Why most wardrobes don’t work and what you can do about it

When a wardrobe isn’t working it feels impossible to keep it tidy. It’s over-filled, you can’t find what you need, and you can’t see what you have.

When you’re designing a new wardrobe, it’s important to make the right decisions to avoid these daily irritations. But without understanding the cause of these problems, you risk making a mistake that will cost you time and money to correct, and will definitely take the shine off your new wardrobe or dressing room.

We’ve seen hundreds of wardrobes of all shapes and sizes and the same problems crop up time and time again.

What’s going wrong?

• The volume of clothes & accessories exceeds the amount of storage
• The layout doesn’t suit the types of clothes
• No consideration has been given to how the owner (you) likes to use the space

For your new wardrobe layout to be effective, you need to understand exactly how you need to use the space at the design stage – before pen is ever put to paper. And that’s where the challenge lies: Do you really know what you need?

A problem of form before function

Even if you’re working with an interior designer or wardrobe planner, without an accurate understanding of what you need to store in your wardrobe and how you like to use the space (think hanging v. folding), your designer or planner can only work with the physical space in front of them. This makes designing a wardrobe layout that actually works for you and your clothes, an impossible task.

An interior designer will tend towards something that looks amazing, and a wardrobe planner will tend towards maximising the amount of storage in a space. But that isn’t enough.

The result might look great at first, but once you start filling and using your wardrobe, you’ll inevitably come across problems.

How can you get what you need?

What you really need to know before you start is what type of clothes you have, how many of them there are, and how you like to interact with them each day.

Without working this out beforehand, there’s no way of knowing if you’re putting in the right combination of hanging, shelves and drawers for the things you own. Let alone the right widths, heights and depths.

Unfortunately most people make assumptions which mean their wardrobe isn’t fit for purpose. (How many shoes do you think you have? Now go and count them…!)

Enter the home organiser

A good home organiser will have seen hundreds of wardrobes, and solved hundreds of problems with their layouts. A good organiser can also help you resolve these challenges.

In contrast to an interior designer or planner, an organiser’s role is to assess exactly what you have and work out what you need. They can design a functional layout that makes the most sense for you and your clothes so it stays neat, tidy and organised.

They’ll do three things:

• Accurately assess the types and volume of clothes you have
• Help you to identify those preferences which should affect the layout – eg, do you hate to fold things? Do you want to see all of your handbags?
• Uncover areas of conflict that might need compromises – eg, do you have too many clothes for the available space? If so, what can you do about it?

With this information, they can design a layout for your wardrobe with a breakdown of the types and amounts of storage you need to create a wardrobe that works for you. From the number and sizes of drawers to the heights and depths of shelving, they’ll be able to give you a clear plan which you can then share with your designer, planner or joiner to get the right layout first time, with no guesswork or hoping required.