De-clutter and find your oasis of calm
HOW many of grown adults with otherwise clean, clutter-free, well-appointed homes harbour a terrifying chamber of juvenile chaos? Bedrooms, exploding with an unholy tangle of unkempt clothes, orphaned shoes, and mangled accessories leering from top shelves? Whether you just de-clutter and work with the elements you already have, invite in some freestanding saviours, or contour the room to the centimetre with sophisticated built-ins it’s vital to get your storage routine in hand in this precious area of domestic sanctuary.
Look at the space inside the existing wardrobe. Are the shelves stable and set at a good working height for you? Could your wardrobe benefit from some internal fitting out? If the carcass is in good condition, you could update built-in units in the same way as you would a kitchen, changing or redecorating the doors and replacing handles and pulls. If you want a new freestanding robe, go to a showroom and give the sample pieces a good going over, pushing from each side to see if the joints are firm and the materials and door action pleasing under the hand. B&Q have introduced playful chalkboard doors for children’s built-ins. €119 a piece.
Sophisticated wardrobe organisers are available from larger DIY outlets. Ensure the internal depth and external room matches an articulation for sliders, drawers or other pull-outs (60cm is the depth of a standard wardrobe). IKEA’s Skubb and Komlement series offers hanging organisers, pretty lidded boxes, cases and compartments to regularise a yawning space stem to stern or to multi-task a single drawer.
ORGANISATIONAL FASHION
For shelving, tight vertical dividers will hold up stacked, folded clothes that would otherwise list and fall into a wrinkled heap. For smaller items, it’s time to micro-manage. Shoes and belts can be put on inexpensive racks or corralled into wire baskets. Suspend racks from the inside of the wardrobe door if room is tight. Best shoes out of reach, daily use shoes right at the front, or centre with a vertical system.
Clear plastic boxes offer quick visual identification and can carry a variety of items that might otherwise get lost and bent out of shape in the general milieu. Overhead space in a wardrobe does not have to be remote. Measure the space and buy some baskets to slide alongside each other. Again, label the baskets to identify their contents at a glance. There’s a product for all those high fashion investments you dared to make. Howards Storage World can showcase those handbags in their 14 handbag showcase at €19.95. Fabulous.
Unifying your hangers not only looks neater but sets the clothes at the same height. Ditch those metal eyesores for quality hangers with rubber grips at the shoulders. A minimal amount of long hanging space is needed for dressy clothes and long coats etc. Place the outfits you wear most at the centre section which is easiest to plunge into, leaving spare hangers out to the side. Most of your clothes extend less than 90cm from the top rail of a tall wardrobe. Hanging two rails, one high and one about 100cm above the wardrobe bottom, will double your hanging space.
Multi-level hangers drop down into one slice of vertical space making use of often wasted volumes at the bottom of a full wardrobe. Suck in the problem even further with Space Hanging Bags, a celebrated system using a one way valve and the hose of your vacuum. Slip folded clothes into the bags, suck out excess air, and the volume of the clothes is instantly reduced, sealing them against moisture and dust. €16.89 for two.
Well-detailed, built in wardrobes make even the smallest room seem taller and perform better. Sliding doors perfected in built-ins, are abstract and artless if your current hinged varieties are cracking you cruelly in the ankles.
The beauty of this investment is not simply ergonomics but the services on offer to sweeten the deal. If there’s a free design CAD service on offer— take it. Who knows the micro-environment and spatial considerations for a vast built-in wardrobe better than someone dealing in built-ins?
Don’t attempt to construct this expensive cabinetwork if you don’t boast a well-hung tool belt with several years of wear. MDF is sold as maintenance-free because once gouged by a rookie carpenter, it can’t be repaired. Internal drawers and fittings are likely to double the cost of the bare carcass, so beware of retailers ‘up-selling’.
My American husband is always surprised by the absence of upstairs closet space as standard in Irish homes. We deify the humble bedroom closet by calling it a ‘walk-in wardrobe’. This is presented as an aspirational extra room, whereas in the States, every child has one. You may not be able to include a vast walk-in with flanking hanging rails in your plans for renovating or building, but consider what even a metre or two of stud work to fashion a closet could do to streamline your bedroom. Have shelving and rails set between shoulder and knee height to suit your reach.
Taking the doors of a standard wardrobe out of the equation, wall mounted modular storage solutions acting as super shelves include B&Q’s Aura, IKEA’s Antonius and Stolmen, and HWS’s Elfa Shelving. Contemporary, sleek and attractive, they are promoted as ‘space-intelligent’- or rather they present an easy DIY install, and can be added to or re-shuffled as your needs change. Systems like this feature more open shelving, integrated small chests and hanging space rather than blind doors. If you have to shoulder your present wardrobe door over a blizzard of unfolded clothes, this airy display style is not for you. For a walk-in option, or a curtained off area, open access systems are ideal for fitting out.
Rails and zipped nylon wardrobes are handy for out-of-season clothes but offer all the glamour of a dry-cleaners’ backroom. For simplicity, value and good looks, move up to a canvas wardrobe, using tented furniture styles gleaned from the Napoleonic wars, when military officers carted their household around with them under tenting. Rolling up the door might not be for everyone, but they have a home-spun charm to defeat most veneered entry level MDF storage. Argos offers a double wardrobe set with a sturdy wood frame, external shoe stores, integral shelving, a separate shelved unit and bedside table for €103.99 in grey/black, dark brown, pink, mink or cream.
A standard double bed suspended off the floor offers almost 4 sq metres of neatly concealed storage space. There is a huge variety of under-bed boxes, bags and totes in plastic and fabric available. We love Argos’s fabric and wood Under-bed Drawers on casters at just €28.59 for two.
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