Custom wardrobes on a budget

I’ve moved house four times in the last six years and try as I might with each and every move, I just can’t seem to part with my increasing number of clothes, shoes, handbags, hats… you name it, I’m keeping it.

When we moved into this terraced house back in September 2018, I was given the gift every hoarder dreams of – a spare room I could fill top to bottom with clutter and not have to worry about throwing anything out. Perfect? Wrong!

My ‘Monica cupboard’ (if you know, you know) was actually a 10ft x 15ft room filled with crap and became a real point of contention between my husband and I, who couldn’t even get the door open most days, and a topic of embarrassment as guests came over and insisted on a grand tour of the new house (“but, what’s behind that door?!”) – whoops.

It was time to get rid of all my crap.

My 2020 resolution was to sort. it. out. And sort it out, I did! I’d spent hours on Pinterest dreaming up huge built-in wardrobes with custom built drawers for every single thing I owned, then it dawned on me that the project I had in mind was looking at a budget of £2,000. Minimum. Having just got married three months prior, and bought the house itself a year before that, it just wasn’t possible and I had to think outside the box.

The finished result is a project I’m pretty proud of – mostly because it’s one my husband swore blind would never work at the beginning. Introducing… curtain wardrobes!

I decided to get creative with the two alcoves already in the room and ‘build in’ (on a budget) some ‘custom’ fittings for all of my bits and bobs. Two clothes rails later, a shoe rack, hanging storage, hooks for my bags, baskets for my hats and a huge curtain later – and we’re done.

You will need:

Clothes rails & hooks – if you followed my journey on Instagram (eek), you’ll know just how nightmarish I found this part of the project. We bought cheap rails in IKEA and as soon as you hung even a t-shirt up, they’d fall out the wall, ripping the plaster out along the way. Eventually, we went with heavy duty rails from B&Q that have stood the test of time – and the weight of my winter and summer wardrobe – and attached these to the sides of the alcove (where there was brick, rather than plaster) instead of the back.
Fittings – And I use this word in jest! Nothing in my wardrobe is a proper ‘fitting’. I got creative with shoe racks and hanging storage slotted into place to create storage space for all of my bits and pieces.
A curtain rail & curtain – Long length is usually best (depending on the height of your alcove). I got mine from IKEA – a steal at £29 for a pair. I also added a set of curtain hoops from Amazon to allow the curtains to move more freely, and also to add a bit of additional length as they were just that bit too small.