A small bedroom in a rented flat often comes with no wardrobe, or with a built-in that is already full. The clothes end up over a chair or still in the suitcase, and a wardrobe with doors would crowd what floor there is.
We make two open wardrobes, and neither is cheap. The Clothes Rail is Ksh 34,000 and the Wardrobe Shelf is Ksh 43,000. A clothes rack costs about a tenth of that, and if a rack is what you need, it is the better buy. This post is for someone weighing a wardrobe.
Why an open wardrobe suits a small room
A wardrobe with doors needs space in front of it for the doors to swing. In a small bedroom that space is often the gap between the bed and the wall. An open rail needs none: you reach in from where you stand.
It also looks lighter. A closed wardrobe is a large box in a small room. An open frame lets you see the wall behind it, so the room does not shrink around it.
The cost is that everything is on show, and an open rail gathers more dust than a cupboard. That is the part to plan for, and there is more on it below.
What are our two?
Both are steel frames with a rail under the top shelf and two shelves below it for folded clothes, baskets or shoes. The hanging units are our deep ones, 45 cm front to back, against 28 cm for our standard shelves.
- The Clothes Rail, 52 cm wide and 1.63 m tall, in Coral, Ksh 34,000. It is made for a bedroom corner where a full wardrobe will not fit.
- The Wardrobe Shelf, 1.63 m tall, in Sage, Ksh 43,000. It stands on 1.42 m by 45 cm of floor, so the rail and the shelves are much longer.
How much a rail holds depends on the clothes: a row of shirts takes far less room than winter coats. If you have a lot of long or heavy things, ask us before you order.
Three routes, and what each costs
- A metal wardrobe or a rack. Listings on Jiji mostly ask Ksh 1,600 to 1,700 for a metal wardrobe, and about Ksh 2,900 to 3,800 for a free-standing clothes rail. It is the cheapest way to get clothes off the chair.
- A built-in wardrobe. Made by a carpenter to fit the room. It is the landlord's to allow, and it stays behind when you move.
- A steel rail with shelves. Ours, at Ksh 34,000 or Ksh 43,000. It stands on the floor, holds folded things as well as hanging ones, and moves with you.
How do you keep it tidy?
The shelves do most of the work. What you wear every week hangs. What you wear once a season is folded into baskets or lidded boxes on the lower shelves, out of the dust. Shoes go on the bottom shelf.
Keep the top shelf for spare bedding and things you rarely reach for. The photograph at the top shows the idea: jumpers folded above, the rail in the middle, baskets below.
Each unit is painted on its own, so the frame can be one color or several. The steel comes in Sage, Marine, Coral and Charcoal.
Taking it with you
Our shelves are modular, which means they are made of separate parts that stack together. Each of our two wardrobes is five pieces that lift apart, so nothing needs a carpenter on moving day, and nothing is drilled into the wall.
We make them at our workshop in Dagoretti Corner and deliver within Nairobi, assembled, within a week of payment. Delivery is charged by area, and we tell you the fee before you pay.
See it beside your bed first
Each has a page that stands it in your room at full size through your phone's camera, which is the quickest way to see whether it fits beside the bed: The Clothes Rail and The Wardrobe Shelf.
If the bedroom is also the sitting room, how to arrange a bedsitter covers the rest of the room. Our other designs are on the shelving page, or you can put your own together in the builder.