My room in my London flat is 8’ x 9’, which is about the size of an average closet. But still, I needed to fit a bed, a dresser, and some kind of storage for my slightly ridiculous assortment of jumpers. Ever had one of those experiences where you’re perusing around a furniture store and everything looks cute and compact until you bring it home and suddenly your “snug” bedroom resembles an episode of hoarders?
Yeah, that was me last Tuesday. Three months ago. Three weeks prior I had been sleeping out of a suitcase because my old dresser decided to die on me.
One of the drawers popped right out of its track when I went to close it and took half of my socks with it. It’s probably older than me.
It smelled like ancient wood and….ick.
Don’t question what smells, just know that dresser had to go. But where in the heck were you supposed to squeeze a dresser when you can barely fit yourself between your bed and the wall? Lesson Learned: If you’re shopping for furniture to fit into a small space, most companies don’t know what small even means.
I went to four stores, and each sales associate eagerly pulled out “space-saving” items that would have forced me to climb over them to reach my window. One woman even told me I should “just angle it in the corner.” Pssh. Yeah.
Because corners work like that. But then I stumbled upon this bad boy at a local thrift shop in Islington. Technically it’s known as a “skinny chest of drawers” but I just like to call it my lifesaver.
It’s 24” wide by 14” deep by 48” tall. Think of the footprint of a carry-on suitcase…but upright. And able to fit more clothes than my previous dresser that occupied double the amount of square feet.
HOW? Well, it expands… UP. Instead of OUT.
Each drawer is actually deeper than the last, stacking on top of each other. The bottom two are about 8” deep. These work great for bulky items like my bulky jumpers. (Don’t judge, knitwear is comfy.) The next two are 6” deep.
Perfect for folded t-shirts, PJs, and underwear. The top two are shallower at 4” each. But that’s totally ideal for scarves, belts, etc.
Basically all of those random things that formerly resided on your dresser….were now stuffed on your bedside table. Another reason I fell in love with this piece versus a similar piece was all of the tiny details that allow it to work in a small space. See how the top edges lift slightly?
That allows me to set my jewellery box and a small plant on top without fear of everything sliding off when I inevitably bump into it (this happens more often than you would believe.) And notice the drawers themselves have pretty vintage-inspired brass knobs. They’re large enough where you can easily grab them, but they won’t get caught on your clothes when you squeeze past. Oh and did I mention HOW PRETTY IT IS?
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One of my favourite details about this whole piece is how the bottom drawer is designed. It sort of indents in. Yes, weird way to word that.
But what that means is when you pull out the dresser, you can scoot it tightly against the wall without hitting the baseboard. When I measured, I gained almost two inches of walking space by doing this! An extra two inches sounds like nothing, right?
Trust me when I say that when you are measuring your space by inches, two more inches of wiggle room really takes it from feeling cramped to just feeling like you have less space than you’re used to. How did I know for sure it was cute? Well after I organised everything in it, of course!
Being an “organised” person – let’s be real, I fold my clothes by aggressively bunching them – this dresser has had some sort of magical impact on me. Maybe it’s because now every drawer has a “job” to do. Or maybe it’s just because the scale of the dresser feels so right.
Either way, the top two shallow drawers forced me to actually fold and organise my accessories instead of shoving them all into one big cluttered drawer. Watches on the left, earrings (in cute dividers I picked up from ikea) on the right, and fold up all of my scarves into scarf burritos. The middle drawers have now become my go-to for… essentials.
Left drawer is work. Right drawer is casual. It sounds insane to be that specific about what draws what clothing, but when you’re dressing in a room that’s basically the width of your wingspan, being able to easily grab the specific article of clothing you want without having to dig through piles of clothes will honestly change your life.
Now I will say I did add one not necessary but totally awesome feature. I covered each drawer with a thin sheet of cork board (the kind you buy in a roll from any craft store) for me about £15.00. This keeps everything from shifting around when you open and close the drawers.
Bonus, it smells like wine corks. And who doesn’t love that smell on Mondays?
Styling-wise, my biggest challenge was figuring out how to make this tall and skinny treasure feel intentional and not Stick Figure airing on the side of slim.
Dude, if there’s one thing that having a tiny room teaches you, it’s that any object that goes vertical tends to look like someone who bought a bunch of cube storage boxes and forgot to unpack them. To solve this, I created some visual bulk at the bottom of the dresser – a small round rug underneath it, and a wooden storage bin next to it that doubles as extra seating. I learned this trick from my mother growing up: when you place a rug under a tall piece of furniture, it anchors the height of the item so it looks like it belongs there rather than just sitting there.
Now it’s been six months, and I seriously don’t know how I lived without it. Anyone who comes over always makes a comment about how “nice” it looks that everything is organised and I just grin and don’t mention that is literally because I cannot fit any additional clutter anywhere. But that, my friends, is the beauty of good small-space furniture.
It not only stores your stuff, it forces you to be intentional about what stuff you choose to own. …the only problem is sometimes I forget what drawer is what and find myself staring at my dresser for a whole minute trying to decipher which drawer my favourite jumper is in. Ha! Excusable though, right?
RIGHT? Would I recommend it? 100%.
Sometimes the best furniture buys are the ones that work so seamlessly in your home you forget they’re even there.
