Every house has at least one chair that nobody can sit in because it’s piled with clothes. Eyesore factor aside, the dreaded “Clothes Chair” is completely harmless—yet, for many people, it’s a huge source of shame.
This has to change.
The Clothes Chair is anything but shameful, and when used strategically, it can actually make your life easier.
As just about everyone learned this past year, working from home has a way of streamlining your daily fashion, to put it nicely. The Clothes Chair was made for this moment. When your wardrobe is limited to Business Sweats and Nighttime Sweats, having both outfits within reach at all times is incredibly convenient. Instead of rummaging through drawers or the closet, you can just grab something from the Clothes Chair and be on your way. Personally, this has been a lifesaver for me because my 110-year-old closet door doesn’t latch; if I want to get anything out of it, I have to move and replace the kettlebell holding the door shut. This isn’t an impossible task, but it’s way more annoying than getting something from the back of a chair.
You don’t have to work from home to appreciate a proper Clothes Chair. It’s the perfect Medium Place for clothes that aren’t quite clean enough to go back in the drawer with their freshly washed pals, but aren’t dirty enough for the hamper, either. Anything you wear multiple times between washes—like jeans, sweatshirts, overalls, pajama pants, and robes—belongs on the chair. When you get dressed the next morning, half of your outfit is already out and ready to go. I mostly wear jeans with a rotating cast of T-shirts, soccer jerseys, and jackets, so the chair fits my needs perfectly. If your outfits follow a similar pattern, it’ll fit yours, too.
As with any catchall landing zone, the Clothes Chair can quickly devolve into chaos. To avoid a clutter disaster, keep tabs on what you’re actually wearing and put everything else away. The idea is to keep outfit essentials at the ready—not create a graveyard for dirty laundry. If you notice it sliding into graveyard territory, that’s your cue to edit.