An inconvenient closet

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Moving my daughter into her new apartment ended up being a lot more work than we had anticipated. The part that I thought would be challenging (how to get a full size bed and mattress from the store without a truck and up a flight of stairs) turned out to be the easiest part (see here).

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But what is usually the easiest (moving the clothes) ended up being the hardest. I came up with an easy system when my oldest daughter started moving each year in college. We would put all her hanging clothes in garment bags and transport them, hangers and all, to the new place and just re-hang them. Super easy. As the years went by (this is my 17th time moving a college student) I got even smarter. Large plastic trash bags with a hole in the center of the bottom (to put over the hangers) work just fine. You hang up the clothes and then pull off the bag. Done.

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So that is what we did this time. Except that when we went to hang up the clothes, the hangers didn't fit on the rod. These rods were the largest wooden rods I have ever seen. They were so large in diameter that the hangers we had purchased her first year to give her maximum hanging space did not move at all on them. We tried every kind of hanger even the really large all plastic kind and none worked. I think the wire kind (think Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest) might have worked but that really wasn't an option.

In addition, the rod was so long that it was impossible to replace easily. I am used to old wooden rods in old apartments. The kind that droop and need to be supported to keep the clothes from pulling the rod down. But this was something I had not expected. In addition, the closet depth was less than adequate. A reach in closet should be 24" minimally. This one was 20".

I stood there thinking. My daughter suggested just folding all of her clothes. A sweet idea but impractical. And then I remembered the garment rack that I use when I organize client's closets. It is a freestanding rod on wheels. Maybe that would work ... maybe I could just put something like that inside the closet. It was a little irritating thinking about spending money on a garment rack for an apartment that should come with a working closet. But it didn't look like we had much of a choice.

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On the way to Target to try to find the garment rack, we had to stop by the Goodwill store to donate the clothes that my daughter had grown disenchanted with. And I thought it might be a good idea to look for a dresser. I wasn't convinced that all of my daughter's clothes were going to fit in that closet with or without a garment rack and she did not want to spend any more money. We didn't find a dresser at the Goodwill ... but guess what we did find ... a garment rack! For $20. It was the exact size we needed and had a nice space underneath to put the drawers she had to hold her purses and other extras. How easy was that?

So that took care of one side. On the other side we put her shoe organizers (that velcro on and fit just fine on the large rod).

And filled in the extra space with a few of these Sterilite boxes from Target:

She will need to get a couple more boxes to maximize her space (they only had three) and her coats will have to hang in their coat closet but it looks like she will be able to get most of her clothes put away. What doesn't fit in the closet can be stored on bookshelves in her room. Folded up boutique style.

 Or if we can get the shelf above the rod in the closet stabilized she could add something like this:

Photo by Scogin Mayo for Real Simple 

So, not the ideal closet situation. But it works. After all, she will be moving in a year!

Switching apartments & topless cars

Well, we got her moved.  From this apartment (see post about her room in this place here):

To here:

And we did it all in this:

I don't know what I was thinking. I certainly wasn't thinking I needed a big car. I was thinking since there was no furniture to move and that we would just be schlepping clothes and books and there couldn't be that many that we just needed a car. Any car.

What I drove when I was her age ... 1970 Fiat Spider 124

So when the gal behind the rental car counter asked if I wanted to be upgraded to a Spyder even though I had no idea what that was but the way she smiled made me want it, I said, "Yes."  It turned out to be Chrysler's newest convertible.

When we saw it, we thought it was kind of a dumb car to be driving around Berkeley (where a Prius is more likely) but I didn't want to go back into the place to exchange it and we were anxious to get to work. My daughter thought it would be too small and I just kept thinking we just had some clothes and a few books.
 

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She had soooo much stuff. It took us about six trips back and forth. That backseat was very small and even harder to load. After finally figuring out how to lower the convertible top (about 45 minutes) this is what we did for each load:
Step one: Open the trunk.
Step two: Set up the luggage barrier in the trunk.
Step three: Close the trunk.
Step four: Put the top down (or at least halfway).
Step five: Load up the backseat from the top.
Step six: Close the convertible top.
Step seven: Open the trunk.
Step eight: Remove the luggage barrier.
Step nine: Load the trunk.
Step ten: Take load to new apartment. Unload. Drive back to old apartment.

The only problem was that twice at least we forgot to do step nine. Oops. It took us about six trips. And did I mention her new apartment was at the end of a very long staircase?

So we were really not loving the car upgrade until we got to Ikea. It turns out having a topless car has its advantages!

We had hoped to get her a bed. She had gotten (If you are wondering if the word "gotten" is grammatically correct, you are not alone. Many people who hear others say gotten will tell them that it is not a proper participle of the verb phrase "to get." You may have even said it and had someone criticize or scoff at you. The reality is, however, that gotten is a very real and acceptable word. It is often the standard American English form to use when using it to mean "to acquire" or "to receive." In British English, it is mostly unused except in a few phrases. You can find more information here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gotten) rid of the twin bed she has had since she was a kid. The same bed she has moved from apartment to apartment for the last three years. She wanted something bigger. So we took the little convertible and went to Ikea. We fit a desk, a bed, a mattress (it was rolled up!) and some other fun stuff. And even got a little sun on the drive back. Our goal was to get her out of the old apartment (deadline to get out was next week). Whatever else we could do would only make it easier when she moves up in August. We got much more done then we had expected.

Day one ... flew in, picked up rental car, had picnic lunch on floor of new apartment, packed up old apartment, cleaned, moved stuff to new apartment:

Day two ... breakfast at Ikea, bought furniture, shopped at Goodwill***, a trip to Target, hung curtains and put furniture together until exhaustion set in (around midnight):

Day three ... worked until time to go to airport at noon. 

All and all a great start! She has a list of what she still needs to get and a lot of decorating to do (all her art to be hung) but like I said, it is a great start.

***Tomorrow: our Goodwill story and a closet makeover!