We recently moved two miles down the road, from a house in a Seattle neighbourhood to a downtown apartment. Our new place has the same square footage of the old one, but much less storage space. Our old house had a small walk-in closet, a coat closet, and a lot of storage availability. Our new home lacks sufficient storage space for many things, including our wardrobes. At some point we will remodel to create perfect storage and living spaces, but for now we’re making do with the spaces as they are.
Going in to the move I thought we would end up with clothing racks on the landing and in our office, but I’m surprised to say that wasn’t the case. We managed to store and organize our wardrobes a lot better than I thought. I’m very pleased with the temporary arrangement.
It took a day to figure out how I was going to store and organize our wardrobes so that items would be accessible, practical, visible, neat & tidy, and look attractive. I didn’t want items to be squashed and creased. Most importantly, I wanted the organizational system I created to be easy to maintain. It was like a big game of Tetris. I folded, unfolded, refolded, hung and rehung many times over until I found optimal solutions. I also had EVERY item of our wardrobes in close proximity so that there would be no nasty forgotten surprises at the end.
Currently, we have more folding than hanging space, so I folded ALL my knitwear, hoodies, knitted tops, and scarves, which are items that hung in our old home because we had the hanging space. I arranged the folded items in one layer so I can see everything at a glance. I folded the knitwear, hoodies and knit tops using the KonMari method. It’s extremely space efficient, so I could fit every item across all four seasons into two large and deep drawers with space to spare.
I was worried about items creasing when folded this way, because I have a very low tolerance for creases. But we are three weeks in, and so far so good. I’ve been wearing my Spring and Summer knitwear, scarves and knitted tops and they look great. Generally no creases at all. Granted, the items have to be crease-free before you fold them, not too squashed in the drawers, and you have to do a really good job of folding them correctly. If the folds aren’t close to perfect, items create creases in the wrong places.
This is my big new commitment to folding wardrobe items so that they fit perfectly into our limited storage spaces, and look nice too. I enjoy organizing and creating neat and tidy living spaces, so I’m more than happy to take the extra time folding and managing the storage of our wardrobes. It’s therapeutic and practice makes perfect. Sometimes, you have to slow down and take a little longer to achieve a desired effect. In the big scheme of things it’s only minutes extra in my life, and that’s so okay with me.
I posted pictures in the forum showing how I organized the rest of my wardrobe. We don’t have a coat closet yet so that’s a work in progress. But every other item has its place and is squared away so that it’s visible throughout the year since I don’t like to swap out a seasonal wardrobe. Sam our Yorkie has his own wardrobe box in our closet space too.
