Do you use dressers?

[DawnM]

Look at that, I added a poll!  

 

Genuinely curious.  For years we didn't.  We had closets and bins in our closets for things like socks/underwear.  And in fact, when the kids were little, I. had shelves in my laundry room with laundry type buckets where I kept all of their clothes.  I would take it out of the wash, fold it, and put it in their bins.  It was very efficient. 

Then the boys got older and started keeping their own clothing in their rooms/closets.  But I got them dressers at that point and they never used them!  They preferred the bin style.  

Dh and I got dressers about 5 years ago.  We got them used and I honestly want to get rid of them and get new ones, but that is for a different thread......but I still find I don't use them much.  DH does.  I just keep things either hung up, or folded on the shelf.  My dresser mostly has stuff I don't wear much and some photo albums.  

This isn't a "should I keep it" thread....this is just curiosity about using dressers.

PS:  And in looking at houses we are looking at buying, most are newer and gracious they have large closets!

Edited December 30, 2018 by DawnM

[freesia]

Yes, we all use dressers.

[Night Elf]

DH and I do, and ds didn't until recently. I use my dresser for under garments and pj's and tank tops. DH stores all his tshirts and under garments in his. He doesn't like to hang his tshirts which is good because there is no room in our closet for them.

Ds had a captain's bunk bed which is just a tall bed with cabinets and drawers underneath. Now he has a regular dresser he uses for his clothes. I don't think he plans to hang anything up. He doesn't have many clothes though.

[alisoncooks]

DH and I always have. The girls don't because their rooms are tiny. Youngest DD has clothes in slide-out bins under her bed, and she's fine. My oldest has a captains bed with drawers underneath, and she definitely needs more clothes storage. 

[Pawz4me]

We all have dressers. And in this house it would be hard to make do w/o all that drawer space. It would have been easy to do w/o dressers in our last house, although we had the same ones and used them there, too.

[medawyn]

Nope.  Dressers drive me crazy.  I have three drawers built into my closet, but for the kids it’s all hanging, folded on shelves or small bins for socks/underwear.

DH had a dresser for a while.  He started complaining about having no underwear, so I finally rifled around in his disaster drawers and found half a dozen pair.  He, too, is now convinced that dressers do not match his organizational, um, style.

[regentrude]

No. We have clothes in the closet in wire baskets, hangers, and on shelves.

Edited December 30, 2018 by regentrude

[DawnM]

Interestingly enough, my oldest is at college and his room doesn't have a dresser.  He has a closet (probably 3' deep by 3.5' across) and it has shelves.  He does the same thing there, bins.....

Middle son's dorm room is a bit different and he has a dresser he has started using, but he says he doesn't really like it.

Youngest has asked me if he can have a dresser at the new house......poor kid has never had one.....he feels very deprived.   I told him yes, but I think we will move and wait a bit and see if he really wants one or not.

[Lawana]

Yes. My wardrobe is very simple: yoga type pants, leggings, T-shirts and hoodies, all which live in my dresser drawers along with my underwear and socks. A few dressier things hang in my closet. 

[Carrie12345]

I do, but I have a cat who opens all the drawers and climbs in, so I'''m not the biggest fan. I just don't have enough closet space for an alternative.

My boys do not. I tried 2 different dressers for them, and both were a disaster. Bins in cube shelves aren't perfect for them, but it's an improvement.

My daughters have some drawers in their bunk set, but they're looking into dressers.

[DawnM]

2 minutes ago, Lawana said:

Yes. My wardrobe is very simple: yoga type pants, leggings, T-shirts and hoodies, all which live in my dresser drawers along with my underwear and socks. A few dressier things hang in my closet. 

 

That was pretty much me when I was a SAHM and homeschooled.  Now I work, so I have nicer sport pants.....hahahahaha!  Seriously, I wear casual/hiking type pants (no cargo pockets on the side) to work with a nicer shirt.  So far, 3 years in, no one has made comments.

[HomeAgain]

Of course I do. 🙂  I picked mine out specifically for how I would use it: two small drawers (one for underwear, one for socks/stockings), 3 large drawers (shirts, pants, out of season).  Dh's was made by the same woodworker to match but with slight differences.  I use my closet for dresses, sweaters, and buttoned shirts/dressier ones.

When the youngest was very young we didn't use a dresser for him.  I had small bins on a shelf for his little things.  As he got bigger, he got a dresser and we moved the bins into the top drawer to organize his socks, underwear, and seasonal items (long undies, swim wear).  The oldest has a larger dresser because at one point he had uniforms for various activities.  Keeping all like-uniform items in one or two drawers was helpful to him to be able to grab and go.

[edelweiss]

DH and I do not have dressers, but that's only because we have a custom closet with built in drawers and cubbies. So, we essentially have a built in dresser. 

My girls each have a large armoire in their rooms.  They do have some custom drawers/cubbies in their closets as well, but their closets are smaller and can't contain everything  

 

[historically accurate]

My oldest has a dresser; she is the only one without the wire bin/drawers in her closet. She doesn't use it all though; the top drawer is fish stuff for the aquarium that sits on top of the dresser. The bottom drawer is for yarn storage. So she uses 3 drawers of it. All of us have about 2-3 drawers in our respective closets. 

[BarbecueMom]

No dressers here.  Built in drawers in the closets in the master bedroom (a pair of the small 4’ wide closets, not a walk-in), bins in the kids’ rooms.  Most stuff on hangers.  We have a storage bed too, but there’s nothing in three of the four drawers right now.  That’s where I hide presents.

[Noreen Claire]

Some of us use them, some don't.

The younger boys are two-to-a-room, and there is no space for dressers. Each boy has a hanging set of shelves (sweater organizers?) that they use to keep everything except shirts. Shirts are hung on rods between the two sets of shelves, older boy at regular height and younger boy using an added rod halfway down. (Hope that makes sense.)

DS23 has a dresser (it was my great grandfather's) but mostly his clothes are in piles around his room. That's a thread for another day. (grumble grumble grumble)

DH uses a dresser for his underwear/undershirts/socks/t-shirts/sweaters, and pants/dress shirts/blazers are in the closet. He also keeps CDs and photo albums in the bottom drawer.

Most of my clothes are in the closet;. My dresser has socks/underthings/PJs/workout clothes; several of the drawers are empty. It is also constantly piled higher and deeper with crap that doesn't belong there. I keep meaning to find a way to get the last of my clothes into my closet so that I can send the dresser into the basement for longer-term storage, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I would love to use the space for a comfy chair in my bedroom instead!

[Chris in VA]

I grew up with dressers as the norm. If you were a kid, you had a twin bed and a dresser, and lucky girls had a vanity. You might have a nightstand, too, and a bookshelf. When you married, you got a bedroom suite, with a nightstand on either side of the queen bed, a tall dresser for your hubby, a long one with a mirror for you. Everybody had it this way. You hung your dresses and skirts in your closet, with your shoes on the floor of it in a shoe rack, and you stacked your sweaters on the top shelf. Bins were for storage, and you stuck them under your bed, with your wedding dress in its special box from the dry cleaner's.

It's so funny, looking back, how this is just one of a number of things I thought EVERYBODY had, the way I thought most people had their lives. 

I was so surprised when I learned about wardrobes, and closet systems seemed so "out there." 

I was rather sheltered in my little, white, Northeast Ohio life. It challenged me to see how there were so many permutations of furniture use, even in the States. 

[DawnM]

8 minutes ago, Chris in VA said:

I grew up with dressers as the norm. If you were a kid, you had a twin bed and a dresser, and lucky girls had a vanity. You might have a nightstand, too, and a bookshelf. When you married, you got a bedroom suite, with a nightstand on either side of the queen bed, a tall dresser for your hubby, a long one with a mirror for you. Everybody had it this way. You hung your dresses and skirts in your closet, with your shoes on the floor of it in a shoe rack, and you stacked your sweaters on the top shelf. Bins were for storage, and you stuck them under your bed, with your wedding dress in its special box from the dry cleaner's.

It's so funny, looking back, how this is just one of a number of things I thought EVERYBODY had, the way I thought most people had their lives. 

I was so surprised when I learned about wardrobes, and closet systems seemed so "out there." 

I was rather sheltered in my little, white, Northeast Ohio life. It challenged me to see how there were so many permutations of furniture use, even in the States. 

 

HA!  In our house, after DH and I finally got dressers, he took the long one with the mirror.  I took the tall one.  That was because the areas where the dressers fit only worked with the long one over on his side of the bed.  

 

[Ellie]

No. We have storage of some kind in our closets. I don't want that big piece of furniture taking up room. 🙂

[marbel]

3/4 of us use dressers.  Well, I'm not sure if my son actually uses his, but there is one in his room.  He may actually just use the floor.  :-)

My daughter won't use a dresser. She insists she has to see all the things. She has a closet that has out of season stuff hanging, and a rack for current season stuff just there in the room.so she can see everything. She has a small wire bin thing in her room for socks, underwear, jeans and such - it's not big enough.  Her closet has some wooden shelves that a former owner just nailed in - they are crooked and rickety. I want to take them out and put in a wire basket system but she says she needs to see the stuff. I offered to take off the closet doors (sliding) but they are mirrors and she says she needs the full-length mirrors.  They are the only ones in the house, so I agree that they need to stay, though I think we could take one off.

Ugh it's so complicated. I wonder how she will manage in a dorm or apartment.

To be clear, I don't think a dresser is a necessity, though I grew up with that as the norm, as did my husband, but a decent way to store clothing that doesn't involve piles on the floor or other furniture is!

[Amira]

I use a dresser if the closets are just for hanging clothes.  We’ve only had wardrobes with no shelves in several places we’ve lived so a dresser was nice for stuff I didn’t want to hang.  Here, the dressers are unnecessary.  I have two huge ones stacked up in the storage room and two more that we moved into the closets to get them out of the way (we’re in a furnished apartment or we wouldn’t have this many dressers to deal with). I ended up putting all my craft supplies in the dressers in the storage room which has been nice though.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Amira

[Hilltopmom]

Our closets are tiny so yes we all use dressers too.

[HS Mom in NC]

My husband does because his closet is so small.  The rest of us don't, we hang everything or stack things neatly on closet shelves or put them in a bin on a closet shelf. I prefer vertical storage whenever possible (like hanging) because stacking disturbs other unwanted items when the wanted item isn't on top.  For things that don't matter like undies and socks, I stack them.

[Kanin]

I have a dresser, but it's just a holding space for clothes I don't really like, and all the clean clothes end up in piles on top. What DH and I really want is a nice shelving unit so we can easily see all of the clothes. Socks and undies can go in bins. 

The secondary problem (maybe primary problem??) is that I buy clothes I don't love because they're a good deal, or I think I need X thing to look professional at work (ha ha, never happens), and then those B-list clothes just linger in the dresser. Why are clothes so hard? I'd really rather have 5 copies of the same outfit in different colors. 

[KungFuPanda]

My house was built in 72. The bedrooms are large, but their closets are not. We all have dressers. In the MBR we have a dresser and a lingerie chest. The drawers are all Kon Maried, so they work well for us and we can see everything when we open a drawer. The closet holds hanging clothes, sweaters stacked on the top shelf, shoes, and some storage boxes. It’s not a walk-in so space is limited. 

The kids’ room closets are as big as the master, so it’s actually plenty of room for ONE person’s clothes. The kids’ dressers are in their closet. I could replace them with closet organizers, but drawers are drawers so I haven’t seen the point. 

Edited December 30, 2018 by KungFuPanda

[gardenmom5]

I organized my closets - love elfa, (this time of year they're 30% off), including adding two drawers in my closet and got rid of a chest of drawers.  but we still have a dresser with a mirror.   maybe if I had a huge closet - which I don't, I might not bother with one.

even dd, who does have really big closets (even in the baby's room), has dressers

[sheryl]

Oh my yes, all of us have always used dressers.  DD needs a new, more mature bedroom set.  We'll be looking for a headboard, dresser and night stand.  

[Wheres Toto]

I voted yes, but actually most of our "dressers" are actually plastic drawers.  The only one with a real dresser is dh and his is constantly falling apart (it's the worse IKEA thing we've ever bought).  We have a serious lack of space so the plastic drawers fit better.  Dd has 9 sets of the three drawer units mounted on the wall over her bed, plus a wider three drawer set on the floor with her tv on it.   The bottom drawer of the wall set hold her clothes divided by long sleeve/short sleeve/underwear/socks/etc.  The higher drawers hold off-season stuff, some of my less frequently worn stuff and non-clothes stuff (craft supplies, etc.)

I have three sets of 5 drawers in our very very very small bedroom because they fit under a shelf unit.   Ds has two wider sets stacked on top of each other in the corner of his room.  The top drawers are used for long-term storage but since he's taller than me now, he can reach most of them pretty well.

We have very little closet space so drawers are a necessity.  I'd love to have a family closet situation but that's never going to happen in our current house (which we will probably never leave). 

[Chris in VA]

50 minutes ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

My husband does because his closet is so small.  The rest of us don't, we hang everything or stack things neatly on closet shelves or put them in a bin on a closet shelf. I prefer vertical storage whenever possible (like hanging) because stacking disturbs other unwanted items when the wanted item isn't on top.  For things that don't matter like undies and socks, I stack them.

While dd was packing to go back home, she told me she doesn't stack her pants and shirts in the dresser anymore, just for the reason you stated. She folds them a certain way, then puts them in her drawers "on end," like how you file stuff. It's like she took a pile of folded clothes and turned them on their side, so you can find what you need and just pluck it out. It still does disturb the stack a little, but not as much. 

[goldberry]

Another WTM learning moment for me!  It never occurred to me that there were people who *didn't* use dressers! 

I guess maybe if I had nice built-ins in the the closet?  Our houses have always had pretty basic closets.  I have socks, underwear, bras, nightgowns, and workout clothes.  DH actually keeps his work tshirts and jeans in his side also, in addition to socks, underwear, shorts.

[Murphy101]

We have always valued living space too much to have dressers. BUT we do have one of those three drawer Rubbermaid things or each kid in their closets. I think that counts as dressers. Economical compact and durable dressers.  That’s where they keep all their non- hanging clothing. And a couple kids also have three small drawers under their bunk bed too. Two kids just started sharing a dresser and I bought a dresser with my first ever bedroom suit a few years ago. I use 2 drawers and dh uses 2 and the top drawer is tv related junk for the tv that’s on top of it. But we have a bedroom large enough to also have a recliner, two small sofas and a bench, 2 large nightstands and a king size bed. So living area isn’t a concern. 

Personally I hate flat surfaces. It’s just another thing to clean accumulated crap off of. 

[KidsHappen]

My hubby and I have one in our closet that we use mostly for underwear, socks, bras, shorts, swimsuits and such. The kids don't have or want dressers.Come to think of it my grandkids don't either.

[katilac]

We all use dressers because that's the way our house is set up, the closets are not big enough to store everything. I don't think I have a strong preference for one or the other, but I've never lived in a house with big enough closets for all of the clothes. My guess is that you're using roughly the same amount of space either way. 

[Farrar]

Dh is the only one who does. He really does. I can't. They're too fussy. I have a closet organizer thingy with bins. Mushroom has a dresser in his room but "use" is not the word I would put down for what he does with clothes in it.

[Guest]

Yes, we all use dressers. Our bedroom would look oddly sparse without them, which is not to say that is the reason we have them. 

I would hate having to hang up pants every day. It’s so much easier to put them in a drawer. 

[Arcadia]

I grew up in a humid country. No built in closets. We have wardrobes with some drawers (one lockable and two not) in every bedroom. So expensive/important stuff goes to lockable drawer. The remaining two is for underwear. 

We get cockroaches in our childhood house so we had to put moth balls into wardrobes to keep them out. But moth balls are toxic too. So airing wardrobes is just easier than airing dressers to minimize cockroaches without using moth balls.

We have build in closet here but my kids prefer wardrobes.

[May]

I would love a walk in closet with drawers. Unfortunately, our closets are decent size for a 70’s house but wouldn’t accommodate our clothes. So, we both have a dressers.

[KathyBC]

We all do, but we live in a teeny house with virtually no closets. I suspect they would all do better with open shelving in a closet, so they could *see* their clothes.
My sister lived in a teeny house with closets, and made space in the bedrooms buy installing shelving in the closets and removing the dressers.
So whatever works!

Edited December 30, 2018 by KathyBC

[KathyBC]

3 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

We have always valued living space too much to have dressers. BUT we do have one of those three drawer Rubbermaid things or each kid in their closets. I think that counts as dressers. Economical compact and durable dressers.  That’s where they keep all their non- hanging clothing.

Those things are the best for socks and underwear.

[lailasmum]

We use them in most rooms but in my room we have pull-out baskets in the bottom half of our open wardrobes which I use for smaller clothing items. I love that system. I do also have a dresser but it's just full of odds and ends, mostly craft junk and I hate it so it'll probably be going soon. Everyone else has dressers but I do think they are a poor use of space and I'd prefer the other rooms to have a similar set up to me but I haven't got around to making that happen yet. 

[Murphy101]

45 minutes ago, KathyBC said:

Those things are the best for socks and underwear.

 

Um. ONE Rubbermaid drawer is the best for socks and underwear. The other two are best for pajamas and shorts or pants. 😁

[Loowit]

We all have one (or more) except for youngest who has drawers built into his bed frame.  I use his old dresser for my craft supplies.

[6packofun]

I have a love-hate relationship with dressers. Right now I'm using them because we inherited the furniture from dh's grandparents AND we have pitifully small closets. But when we move, if we get good closets, I might sell them.  For some reason I seem to forget that I have stuff in them.  LOL

[EMS83]

DD has an armoire (just shelves and drawers; no hanging space), and DH and I share a 5-drawer chest (actually, mine from childhood, lol).  The boys have bins in their closet that are n-e-v-e-r organized.  Ever.  I KonMari my and DH's clothes, so I don't mind drawers anymore.  🙂 

[frogger]

For us it just depends on the size of the room and the closet space. I personally have had times with and times without. 3 of my children currently do not but one does. 

[RootAnn]

15 hours ago, goldberry said:

Another WTM learning moment for me!  It never occurred to me that there were people who *didn't* use dressers! 

This was my thought exactly.

Grew up with dressers. Who would have thought people didn't use them? Five kids, one DH, & me. We all use dressers even if some of the kids' clothes go right from the clean clothes pile to a pile on a chair/bed, then only themselves (or, in some cases, the floor!). I also use my dresser for items that don't have another place like extra bottles of lotion or spare drawing pads for my artist DD  (who always runs out no matter how many she has) or the Halloween makeup that would needed to be high up when the kids were small. 

This house has beautifully large closets of the walk in type. DH & I use ours and there are things in the kids' closets, but they don't hang up as much stuff as we do.

My pants, pjs, turtlenecks, socks, etc. are konmarie'd so there is no vertical stacking issues.

[Tap]

DH and I use share an antique dresser. It is only used for underclothes. Everything else is in the closet, hung up or on shelves.

My girls have IKEA units (the ones that are cube shaped). We use their cloth bins in those for a dresser to hold pjs, leggings and underclothes. Everything else is hug up.

My son has a wardrobe and it has sliding drawers in the bottom for his underclothes and everything else is hung up. He doesn't like having extra clothing, so he just keeps the bare minimum.

[sassenach]

I like dressers but our rooms are too small. We have drawers under our bed and as part of our closet organizers. 

[KungFuPanda]

On 12/30/2018 at 11:09 AM, Chris in VA said:

While dd was packing to go back home, she told me she doesn't stack her pants and shirts in the dresser anymore, just for the reason you stated. She folds them a certain way, then puts them in her drawers "on end," like how you file stuff. It's like she took a pile of folded clothes and turned them on their side, so you can find what you need and just pluck it out. It still does disturb the stack a little, but not as much. 

This is what everyone is doing when they say they “Konmaried” their drawers. 

 

[Jann in TX]

We do not use dressers.

DH and I have one wall in our master bath that is cabinets (3 tiers high).  We each use one cabinet for our undies, socks and t-shirts.  Our other clothes are kept in the closet (hung).

Youngest dd keeps her clothes in her closet on shelves or hung.