold Everything or The Container Store
- Creative shelving/cabinetry (any hardware store)
- Over-door hook systems (Target, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s)
- The occasional footlocker/trunk/chest; this makes a lovely end-of-bed bench or low console elsewhere in your home (Ikea’s "HOL" is so reasonable at $69)
- Space efficient folding/rolling of clothing
- Vacuum seal bags are incredible! (look here, or search on Google)
- Fill your unused, empty luggage with bulky, rarely worn items
- Dressers with spacious, functional drawers
- Look at your hallway, if you have one... Can it hold a narrow dresser, wardrobe, or cabinet? This is a great place to stash stuff, and you really never spend time hanging out in the hallway, staring at it
- Look elsewhere in your home, too, and think about using some non-clothes-holding-type-furniture
- When all else fails: look into a storage facility
I stash my out-of-season stuff under the bed in big Rubbermaid boxes as neatly as possible. I hang rarely-worn dresses in the way-back of the coat closet. Valet hooks inside the closet door really help me get dressed without making a mess. Our utility closet (which is rarely used/fairly invisible to guests) has over-door hooks, so the inside of the door is covered with all of my lighter coats and hooded sweatshirts and rarely used purses. I also keep unused extra hangers in there.
That all sounds well and good, but here is one of my dirty (literally) secrets:
This hamper looks great, holds so much, makes sorting easy, and each compartment is roughly the size of a large wash load. When all my clothing is clean, my drawers and closets and boxes bulge, but during the in-between times, this hamper totally bails me out. Not that I’m advocating laundry laziness, but hey.
Most of all (and you won’t like this), it helps me to be a really hardcore editor. In RealSimple’s new The Organized Home, I read that women only wear about 20% of the clothes they own, and that rings so true to me. I hang onto tons of stuff that doesn’t fit me, clothes I’ve never worn, dumb old outfits that hold sentimental value, fantastic bargains that never really flattered me, I could go on. My tiny space makes careful, strict editing imperative. Every few months, I take a good realistic look at my clothing.
I give unwanted clothes to a friend, donate them to charity, or sell them to a consignment shop if:
- I haven’t worn it in two years (classic formalwear may be exempt)
- I am holding onto it in the vain hopes that I contract malaria and shrink to a size two, even though I was a flat-chested high schooler who ran eight miles a day the last time these things fit me
- The fit is unflattering
- It’s uncomfortable
- It’s horribly made
- It’s a hassle or too expensive to clean
- The silly trend has seriously passed, and won’t be back
- It matches nothing, or looks bad with all my shoes
- It’s impractical for my lifestyle (Those five-inch heels? Are just not a good idea for me anymore.)
I try each questionable item on, I walk in it, I sit in it, and I observe it from all angles in a full-length mirror. I hold onto the classics, the stuff that always makes me feel like a million bucks. I keep a few irrationally sentimental, never-wear items, but I get rid of as much as I can stomach. This gets easier with practice. At the sales, I try (oh, I try) to ask myself sternly "Will this be in the 20%? Will I really wear and love this all the time?" It helps to have honest, practical shopping buddies who will drag you back down to earth if necessary.
Whew, that was long. Have you all read this far?
Ask Apartmentalist is a weekly advice column. It'll appear here every Friday. Do you have a question about crafts, decorating, or your living space? Email Lara@apartmentalist.com.
Posted by Lara at February 11, 2005 01:08 PM
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