Walk In Wardrobes Vs Free Standing Wardrobes – Some Considerations
If you’ve plenty of space in your bedroom, you should think about installing a walk in wardrobe. They are fairly easy to construct (simple ‘stud’ walls are the basis) or can be bought ready-made, or installed by a specialist company. Whichever you choose, give good consideration to using all the available space, including the entrance way into the wardrobe, and even the space above the door (assuming there is one). An open-plan walk-in wardrobe is a real ‘wow’ in any bedroom, but is really only for those with lots and lots of room.
Inside your walk-in wardrobe, the walls can be fitted with all sorts of storage areas: tie and shoe racks, shelves, drawers and both short and long hanging areas. Lighting is essential; try and position the wardrobe so it gets as much ambient light as possible, but you’ll probably need to supplement with spot lighting – very effective as well as being very stylish.
With a standalone or fitted wardrobe, be aware that their long doors can be very imposing – this might be an undesired effect. Wardrobe doors’ impact can be softened by replacing their panels with areas of pleated cloth, creating an armoire effect. Or you could replace expanses of wardrobe doors’ wood with a lattice, some fretwork or a grille. Then, the backs of the doors can be lined with an attractive fabric.
Wardrobes are large objects, and will always vie for attention with a bedroom’s other big piece, the bed. The design of both therefore should be complementary. A battle raging in the bedroom between the two is never pretty.
Most bedroom wardrobes have either hinged or sliding doors. Doors that aren’t decorated in any way create smooth lines and clean, clear expanses. In a contemporary setting this can work very well indeed, where uninterrupted lines are attractive. If your bedroom’s style is more ‘period’ however, it’s a good idea to break up those lines either by decoration, use of fabrics or choosing hinged doors that open in sections. The eye will therefore be able to dwell on detail, rather than be swept away by an uncluttered finish.
Walk in wardrobes are costly; perhaps the cheapest way to store clothes is with a standalone wardrobe. However, cheap does not necessarily mean a compromise in quality. There are of course limitless wonderful contemporary designs that would be a positive asset to any bedroom.
Consider the siting of your wardrobe: does it really need to go in your bedroom at all? It’s only since Victorian times that we’ve shared our bedrooms with our clothes. Previously it was thought very unhygienic to sleep in the same space as our clothes. Wardrobes were placed, if not in separate dressing rooms, on the landing outside the bedchamber. Having a wardrobe upstairs on the landing made aesthetic sense too, as its proportions were better suited to the landing and stairwell than to a smaller bedroom.