It’s simple to stock a bedroom with everything you need to keep your space neat and tidy: some closet organizers, a bunch of hangers, a nice dresser, and so on. But if you’re reading this, you probably know that keeping your bedroom picture perfect is easier said than done. All too often, life gets in the way of our best intentions to keep things clean, and in private areas of the home like your bedroom, it can be even easier to let the little things slide. If you struggle to keep your personal space pristine, here are a few pieces of furniture (and advice) that might help you get your bedroom back in order.
Build A Better Closet
Shop Armoires:
Plain, ordinary closets with nothing but a single closet bar are the baseline that most of us have to work with, which is a shame, because they don’t make great use of the space available – and they’re even worse if hanging clothes is one of your least favorite chores. Closet organizers are great for breaking up the space, but they can be expensive and cumbersome to install, and don’t do much for a small closet. A well-designed armoire will take up a little more space in your room, but they look nice and are well-divided for storing different types of items (and giving them all a dedicated place).
…Or Live Without One
Shop Shelves:
Of course, there are plenty of urban spaces or older homes with bedrooms that lack closets at all – and plenty of us who use the closet space we have for something other than clothes. If that’s the case, you might want to equip your room with a decorative clothing rack. These are rarely an ideal solution (since most of us would rather keep clothing clutter behind closed doors), but you can definitely find versions that are more attractive than your average metal stand, and some that have built in shelves, mirrors, or even dresser drawers. Clothing racks are also great if you want to plan outfits ahead of time, or just keep a few shirts where you can find them (and unwrinkled) for when you need them.
Prioritize Your Accessories
Shop Chests and Cabinets:
If you’re the kind of person who does a lot of accessorizing, it can be really easy to get bogged down in your options – and for all your odds and ends to turn into a hot mess. The good news is, there are lots of very good multi-purpose organizers out there that can make a huge difference. A lot of them come as part of full-length mirrors (which you probably want in your bedroom anyway!) with features like jewelry storage, shoe racks, and hooks for scarves and hats. You can also find many of these features on full-sized armoires, but personally I like the ones that are more mirror-sized, since they won’t intrude on your space as much and let you keep all your accessories in one separate, dedicated place.
Make A Makeup Station
Spend a ton of time fighting for the bathroom every day, or find your makeup collection getting unwieldy? Once again, your best bet might be to ditch your current system and make a separate space for all your makeup needs. The idea of having a dressing table might seem very Victorian and outdated, but you can find great pieces with everything you need – mirrors, lights, and lots of storage for makeup and jewelry – that can close to keep the mess out of sight and even double as pretty passable laptop desks in a pinch.
Get Real With Your Dressers
The easy answer for people who hate hanging up clothes is to fold them and put them in a dresser, but as anyone who’s ever gotten this advice knows, this “solution” isn’t much of one. That said, even if you aren’t going to neatly fold every piece of fabric you own, you can still put your clothes away, and maybe put them somewhere you can find what you’re looking for easily. Cubby square storage with totes, bins, or baskets are perfect for getting your unmentionables out of sight and out of mind, and make a better catch-all than conventional dresser drawers. They let you keep your clothes sorted, but are a little more forgiving of having clothes unceremoniously dumped in them.
Be Honest With Yourself
One of the genuinely best pieces of cleaning (and life) advice I’ve gotten is this: if you’re spending a ton of time and energy struggling to clean the “right” way, don’t. If hanging clothes isn’t for you, don’t do it. There are plenty of other ways to store your stuff, and much better uses of your day. More importantly, if hanging clothes is one chore that never gets done, don’t bully yourself about it – lean into it. If you accept that that task won’t get done (and doesn’t need to), you’ll spend all the time you would have spent dragging your feet on something a little more productive. So here it is: if you need permission for your laundry to never make it out of the basket, this is it. Invest in two nice-looking hampers – one for clean clothes and one for dirty ones, so you can cycle between them without leaving your clothes in a heap somewhere, then go out and celebrate your new-found freedom from your closet overlord.
