« Recipe: Homemade Vegetable Broth | Main | Changing Priorities »

In my case, I have four general categories of clothing:
- workish (not too exciting, not too threatening, not worn-out)
- casual (jeans, t-shirts, sweats, kinda worn stuff)
- dressy (ranging from tasteful velvet & linen to racy leather & latex)
- lingerie (including stockings, which are sometimes worn with any of the other categories because tights & pantyhose annoy me)

I could also group the clothes by storage method:
- hanging (long)
- hanging (short)
- stackable (e.g. sweaters, jeans, knit shirts including t-shirts)
- jumbly (e.g. underwear, socks)

My resources are:
- a small closet
- two-thirds of a large closet (the other third being my "office")
- 2 16" square cheap pressboard 2 drawer cubes
- 2 11" high cheap Ikea 3 drawer units
- 2 11" high nice pine 2 drawer units
- 2 7" high cheap Ikea 2 drawer units
- a two-drawer file cabinet with a faux wood finish
- 2 large pieces of scrap lumber 22"x48" salvaged when tearing out a deteriorated old cupboard in my old place
- a variety of other pieces of scrap lumber
- a measuring tape
- a hacksaw
- a steel ruler
- an old tablecloth

In addition to my clothes, the closets also contained, when I started
- a rather dilapidated old chest of drawers at least 4' wide
- my vacuum cleaner
- a very large basket which I use as a dirty clothes hamper
- 2 large plastic bins with "cold storage" items (genealogy & gaming related stuff)
- spare pillows
- two containers of file folders labelled 1965-2002 each containing items from that year which I've discovered going through old papers & junk during this move
- a bag of items intended for use in a future Pirate Gift Exchange Party
- a bag of old receipt tapes and other ephemera remaining from the legal records of my late lamented bookstore, Inkspot
- jewelry (not much)
- gloves
- toys
- mailing supplies
- a soft suitcase
- a folding card table
- a folding clothes drying rack

My frustration largely arose from the fact that both sections of hanging clothes felt packed and constrained my thrift store shopping urge. Also I was convinced things could be stored more efficiently. Ah, and the old chest of drawers had sticky, difficult to handle drawers that irritated me.

My overall plan was to swap out the long hanging things from their over-stuffed home in the small closet to a new spacious home in the big closet pending removal of the big old chest of drawers.

First, I emptied the small closet & cleaned out any dust. (Note: in both cases, I actually didn't remove the items up on the high shelves in the closet; I was merely dealing with the daily access areas below the 6' mark).

Next, noticing the 3/4 inch baseboard wrapping the bottom of the closet, I measured the width above the baseboard at the back of the closet and 22 inches from the back wall. In the kitchen, I laid the old tablecloth down below my work area. I made make-do sawhorses out of the top of my new chest freezer and the top of two plastic storage boxes stacked on my stepstool. I cut 2 of my scrap boards to the measured lengths and then trimmed & sanded them down to fit neatly, resting atop the baseboards and providing a shelf the full width of the closet.

Atop this shelf I placed the first of the two 16" pressboard cubes (which I bought at Orchard Supply Hardware a couple years ago and put together easily - once I used twice as many nails as the stingy manufacturer had provided). I centered it about 1" back from the front of the shelf.

I then measured the width of the closet atop the cube and cut one of my 22"x48" boards to that length. I brushed the sawdust off onto the tablecloth and then settled it on top of the cube, snugged to the back of the closet. I secured the shelf by putting the other heavy pressboard cube directly above its sister.

Flat items go under the bottom shelf (e.g. walking sticks, Makita drill)

The little area behind the cubes I filled with my Master's robes & mortarboard and a spare set of monogrammed feety pajamas (a bit too large for me, but hard to replace), three juggling clubs which I haven't quite given up on yet, and some infrequently-worn t-shirts.

I put a pair of boots too large for the hanging shoe rack on the door at the back of the area to the right of the bottom cube. These are the boots that I wear with my catsuit and so I keep the can of latex gloss in one of them. I filled in the rest of that side with stacked casual shirts.

I filled in the area to the left of the bottom cube with stacked t-shirts, rolled to show their pictures so it's easy to find the one I want. Forgot to mention, I left the contents of these cubes as they were: underwear and socks.

I stacked my brassieres in two stacks (sports bras & others) to the left of the top cube. Since there was space behind the stacks, I looked around and found a small suitcase-style portable bar (which I brought to Lane & Courtney's housewarming party to make Jasmines) to nestle back there.

On the right, I stashed my wig box (a cool metal briefcase make-up kit I bought a J.C. Penney or some such years ago - screw the make-up, it was the box I wanted!) and filled in the front with stacked jeans.

I pulled out the bag of Pirate Gift exchange items from the upper shelf and was able to stash the card table & drying rack up there.

All the shorter hanging items went onto the curtain rod with the shorter ones over the cube, a few hats tucked in at the back around the tops of the juggling clubs and voila! one closet done!

The larger closet's configuration would be heavily influenced by the length of my longer hanging things. First, I emptied the space, wrestling the big ol' dresser out of the closet laboriously.

I decided that the cheapo Ikea 3 drawer units had much rougher tops than the nice 11" high pine units and so I put them on the bottom layer to avoid snagged clothes. I situated their front edges about 20" out from the back wall and then rested the untrimmed 22" x 48" board atop them. I hung up the clothes to test the height and was pleased to discover that only two items actually touch the shelf. A couple inches of fabric resting there doesn't seem so bad, so I opted to keep the shelf at that height (rather than switch to the 7" units for the base layer) and placed the nice pine units on top, flush with the right edge. I pushed my file cabinet up against these and the edge of the shelf.

At this point I realized I had two difficult to access spots behind the bottom units. I opened the bottom drawer of my file cabinet which contained mostly old tax records and extra empty file and hanging folders and pulled all those out. Then I arranged my year folders in that drawer with the 2002 folder at the front. I put the last two tax years at the back of the top drawer. There being a bit of extra room, I emptied one of the base unit's drawer of blank paper and hung it in the front of the top drawer of the file cabinet for easy access. I then put the toys in that emptied drawer. Reviewing the other drawers, I realized that two could be combined, which freed up a drawer for the jewelry. Progress!

This step left me a stack of old tax folders and a bunch of empty file folders. I put these in the small file holder and slid it behind the left base unit. [Here we see the justification for Dinah's painstaking detail in this entry. All I'll need to do 2 years from now is go to Google and search for "old tax folders site:metagrrrl.com" and I can find where the hell I put that stuff. And some people didn't believe me when I said I blogged for myself...] I was also left with a small plastic storage box which had formerly contained half of the year folders. I filled this box with all the unfiled year-related items from one of the drawers of the little Ikea units. This let me move all my bills & receipts from one of the drawers of the nice pine units.

So, now I have the base unit and the left side behind it filled. I need something to put on the right. Well, there was this narrow box that came with my DSL modem and it has some documents & other adapters and what-have-you that I saved. Away it goes (making more space in the computer drawer in the highboy out in the room) and my soft suitcase tucks in beside with the long strap sticking out alongside the base unit to remind me that it's there. I filled in the space between the base units with sweatpants, sweatshirts and shorts.

To the right of the base unit & the pine unit above, between it and the file cabinet, I left about and inch or two gap which nicely accomodates large envelopes, report covers & similar large mailing supplies. Between the two pine units is another little gap which holds small padded envelopes & mailing labels. That freed up another drawer of the pine units. The other two drawers contained bits of paper representing to-do items - envelopes to remind me to do changes of address, mostly. Since this stuff needs to get done, I decided to put it right in my face. I have two lovely old baking pans with a starburst pattern on them. I took one and put all the awkwardly sized to-do stuff in it (e.g. shirt to return to Lands' End, my Compaq Ipaq music player thingy that I never could get to install properly, etc.) into another small plastic storage box (which formerly barely contained my lingerie) and put all those to-do papers in the tin box. It and the two small clear plastic storage boxes represent a nagging tower of "Work On This Stuff" to be placed in sight of my desk.

Now all the drawers of the pine units were empty and could be filled with the lingerie and gloves, finally given the respect and space they deserve. Two corsets wouldn't fit, so I wrapped the prettier one around the other and laid it below the longest hanging items (the green silk looks very nice against the burgundy velvet of the dress, I must say).

I tucked the spare pillows (in a big plastic bag to keep them from getting dusty) behind the pine units and put another little makeup case containing more toys beside the lefthand pine unit. Then I looked at the clothes remaining to be situated. These were the workish shirts and sweaters, nicely folded, ready to stack. In the absence of a nicer box, which I intend to get later, I put the short sleeves shirts stacked in a milk crate set on its side atop the pine boxes. Rather offense to the eye, but functional for now. The long sleeve shirts and sweaters stacked behind it, atop the pillows.

I rested the nagging tower of to-do items on top of the milk crate and part two of my closet conquest was complete.

Items left displaced at the end:
- old chest of drawers (currently outside my door, labeled "Free")
- 2 large plastic bins with "cold storage" items (which will be stored in Edmond's storage unit if space permits)
- a bag of items intended for use in a future Pirate Gift Exchange Party (said party I will be announcing soon)
- a bag of old receipt tapes and other ephemera remaining from the legal records of my late lamented bookstore, Inkspot (another nagging item to be left in front of the file cabinet to annoy me & provoke action)

My next step was to improve the other third of the big closet, my "office".

I borrowed a small computer table from Edmond and set it up in place of the side table with boards balanced on it which I had been using. I rested a nice finished pine board atop the file cabinet, extending over a gap between it and the little computer table. The two 7" Ikea units sit on this with the left-hand one up against the milk crate. The scanner and printer go on top of these, the former being rather precariously balanced.

My next step will be to install a 4 foot long shelf above the computer area to which the scanner will move and which can also accomodate the nagging tower of to-do items. At that point, I'll consider the office done and will do a little dance.

I hope all this detail has been of use to you in closet projects of your own. Remember, I did all this with only three straight cuts with the saw. It's easy! Give it a try!

[pictures to come soon...]

Posted on April 11, 2002 at 01:47 PM in creativity | Permalink

Comments

« Recipe: Homemade Vegetable Broth | Main | Changing Priorities »

Blog (noun) A weblog or similar brief journal usually containing links and commentary thereon. Term coined by Peter Merholz.
Visit Typepad or Blogger to start your own. (I began with hand coding, then switched to Blogger when it first became available, then to Movable Type when I wanted more control over my weblog and to have it hosted at a place of my choosing (Hurricane Electric). Now I use Typepad, built by the same folks who made Movable Type and I love it).

You may write to Dinah @ this domain.

Except where otherwise noted all content is copyright 1965-2012 Dinah Sanders. Please do not repost my writing or other creations elsewhere. Instead, copy a tiny bit and link to the rest. Thanks! Images are copyright of their original creators. MetaGrrrl logo and photos by Dinah are copyright 1965-2012 Dinah Sanders. Inkspot Books and the Inkspot logo have been Service Marks of Dinah Sanders since 1993.