At Home | Learning to Cope Without Built-Ins

I have had the pleasure of living with built-in wardrobes for my entire life. Until last year, I'd never even owned a chest of drawers. Alas, one cannot live in blissful ignorance forever so the process of moving out of home and into my first rental has required that I become well acquainted with external clothes storage. I prefer to have most of my clothes hanging so that I can view everything and not forget them when they get to the bottom of the drawer. I also can't afford to buy or transport a full-sized wardrobe. The option of clothing racks was shining clear and all I had to do was find the right ones for the right price - hello IKEA! 

Thankfully my room is fairly large so I didn't have to be too 'space-saving'. I ended up choosing the Mulig clothes rack in white. It was $9.99 and carries about 20kg. Like quite a lot of IKEA's flatpack furniture, putting it together was a struggle that required a break for french toast in the middle. 

I have two of them along the far wall in my bedroom carrying a majority of my clothes that need hanging. As much as I could have organised them by their style, length or use I always tend to colour coordinate because I feel it treats every item equally. In the second picture you'll see the third rack where I've placed my new and most worn garments (e.g. black high waisted jeans, denim shirt, plain blouses). The shoe compartment in the middle is also from IKEA and is called Skubb with 9 compartments. It was also fairly cheap at $7.99. I use this for my most worn shoes and shoes that need to be kept safe (or if I've lost their box). At the bottom of all the racks I keep shoes that are in boxes and worn less frequently...sorry I didn't photograph those. I also bought some metal hooks from Daiso (my current obsession) to hang belts and small bags on for easy access. 

Below you will see one my most prized possessions. If you know that I love vintage clothing you will not be surprised that I also have a small obsession with antique furniture. I grew up with a lot of it in my home and have always loved the aesthetic that it creates. My Mum and I hunted down this silky oak chest of drawers from a local antique dealer. It is the perfect height to double as a dresser (as you can see). I store my underwear and clothes that can be easily folded in these drawers. On top I have my makeup, nail products and jewellery storage which I will feature in another post as it is not quite complete. 

I've only been living here for a week and I'm already quite pleased with how it is turning out. The apartment has lovely polished wooden floors, a newly renovated bathroom and kitchen, is super convenient to public transport and my housemate is a good friend. 

Has anyone else moved recently? Let me know if you're finding new ways to live your life in completely different spaces.

Erin xx

PS. I went op-shopping today so prepare yourself for a haul ;)