Your Closet & Wardrobe Management

[Miss Neecerie]

Where do you put it all?

I am organizing my closets and cleaning my boudoir up today, (I admit it, I am a bit untidy when I get busy), and that got me to thinking about optimizing storage and so forth.

How do you all organize closets and drawers and store both vintage and modern clothes and accessories?

All one big jumble? Vintage to one side, modern to the other? How do you cope with so much stuff in small storage spaces?

Ideas, stories, etc...all welcome, since I need big help with this.....hehe

 

[Paisley]

Ms. N., I don't separate the vintage from the current. I separate work from play, and summer from winter.

Since I have a small bedroom closet, I bought and assembled a closet organizer. It has 2 racks (one up high for work clothes, one lower for casual clothes) and a jewelry drawer in the middle. I also have hooks in the closet wall for dresses and belts. A clear plastic shoe organizer hangs from the top of the door.

My office has a bigger closet. In there I put seldom-worn items, off-season clothes and purses.

I store pajamas in a wheeled plastic container under the bed. The sheets go in an identical container.

My dresser has drawers for work clothes, casual clothes and underwear. I took a large, sturdy cardboard box and cut it up into partitions for one drawer to separate underwear, bras, etc.

For some ideas, you might try Linens n things or Home Depot.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I live in a five room house, with seven rooms worth of stuff in it -- and it gets out of hand easy. So I try to be as efficient as I can with the space I've got.

There's only two closets in the entire house -- I keep my day-to-day clothes, the cotton dresses and such, in one closet, and my dressier things in the other, protected in garment bags. Out of season clothes are stored in those plastic Rubbermaid bins, which I stack in the back of both closets -- I have too many of these, though, and I need to go thru and get rid of a lot of stuff I don't wear anymore.

My woolens -- winter coats and such -- I keep in the small deep-freeze in a corner of my kitchen, the most moth-proof place I can think of.

Shoes I store on shoe racks hung from the backs of the closet doors. Well, at least theoretically I do. Right at this moment there are nine pairs of shoes scattered on my bedroom floor, so obviously I have a long way to go...

 

[Rosie]

I'm cleaning my entire house (have been doing so for the past few days as I'm quite slow and lazy when it comes to tasks this large, see how I'm online now when I should be cleaning )

I have three built in full length closets, two half closets and an old wardrobe. I also have two bureaus and one lingerie dresser. I don't seperate between vintage and modern, I organize my closets by color, this is easiest for me as I remember my clothing as, "where's that black sweater or red skirt, etc." So, I do black, all black shirts, then pants, then skirts, then dresses and others like shrugs, wraps, etc. the things that I have only one color of, a yellow dress comes to mind, I just group with similarly styled items. Scarves, and clothing like accessories go on hooks in my closets. Shoes go in my shoe closet, which isn't as grand as it sounds, it's a small closet under my bigger closet, I usually just switch shoes around for the season, now summer shoes are on top. My coats go in two closets (one is the wardrobe) because I have that many and I group those by style, casual, dress and evening. My purses go on a shelf in one of my closets and between us girls, I kind of just throw them up there but make them nice and neat every so often. Jammies and underthings go in drawers, all jammies in one drawer, foundation garments in one drawer, undies and brassiers each have two drawers and stockings, pantyhose and socks have a drawer. I have little envelopes for my gloves and hankies and jewelery goes in three seperate boxes, earrings/pins/brooches, necklaces and bracelets. Things like jeans and "house clothes" I just throw in a drawer, or stack in the bottom of my closet. They really don't get special treeatment.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I have a huge mess on my hands! I used to seperate by seasons. But now, living in a city apartment with no closet space, I have piles. Literally they are everywhere. I'm hoping to have a new closet built for vintage under my staircase, which is hollow and just a waste of space at the moment. But for now, I live dodging piles of clothes.

 

[Lady Day]

I have all of my goodies together. I use 'metro shelving' because I feel that dressers and such take up way too much space, that and I have a studio apt.

Here are all my cardies, scarves and underclothes.

Here is where all my shirts, dresses and slacks reside. I have a small closet where I stowe my hats and coats, and I shoe rack in the walk way for my 30+ pairs of shoes


This is funny, I wanted to see how everyone kept their things too. I was gonna start a 'Show us your closets' thread a while ago.

LD

 

[Paisley]

I do have one more place where I keep mostly clothes: in a box in the living room or dining room. This is where I put clothes I seldom wear. When it gets full, I give it to charity.

Several months ago, I cleaned out my office closet and had a living room full of those boxes. There was literally two carloads of stuff to take to charity. Odd thing is, I can't remember what any of it was, aside from a blanket and a helmet. But I got my closet back and it solved my storage space problems.

 

[Shimmy Sally]

I have space issues right now also. I have most of my antique/vintage furniture and china in storage back in the midwest.
As to clothing I strongly urge you not to store it in plastic containers or bags. Below is a link to some helpful hints for storing garments, if you want them to last. I have antique lace that is still snow white as new, so it is possible if you have the means.
http://www.fabriclink.com/Seasonalstorage.html

 

[Snookie]

Doesn't it just make you wish for the days when you didn't have any of those cool things? Not!

 

[Lauren]

I keep my uber fragile vintage folded in boxes and put up away, and my 30's and earlier out of the way where it can't get mussed- my regular wear is on one side, and this includes vintage repros or real vintage I mix in with my day to day on a regular basis and me "dress" vintage if you will on the other side. All my hats are stacked in hatboxes and my accessories are stored in my vintage suitcases or in drawers. Fragile things are kept together and that way where I'm searching for something and open that box I know it won't be in there and I avoid possibly damaging them more.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Thanks for all the great stories and advice! I am glad I am not the only one struggling with this.

I guess I always feel like everyone else is perfectly organized and I am the one who somehow can't manage to get her act together. lol


Denise

 

[Caledonia]

Yup I think we all struggle. The best thing I did was offer to take furniture from friends emigrating to Canada. They left me a 1930s half wardrobe which now holds all my vintage underwear, bedwear, swimwear, stockings (et al), cosmetics, and a few leftover purses. Other than that my general wardrobe just has everything piled in without much thought except to put the coats at one end and work towards blouses at the other. Shoes and hats are an eternal problem. I have 50+ pairs of shoes and about a dozen hats. The shoes are just stacked in boxes against the walls, and hats are in bags on the windowsill till I can find hat boxes to fit. And I have "to sell" in boxes under the bed along with a German 1930s car coat that needs refurbishing. Nightmare!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My friend Nathan recently bought a house built in 1909. He has remade an entire (large) bedroom into a "closet" for his vintage clothing collection. The walls have two levels of hanging bars, one above the other. In addition, the room has two walk-in closets of its own, not to mention 6 rolling racks occupying the floor space.

Understand that this man has more than 60 vintage suits. He has to put them somewhere!

.

 

[jitterbugdoll]

Right now I am in a tiny apartment with limited closet space, which means I am struggling with storage even more then usual. About half of my collection (cocktail/evening and winter wear) is stored at my mother's house (I have to say that this is a great storage solution lol)

I do suggest picking up a couple of the shoe storage racks that either hang over a door or on acloset bar. I have 50+ pairs of shoes (none of my vintage pairs came with original boxes) and this solved a huge storage issue I was having. It definitely increased my closet space and makes it very easy to find the shoes I want

 

[Caledonia]

So how envious am I? Been trying to work out a double height hanging system for the dressing room, but we have sloped ceilings in a smallish room so it's a bit problematic. Your friend wouldn't be interested in posting piccies would he? It sounds marvellous.

 

[Caledonia]

Right now I am in a tiny apartment with limited closet space, which means I am struggling with storage even more then usual. About half of my collection (cocktail/evening and winter wear) is stored at my mother's house (I have to say that this is a great storage solution lol)

I do suggest picking up a couple of the shoe storage racks that either hang over a door or on acloset bar. I have 50+ pairs of shoes (none of my vintage pairs came with original boxes) and this solved a huge storage issue I was having. It definitely increased my closet space and makes it very easy to find the shoes I want

This sounds like a great shoe solving problem! I'll look into it. Only 3 pairs came with the original boxes so far!

 

[jitterbugdoll]

My friend Nathan recently bought a 1909 Tudor house. He has remade an entire bedroom into a closet for his vintage clothing collection. The walls have two levels of hanging bars, one above the other. In addition, the room has two walk-in closets of its own, and about 6 rolling racks.

An acquaintance of mine did something similar, though he is such an obsessive collector of clothing that in order to enter the room you have to wade through clothing (the floor is four feet deep in clothes )

 

[maisie]

Right now I am in a tiny apartment with limited closet space, which means I am struggling with storage even more then usual. About half of my collection (cocktail/evening and winter wear) is stored at my mother's house (I have to say that this is a great storage solution lol)

I do suggest picking up a couple of the shoe storage racks that either hang over a door or on acloset bar. I have 50+ pairs of shoes (none of my vintage pairs came with original boxes) and this solved a huge storage issue I was having. It definitely increased my closet space and makes it very easy to find the shoes I want

Sound like i have about the same amount of shoes as you, but i can't tell you the certain cause i don't even know that myself! lol!
That soundsa really good idea as i have no idea where to put them all, and most of the time just wear the same shoes as half of mine are in storage, boxed up with other items i'm selling! Just today i found 6 pairs in one box, and i was like "ohh i forgot i had those!" and "ohh they are so nice why didn't i wear them sooner! lol And another 6 pairs are still in the bix box that my friend sent them over in!

And don't even mention clothes! They have taken over the whole house! I have 3 built-in wardrobes in my room, crammed full of dresses, suits, coats, blouses and uniforms all 40's! Them i have boxes of hats, bags and lots of 'nick-naks' like gas masks, paper work, bages, brooches, magazines, papers, the list goes on........ I then also have a few piles of stuff that i'm waiting to find hangers for
Then downstairs i have a few rails of 40s clothing that is for sale next week at a military show, along with boxes of shoes and more piles of stuff, so i seriously need storage space!

 

[jitterbugdoll]

This sounds like a great shoe solving problem! I'll look into it. Only 3 pairs came with the original boxes so far!

They work great! My one tip is that you can actually store a whole pair of shoes in one slot (make sure you select one with larger pockets), rather than one shoe per pocket, like the packaging implies.

 

[maisie]

They work great! My one tip is that you can actually store a whole pair of shoes in one slot (make sure you select one with larger pockets), rather than one shoe per pocket, like the packaging implies.

I actually got one of those ages ago at Ikea and have never used it, i also have one for clothing, but now that seems a really good idea for storing vintage stuff! The clothes one would also be ideal for skirts, shorts and blouses!