It's a great idea. I moved a dresser into the closet. Not only does it make dressing easier -- everything's in one place -- but it created space for an upholstered loveseat and chair. I call it my parlour, where I can read or listen to music, or even visit with a friend without feeling like we're in a private-feeling bedroom. Maybe you can put together a little reading corner, or a writing desk, or a tabletop display of your favorite things. Or just enjoy the feeling of increased space.

DH and I bought a platform bed. The platform has drawers in it. That's where he stores his socks & T-shirts. I keep extra sheets in the ones on my side. (I have a small dresser.)

The platform eliminated under-the-bed issues of dust (I'm allergic to dust mites), lost shoes, and temptations to stuff stuff under there when company is coming.

we have built-ins in the closet for dresser stuff. we also have very large nightstands and we've lived without dressers for about 6 months, and don't miss them.

Get rid of our two just as soon as we build the new house with closets big enough for dresser type storage in there. I see a lot of people doing that.

We're moving nothing in there. King size bed, two nightstands. 14'6" x 18'6". Room to breathe and move around. Maybe we'll dance with moonlight coming in through the open curtains.

It's wild that you posted this. I visited over the weekend at a friend's house. They have HUGE closets and dressing rooms and, as a result, there is no clothes storage at all in their bedrooms and they look great! Of course, I live in a small 70's spec house with little closets so the no dresser/chest look is impossible in our house! LOL

However, look at all the really striking bedrooms shown in magazines - no clothes storage is shown at all.

Pinktoes, your idea sounds wonderful!

Just called our local Container Store. Their elfa shelving sale starts Aug. 24 and runs for 8 weeks. Unfortunately, the drawers and bins aren't part of the sale. They go on sale Christmas Eve!

Anyway, a lot of you think elfa is declasse, but I was going to say that the woman I talked to there said they're doing a lot of master closets where people are moving all their dresser storage in there. So, whatever system you choose, it seems a popular idea. My former MIL did hers that way in 1975; with a contractor husband she was ahead of her time.

In order to put a king-size bed in our master bedroom, we had to take the bureau out. We thought long and hard about how we use our house, and in the end we took our guest room and turned it into a dressing room. We simply don't have guests often enough to warrant a room devoted to company. We gave away the mattress and headboard (which was so cool . . . ). We put the bureau in there, a blanket chest, and a corner cupboard. We also had a custom full-length mirror hung on the wall, as well as six hooks (three for DH and three for me on two different walls). Additional shelves were added to two small closets. We also have a small chrome towel stand that we use for drying clothes, extra wet towels, etc.

In the master bedroom is my grandmother's small desk (which doesn't fit anywhere else in the house) and a nightstand.

Changing the way we use the rooms has been beneficial in a few ways. We got the king bed; we have more storage pieces and better functioning closets; and the person still sleeping when the other gets up isn't disturbed when they turn on lights and open and close drawers and doors.

Tina

I have a very small bedroom with a very, very small closet, but last year I took my dresser out of my bedroom, and I don't miss it a bit! I installed wire shelves on 1/2 of one side of my tiny closet to hold slacks, tops, etc. I do have a petite antique wardrobe in my room with a shelf inside and a drawer underneath, and another peice of furniture with some additional storage - it's an old claw foot mahogany linen press, with space behind 2 doors where I store sweaters, a drawer above for my socks, and on top 2 glass doors with shelves where I display antiques vases and items I love and get to enjoy all the time - much more satisfying to me than a dresser. Getting rid of the dresser made my small room much more spacious. It helps, however, that I use an upstairs room for out of season clothing, and also that I live alone! I know that many people like matched sets but I prefer the uniqueness and character of pulling together beautiful old peices that I love. I recommend that you take the plunge,adellabedella!

I don't have a dresser in my bedroom either. I have a walk-in closet...it's not super-huge, but it's defintely big enough to hang all my clothing, and plenty of shelving above for folded items.

I hang my pants on hangers made for pants. 1 hanger holds 6 pairs of pants...kind of in a layered/stacked kind of way. The few everyday work jeans that I wear a lot I keep folded on the shelf so I can grab them quicker. Otherwise, all other pants get hung.

I have 2 hanging shoe racks...they hang on the same rods as the clothing/hangers do...not on the back of the door.

The only thing I miss the dresser drawers for is my undergarments. I'm still thinking about a good solution for that in the long-term, but for now I have 2 rectangular rubbermaid bins with low sides (ones that could slide under a bed...though I still keep then in the closet). One bin holds undies and socks, the other holds bras & other misc unmentionables.

I've had dressers all my life, and I just moved into an apartment & gave up the bedroom dresser (divorce situation). I thought it would be tough, but it really wasn't. In fact, I've adapted so well to no dresser, that I've got my DD's closet set up like mine now, and the only thing I use her dresser for anymore is her socks & diapers in the top, and toys/books in the rest.

As for other furniture in the room...get something you love.

Thanks for the support!

I'm bed shopping next week. I don't plan on buying until I find something I love. After that I'll pick out other furniture. I pulled out the extra junk in dh's closet earlier today and made him go through it. I asked him how he would prefer to keep his clothes, socks and underwear. My next organizing move depends on what I can buy locally.

I resurrected this thread when I saw that someone else had already asked this question. Funny how we get trapped into thinking we ought to do things a certain way -- like have a dresser in the bedroom -- even when it doesn't make sense anymore.

DH and I ceased using our dresser for its intended purpose years ago. The drawers held junk, and we'd set a flat panel TV on top, so you couldn't use the mirror anymore, either. We store all our clothes in the walk-in closet.

I stared at that dresser for a long time. We'd bought it for a song at a junk shop in Lake Charles, LA back in '95. DH refurbished it, and it was still beautiful, but we weren't using it, and it was taking up all that space. Meanwhile, my teen daughters were struggling with their smaller dresser upstairs. Yep, problem solved -- we traded.

But I still had a non-functioning dresser in my room, albeat smaller, so I had to ask, "Is it really so revolutionary to NOT have a dresser in the bedroom?" While looking online for decorating ideas (because we're redecorating the master bedroom), I noticed that a lot of the pics did not show dressers. The only places I saw them were on furniture sites. Maybe the dresser hasn't quite gone the way of the chifforobe, but it feels like it's headed that way.

This is all part of a complete master bedroom redecorating project, including paint and floors. Perhaps I'll post pics in another thread.

Oh, and I like the ideas given here for alternate uses for the dresser. This one will be perfect for a gift-wrapping center, since the drawers are very wide and should hold rolls of paper handily.

I do think there is a trend in bedrooms with large walk-in closets to outfit the closet with some shelves and drawers, to eliminate the bedroom dresser. In effect, the closet becomes a dressing room, with all your clothes in one place, easily visible. It makes sense. And if you can add in a full-length mirror to check things out, you're golden.

Personally, I struggle with a closet that is barely deep enough to hold a hanger, so my dresser is an absolute necessity. But I can see the utility of a large closet that holds all your clothes.

a lot of you think elfa is declasse No useful storage system is "declasse" ...

We're planning to have a master bedroom with a bed and a couple of sunset-watching chairs in it. Dressing room/closet will be separate for EXACTLY the reasons Tina gave. No waking the sleeper getting dressed.

We'll have some sort of arrangement for a robe or slippers, but the sole purpose of the bedroom is to sleep.

Funny how we get trapped into thinking we ought to do things a certain way -- like have a dresser in the bedroom -- even when it doesn't make sense anymore.

And it's also funny that people think FASHION matters. ("a lot of you think elfa is declasse" and "While looking online for decorating ideas (because we're redecorating the master bedroom), I noticed that a lot of the pics did not show dressers. The only places I saw them were on furniture sites. Maybe the dresser hasn't quite gone the way of the chifforobe, but it feels like it's headed that way. "

It's really only about what actually *works*.

It's OK to keep your canned goods in the buffet, or your medications in the kitchen. If it works for you.

I love not having dressers in the bedroom. In the south (maybe other places too), the MB has two closets (his and hers). I love having a closet all to myself with all my clothes, shoes, etc. in one place. So easy to get dressed. Laundry basket in closet, so dirty clothes go right in and casual clothes are grabbed to put on. Seems like dresser tops in bedrooms end up being a place to stack stuff. Love the spaciousness of a bedroom with just a bed, nightstands, and small reading area if you have room. It's so calming to walk in.

My sons don't have dressers in their rooms. I bought 3 sets of shelves that hold 2 laundry baskets per shelf. I put these in the laundry room. As clothes come out of the dryer I "file" it in their shelves. Their rooms are so much more open and spacious without dressers and chests. They go down to the laundry room to get dressed.

I have an oversized dresser & chest set in my room. It's way too big for the room. I keep it because it was my mom's. she gave it to me when I got divorced because I gave the old set to DH. The room is cramped, but it makes me happy to see this furniture when I open my eyes in the morning. It reminds me that my parents really, really love me.

We don't have a dresser in the MB, and I love how open it feels. Our house was built in the 70s, so no walk-in closet, but we each have our own standard size closets. The previous owners had put in a very simple organizing system, and all of our clothes fit in there. There's one built in shelf, which is where I keep all my socks and undies.

It makes it easier to put clean clothes away, too!

I'm definitely planning NO DRESSER in our master bedroom. My husband and I aren't the neatest of people, and our dresser is always piled high with papers and other things that are just clutter. Yeah, I know . . . but every time we clean it up, it's a mess again in less than a week.

I can't get rid of it right now because our closet space won't allow it, but in our new house I'm planning to eliminate that large flat space that just accumulates junk.

As many other people have stated, I'm planning a closet large enough to accomodate all our things. I'm thinking of pull-out wire baskets for our smallclothes. Or, maybe I'll plan for our dresser to go into the closet. It is a large, quality item, and (because it was one of the first pieces of furniture he ever bought) my husband cherishes it.

We didn't end up getting a dresser for the old house. Dh and I both had walk in closets. We sold that house and built a new one. All of the bedrooms in this house have walk-in closets. No one has a dresser. We dress in the closets.

And I thought I was the only one! After our remodel I pitched lots of old or poorly fitting clothes. Thinned out my wardrobe to essentials -- so much that I thought I could live out of my closet exclusively. (I had had shelves installed and use baskets for underwear and socks.) I tried it for a few months and didn't need the dresser at all. Free-cycled it to a neighbor's son in his first apartment. This left room for the blanket chest I had always wanted. Our son-in-law is a cabinet maker and he built it to my specifications, complete with cedar lining and soft-close hinges so our granddaughter wouldn't smash her fingers if she peeked inside. It matches a dresser our SIL built for DH. I love this arrangement and will never go back to a dresser.

A bit OT -- I had a brainstorm one day that allowed me to eliminate the panties basket: I made two 14" open-ended cylinders for panties. One is black, the other ivory. About the diameter of a small tuna can. Each has a ribbon loop on the top and elastic snugs the bottom. I stuff fresh panties in the top and pull them out of the bottom as I need them. I usually wear simple black or nude panties -- these "underwear dispensers" hang from a hook inside the closet.

We didn't use dressers in our last two houses. They both had very small bedrooms. One house had 3' closets, the other had no closets. Both had ample space in the lanudry rooms though, so we put up shelves and stored clothes there.

Our new house has more then enough closet space so I don't need one here either. But I bought a pretty antique dresser at a garage sale last summer because I have room for one now and wanted a better place to set the clock. I do keep my scarves and jewelry in the top drawer, but the rest in pretty much empty.

DH still likes his clothes stored in the laundry room on open shelves. There are built in drawers (probably intended for linens) right by the kids bathroom so they keep their clothes there.

I like your panty dispenser idea Cross_Stitch. I bet that would work nicely for socks as well.

storage beds are the best optimal choice because they will not take up extra foot area and will effeciently utilized the space underneath the bed. thhis space is mostly overlooked and gets too much dusty because there is an open area. if you will add a storage bed then it will also make that space clean because then there will be no place left for dust.