No, no, no on the bunk beds. Good for floor space, bad for marriage.

Try bachelor chests for the bedside tables. They usually have 3-4 drawers.

Also, I've seen lots of full sized dressers used as a buffet in the dining room. Wild and pretty paint colors. This could give you extra storage. This doesn't help the bedroom, but gives you more storage in the home.

Would you consider converting the guest room entirely to a dressing room with a bed in it? I think that's what I'd do...how often does that room get used? Give dh the closet in your room.

I have a cheapo double rod wall system from Rubbermaid ...I hung the top rod really high and can fit a layer of shoes under the bottom. But I have six feet of closet space to myself and couldn't do with less very easily. In fact I've been in talks with my contractor to create more.

I also like this ikea solution

Here is a link that might be useful: A walkin in a small bedroom

Haha, totally kidding about the bunk beds!

I would love to have the whole guest room as a dressing room! Unfortunately, it's in the basement, so that would be a lot of running around in the morning.

We had the type closets you have in our last home. I redid them to accommodate more clothing. I don't have any photos of what I did to them, but I wrote an article on how to design and organize closets, that you the measurements could work for both standard and walk in closets.
I believe the problem you had with the double rods was that in order for them to work, the top rod needs to be higher than a standard closet rod is.
Here's a picture of what you could do with your own closet with a little bit of construction. If you want links to the blog posts you'll have to PM me as I linked to one of them before and my post was deleted and I was warned not to link to them again. My guess is someone complained because it was something I wrote since I and others often link to blogs that might help someone with a problem and it's not been a problem. Anyway, I don't want to do what I was asked not to as I like it here at the GW.

I feel your pain!!!! Our MBR is also about 11x12 (maybe 12x13) w/ a closet about 4' wide and 6' deep. Weirdest thing ever.

Justgottobeme - you could be a lifesaver!

Yes to small bureaus as side tables! Will have to look into this 'bachelor chest' sounds like what I need!

As robotropolis mentioned I have bureaus used for storage all over our house:

Here is a bureau I am 1/2 way through painting that I use in my DR. Still have to add the glaze and untape the glass knobs:
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Thanks, finallyhome, for the suggestion on bachelor chests-- I will look for them today. Sounds like they'd be perfect- I have mostly antique pieces. I do have a couple of extra dressers in storage- I will think about incorporating them somewhere I could access them more easily.

Robo, I am always entranced at Ikea! Their closet systems and space saving ideas are SO cool. I have spent a lot of time in their tiny house set up, marveling at what is packed in it! Sadly, my DH hates Ikea and thinks it's all junk. I would love to get some of their storage systems-- I just need to get a live-in handyman to construct and install it. Remember the live-in painter on Murphy Brown? I need a guy like that to work on all my projects every day! :-) He could build stuff for me & we could paint and move furniture to my heart's content!

Justgotabeme, that was exactly the problem, and that drawing is very helpful, thank you! I will pm you for the link.

Foxes, so glad you can relate! I always love your home & ideas. Hmm, maybe dresser painting is in my future. And finding a corner to cram it in!

Thanks, please keep the ideas coming!

>Our MBR is also about 11x12 (maybe 12x13) w/ a closet about 4' wide and 6' deep. Weirdest thing ever.

Actually, no. In the 20s they were really touting a closet system that consisted of a very long, heavy rod that pulled out of the closet to access your hanging clothes, on the idea that you could just build a deep narrow closet and still have accessible storage space. The rod systems are all gone now, mystifying later generations, but if they had worked and lasted, it was a cool idea.

If you look at any home/decor mags from that period (there are lots and lots on google books), they're full of ads for these closet systems.

Yes to bachelor chests in place of night stands. I love the extra storage they provide.

Even if you don't go as far as Annie's 33 items, you probably do need to cull your possessions. Before adding closet systems and more storage furniture, you would benefit by a clean out so you'll know what you really need to keep and store. I'm sure in an old house you'll still have a shortage of storage but at least you won't be storing things you don't like, need, fit, use any more. I find clearing out to be liberating.

As a teen sharing a room with my sister, we had one small closet. Luckily there was a built in vanity niche between that closet and the attic door. Since we never used the vanity and it just became a surface to collect junk, my Dad installed a closet bar above the vanity to hang more items. Maybe there's a similar odd spot in your home that could be pressed into service?

In my laundry room in this house, I added a rod between some cabinets and the wall to hang my tablecloths and extra curtains. It's also occasionally used for my coats when I have to make room in the front hall for guest coats. We put a shelf above the rod so I also have that surface for out of season items.

We have a small home and the dimensions of our master sound similar to yours. I think our closet is bigger, though, it's the entire wall and the mirrored sliders go from floor to almost ceiling (boy they are heavy). Similar furniture: queen bed, two highboy dressers. I love the bachelor's chests idea but our bed has attached end tables (teak Danish modern style bed). I even have a filing cabinet in that room!

Our closet is organized almost exactly the way justgotabeme shows in that layout: double rods on one side, single on the other with a tall shoe rack, shelf in the middle. We actually have a short shoe rack on the other side for DHs shoes. We bought a organizing system from a box store several years ago -- it was $100 or something along those lines.

It's a messy, overstuffed closet even with the system (so I'll spare you the photo). Were we to move, I would take out at least half the things in there so it would show better ;-)

I do have to move off-season clothing into storage elsewhere, our shed or garage; same with DH. We have two kids, so their bedroom closet is full of their items (also with a closet organizer) and the middle bedroom closet is 1/2 toys/crafts and 1/2 DH's "office". In a small house, you'll learn to really edit your belongings OR live with clutter. 10 things left out make our house look like a disaster :-/

Here's another Ikea idea -- creating storage on each side of the bed with a tall thin Ikea bookcase (or armoire with added doors) -- then add curtains etc.

And then add a short bookcase (with baskets) at the end of the bed .....

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest -- using thin Ikea armoires on each side of the bed

I feel your pain regarding small bedrooms. In our old house, we had a large master bedroom and pretty decent closets. Now, in our new house, our bedroom is tiny, about 9.5' by 12.5'. DH and I share a small jack-and-jill walk-in closet that serves both first floor bedrooms. Because the bedroom is so narrow, we do not have dressers or roomy nightstands or any additional clothes storage (coats are stored in an armoire in the front bedroom, so I guess that counts as extra storage). This closet holds ALL of the non-coat clothing for both of us. The hamper lives in the closet too.

Before moving in, I planned out space for elfa components from the Container Store. I blocked the closet door for the front bedroom so that I could fit in an additional 2' of storage. Between us, we share a total of 8 linear feet of storage. We each have a 2' stack with shoe pullouts, drawers and shelves. We share a 2' stack with double hanging rods. The last 2' section is for long hanging clothes with additional shoe storage underneath. There is a 6' shelf that runs along the top with boxes of out of season and rarely used stuff. It works for us very well. Neither of us is a clothes horse, so I definitely endorse the suggestion to pare down belongings. To me, this space feels organized and not at all crowded.

Here is ours (hard to get good photos in the tiny space):
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Even tho we have a good size walk in closet I am considering replacing our old bedroom set with bachelor chests as night stands and an armoire instead of the long dresser as you have thought of doing. A typical 'hers' dresser probably takes more floor space than an armoire and has less storage space. Also IMO an armoire can be a more interesting piece of furniture.

Google 'small space storage solutions' for more ideas. One idea I've always liked is shelves above doorways which can hold baskets for hidden storage, books, or decorative objects.

FYI, The Container Store is having their Elfa sale right now. The Elfa systems get rave reviews. Maybe you could go to their store if one is near you and see how they would configure?

Thank you! You are all so helpful. Thank you for your input.

Yes, I need to pare down my clothing. I have an assortment of sizes for varying fatness levels :-) It is a great suggestion to do that before I start buying more storage.

Teacats, I am intrigued by that Ikea wardrobe suggestion. I think I could pull that off. I wonder if I would miss having a bedside surface though?

Arlosmom, your closet is inspiring! Thanks for the picture.

There is a Container Store about 90 minutes away. Hmmm

Hmmmm, I guess we have alot of clothes, but we must be the exception because we wear alot of them! I like Arlo's closet, but would need more hanging space.

We have a nice size closet with enough hanging space for both of us and at the back (between his/her sides), we have drawers and cabinets. I will admit to hogging the cabinets for out-of-season shoes/boots. They don't get dusty that way!

We have chests on either side of our bed - 3 drawers each. I love them for undies, lingerie and things you need often. We also have an armoire in our bedroom that hubby outfitted to hold a tv and storage below that is for pillows/bedding.

We have a similar situation in our house. One thing I did, in addition to installing Elfa, was replace all of our hangers. I got rid of all the fat, mismatched plastic hangers and went to the slim velvet hangers. This made a huge difference in both appearance and in how much space my hanging clothes took up. Everything just looks neater and more uniform, the space savings was surprising, and there are no more clothes sliding off the hangers and cluttering up the floor.

You can find these hangers at the Container Store, but also Walmart, HomeGoods, etc. It was a bit of an investment, but worth it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hangers like these.

jlc712, my closet is also small. 5 ft wide by 3 ft deep. When we bought the house, it had a single rod across the 5 foot width. Since then I took it down and ran double rods across the 3 ft depth. The bottom rod on "my" side is only about 2 feet, which give me a foot for full length clothing. I don't wear many dresses, so that's plenty for me. Anyway, it changed 5 feet of rod space to 11 feet. And I added a shelf in U shape around the top for plastic boxes which can hold extra bedding and out of season clothing. I also have plastic boxes under the bed for out of season (and clothes that don't fit at the moment).

Our bedroom is fairly large, 11.5 x 15, but with all the doors and window, the only space for a dresser is across from the bed, and then it's a narrow walkway and hard to get the bottom drawers pulled out. So I put it in the family room and use it as a table behind the sofa.

I totally agree about using bachelor chests as nightstands and that is what I plan to do if I ever have time to build one.

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I have the same problem. Our bedroom has windows on 3 sides, so we can't really build a large closet on these sides. I have an extra chest in the bedroom, and a trunk chest at the foot of the bed. I pack up my out of season clothing in plastic bins and store them in the basement when not in use. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to add another large closet in my bedroom to no avail. The room is not big enough, and I don't want to remove a window to do it. This home was originally our "starter home" but 3 kids came along, and we chose between saving for college or a bigger house. The college won out (no regrets, all are employed in good jobs) and now its just the 2 of us again so I do use the empty closets in the kids rooms too. We thought about finally getting a bigger house, but decided we prefer to retire, so the additional expense might get in the way of that.....guess big closets just isn't in the cards.........

I got your email jlc and replied. I also added links for other closet articles along with one on purging since you mentioned it. I hope they help.

Martinca, our master closet it TX was the way you changed yours too. That's great! If jlc's bifold doors aren't double, then she could do this too. It's a great idea!

This post was edited by justgotabme on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 18:23

Holly-kay: Love your bedroom. I like spreads/quilts for the neatness factor. I would probably love to sleep under a down comforter, but it looks too messy. Very pretty room!

DH and I do not share the master BR closet which is 4'x5'. He has that closet. We put in double rods along the longer wall and, as was mentioned above, the top rod is higher than normal. We put in a shelf above the door running the length of the shorter wall. We have a lingerie chest in this closet along the back short wall and it's used for toiletries.

My closet is very much like the sketch above and it's in the gues bedroom. I also have plastic bins for sweaters that are either on the floor of the closet or of the room.

All summer clothing is in the basement where we hung an 8' long metal rod from the ceiling and it's supported in 4 places. We figured out the need for 4 supports the hard way. Foldable summer clothes are in bins on stainless shelves.

The major wardrobe switch - moving clothes from the basement up to the closets and from the closets down to the basement occurs in April and October. If we go to a warm weather place in the winter, packing happens in the basement.

We do not use dressers in other rooms for clothes storage. With small homes and small closets, you have to figure out alternatives that work for you.

Jlc, is there room to convert the bifold doors to normal doors that swing out? That would allow you to use the backs of the doors for shoes, robes, socks, purses, all kinds of things.

Definitely stop by Container Store, they have seen it all in closets.

I spent probably two hours lost in the Internet last night-- Container Store, slim hangers, bachelor's chests, small space ideas. Lots of food for thought. And I stayed up way too late :-)

Thanks so much for sharing your solutions! Marti, your closet re-do is a great use of space. Our closet is shallow, so I think I need to go up instead. Bpat, no room for regular doors. I wish there was!

Another rousing endorsement for TCS/Elfa systems. While I love the look of the high-end, custom, built-in "closets-of-the stars" in magazines, you can't beat the "bang-for-the-buck" and closet storage maximization of the Elfa systems. When we reno'd our bathrooms, we lost a foot in width in the already too-small for us existing MB closet. Although, DH was going to build a walk-in closet for me, we still needed to maximize the storage in the now 5' wide reach-in closet for him. The Elfa system we designed with the specialist at TCS really did just that. If you get someone good (and they all are pretty good), they will work with you and your storage needs, to tweak, and go a little "outside the box" (within what the system can allow) in order to use every valuable inch of space.

When putting together my walk-in closet, it was extremely helpful to me to have several design options (CAD drawings) to bring home to mull over and then adjust, change, tweak, as desired, before making my final decision (and even swap out some shelves and hanging rods right after it was installed, when I saw how/what I needed more). Also, having DH's Elfa-designed closet to play with while making my decisions was a big help (eg., in choosing shelves vs. drawers, drawer sizes, hanging rod heights, etc.). Even on installation day, the installer has a little leeway, and will help you eke out every fraction of an inch that can be eke'd out (and all those fractions can add up to one or more hangers on the rod, or the allowing that extra shoebox to stack on a shelf).

One last tip, whatever you decide to do; measure, measure, measure--your hanging clothes (width and height) and your boxed shoes, etc. VERY helpful.

For those of you who have used Elfa systems-- if it's not too personal to ask-- what was a ballpark cost? Did you install it, or have someone come in and install it?

You might consider the attachable or cascading hangers. Began using the Homz brand of these years ago from Target. Several manufacturers now make them, along with loop shapes alone for attaching hangers you have. They are flatter than the regular plastic hangers so take up half the rod space of those. They hook to each other vertically without crushing the fabric. Bed Bath & Beyond carries this type in 10 packs for $4, an average price. Ignore the prices at Amazon (too high in my book) but read the reviews, including one from another 1920's homeowner. Although we have a large walk-in closet now, still appreciate the degree of organization they offer, such as 5 summer-weight long sleeve shirts hanging in a line together with sleeves exposed so I can choose one easily, along with the hanging space they free up. My DH finally decided to try them & was surprised it's much easier now to locate what he's after. I put shirts right out of the dryer on these hangers & find they don't wrinkle hanging in the closet. There are also children's sized hangers like this useful for lingerie, as well as skirt hangers. Hang purses from them, too, stacking the hangers & enclosing the whole thing in a clear zippered dress bag.

Shoes not worn daily go with silica packets in individual clear plastic shoe boxes labeled with ID that stack neatly, boots in larger boxes of double width & same height, feet at opposite ends & shanks along the outsides forming two interlocking L's. Two of the shoe boxes fit atop one of the boot boxes & it's easy to restack them for the season. They fit on a top shelf or floor & keep footwear clean & easily retrievable. Out of season sweaters are stacked into wider versions of the boot boxes, with arms folded across the front & the bottom folded to the neck in front. Keeps them from creasing & several fit in each box. Out of season pants & trousers go into the same size box, folded so the legs of one interlap the next pair, keeping them from wrinkling.

After measuring my pants from waist to hem, found a dresser with drawers long enough to fit them without folding. Pants & sweaters are swapped out from dresser drawers to boxes each season. Inexpensive pretty hatboxes hold odds & ends, stacked or on shelves.

Can you tell I've lived in homes with no or skimpy closets over the years? Some of those closets were 6" deep with single doors & hooks screwed to the wall or ceiing. Resorted to flat-top wooden trunks with & without legs that could be stacked to conserve floor space. Still have a 3-stack of those in the front room here, with others doing duty as end tables, coffee tables, bedtables, bedroom trunks & window seats in this modern home with plenty of large closets. Craft stores & places like Tuesday Morning & Marshall's carry inexpensive decorative cardboard & wooden nesting boxes in a variety of patterns & configurations, including book boxes that stack or sit upright. These hold desk papers, folders, magazines & catalogs, gloves, hats & scarves in the coat closet, even my brush in the powder room with a pedestal sink & no vanity. So fond of trunks & boxes, even the matching end tables flanking the LR sofa are hinged trunks on legs holding a stash of board games close at hand & out of sight...

Here is a link that might be useful: Attachable hangers example

This post was edited by vasue on Tue, Jan 6, 15 at 18:58

Elfa's not cheap. If you add things like the wood edging to drawers and all the bells and whistles, it gets expensive fast. For our 8 linear feet of closet shown above plus a desk and shelving for DH's office, it ran about $1,300. I'd guess the closet portion was between $1,000 and $1,100 of that. We did the installation ourselves. If you're handy, DIY is totally do-able. The Elfa annual sale going on right now is 30% off of all of the components and installation, so it's a good deal (I could have saved ~$400). I didn't want to wait four months from when we moved into our house until the start of the sale. I checked out Ikea closet systems too, and Elfa was a better fit for what we needed, although more expensive.

I think our closets were $500 for an 8' reach in closet. The only bell or whistle we used was a few hanging drawers, otherwise it's a mix of shelves and rods.DS wanted the wood edges, though! He can buy 'em himself.

The hardest part, as with many projects, is the prep. Emptying the clothes, extracting the old rod and shelf that were in there for the apocalypse, patching, painting if you want to. Easy to install, it is the only home improvement I do myself lol! Easier with two people, doable with one. Buy the drill bit from the Container Store.

The elfa shelving, not the drawers and hanging pullouts, go on sale again in July or August,mbut for 25% off.

I've put elfa in every home I've owned. Mostly all by myself (the first one was before they had the track, and it was my first time using a drill, so a friend coached and helped) Have the store walk you through it, and show you how to put the shelves in, and out of, the brackets, it can be tricky.