apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I lived in a closetless apartment for three years and I had a clothing rack. It does not have a carefree, casual style to it. It has an "I'm too broke to afford anything else" style to it. The rack in the photo has about eight items hanging on it -- does your closet only have eight items? Didn't think so. And almost no one has clothes that are all color-coordinated with each other and the bedroom decor, as the photo shows. Another example of how designer ideas and real life don't mesh.

i totally agree. i love this idea. i think it's a great way to use space, but i also think it's a great way to actually enjoy your clothes more often than when you wear each piece. obviously, you find most of your clothes visually appealing, so to have them on display makes sense - you get to see and enjoy them every day!

Also, if you have a clothing rack in a sunny room (like the one shown in the picture), your clothes fade. Badly and unevenly.

Just moved into a house with no coat closet... put a rack just like this in the garage for overcoats etc... Not sure I would like it in my bedroom.

We're in the midst of a major renovation and I currently have one of these in my bedroom -- a really neat one that my husband made. Most nights I consider pushing it out into the hallway before we go to bed. The piece itself is amazingly cool, but it's just not feng shui at all in a bedroom.

I lived in a loft downtown LA for 4 years without a closet. I tried the rack thing first and it didn't work (for all of the reasons mentioned by other posters above). So I upgraded to a rack with shelving, wheels, and a canvas closet cover. Not only was I able to store things inside it, I was able to utilize the top of it to store more stuff or put objets d'art on it. I was able to move it to use it as a room divider if I wanted to, also. It might be too industrial a look for this apartment but surely a good armoire or IKEA storage closet could be found?
Katy

If I did this, it would get nuclear in a hot minute. I think it's a good idea for most often worn coats, scarves and such for in the entryway, but not for everday.

I also don't want my clothes to get all dusty.

I really think this all depends on how you see a piece of clothing. Some of my vintage pieces I see as works of art. I used to have one of these in an apt when I was single. I loved looking at the pieces every day. Sun exposure and moths might be a problem but, if you rotate and close the blinds, it can work. A lot of pictures in here are styled so they are going to match in tone and texture. If you lack in closets ideas like this can be a godsend. A wadrobe also adds a ton of bulk to a small space so that is not always and option.

We currently live in a wide open loft in Brooklyn with a total of 4 (very cool designed) vintage industrial clothes racks. I am so sick of looking at them, I'm about to lose it. Our clothes smell like last nights dinner and the moths are starting to attack.

The only room we are building in the space will be a walk in closet lined with cedar - can' wait.

a clothing rack looks great if you have 4 to 8 beautyfull assorted pieces you want to display but everthing els will loock cluttered and messy.

We just moved into a new house. Our bedroom has a small bedroom that connects to it via door. We keep calling it our walk in closet and plan to get clothing racks to put in there. However, I just haven't pulled the trigger for many of the reasons above. Even though it technically isn't in our bedroom so I don't have to look at it the thought of how messy it will look is really bugging me.

I had envisioned it as more of a glamorous dressing room but i have a feeling it is just going to look like a messy room.

I think this would be a good option for someone like me. We have plenty of closet space, but to be able to see all my clothes out on a rack like this would make it a hell of a lot easier to pick out an outfit. And I don't mind the look at all. There was an issue of Domino that was about great style at any age, and the 20's guy they profiled had his clothes on a rack like this. I thought it looked pretty hip and industrial. This is definitely for a young apartment dweller, not a homeowner, which is nice because this is APARTMENTtherapy.

We have no closets in our bedrooms so we popped a towel rail on the back of the door and hang all the little girl dresses (three daughters and all their paraphernalia)... Tallest to shortest... it looks really cute. The height order gives it an appearance of a bit of order... and the colors are all in the pale pink to deep purple range so actually it is pretty color co-ordinated!!!

I notice in Japanese TV series they show clothes racks like that. Maybe it's just for the clothes people plan to wear the next day. Or, they just may have less clothes, consumer goods being much more expensive there. Either way, it looks homey on TV. Homes (at least the ones on TV don't look so "decorated" there, but appear lived in. Don't know if it would translate here where people have tons of cheap "stuff" to store and expensive stuff to show off.

Incidentally, they have TV shows about how to iron and fold your clothes, and "infotainment" shows about how get ready in 5 minutes in the morning (a TV contest), and the like. (I think there may be a clothing rack in this one).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_DJpYo0l28

My boyfriend has no closet, and has some of his clothes hanging from an exposed pipe near the ceiling (the rest are folded in his dresser). The room gets very little light, so fading isn't a problem, and the "rack" takes up zero floor space. However, it's a little inconvenient-- you might get a crick in the neck just deciding what to wear!

I think this would work beautifully if your entire wardrobe worked with the color palette of your room (as it is in the picture), but if you have a normal human closet it would not look this put together. Imagining my crazy floral prints and plaids on display in the bedroom is scary! This does not seem a practical solution for most people. I don't mind the look of it at all, though.

I think this *might* work for men or people who have a wardrobe filled with clothing that has similar cuts/styles/colors (think about how neat and orderly a row of oxford shirts, slacks, and jackets would look, then compare that to a woman's closet, with skirts, dresses, camisoles, blouses, etc.) But they would have to not mind possible fading, moth attacks, pet hair or dust, etc.

Another option:
I used to use a Metro shelving rack, with most of the upper/central shelves removed, and a linen cover (made to fit) with ties up the center - the linen cover was no-sew and easy to make with iron-on hem tape. Worked great as a closet and the cover kept the clothes dust-free. I'm thinking of resurrecting the idea for the guestroom since I want to steal the closet and make it into an office alcove.

Appears cluttered - and Yes, Sun fading would be a major issue.

I'd rather see a couple of simple PAX Wardrobes with doors than this...

In college I lived in a loft and had the exposed garment rack and all of my dark close faded and where always dusty.

Plus most peoples clothes hanging do not look like the Stella McCartney boutique.

I did this for 8 months. It worked well enough but it got tired real fast. Its not a bad solution in the right environment, but my place — an open space with brick walls that shed dust — was not the ideal place.

Cheers!

p.s. here are the two solutions I obtained from Poliform
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidstereo/3873442580/sizes/m/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidstereo/1360839287/sizes/m

SeanG, the links you posted are locked and unviewable.

The bedroom in my NYC apartment is technically the dining room, and thus has no closet, and I will definitely be searching for a closeted bedroom in my next place. The room in the picture is huge, and could definitely accommodate a wardrobe. In my situation, and that of many other Manhattan dwellers that I know, we'd be reaching for the garment rack while sitting on the bed, and there's nothing breezy-casual about that.

........or you could just throw your clothes around onto the back of chairs, door nobs, the floor and whatever. LOL

I have been living in a closet-less room for the past year and I have a "clothes" rack that I created from a tall bookshelf for my hanging clothes and a metro shelf for folded clothes. To keep in uncluttered, I sorted my clothes by type then color going light to dark. As for dust, it is an issue; however, if I see dust on my clothes it is a signal that maybe it is time to donate it. An exposed closet makes you honest so you are reminded to keep in neat and organized - it works for me.

Didn't the hapless Beth Z try this post and got negative responses?
It's got no style. It's a rolling rack with hangers and clothes. Not a design statement.

Just because an AT blogger finds a nice photo (and the photo is nice to look at) doesn't mean it needs to be a post--there's nothing to emulate here, other than the pops of blue-green.

I actually really like the idea of a clothing rack (I saw an old domino issue once that had a guy in his 20s with a rack and it was great!) The only issue us girls run in to is the amount of crap we collect tends to be a lot more than boys...

Erin
SYL: Slipcover Your Life Blog

I wonder if the Stolmen closet system from IKEA would have the same disadvantages everyone is talking about (food smell, moths, dust, fading, etc) ? I really like it and was actually planning on buying it soon, but if it does turn out to have all these downsides I might as well find a cheap clothing rack to have my fun during a couple of months and then get over it...What do you think? The stolmen DOES have shelves, drawers, etc, and you can also store rarely used items such as seasonal stuff or sheets in boxes.

I love the look. But finding a good looking rack – not an easy task!

We don't have enough closetspace, so the rack will hold his shirts and my dresses. It'll look pretty, I hope!

Open storage in a bedroom (where you sleep) is completely impractical. It gets dusty in no time.

Yeah and if you have any pets you might not want them having easy access to your wardrobe. They'll get fur all over if the walk through anything hanging around the floor and cats love to bat at anything that dangles. So unless you want snags in your expensive clothes I wouldn't recommend it.

Be warned that unless you splurge for a heavy duty industrial garment rack (with a super heavy weight base), be prepared for constant toppling over.

I tried to substitute a couple of garment racks for a closet (even splurge for covers) and had a very bad time of it.

The ones I used came from Ikea and they were pretty strong. They were much stronger than the racks they currently sell. But still I wouldn't recommend them for anything but a temporary solution.

Here are the images again.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1394/1360839287_87aea698ab_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3873442580_8e9513afba.jpg

Cheers!

I have discussed my solution before, but I am reposting in case it helps anyone facing a similar challenge. I created storage by putting my clothes behind a floor to ceiling curtain that I made myself using discounted wool suiting and iron on fabric bonding. This hides the wardrobe rack and clothes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28955208@N05/3455293186/

I'm personally not into the look (I was a Fashion Design major in school - crowded garment racks just remind me of WORK!)

That being said, though, I can imagine it going well in a young-hipster art-loft type environment.

I used a shiny chrome rack I got from Crate & Barrel in the long entry hallway of my old studio apartment. It was perfect for housing coats and jackets, which you could grab on the way out the door, along with belts and ties. It didn't really look cluttered, since you only really ever saw it end-on, and only as you were entering or leaving the space.

But that part of the apartment was very dark, so fading wasn't an issue.

For a whole collection of ideas on working without a closet, you could see my blog post: http://jdorganizer.blogspot.com/2009/04/no-clothes-closet-no-problem.html

I don't have a problem with using a rack in my room. In my town most of the houses are pretty old, and the one I am currently living in seems to have been converted... my room must have been an office of some sort, so no clothing rack just a few small shelves in my "closet" . I found this coat rack:

http://www.theparagon.com/product.asp?pn=79313
Spray painted it black, and now use it to hang clothes up:

http://yfrog.com/e7img4290j

Seconding the warning on doing this with pets in the house. Unless you keep them out of the bedroom at all times, cats are happily going to sleep in the little cave created by the hanging clothes. Having to do this in my previous closetless bedroom led to lots of cat hair at the hems of everything, not to mention the items she liked to chew when I wasn't looking. And the dust.