Small spaces and [relatively] big wardrobes--what to do? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Small spaces and [relatively] big wardrobes--what to do?

Maya

Veteran

I need tips for making this work. I have numerous concerns about how in the world I'm going to sustain my love of clothes, shoes, and obsessive need to air dry everything in my tiny shoebox of a studio apartment. I know we have lots of apartment dwellers on YLF, but I think NYC apartments (regardless of borough) are a little more..."special"....and require a lot more cleverness and efficiency...neither of which are my strong suits. Seriously, I use an entire bedroom to dry my laundry right now. There has got to be a better way...

General

15 replies

Latest reply was from Lisa

RoseandJoan

Veteran

I'm hoping you find a studio with ceiling height so you can utilise this space with shelving and clothing storage boxes. could you keep out of season items at your parents or would this prove too impractical?

Traci

Veteran

A floor to ceiling stack of these?
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_1.....M235726418

Anonymous

Maya, how do you do your laundry? Do you need to go to a laundromat? Could you tumble some things on "air only" (no heat) to get rid of much of the moisture and wrinkles and hope they will dry faster? I suspect air drying will not be as much of a problem this winter with the lack of humidity.
Do you have a balcony? My son in Tokyo lives in a teeny tiny place and uses a balcony or maybe it's an outdoor stairwell to air dry his things as much as possible.

Steph

Veteran

Cry. Honestly, that's what I do every day, and I live in a one bedroom DC condo with a den, a small walk-in closet, a traditional closet in the den, and a coat closet. Granted, my boyfriend takes the traditional closet and the coat closet, leaving me the small walk-in, but it's not close to enough space. It's so crowded, and I'm very familiar with NYC apartments, so I know mine is like a palace in comparison.

Can you leave out-of-season stuff at your closet in your parents' house, and then swap wardrobes? I have never been good at separating stuff by season, but if you can do that, it would save space.

I also have a long, low shelving unit set up against one wall. This was really good in my last place, where I had a long hallway that wasted a lot of square footage. I put all of my sweaters in there. A sad truth of apartment living is that every piece of furniture you end up purchasing has to have a function. I have a bench that has cabinet space (I put shoes in there), an end table that actually has a pull-out drawer (it's really a nice hamper that is disguised as furniture from Restoration Hardware: http://www.restorationhardware.....rod2440007; I have it in my foyer and put shoes in there), and obviously armoires are always popular (I don't have one). I know that most of this is not going to be feasible for a NYC studio, but maybe one or two would be useful or will give you ideas.

Underbed storage is also an idea. I personally don't do that because I like my bed isolated in case there is ever a bed bug outbreak (I am seriously vigilant about that, most people aren't, but since you're in NYC maybe you are too?), but if you don't mind that, it could be a good option.

Anonymous

Maya - I will be happy to store your extras at my place for you.

Steph

Veteran

Oh, and as for air drying, I would get some of those folding wooden dryer racks, like this: http://www.amazon.com/Wooden-D.....B0000TR5L8 I have them but actually never use them--I just drape things over the shower rod and towel rods. My boyfriend takes his button-down shirts, puts them on a hangar, and then hangs that over the bathroom door frames and dries his shirts that way.

I can't put my stuff out on my balcony because I face M street, and the fumes from the trucks and cars that pass by all day long are disgusting. My clothes would absolutely reek.

Ah, city living.

Kari

Veteran

Okay, I know I can't compare to a studio apartment, but this is what I've done when I have lived in very tiny spaces, and still do many of these now:
*Make use of whatever vertical space you can with tall bookshelves, shelves above desks, even extra shelves or cartons vertically stacked in the closet.
*Air dry clothes by putting hangers on the shower curtain rod, and putting a folding drying rack (like Steph posted) in the bathtub or shower.
*Get pull-out bins that easily slide in and out from under your bed (for shoes, out of season clothes, etc.) If you're concerned about cleanliness issues for clothes under your bed, then zip up the clothes in a plastic bag before putting them in a bin. That's also a good way to gain extra storage space for bulky items like sweaters - you can compress the air out of the bags before stacking them.
*Get an ottoman with storage space inside - doubles as extra seating for when you have company, can easily be moved when you need more space, and is functional as well. I bought this one in brown, and use it for storing all of my extra blankets when they aren't on my bed.
*Get plastic pull-out drawers either to stand next to the sink or fit under the sink to hold your toiletries inside.
*Get folding chairs - I like director's chairs - that can be folded & set in a closet or at the side of a room when you don't need them, but can be pulled out when you need extra seating at your desk or when you have visitors.
*Maximize storage space with racks that hang over the door - for towels, handbags, shoes, coats, etc.

Anonymous

You have gotten great ideas so far. I live in a prewar apartment. What that means is that the ceilings are higher and the sq. footage is more generous so I might not have as much of a space constraint.
With that said, I found space bags to be a great solution for those items I don't need as often, such as extra blankets and linens. They are real space savers. I want to free up as much space as possible for clothes.
I've used every inch of vertical space in this apartment (OK, that is an exaggeration) for shelving /storage ideas. I have shelves with rattan drawers in the kitchen for extra toiletries and paper goods, a narrow and tall armoire in the bathroom for the same purpose and several floating shelves in my bedroom for books.
My idea is to store as much as I can in places other than my closet, so I use that space for my goodies.
I am an air dry freak too. I use my kitchen as my drying room. I have two drying racks and a makeshift drying line that I use for that purpose.
I promise, once you start living in your new quarters, you'll get a hand of what works

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Maya- even though I'm a home owner, we struggle with space issues. You have to get very creative and really organized. Maybe your handbag collection becomes wall art? Maybe your jewelery becomes a decorative hanging? For drying space- there are certain contraptions that can help (the stackable flat shelves that can go in your shower, large drying racks with lots of surfaces, etc)- but also spreading the laundry out and not doing it all in one day helps.
Have you found a place?

Kari

Veteran

Oh, what Khris said reminded me of some additional ideas:

*I invested in a tie rack to nail to the wall and hang my (numerous) necklaces on.
*I got a jewelry tree for my earrings. (Totally cheap, from Urban Outfitters.)
This way, only the earring collection takes up surface space, and my jewelry is ready to pick up and wear and also adds color and decoration to a corner of the room.

anne

Veteran

If you have a high ceiling, there are contraptions on which you can hang your laundry and then use a pulley to pull it up above head height. Actually I haven't seen these commercially - 2 of my friend's husbands made them for them - but perhaps they do exist.

When I lived in Japan and had limited drying space, I used those drying racks where there are lots of pegs hanging off one hanger. I don't know what they are called but they only cost about $3 from discount shops here. In fact I just bought 3 to help with the laundry demands of my 3 little girls.

Megan

I don't currently live in a small apartment but have in the past. For laundry I used:

one of these http://www.amazon.com/Hills-Fr.....38;sr=8-16
for tees,hose, pjs etc. Sometimes with small loads I would fold down the bottom 2 rails on one side and peg pants on that side

One of these for underwear http://www.amazon.com/Lehigh-S.....pd_sim_k_3

Anything that goes on hangers in my closet went on one of these while wet and back to the closet when dry
http://www.amazon.com/Honey-Ca.....pd_sbs_k_1

but I am slightly odd and LOVE laundry

Kate

Veteran

Fold things like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

Now I can fit all of my tops in 1 drawer instead of 2, and I can see everything so I'm not rummaging through the folded stacks to find the top I want. It works well for tights, leggings, and loungewear too. I didn't bother with my underwear though...

anne

Veteran

Megan that second link was the second thing I was trying to describe. Glad you could find a picture.

Lisa

Veteran

There are some great ideas here already and I think multi function furniture is certainly a way to go. One item I've seen is a full length mirror you can spin around and the other 3 sides have shelves and storage. It can fit into a corner in the bedroom. An additional air dry idea, if you like to hang clothes, add a shower rod (the cheap-o one's) above your head a few inches in the middle of the shower. It won't get wet when you shower and you'll have more rod space to hang items with. No one has EVER noticed I have an extra rod in the bathroom and it works like a charm.