Organising Your Wardrobe in Spain
One of the biggest complaints made by expat women living in Spain is lack of space for their clothes and shoes. Yes, we suddenly realise how good we had it in the UK with big deep cupboards in the bedroom, lofts, cupboards under the stairs for coats and shoes and the adjacent garage for serious overspill. Now, unless you have in excess of eight hundred thousand euros to spend on a house on the Costas, you are going to be hard pushed to find that level of storage again. This leaves you with two choices, you can either get rid of most of your clothes, that’s anything that hasn’t be worn in the past month or make the most of the space that you have. Below are some ideas to ensure that you get the most out of your available space:
Furniture with Storage
To begin with make sure you that your furniture offers you storage. Always buy more than you think you will need because before you know it, you will be bursting at the seams. Buy the tallest chest of drawers, with the deepest drawers that you can find. You can use this for basic vests and t-shirts, in fact anything that doesn’t crease. Make sure your bedside table has deep drawers for underwear, bikinis, socks, pyjamas etc; otherwise you are just wasting space. If you don’t already have fitted wardrobes, head for Ikea. They have wardrobes that are tall enough to get two rails of clothes in plus shelves. Use the top hanging rail for tops and the bottom one for jeans and trousers. Put little hooks inside a door to hang belts, scarves etc. Place big handbags at the bottom of the wardrobe or on a shelf above the clothes. Make use of space above wardrobes to put suitcases full of out of season clothes.
A Bed with Storage
Buy a bed with space underneath to slide under storage boxes which can be bought in Carrefour. In these boxes put all your out of season clothes and shoes. Use space in the hall to put a shoe cupboard. If you have drawers under the bed, use the to store handbags
Use a System
To make matching clothes easier, try to come up with a system such as organising by colour, plain tops together, tops with details together. Try hanging everything up in sections i.e. dresses/skirts/trousers/tops. By hanging in order of length, you can maximise the storage space beneath. Fit wire drawer baskets in wardrobe for jeans, underwear etc. Leroy Merlin does plain chests of drawers which are designed to be put in wardrobes. On top of the drawers you can put flat shoes. Separate underwear in mini drawers. Fit shelves in for jumpers, hats etc Attach one of those fabric hanging shelves sets to the bar to put pyjamas, tops etc.Use a separate wardrobe to store bulky coats, jackets and suits. Place bags and boots underneath.
No More Guests
Instead of begrudgingly using your guest room for freeloaders from the UK, why not convert it into your own dressing room. Imagine rails on one side for clothes, shelves for shoes and bags and hooks for belts and jewellery. If you enjoy having guests, you can still use this room by hanging non-season and older clothes on a rail and cover with a coordinating protector to blend in with the room.
Bookcases and Shelves for Books?
A bookcase needn’t just be for books. Line up beautiful shoes and bags on a bookcase at the end of the bed. Put accessories, jewellery, skincare products in decorative boxes or baskets on wall shelves. You can use a shelf to line up handbags.
Organising Those Bits and Bobs
For bags and belts, hang them on pegs behind the bedroom door or what about an old fashioned hat stand? Use drawer dividers (Ikea Komplement range or Carrefour) to organise vest tops, work tops, going out tops, everyday underwear, best underwear etc. Use plastic divider boxes for organising costume jewellery. Try the ones for organising screws etc, which you can pick up in Euro shops. Put chunky jewellery and hair accessories in plastic storage boxes which you can find in Carrefour, Euro shops or Ikea. You can also use plastic baskets to organise scarves, belts, hair accessories. Use hanging pegs on the back of the bedroom door for bags. Some people use tie racks for hanging belts. Keep ski suits inside a suitcase or holdall.