Like many apartments, we have only a tiny amount of wardrobe space.
Below are our closets… mine is on left and Bill’s is on the right –
I always thought my normal plastic tube hangers from The Container Store were fine. I had them all one color (black) and they would always face the right way. There was one thing that was annoying me but I didn’t really know it at the time – I was sick and tired of stuff slipping off them, the tubes being so big and also they were very hard to slide along the rail in the old apartment. I just thought that is what we all had to put up with. But no longer!
One night mid last year when I was up late watching home shopping, I came across Huggable Hangers. I was sold in about 3 seconds. They were amazing and I thought they would solve all of my annoyances with the struggle I was always facing anytime I wanted to look for anything to wear. I love being organized but I really felt like I had no control over the closet as all you get is a bar in a closed area and you just have to make do with that.
I promised myself when we moved that I would fit out my closet in huggable hangers and knew I’d have to save up as they are pricey. Then for Kris Kringle at Christmas time, Bill’s sister Pauline got my name. With the Blevins’ you let them know what you really want for a gift. I requested a Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card. (NERD!)
I had done some other research in the world of hangers and found that Bed, Bath and Beyond sold identical huggable hangers but for a lot cheaper. This happens so often with really good things on home shopping so I was even MORE excited than before. An added bonus they were branded by my favourite magazine, Real Simple.
So with my gift card in hand I went and purchased a stack of the hangers, clips and also some tie holders for Bill. I didn’t have time to do this before we left for Australia but today I set about changing my closet! I am so happy with the result!
Before –
As you can see – stuff is all over the place. I hated it! Up the top is the tub that I keep any spare toiletries/hair stuff/spare bottles of my fave shampoo from Oz etc in. I also had some spare Container Store containers there and also you can see the box of hangers up the top. I even had two wire hangers in there from this week. I HATE WIRE HANGERS. I had lost my passion for that disasterous closet this week so didn’t even take them out.
In fact, this could be footage of me using that space –
In this photo… oh dear it is a disaster! In the Dollar Store stripey bag is all my shoes. That is how I moved them from the Chelsea apartment. I had a big Vera Bradley duffle full off other bags, also had gum boots stored at the bag, tote bags and in those white pillow cases is my veil…it looks crumpled in this photo but it wasn’t!
Also – just so you know – as you see it, everything was crushed while it was hanging… it looks like there is room but I also had a whole lot of clean washing to put in there as well! This pile… and more!!
So I pulled everything out and went to work putting everything on my new hangers and sorting out what would go where. So after a couple of hours, here is the big unveil!
After –
Order! Matching! No crushing! No dragging! No slipping tops! No half hanging dresses falling off plastic tubes! LOVE!!!
This is what it looks like for further away. Sorry I took this photo on my iPhone which is why it is a bit dark.
As you can see – the hangers can ‘stack’ on each other – which is great for the skirts because they take up some definite space. This is actually a bit deceiving as there is now actually so much more room there I am not dreading new purchases!
Also, I forgot about the clear shoe boxes that I had bought over from Australia with me and had been waiting to use them all this time! I bought them when they were all the rage back in 07/08 through Bear and Duck and was waiting for the space to use them in. So I was able to put them together and store my shoes properly and without them getting dusty and separated. Behind the shoe boxes is the bathroom supplies big box and on top are the boxes that hold my snow boots and gum boots.
Up the top of the wardrobe I now have the Petal Pink Vera Bradley full of all my winter stuff – scarfs, gloves, ear muffs, shoe grips etc. The Blue Vera is full of other Veras and spare bags/carry bags and weekender bags. The large LL Bean Boat and Tote (BEST BAGS EVER) includes just a medium Boat and Tote. On top of that is the veil that will be going up to Albany to stay safe with my dress!
It feels SO much better – I have my shoes within easy reach, my clothes aren’t getting crushed and are no longer falling on the floor, I have all my tops put away (I used to have to keep my clothes out all the time because they wouldn’t fit in the space there) and I even have more room than I started!
Next I want to make use of the closet door to hang scarfs and the bags I use more of and also make even better use of the space up the top. At the moment as an off-season storage space it suits me fine and there is no junk being kept up there so that is even better.
So a huge YES to Huggable Hangers if you have a small space to get used to or even if you are just sick and tired of clothes slipping off hangers – absolutely worth it in my opinion and a great organizational solution for closet spaces.