Rotating Your Wardrobe
Mar. 21st, 2010 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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homeeconomics101It's that time again! At least, in some of the areas which are showing more Spring-like weather in North America, and for our friends in the far South, it's heading into winter. Either way, take advantage of the spring/fall cleaning bug to reorganize your closet/wardrobe and re-evaluate the stuff you don't use or wear anymore!
**
The one thing I've been putting off is putting away laundry/organizing my closet. I have a few different 'looks' and I have quite a few vintage pieces I only wear once in a while but which do best hanging up instead of crushed into a tote or drawer.
Yesterday I started to do the seasonal rotation of the wardrobe, putting all my winter stuff away, and getting out the spring/summer stuff. I also took the time to purge some of the clothes I haven't worn in the last year. It's such an old-fashioned thing to do, but it's so sensible because it frees up closet space (eventually) and helps you evaluate the stuff you *really* need.
My closet is an awkward affair with a bar that's too high, no internal light and is also where I put my dresser. My room is the smaller of the two in the apartment, and I didn't have the floor space to put the dresser anywhere else. The light problem was sort of ameliorated by the addition of a couple IKEA lights designed for closet use (which I got free from a friend). I don't think the bar height is something I can change. My landlord was also the renovator and he's 6'6" and that's a perfectly reasonable place to put a bar for him (and it has wooden cross-braces attached to the wall). Asking him to fix anything is like pulling teeth.
I've sort of dealt with my hatred of the closet, but I am still attempting to find some kind of system for storing my clothes that actually works (and is extremely cheap). Right now, this is what I do:
To the left: long dresses and coats that need to hang. Longer skirts, followed by shorter skirts.
To the right: blouses/dress shirts, light jackets. If I hang stuff all the way across on the bar, then I can't see anything because it blocks the light, but my skirt hangers are thick and take up a lot of space (but I like them because they are the crimpy kind).
There's a 'nook' in the closet on that side so I can throw stuff into the space between the dresser and the wall - I keep vintage fur pieces in a cloth bag (because they are a little smelly at the moment) and a bag full of rolled-up neckties. I don't have any kind of accessible storage in that area because I'd have to move the dresser to get to it anytime I wanted it.
I use my dresser for everyday clothes:
Laundry basket: jeans, sweatshirts, sweaters.
Top: socks, underwear, bras.
2nd: tank tops and leggings
3rd: tshirts
4th: pyjama tops and bottoms
Then there's under the bed (but I have a futon and the frame is awkward for storage and the floor is very uneven in the corner):
Pink suitcase: vintage and modern lingerie, vintage gloves, scarves.
Blue suitcase: vintage and modern jewelery.
I have some shelves as well:
Top Shelf: vintage and modern dress shoes
Bottom Shelf: Vintage and modern purses
My reasoning behind the shelf storage for shoes and purses was to 'merchandise' my room like it was a boutique. It wasn't working for me to have everything piled in a tote or a box where I couldn't see everything, and even though this means I will have to dust (eventually), for the time being it's a kind of classy way of storing my collections of stuff.
And, in posting this, I'd love to see responses from you guys about stuff maybe I hadn't thought about for storage solutions, and I'd LOVE to see what you are doing with your own storage/clothing rotation!
**
The one thing I've been putting off is putting away laundry/organizing my closet. I have a few different 'looks' and I have quite a few vintage pieces I only wear once in a while but which do best hanging up instead of crushed into a tote or drawer.
Yesterday I started to do the seasonal rotation of the wardrobe, putting all my winter stuff away, and getting out the spring/summer stuff. I also took the time to purge some of the clothes I haven't worn in the last year. It's such an old-fashioned thing to do, but it's so sensible because it frees up closet space (eventually) and helps you evaluate the stuff you *really* need.
My closet is an awkward affair with a bar that's too high, no internal light and is also where I put my dresser. My room is the smaller of the two in the apartment, and I didn't have the floor space to put the dresser anywhere else. The light problem was sort of ameliorated by the addition of a couple IKEA lights designed for closet use (which I got free from a friend). I don't think the bar height is something I can change. My landlord was also the renovator and he's 6'6" and that's a perfectly reasonable place to put a bar for him (and it has wooden cross-braces attached to the wall). Asking him to fix anything is like pulling teeth.
I've sort of dealt with my hatred of the closet, but I am still attempting to find some kind of system for storing my clothes that actually works (and is extremely cheap). Right now, this is what I do:
To the left: long dresses and coats that need to hang. Longer skirts, followed by shorter skirts.
To the right: blouses/dress shirts, light jackets. If I hang stuff all the way across on the bar, then I can't see anything because it blocks the light, but my skirt hangers are thick and take up a lot of space (but I like them because they are the crimpy kind).
There's a 'nook' in the closet on that side so I can throw stuff into the space between the dresser and the wall - I keep vintage fur pieces in a cloth bag (because they are a little smelly at the moment) and a bag full of rolled-up neckties. I don't have any kind of accessible storage in that area because I'd have to move the dresser to get to it anytime I wanted it.
I use my dresser for everyday clothes:
Laundry basket: jeans, sweatshirts, sweaters.
Top: socks, underwear, bras.
2nd: tank tops and leggings
3rd: tshirts
4th: pyjama tops and bottoms
Then there's under the bed (but I have a futon and the frame is awkward for storage and the floor is very uneven in the corner):
Pink suitcase: vintage and modern lingerie, vintage gloves, scarves.
Blue suitcase: vintage and modern jewelery.
I have some shelves as well:
Top Shelf: vintage and modern dress shoes
Bottom Shelf: Vintage and modern purses
My reasoning behind the shelf storage for shoes and purses was to 'merchandise' my room like it was a boutique. It wasn't working for me to have everything piled in a tote or a box where I couldn't see everything, and even though this means I will have to dust (eventually), for the time being it's a kind of classy way of storing my collections of stuff.
And, in posting this, I'd love to see responses from you guys about stuff maybe I hadn't thought about for storage solutions, and I'd LOVE to see what you are doing with your own storage/clothing rotation!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 10:28 pm (UTC)Going through my clothes last weekend helped me find a lot of stuff that I don't wear anymore and I was able to donate it and free up some space. I think I could free up some more by storing some out-of-season clothes under the bed like you're doing. I have some storage crates from Target there but I hadn't thought of using my suitcase, which is currently just taking up room of its own in the closet.
Okay, as soon as I hit "Post Comment" I'm going to get up and give this another try.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 11:02 pm (UTC)The other thing I have to do now is curb my habit for buying secondhand clothes. Because they're cheap, I buy them to wear them a couple of times and then end up tiring of them and tossing them back into a donations bag. Some of the vintage pieces I have gotten that way (but not too many).
AND I shop secondhand as half of my job, so it's a constant temptation.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-21 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 06:38 am (UTC)Oh yeah, that's what my mom used to do. Now I live in a flat with no basement, storage room or garage, so I am suffering from storage space shortness :/ I share a three door wardrobe and two dressers with my boyfriend - my stuff doesn't look half as organized as yours.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-22 12:30 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm still trying to get some sort of organization system in place here. Right now, I've got three closets (!), and one of them is devoted to clothes my fiance and I wear daily. And that closet is organized like this: My stuff on the left, his on the right. XD I'm actually afraid to post a picture of my closet. XD
Closet rod suggestions
Date: 2010-03-22 02:47 pm (UTC)- Awkward, but you could probably contrive some sort of hook-on-a-stick to help you get the hangers up there, if you aren't already doing that.
- You can hang a rod from the existing rod--my parents did that for me when I was little and couldn't reach the normal-height rod in our closet. There are several ways you could do it, but what they did was get a thick dowel from the hardware store, screw a hook into each end, and attach a chain to each hook, with the other end of each chain going over the original closet rod.
(I've also used a shower curtain rod in place of a closet rod, but that only works if the total weight of the clothes to be hung is fairly light. Works best in a very narrow closet.)
Re: Closet rod suggestions
Date: 2010-03-22 06:58 pm (UTC)The apartment I loved before this had a 'nook' above the closet to take advantage of the high ceilings... sadly, this place does not (and I only moved next door!).