Fitting out le dressing...

[Gluestick]

They are to keep the bathroom and or ensuite free of zillions of bottles of glutenous muck, tissues covered in rouge, lipstick, blusher, mascara, cotton pads, cotton buds and various other ephemera so's a bloke can have a nice wet shave in peace and ease.

Even with His 'N Hers washbasins and broad surfaces, the female ephemera seems to spread, sideways all of its own accord...........

[:D]

[Chancer]

I loved the link so much I watched it twice.

Whilst I agree totally with GS and Cooperlola re the practicality of bedroom storage and I of course always have doors and drawers the clip does in fact show very well what I was trying to suggest if Sweet17 needs le dressing to sell her current home.

Its a sad indictment on current French society but after being drip fed a diet of lifestyle programs and Question Maison etc the current must have for the upwardly (non in France) mobile purchaser is a dressing like the one on the clip.

I would buy a house if it had the second dressing on the clip after first checking out the garage.

[Chancer]

[quote user="Gluestick"]They are to keep the bathroom and or ensuite free of zillions of bottles of glutenous muck, tissues covered in rouge, lipstick, blusher, mascara, cotton pads, cotton buds and various other ephemera so's a bloke can have a nice wet shave in peace and ease.

Even with His 'N Hers washbasins and broad surfaces, the female ephemera seems to spread, sideways all of its own accord...........

[:D]

[/quote]

That is my biggest paranoia.

When girlfriends first start stopping over, spending the odd weekend etc the world is rosy and then dans un seul coup your clean tidy and ordered bathroom suddenly become une cochonnerie.

At that stage you must secretely take a full inventory of what is there, later on in the relationship you will know that it is coming to an end even before she is conscious of it when things start to return to chez elle seemingly of their own accord.

[cooperlola]

You've picked the wrong woman, that's your problem, chaps![;-)][:D]

It's my o/h who has all the stuff - a bit of scent and a bar of soap (what's with that liquid muck he uses - why pay for the added water when there's loads in the tap?) will do for me.

[mint]

You guys have come up trumps!

I asked a simple question and what do I get?  Lots of answers, thoughts, a link that made me laugh so much (thank you, Peter G) I nearly fell off my chair.

Nah, it all seems like too much faff and too much expense; at least for the moment.  I want to re-think doors vs curtains.  I'd like doors on the one hand but, on the other, this is a room where it's possible to shut all the mess out of sight by the simple expedient of shutting the door to it.  Do I therefore need doors in the dressing room in order for the dressing room to look neat and tidy?[8-)]

Therefore "proper" fitted wardrobes seem a bit redundant.  It's not as though le dressing is part of the bedroom:  it's through a sort of arch and has it's own door, etc. and is quite shut away from everywhere else.

Perhaps I shouldn't call it le dressing as I am not selling.  Yes, I think I'll call it something like the Sin Bin or the Glory Hole cos that's what it's gonna look like by the time I have emptied all the contents of my wardrobe and OH's into it!

Gluey, do post us a pic of your cupboards that you have so cleverly built?  OH and I would have a real problem putting together the pre-formed bits from Ikea.  And, BTW, when I costed out the Ikea fittings, they cost a fortune!  Yes, in excess of a grand!!!  Who'd believe it?[:'(]

[Gluestick]

You're wish is my command, Ma'am.

The room is a bit "Tired" now and is about to be blitzed come Spring. The hinges need urgent re-paint.

I was unhappy about using the usual nasty plastic spring hinges (A la kitchen units) 'cos of the weight of the doors.

So I had to make these.

The frame was made from 2X2 and 2X1: mainly 2X2 prepared timber. There are two shelves in and two large commodious drawers in the two centre bottom units and shoeracks under: and two double and one single hanging space with the clothes rails running laterally.

The units are 2 feet deep: so an overcoat or topcoat fits nicely, without creasing.

The top boxes have one shelf dividing it into two equal sized units.

The shelves are all good smooth ply.

The doors were created by using a frame of 2X1 prepared timber with simple housing joints at each corner. The door fronts are again decent ply: and the backs of the doors are hardboard.

The mouldings were carefully applied after the doors were hung by the simple expedient of a builder's line stretch tight laterally, positioned using a three foot spirit level and affixed using contact adhesive, to ensure regularity.

And no I am not showing you pics of the insides ';cos at present it's a real bloody mess! [:D]

The whole house is in a pickle as we are in process of a makeover, structural improvements and a complete re-dec.

The pic is not very good since I didn't have time to set up decent background lighting.

Sorry.

[IMG]http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq332/PercyPee/Drobes001.jpg[/IMG]

[mint]

Gluey, I don't know why you are so modest and apologetic about your cupboards.  They look spiffing to me![:D]

For my dressing, if I do decide to have doors, I think I would like see-through ones so that I'd know which cupboard to go to for which items.

I suppose I could just throw open all the doors but, if the hinges aren't that great, the doors would be hanging at an angle in no time at all.  Curtains might be fine except there is then the hassle of putting up the rails and having rings or similar so that you are not tugging on the curtains and I also don't like finger marks on curtains![:(]

[Gluestick]

See through.........

Hmm.

Plastic sheet is expensive: such as ABS or Acrylic. And scratches too easily.

It would have to be essentially thick: or it would "Wave" and distort and look probably like one of those crazy houses in funfairs.

Glass (Safety of course 'cos it could be fallen into) is both expensive and very heavy.

Thus the frames would need to be pretty robust in order to support such weight.

If you keep your eyes on such as Brico Depot, Sweets, they often have special offers on light doors, suitable for wardrobes and storage cupboards.

My Bête Noire is dust: so I wanted floor-to-ceiling units. Plus I wanted to prevent Mrs Gluey sticking stuff on top "Temporarily"! [:)]

And after looking for suitable 7'6" door sets (Standard UK modern house room size) - and failing - elected to make 'em myself.

We lost a little bit of that end of the room: however, the benefits far outweigh the downside.

[Catalpa]

[quote user="sweet 17"]Is it best just to have rails, shelves, etc or actually fit in wardrobes with doors and all the bits and bobs?[/quote]

I've got a walk in le dressing which only has an entrance door. Everything else is open and I've not found dust or mites to be a problem. For floor to ceiling storage, I don't see the point of having shelving for rarely used stuff close to the ceiling because if "wotsits" are that difficult to reach, I won't bother... and if I won't bother, I don't need them.

However, the out of reach space is too useful to ignore so I've got hanging rails that I pull down with a rod which hold shirts, jackets, trousers folded over padded hangers, etc. I've a second, normal rail underneath. It is very good use of the available space.

This is the sort of thing I've got...

http://www.sdslondon.co.uk/pull-down-wardrobe-rails.html?gclid=CMWupdrE0qUCFc0g3wodRT1Jjw

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Reval-32-inch-Pull-down-Wardrobe-Lift/3987005/product.html

[Gluestick]

Even in a modern house, I do find dust settles on clothes, Catalpa.

All my business suits, dinner jackets and "best" jackets etc are in plastic dust covers. Otherwise dust settles on the shoulders.

Mainly stuff I don't wear as often as I once did, but still need for formal events and meetings.

[Chancer]

Blimey Catalpa I thought France was expensive until I saw your links!

I have the same pull down rails that I got from Leroy Merlin, I thought they were a rip off but hey this is France, I should have been counting my blessings, they were half the price of the ones in the links.

I do agree though they are very usefull when space is tight.

I initially had a friend house sit for me in the house which I now rent out in the UK, I told him after I left to go travelling that he should use my room with the built in wardrobes and he said that he would carefully store my clothes in the loft.

When I returned I found his idea of storage was to stuff all my clothes that were on hangers, suits included into bin liners and shove them in a pile either side of the loft hatch thus blocking access to the rest of the loft space, he was a big tough guy but incredibly lazy as witnessed by the state of the rest of the house and I reckon frightened of lofts as well.

Knowing that my clothes would need to be stored  a long time (they are still there now) I put them in suit bags as per Gluestick, drilled holes horizontally through all of the rafters and tied some polypropolene cord through them, an instant wardrobe rail that is still giving stirling service.

A few years ago it was à la mode to use heavy anchor type rope for stair handrails, done properly I think it could look quite sexy as a hanging rail in a dressing especially one in les combles

[Catalpa]

I live in a very dusty house but the dust doesn't seem to get as far as the walk in closet. Which is good. I've just had a look at a couple of Puffa-type coats that haven't been out since last winter and there is some dust but very little considering they've been sitting up there for the past 10 months. However, good quality coats and jackets stored in Ikea's clothes covers and other things have home-made cotton fabric covers that come half-way down the back of the garments.

[Catalpa]

[quote user="Chancer"]I have the same pull down rails that I got from Leroy Merlin, I thought they were a rip off but hey this is France, I should have been counting my blessings, they were half the price of the ones in the links.[/quote]

The cost variance may (only may!) at least be partly due to the length of the rail and also the weight that the rail will take when loaded. And how good - robust - the swing down mechanism is.

[Chancer]

I would say that they are identical to the one in the 2nd link.

The old price proportional to length one eh? The makers of woodworkers C clamps and sash cramps have been ripping us off for years on that one, twice the legth of the bit that costs 0.001% of the material and production costs of the article doubles the price, I know there are loads of other examples but none come to mind at the moment

[mint]

Hi guys and a special hi to Catalpa!

Yes, the pull-down rails seem an excellent idea.  Having had another look at le dressing today, I have more or less decided that I WILL go the whole hog of built in wardrobes with proper carcasses, etc.

I hate the expression "wow factor" but I know what you mean, Chance.  As it's quite a special sort of a one-off house with very modern, clean lines, I think I can justify spending some of the hard-earned and hard-saved on a well-fitted out dressing room.

I don't know about you others but, personally, I never buy a house without thinking what if I have to sell.  And I guess le dressing doesn't really go with the rest of the bedroom or the house.

Mind you, I don't think I want to spend the money en ce moment so it will just have to be a glory hole with temporary rails, etc for a few months.  Yes, yes, I know there is then always the danger that one "never gets round" to doing a proper job.  I have a walk-in pantry like that in my present house.  We promised ourselves that, when we can decide what we want there, we will have a proper professional job done on it and, of course, that proper professional job has never been commissioned.

Oh, how I shall enjoy looking at all the possibilities for le dressing.  I shall have proper, suitable, subdued lighting (did you hear that, Wools) and a full length mirror though not all the naff bits for make-up, etc. 

Just a thought, anyone know where to get a mirror that takes a stone off your weight when you look in it?[:D]

[woolybanana]

Oh Sweets, I have been laughing since you started this thread. Why on earth move from the chateau to such suburban surroundings?

 

[mint]

Because, Wooly, chateaux are draughty, expensive to heat and keep places and one feels so isolated behind one's moat, don't you know?  Then again, it's not easy to get the staff in these wretched egalitarian days and I have a horror of employing Albanians since OH went out to Albania to do a charity project and I had Albanians coming to stay with me whom I couldn't then persuade to go home to Albania!

Anyway, oh to be in Dordogneshire....after all I am a Home Counties girl, don't you know [;-)] and the Charente Maritime (at least the part where I am) is just so, I don't know, RURAL and UNCIVILISED!

Naughty Wooly, you just stop me tying myself up in knots about the things I say that might offend others and then I shall be slagged off and I shall have to hide behind yet another identity and then I shall have to adopt another profile on the Forum and it will all have been your fault.