Need More Closet Space? 6 Chic Interior Design Solutions
If your bedroom has too little (or no) storage for clothes, you can end up living in a stressful mess. Here, pros offer clever, great-looking ways around the problem.
If your bedroom has too little (or no) storage for clothes, you can end up living in a stressful mess. Here, pros offer clever, great-looking ways around the problem.
In the series How to Live With a Room You Hate, we ask design pros to solve everyday interior problems.
A ROOM with little or no closet space can leave you feeling bulldozed by your own belongings. “It’s unsettling when nothing has a home. Creating a system that maximizes your space can change your whole mood,” said Jamie Garson of Better Than B4, a custom organizing service in Manhattan. Here, six stuff-stowing techniques that offer relief when a bedroom is bereft of storage.
When Gavin Smith, an architect with Perkins + Will, turned an attic space in his 1910 Craftsman home in Seattle into a bedroom for himself and his wife, he wanted to leave the space open and airy. So rather than building a traditional closet, he constructed cabinetry and clothing racks under the cathedral ceiling and shielded them behind a peek-a-boo screen of cedar slats supported by chic, blackened steel. “A solid drywall would be perceived very differently,” he said. “Because the screen is see-through, it creates a sense of depth.” Smith gave the partition—which also serves as a place to hang a flat-screen TV—a walnut stain to match a nearby dresser. If you want to skip construction, suggests Garson, tuck belongings behind a standing room divider.
Interior designer Emilie Jacob gave a closet-less child’s bedroom in Dubai a clever theatrical fix by installing rods to hang clothing, many at a low level, and suspending drapes that, with a pull, can hide them on a whim. The drapes delineate a dressing area that lets the little girl don her duds in privacy. The curtains begin where a modular IKEA bed with underbed storage and attached wardrobe leaves off. “The linen curtains are really light, and there are no cords,” said Jacob, who founded local design firm Stella + the Stars and collaborated with Studio Tsubi, also in Dubai, on the room. “Any child can pull them open or closed.”
When bad luck or circumstance has robbed you of a closet, a free-standing wardrobe makes for a classic solution. One with many benefits, contends Russell Pinch, the owner of Pinch, a furniture and lighting design firm in London. “It’s an investment…but one you can take with you.”
And importing a wardrobe rather than constructing storage can be kinder to architecturally valuable spaces, like the bedroom in Pinch’s vacation home in Charente-Maritime, France, in an 18th-century structure that was originally a cow barn. “We wanted to preserve the….beautiful parquet floors and timbered ceilings,” he said. “A built-in would have dominated the architecture and reduced the size of the room.” The white wardrobe, which he designed, “is an elegant solution. It looks like plaster-relief work,” said Pinch. Next to the wardrobe a full-length mirror with drawers at the bottom offers additional storage and helps complete a dressing area.
In a London townhouse, local interior designer Andrea Benedettini fit a full-size bed into a relatively narrow room, and rather than flank it with nightstands used the tight space on either side to build matching full-height closets. Unwilling to forgo the benefits of traditional bedside tables, he hung sconces on the sides of the closets facing the bed and carved out niches (complete with concealed lighting) to create a ledge for a book, phone or water glass. “Simple design details like the niche elevate the design,” Benedettini said. “Applying a fabric to the closet door and bespoke bronze hardware helped create a calming and luxurious space.” A ceiling-height upholstered headboard bridges the closets, connecting them visually into a whole, so the bed appears to be tucked into its own soft alcove.
According to organiser Garson, much of our wardrobes can live outside a closet quite nicely. She suggests openly displaying an amazing sneaker collection in a media unit, placing funky handbags on floating shelves or arranging hooks on a wall for an artful pattern of hats or scarves.
For a bedroom with no closet, Hilary Matt lets it all hang out with a rolling rack for clothes. The trick to exhibiting your wardrobe (warning: this is not for slobs)? “Keep the [rest of the] décor clean and monochromatic so the room doesn’t feel cluttered,” said the Manhattan interior designer.
The pop of colour from the apparel, which needs to be well-organized, adds to the room’s scheme “like a piece of art,” she said. Organiser Garson favours racks that match the style of the room, whether made of a fun acrylic or the more-masculine matte black metal.
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A heritage-listed Federation estate with tennis court, pool and studio, Marika offers timeless elegance and modern family living in the heart of Hunters Hill.
A grand old dame who has stood the test of time, Marika is a slice of Hunters Hill heritage transformed for modern-day living.
Meticulously renovated between 1981 and 1983, with several updates since, Marika made it onto the heritage register in 1999 just in time to signal a new millennium. Today, the modernised mansion is on the market with an auction price guide of $7.5 million, marketed through BresicWhitney’s Nicholas McEvoy.
“The home is a fantastic opportunity for a discerning buyer to get a grand family estate-style property, with a pool, tennis court and grounds, for a price that’s much more affordable than expected,” McEvoy says.
Sitting pretty on the corner of Augustine St and Ryde Rd, the stately Federation residence occupies a sprawling 2472sq m block, which was once part of a 30-acre land grant handed to Frederick Augustus Hayne in 1835. In 1902, he sold it to Dr Leopold Augustus Carter, a local dentist. Two years later, Marika, then known as “Ryde”, appeared in the famed Sands Directory – the social media of its era – a symbol of its architectural significance.
Surrounded by manicured gardens with sculpted hedges, a pool and full tennis court, Marika is a prime example of Federation style with contemporary elements.
Inside, the single-level five-bedroom home showcases intricate craftsmanship, from its decorative gables, period archways and bay windows to the coloured glass panels on multiple doors and windows. Elegant formal rooms have high ornate ceilings that are a preserved nod to Marika’s past, while the more modern spaces are relaxed family-friendly zones.
Thanks to a pavilion-style addition, the L-shaped layout measures 450sq m internally and wraps around a central courtyard that plays host to the alfresco dining terrace and pool, while a wide veranda frames the original front rooms of the house.
Primary living spaces, including the dining area with integrated bar, open to the great outdoors via stacker doors and the 21st century kitchen has a large island bench and a butler’s pantry with hidden access to the triple lock up garage. There is also a dedicated media room, a library or home office, plus a separate family room with a beautiful bay window.
All bedrooms feature built-ins while the main retreat, and a second bedroom, have shower ensuites. The shared bathroom houses convenient twin vanities and a freestanding bathtub.
Beyond the interiors, Marika delivers resort amenities with a full-sized, floodlit tennis court, the pool, barbecue terrace and a self-contained studio apartment with the added bonus of Harbour Bridge glimpses.
Added extras include a converted loft storage space, a large laundry with side yard access, ducted air conditioning, multiple fireplaces, solar panels with a battery backup and modern insulation.
Accessed via Augustine St, Marika is close to St Joseph’s College, Boronia Park shops, local ovals and city transport.
Marika at 59 Augustine St, Hunters Hill is set to go under the hammer on April 26, on site at 9am with a price guide of $7.5 million. The listing is with Nicholas McEvoy and Narelle Scott of BresicWhitney Hunters Hill.
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