This isn’t going to be a pretty post.
It will be honest. It will be raw. It will be messy.
But then truth is often messy and not pretty.
So if it is sequins, world peace or happy, sparkly, feather-and-light that you want, click away.
Jo of All the Blue Day asked me how/where I fit my 37 dresses.(And my 32 skirts. Don’t know how many tops, jackets, coats and pants I own.)
Let’s start with the good news. I don’t have any storage containers under my bed. And I don’t have anything hanging in my son’s built-in wardrobe. My husband has more hanging space than me. And about the same, but maybe more, shelf space. (This wasn’t always the case.)
Here’s my shirt, jacket and skirt part of the wardrobe. Look at all that space around the skirts and pants! That comes from my decluttering and not buying in new things. Makes getting dressed for work in the morning so much easier. Fewer choices, better view of what I own, easier to flick through the clothes and unwanted items have gone.
Then there is the other side. The full length hanging part for dresses and coats. Same width as the other bit. OK, pretty crammed in there. And there is a dress folded on the floor of the wardrobe. Can’t remember why I put I there. (My husband has the same width on the other side of the wardrobe – all half and half for shirts and pants.)
In the middle is hanging space and three drawers. I have three jackets hanging in there. All the other space is my husband’s.
Our chest of drawers is also equally-ish shared. I have two half sized drawers and two full sized. Husband has two full sized drawers.
Now comes the horror. The horror!
A top and jacket on the floor next to my chest of drawers waiting for me to move to the laundry. The top is there to remind me to unpick the label. I hate scratchy labels and end up with a rash-like reaction up my neck and face. If I put the top in the wash I will forget to remove the label and will only realise the full pain of the label when I am at work, after itching on my trip to work and thinking a bug has bitten my neck.
Clothes hanging on the butler’s stand. Now if only there was a butler! Some clothes need alteration, some hand washing and some are resting.
Behold my cupboard in the hallway between my ensuite and bedroom which also holds linen. I have one and a half shelves for my clothes. One shelf and the floor for shoes and handbags. The shoe shelf also has some clothes squashed in. Various shots for your smug feeling of order compared to my mess. There are wrap dresses piled in there. They don’t hang well as they slip off the hanger and don’t need ironing so it is better to roll them and put them on a shelf.
I couldn’t fit all my clothes in the wardrobe and cupboards at once. Luckily at any one time there has to be clothes waiting for repairs, for washing, for moving to the washing and clothes resting. Now remember this is mid-week, so I haven’t washed or put away all my clothes. (But then some have been waiting a long, long, long time.)
Let us move to my bathroom. Here I pile clothes awaiting decisions – to rewear? to wash? to hang? – or clothes I wear after work so they can’t go in my wardrobe as they have been worn.
And behind the door my dark or delicate clothes to be washed. I don’t like putting them in the laundry as my husband will wash them with other things.
On our way out now. Hanging on the bedroom hallway door (I have a door to the little hall [where my linen press / cupboard is] to my bedroom and bathroom – have I told you I like embedded clauses and asides {punctuation is such a soul-warming swiggle}) is a dress. Been there a while. Waiting for warmer weather. Not ready to be washed and not clean enough to re re-hung. (And my walking cap.)
Out to the dining room. The jacket I wore today draped over my work bag.
Let’s head towards the laundry. Just outside the laundry door, the mending basket (which also holds a few throws). Two tops and a dress are waiting repair.
Finally the laundry. In the basket, under clothes from other family members, is a few of my items.
So there you are! My clothes storage. A finely tuned, systematic, web of connectedness. Each area dependent on the other for success.
Thus I am able to store 37 dresses without fighting one who is equally generously endowed in the clothing department.
