# How would you deal with a closet-less room? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 3, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347 "2004-05-03T21:20:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/21 "2004-05-04T13:44:03Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Hm, then I dont have a 2 bedroom house, i have a 2 den house… > > the asshat who modified the 20x20 cement block building from a tenant farmers 1 bedroom house into a 20x40 2 den house didnt put in closets=) > > Armoire is the way to go, unless like our room there is no space for one [2 10x9 bedrooms. I can put a bed into each, but the door and chimney arrangement leaves no real place to put an armoire=\ so we have put up a bar in one corner for hanging clothes, and have mostly drawer-able clothes=) I think our bedroom may have _been_the closet at one time. Very small. No room for an armoire. The previous owner built a small closet (which now has a window in it, fercrissakes!). You could do that fairly easily, or you could get one of those metal rack thingies that you could hang stuff up on. I’d like to have the closet space back and buy an armoire, but my closet is actually two closets, back-to-back. One is my hall closet and one is my bedroom closet. ---
**Author:** ![alphaFemale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecb155/32.png) [@alphaFemale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaFemale)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/22 "2004-05-04T16:47:48Z")
> [@hybrid\_dogfish](#): > > Never understood this whole American thing with having a built in wardrobe i was just going to say that. according to **Hal Briston** , americans are the only ones who technically have bedrooms! personally, i prefer armoires. another option: i have a storeroom adjacent to my apartment full of clothes. it also serves as an add-onn room, as it has a connecting door to my apartment. i have an extended curtain rod of sorts (maybe 2 feet from the wall) and a clothes rack hidden behind the curtains. it takes up one whole wall, and i always get compliments on it. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/23 "2004-05-04T17:15:08Z")
Well - I’ve seen Yurrupean houses with built-in closets. But only in newer houses (post-1960, at a guess), and not necessarily in every bedroom even then. Our house, built in 1970, has a substantial wall of built-in closets in the master bedroom, decent-sized built-ins in two others, and a dinky little excuse for a closet in the fourth, plus a closet in the entry. The house we lived in before this had semi-built-in wardrobes in the bedrooms and hall. What would I do in a house with no built-in closets? Three words. I. Ke. A. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/24 "2004-05-05T06:48:00Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > What would I do in a house with no built-in closets? Three words. I. Ke. A. I always thought that **Flodnak** sounded like something (a wardrobe perhaps?) that you would find at Ikea. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/25 "2004-05-05T12:39:47Z")
A really nice wardrobe would be kind of pricey – one made of good wood and tall enough to hang a long coat or dress in, I mean. A cheaper alternative that would still look nice is to go to a home improvement store or discount store and buy a partical board wardrobe. These are quite cheap and easy to assemble. They come in various sizes and complexities – some are just a basic closet and some are quite large with both closet space and extra shelves or even drawers as well. Usually they are finished in that laminate stuff and are available in white or some kind of faux-wood finish. Buy it in white and it will just blend into the wall (if your walls are white). If your walls are colored, then you can rough the laminate finish up a bit with a fine grit sandpaper, give it a coat of primer, and paint it the same color as your walls. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/26 "2004-05-05T20:47:24Z")
[Under $100](http://www.thecompanystore.com/dept.asp?dept%5Fid=164&page=2) [More Expensive](http://www.ikea-usa.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IkeamsSearch?storeId=12&langId=-1&catalogId=10101&searchType=product&pageNumber=-1&orderBy=score&category=%23%7EProducts&query=wardrobe) ---
**Author:** ![EvilGhandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/27 "2004-05-06T07:49:03Z")
I have had to “room” temporarily a few times, sometimes in places I swore _were_ closets. My down and dirty solution was to get one of those springy shower curtain rods. You know, the short ones for shower stalls? and install it a corner. Not pretty but a good temp fix untill you find something nice. Or a better place. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/28 "2004-05-06T15:26:15Z")
I live without closets anyway. I have had a series of renting rooms where the room I want doesn’t have a closet. I have given up on drawers as well, I use bookshelves for my large foldable stuff and baskets in shelves for socks and underwear. (I’m horribly messy, if its not public I don’t care. If I have drawers I will jam them full of crap. At least on shelves everything has to be folded, with the bonus of ditching clothes that get too ratty. If I don’t want to look at it folded on the shelf, I’m _never_ wearing it again. The baskets still get filled with crap. We don’t discuss what’s under my bed.) That said, I saw one of [these](http://www.searshomecenter.com/homecenter/prod_display1.asp?Product=31165&partner=6922&CP=00) the other day and drooled. Mmm…space efficient. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347/29 "2004-05-06T16:01:24Z")
Another cheap and easy option is to put a couple of hooks in the ceiling–into the beams. Then attach some rope or chain to the hooks, and hang a closet bar or some sort on the chain. (A broomstick works in a pinch.) You can hang it up high if you’re tall. You can also make two tiers and hang more stuff. Then, when you move, you don’t have to move an armoire. And you can probably just leave the hooks in the ceiling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-deal-with-a-closet-less-room/243347.md?page=1)