Optimiser sa penderie
8 years ago by
Et là, je parle de la taille de la penderie.
C’est quand même quelque chose à prendre en compte quand on a un espace super réduit dans une ville comme NY. En gros, on essaie de faire rentrer le plus de trucs possible dans l’espace dont on dispose… ce qui m’a sans doute donné cette envie d’arrêter les nouveaux achats… J’étais en pleine surcharge ou encombrement.
Ici, au Studio on a tous des tactiques différentes quand il s’agit d’organiser nos placards bien-aimés…
J’ai une garde-robe “estivale”, une garde-robe “hivernale”, et une garde-robe “intemporelle” donc je fais un petit tour de passe-passe tous les six mois, en ne gardant que les pièces intemporelles toute l’année. J’ai aussi des racks à chaussures à profusion et chaque cintre porte au moins deux pièces.
Brie stocke sa vaste collection de chaussures sous son lit, Amanda utilise au maximum le placard qui est dans son couloir, Emily est la reine de la penderie épurée (avec rangement à chaque saison), Elle a des cintres tout minces (??), Erik opte pour une garde-robe simple et minimaliste (notre seul homme sait faire preuve de logique, beurk !). Et G arrive super bien à nettoyer sa penderie régulièrement …
Je connais une femme qui habite un adorable mais minuscule studio, et comme elle a très peu d’ustensiles de cuisine, elle utilise cet espace pour y stocker ses vêtements et accessoires. Ça m’a fait rire, parce qu’ailleurs, ça paraîtrait complètement loufoque, mais à NY, c’est hyper logique. Je vous jure.
Comment est-ce que vous optimisez l’espace, vous ? Des conseils de pro à partager avec nous ?
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First tip: Buy less. As obvious as it gets, but as someone who had a rather massive wardrobe for many years, I’m truly happier now with a smaller amount of clothing. Shoes don’t count, as long as you can store ’em. :)
Second tip: Buy stuff that goes with stuff. I used to fall in love (see tip #3) with things that were so amazingly beautiful, but didn’t « go » with much else in the closet. So they didn’t get worn much. And then all that beauty eventually got sold or consigned (or donated…) and hopefully off to a new, better home. But I was out both the money spent and the space in the closet for as long as I had those relatively non-wearable items. Now when I shop, it doesn’t matter how beautiful something is…if it is the wrong color, cut, etc for what is already in my closet, then it stays in the store.
Third tip: Buy only what you love. Yes, you’ve heard this before. But if you take it seriously…because most of us don’t LOVE everything we buy. If you really, truly LOVE it, you’ll wear it and enjoy it for many years. If you just like it a lot, or think it will work « well enough », you’ll always be looking for the better version of it. So only buy what you absolutely, truly love.
Fourth tip: Buy, as much as possible, for longevity. Standard black wool coat? That you NY’ers will wear for four months straight? Eh, it might be a tad boring. But that is what scarves and brooches are for. ;) That standard coat will last you for a long, long time, if you’re buying quality and a pretty classic cut. Dress it up with accessories (which are usually easier on the budget and often take up far less space) and no one will notice that you’ve been wearing it for five years. :)
Accessories (and I include shoes – well, at least most shoes, the not-as-practical ones, anyway) have always been the « dessert » of dressing for me. My wardrobe is fairly simple and I have « uniforms » that I defer to for spring/summer and then for fall/winter, but the accessories are the icing on the cake. Mine are varied and colorful and sparkly and gilded and who knows what (not all at once, of course). They’re the things that people notice when I go out. And I use pretty much the same rules I do for my wardrobe: Buy less, Buy what goes with other stuff, Buy only what you love, Buy for longevity. It works. :)
Excellent tips! Thank you for sharing.
I agree, there are clothes you like and clothes you love. Stick to the clothes you love…
I’m good at finding space in very tight quarters, the issue I find is that when selecting what to wear I like seeing all my options at once (at least per item type) and with a closet overflowing with stuff that’s impossible. Which means I end up always wearing the same things. So I’m leaning towards the Erik solution of having a very edited wardrobe, but this so far has been a challenge as apparently what I consider essential is quite a vast amount of clothes! I think it’s easier for guys they don’t have so many options of what to wear, so having a few selection of each item would amount to a lot less clothes than for us girls, I mean we wear everything they wear plus skirts, dresses (summer, short, long, dressy), etc, etc, (that’s how I justify myself at least:))
I have a very small closet that I share with my husband and althought I have slaved back and am still editing it doesn’t hold everything. Thankfully we have some space so I have a covered closet rack in the basement which I try to store Winter or Summer clothes depending on the season and keep a small collection of seasonal items in the main closet at all times and Coats in a front hall closet.
I got good hangers and bins and try to fold everything as neatly as to stay organized and have space.
I also agree with the « love it » theory. I’m trying to edit out things that are ok and only keep what I love. My only stumble has been staples/essentials I don’t love the white tee I currently have but I need it and haven’t found one I love yet. But I wear it so it works.
Shoes lately have been my issue, practical, fashionable, comfortable, wear with everything….struggling. I actually am going my Garance’s list from her book, I’m trying a pair of Chelsea boots to see if that works, I have two pairs of heels I love and trying to figure out the rest.
In the end I’m sure I could edit more but it’s always a work in progress right?
I’m constantly trying to downsize my wardrobe. Not successfully, though. :)
We have four very different seasons here so you do need clothes for all kinds of weather.
I try to use every spare space. Wardrobe bags under the bed. Bags on top of the wardrobe.
I think that somehow the more space you have the more things you get. :)
A good special built-in wardrobe would be nice, but I don’t have that.
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Ah I love beautiful clothes. I firmly believe I’ll live longer because of it. It’s a daily motivation :) But! I was drowning in clothes/accessories. Every space occupied to exploding. And it was stressing me. In the past I’ve cleaned out Marie Kondo-style. And I’ve regretted it by and large, getting rid of things that I liked, bc I had « too many navy sweaters ». You can never have too may grey sweaters if that’s your thing! Right?
So now what I ask myself: Am I feeling this, right now?
Most of what I own is pretty timeless – shirts, jackets etc. Emmanuelle Alt would be my spirit fashion animal. But it changes too. Beloved purple velvet riding jacket? Not feeling it (I’ve worn it to saturation). And definitely not throwing it. Grey extra-long oxford trousers – they were a work wear staple that seem tired now. But they are timeless and going nowhere.
So asking « Am I feeling it? » let’s be make a short-term commitment to moving things around without the pain of getting rid of things. I box them away til the next time. My current wardrobe (meaning the things that are basics or in heavy rotation) is in view, I get the satisfaction of a clean-out, and I can get dressed without digging through piles from seasons past, but without losing the pieces I love.
And all this reminds me to buy less :)
I live in a studio, not in NYC and I too have so many cabinets in my kitchen that I use have for kitchen-wares and the other half as a dresser!! It saves a ton of space!!
Downsizing your clothing is a great tip and honestly the one I think most need to spend more time on.
Having clothing that can be worn in almost any season (if/when they’re layered) is also fantastic. Nothing better than a versatile wardrobe for keeping the number of items of clothing you need down.
Only keeping the items of clothing you will likely be wearing in your closet I think is a good trick as well. If there’s something you want, but don’t think you’ll be wearing any time soon, store it someplace else.
I hate having a tight closet – makes it hard to look through, so anything to loosen things up enough to be able to rummage through a closet properly is necessary in my mind.
x // http://eliseandthomas.com
Very simple : when I buy one, I give or throw away one.
I have a small hanging rail and over the years have become used to being disciplined and having a tightly edited wardrobe according to considered guidelines I’ve made for myself – goes with other things, will wear it often, love it etc,, – you know the stuff! Now, if I get carried away in the sales or have a special event which means buying things that don’t fit into these guidelines, I have an anxiety attack! I can’t cope with too many choices or any kind of wardrobe chaos. Sad. But truly, less is more.
Very nice post , i have not found a way myself, yet to organize efficiently my wardrobe!! In the clean ups I am bad but i am working on it. there is a great urban plan here that motivated me, clothes banks in every neighborhood, big recycling bins to put any clothes you don t need which after are donated to people that need them!!
As far as classification what helps me is to classify by color(light colors, black,dark and colorful) and material (in winter wool and non wool) and formal and everyday clothes in summer. It is helpful because in the morning i decide if i want to wear dark colors or light or to combine!! As it is told here monochromes all beige, all grey, all dark can be easy when there is not a special inspiration and time is pressing!!
I live in a place with four distinct seasons. Lately I’ve taken to editing my clothing down each season until my closet looks like a little boutique (my winter boutique is in there now). Everything else gets stored for future seasons. When spring rolls around, I will go through my bins and put together my spring boutique…
It’s fun and I somehow buy less this way.
I swear by those slim black felted hangers, they keep clothes from slipping off and it just looks so nice when all the hangers match! I am trying to learn from Marie Kondo and all the bloggers experimenting with capsule wardrobes (most notably Caroline of Unfancy). I don’t think I’ll ever have a 33 peice wardrobe, but I really am making an effort to get rid of anything I don’t love, and only buy quality things in the future.
This summer when I moved, I looked at every piece, thinking if I love it or not. So I ended up donating half of my clothes: the ones I didn’t love, the ones that didn’t fit, weren’t the right colour, cut or fabric. After that I have been spending a bit more money on some staple items, like a winter parka, trench coat, wool sweaters, beautiful jeans, two leather handbags etc, but almost everything I now own is good quality, durable (except those Joni jeans, but where else would I find such a great fit?) and I love them.
So I just keep everything as neat as I can, and I’m inspired to do that because I love those clothes, I want to take good care of them.
A very wise woman (in the storage business, no less) once told me that instead of asking myself if I’ll wear something again (which I think we all fudge at), I should ask myself if I would buy it today. I was able to purge stuff I’d never have parted with if I kept asking whether I MIGHT wear it again someday. Once I’d used that to get rid of a huge amount of older stuff, I adopted the rules that I must really love something in order to buy it, and impulse purchases are to be avoided. Finally, the things I do buy are in the a) classic and b) « better, not more » categories (see Garance’s fantastic piece on this subject from a few years ago). As a result, my wardrobe is a lot pricier now but it’s comprised of items I truly enjoy wearing and believe that I will wear for many years.
That’s a great mental trick Mary, thank you! :)
I also have minimal closet space. I’ve done several pretty extensive wardrobe edits in my adult life, but then I get hit with the inevitable « wardrobe creep. » You know, where you buy something because you just have to have it, and then you’re in buying mode again. Before you know it, your wardrobe is overflowing. So, a couple of years ago, I instituted a 1 in, 1 out rule. First, I consolidated my wardrobe to a size that felt manageable (which for me is fewer, high quality items that all go together). That became my base. That’s where the 1 in, 1 out rule comes in. If I’m tempted by something new, I ask myself what I have that’s going to go out the door. Sometimes, the answer is: Hey, I need this new cashmere sweater because I’m replacing a scratchy and worn old one. But more often than not, the answer is: Gosh, I actually really like all the dresses in my wardrobe and don’t want to get rid of any, so maybe I don’t really need this new one. It’s hard to impose rules, because the temptation is to rebel against them, but for me, it has been a good way to check my buying impulse!
I have no idea how people do it without a storage space. My boyfriend is very spartan and hates clutter, and so for his sake I’ve resolved to become more diligent about switching things out by the season (especially since he very generously permits me to have the run of the bedroom closet).
For a long time I was impulse-buying a lot of crap, and eventually became so fed up with the quality of most of it that I reverted to buying fewer things and better things, which doesn’t always save money (nicer things are costly) but is definitely a more elegant and satisfactory application of funds. I prefer classic lines and tailoring for the basics, but I supplement it with a deep arsenal of unusual and eccentric things, and things that don’t make pragmatic « sense, » and I never throw away vintage or costume pieces once I’ve used or worn them as I find I will inevitably wind up using them again. (This holiday season, I was invited to one Krampus-themed costume party and two masquerade events, and was extremely pleased to discover that I « happened » to have just the perfect thing for all of them. I say never throw that stuff away – makes life much more fun.) xx
Be careful with those skinny felted hangers. The dark ones left color on my white tops!