Thinking Outside of the Drawer

There is rarely enough storage space in a bedroom, or at least it feels that way. Whether the issue is not enough drawers, not enough floor space for dressers, or a tiny closet with minimal hanging space, it's important to think outside the box, or drawer, in this case.

My daughter's room is a perfect example.  She doesn't like having clothes on hangers and therefore, hangs up very few items. Dresses are the only things that were on hangers in her closet.  What that resulted in was an overstuffed dresser and an empty closet.  For a while I fought her on this and continued to hang things up when I helped her put away her laundry, but basically the clothes that were hung were never worn. Not only that, but because the drawers were so packed, she essentially only wore whatever was on top, so only a few items of her wardrobe ever made it into the rotation. I was convinced she would eventually want to hang more of her clothes someday, so I was reluctant to install a closet system. So how could we use the closet without a remodel? The answer was a relatively inexpensive and versatile unit, ClosetMaid Cubeicals^® 6 Cube Organizer, shown here on the right.

Since she likes to have everything visible, we set up the shelving system with folded items that were normally stuffed into drawers.  This allowed everything to be stacked and accessible. Her dresser drawers were actually too large for socks and underwear to be kept separately, resulting in wasted space, but she didn't want them combined (heaven forbid!).  The easy solution was to use the two canvas drawers for each.  We used hooks to keep accessories, such as belts and bags handy.

The other side of the closet is still used for hanging items, but this side can easily be used now exactly in the way she needs it. The drawers aren't overflowing, and she's actually wearing all of her clothes! Success!

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