The new home we are building has smaller bedrooms than we currently have. We have come to the conclusion that we need to not move either the dresser in our guest bedroom OR the primary bedroom. The primary is large enough to accommodate one, but it would be cramped and in an awkward place because of the room/door/window layout.
The walk in closet in the primary is large enough that we might be able to place a dresser in there, but it honestly doesn’t hold that much. We currently have clothes in both dressers and in the laundry room drawers (our new laundry room is also smaller and will have fewer drawers). The built/in laundry room drawers are much more spacious than the dresser drawers.
We really don’t want to pay to trick out the primary with a custom closet with built-ins. We will have more hanging space at the new house, so we can hang more things. But, if we put the dresser in the closet, that will cut into that hanging space. I have one friend who says she hangs most everything - even her pajamas!
What ideas do you have for types of storage for clothing? It doesn’t have to be beautiful. Do you hang most of your clothes? Do you do seasonal swap outs? It’s mostly for things like socks and undies and t shirts and workout stuff.
I keep some of my workout stuff near our workout equipment - depends what you’re comfortable walking through the house not wearing - but certainly socks, sweatbands…
One of our houses had more hanging space than anything else, and I did hang almost everything including workout clothes. I ended up getting one of those double rod things because I had a lot of pants shorts and tops that I wanted to hang as opposed to longer dresses.
One of our houses had more hanging space than anything else, and I did hang almost everything including workout clothes. I ended up getting one of those double rod things because I had a lot of pants shorts and tops that I wanted to hang as opposed to longer dresses
In my current closet, I use fabric bins for stuff like underwear and socks, and messy clothes that would be too much of a pain to always hang. I found some nice fabric bins that are designed for socks, underwear, and bras.
I have enough room, but I put seasonal stuff away. Some in moth-proof storage containers, others in a guest closet.
That exercise is a good reason to do an annual review/cull. It forces me to make sure everything gets put away clean and is protected from moths, and it also reminds me of what I have and what fits each season - kinda makes it feel new again!
My husband has his socks, underwear, etc. in those cloth boxes. sitting on a low shelf inside the closet (something we got in IKEA). A couple of these boxes sit on high shelves in my closet and hold off season stuff.
My other advice is to severely go through your clothes, accessories, etc. and get rid of stuff.
Another tip is not to have a big closet redo, but just add a higher shelf if possible. We added a higher shelf in both our bedroom closet and our laundry area, and it made a huge difference (and only cost a few hundred).
This metal 4 drawer unit (on wheels if you want) has worked great. I use one drawer for undies/bras, one I roll my casual tshirts, one I roll my shorts and skorts.
I also have a three slot vertical storage cloth organizer I bought on Amazon that takes about 10-12 inches on a hanging rod but gives me three “shelves” where again I roll: leggings, athletic shorts/bathing suits, plain layering tshirts.
You don’t need custom and you don’t need built-in’s. Look at the websites of The Container Store (their stuff is pricey but they’ve got some great ideas for using wasted space), Costco, Wayfair. My biggest hack in our current house is plain white wire shelves (those cheapy things from Home Depot) that go all the way up to the ceiling in every closet and around the perimeter of the garage (husband insisted on a higher quality gauge for the garage, but still Home Depot). Once you realize how much “once a year” or seasonal stuff you own- which can go in a bin or wicker box or a sturdy storage container with a lid on the tippy top shelf- you’ll never want to go back to having everything in drawers or at eye level.
My current rule for the hanging space in the bedroom is “four week timeframe”. If I don’t need something or will wear it in the next four weeks, it doesn’t go in my closet. It can “live” in a bin if it doesn’t wrinkle, or in a garment bag in another bedroom if it’s something fancy or wrinkly.
And I splurged on those underbed plastic containers on wheels which now contain what used to live in a “gift closet” which also had wrapping paper and assorted junk which didn’t live anywhere else. Unlike a closet, once you pull them out and take off the lid you can see everything all at once. One of them contains out of season shoes and boots (clean everything first and make sure they’re dry, stuff the boots with newspaper).
I’m not disciplined enough to hang pajamas… but saving the limited drawer space for things you need right now, and having high up or underbed storage for everything else was really a time and space saver for me…. I’m not pawing through a drawer in a dresser with tights and fuzzy tops when it’s 75 degrees outside!
My daughter used something like this for leotards, workout clothes, tights, pjs, etc., as she had very limited dresser space
I have a wooden chest, essentially a blanket chest though it’s not at the foot of the bed, in the bedroom which I use for limited seasonal storage. I also switch sweaters/tshirts to/from the highest shelf in the closet in season. The pajamas I’m wearing I just make up into the bed. The bed airs as I’m showering, getting dressed, etc., and I rarely wear pjs more than a couple nights so that works for me.
I don’t use a dresser, and my closet is all hanging space with no built ins. Rather than move a dresser into the closet, I have an open shelving unit that goes from floor to rod height. (I use two to get the width I want) I also have the plastic drawer shelving unit that goes to mid height (under hung shirts) for underwear, socks, pj’s, etc. You can buy however many drawers you want to stack to the height you need. I have extra drawers that fit on the open shelves that I use for things like swimsuits, underlayers, etc. (I guess you can just use bins as well.
For the shelves, I just used the kind you would use in your basement or garage. It doesn’t look fancy, but I wanted to check out the set up before committing to built ins and then just never upgraded. I love that I can see everything all at once without opening multiple drawers and I can make as many “stacks” as I want, so it’s much more flexible than having a set number of drawers.
We had cheap wire closet rods in our primary closets that fell off the wall.
My husband put up a system from closet culture that we bought at Menards. I think Lowe’s has that brand also. He has two hanging rods plus a wall of wire baskets.
It’s really nice, quite sturdy. Was not that expensive but really organized the closet space.
We have his and hers closets (best idea ever!). Mine didn’t fall apart but we should revisit that and make both closets the same.
I put a hanging shoe rack in DS’ closet because he had way more things that needed folding (sweater, sweatshirts, etc.), than needed hanging and not a lot of dresser space. It added space in the sense that it transformed it.
Yes! Make sure the shelves are secure. Our contractor who rehabbed the house must have done something wrong (?not attached to stud maybe) and one night there was a godawful crash and the closet had collapsed and vomited its contents onto the floor of the room. I had no idea clothes in plastic boxes could sound that loud.
This reminds me that one of the boxes still has the Sharpie from almost 30 years ago when I wanted to label it “SUMMER” but left out an M in my haste, and then added another note in Sharpie below, “OOPS - the season not the ancient civilization!”
Over the years, I’ve just pared my wardrobe to comfortably fit the space I have, no bins, no swapping out, lots of empty shelf/hangar space that I refuse to refill. It helps that we don’t need heavy winter clothes/boots or exercise clothing/footware. When DH’s side starts to fill up (just how many Michigan shirts does one man need!), I surreptitiously remove a few less worn/attractive items and dispose of them. He never notices.
Elfa from Container store goes on sale at least a couple of times a year. If you look at that you may get some ideas.
I have a hanging sweater rack kind of thing that allows storage of many sweaters within about 12 inches of closet space.
On the high shelf in my closet I have tall separators that allow for stacking stuff fairly high and keeping it neat. They probably came from Container store but I’m sure they have them at other places also.
I have a couple of inexpensive shoe racks that have many cubbies for shoes. That helps keep the space neat.
We have 1 built in drawer on each side of our bed.
Look online. The Container Store near me has lots of “set ups” in the store- but honestly, they are for people with huge spaces. The folks who post their own “this is what I did” pictures are usually people with small spaces and small budgets and some of them are REALLY creative. One of them suggested buying a few packages of Ikea’s cork trivets (they were very cheap at the time) and showed what she did with them. I know have a cork trivet on a wall in my closet and it’s the “go to” place for an earring while I find the mate (you just shove the post into the cork), a place with two threaded needles- one black thread, one white, so you don’t have to hunt for a needle when you see a button about to pop off as you’re getting dressed, spare safety pins, etc. And I hate to say it- those very thin velvet hangars really do double your closet space!!!
OMG, once you click on the Container Store “closet solutions” section and look at a couple of options, your feed will be choked with every creative person on the planet with a drill and a measuring stick!!!
I opted for lots of shelves in my closet and a small hanging area. I also have a set of six drawers in my closet that hold underwear, socks, t shirts, and the like.
And like @deb922 , DH and I have separate walk in closets. I have never shared a closet with my husband…and he is glad
