Bedroom furniture wardrobes are lifesaving, marriage preserving, and time conserving.  I recently moved in with the love of my life and then was horrified that I was expected to give up precious wardrobe storage space.  Sure, I’ll love you forever, but put shoes under the bed, and clothing in storage, or worse….downsize?  None of these options seemed appealing.  Suddenly, inspiration struck.  Bedroom furniture wardrobe!  This could be a perfect solution to my storage woes.  I could keep my manolo blahniks cute Target flats (On sale $12.50!  Wooohoo!) and my favorite little black dress (or 5) without needing to run down two flights of stairs to dig them out of storage.

So, the hunt began.  I’ll admit, what came to mind first was metal cabinets, and the clanking sound of wire hangers sliding across the bar, circa winter coat basement storage at my parents.  And college?  Another era of cheap press board and white laminate.   Now while these are perfectly good examples of bedroom furniture wardrobes, or at least good example of what the function of a bedroom furniture wardrobe should accomplish.  Aesthetically, however, I was left unimpressed.  I widened the hunt and began googling (When exactly did that turn into a verb?) and asking friends for advice/suggestions.  Turns out my education regarding wardrobe storage was severely lacking.  I turned up treasured antiques that I’m sure held centuries of secrets, sleek modern mirrored exteriors and rich carved woods.  Oh, and there was metal still involved, but it didn’t once make me think of green striped, indoor/outdoor carpeting and wood paneling.   A single bar?  Try double if you wan.?  Multiple drawers?  Done.  Dividers for jewelry storage, or, ahem, delicate sorting?  Completely a doable option.

Now, as I am not to the manolo blahniks phase of my life, I opted out of custom built.  My home interior space tends to run towards mid-century, modern with a  dash of eclectic thrown in, so I knew a hand carved, ornate antique was not the bedroom furniture wardrobe for me.  I scoured local shops, thrift stores and Craigslist and poked my nose into more bedroom furniture wardrobes than a person probably should.  Finally, at an estate sale I found the beauty that would be coming home with me.  Straight out of the 1950′s, enough to make the set stylist on Mad Men give a nod of approval and more importantly, hanging and drawer storage, I knew it was the one for me.  Now, while my first sentence might have been misleading…no bedroom furniture wardrobe has saved a marriage for me…it very well likely might have kept me on the path to one.