Wardrobe Closets

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Children of all ages have adored this classic fairy tale for decades, especially our little girls. After all, little princesses want to be the ones to cry out with a resounding “I am!” as they pretend to be royal maidens in search of prince charming. Mirrored wardrobes add a royal, dainty touch to any girl’s bedroom décor.

These lovely mirrored wardrobe armoire closets will take center stage for your princesses to bask in for years to come. Mirrored wardrobes will be one piece of furniture your daughter may even want to haul off to college! The Enchanted Kids Mirrored Wardrobe is mesmerizing and delightful for sweet, feminine look girls will love at any age.

This attractive antique white armoire features a large oval mirror encapsulated by detailed solid hardwood accents. The mirrored door opens up into a discreet storage space with a pull out drawer for girls to store their vanity items, books or even a 23-inch TV! This attractive centerpiece has very nice features and serves as a great storage option for your space solutions.

In addition, there are two spacious drawers at the bottom of the mirrored wardrobe for additional space options for all the girl stuff! The Enchanted Kids Mirrored Wardrobe is featured on Amazon and available for your purchasing pleasure for $590.00. This is not cheap, but it’s a priceless investment in a little girl’s memory bank.

This Victorian style wardrobe armoire closet also has such safety features as nice round edges and corners with drawer stops for every drawer. The Enchanted Kid’s Mirrored Wardrobe’s sophisticated look, attractive finish and timeless style will be a mainstay for a girl’s bedroom space. Take a step back into fairytale land with this quaint, feminine wardrobe closet for your little princess.

There are many different types of armoires on the market today. Some are designed specifically for use as a wardrobe armoire and others are made for different purposes such as the jewelry armoire or as an entertainment cabinet. So what classifies a wardrobe armoire as French/European style?

One of the reasons a wardrobe armoire is considered French/European is the way it is made and constructed. The classic French style of wardrobe closet will feature multiple drawers on the bottom of the armoire and a hanging closet as the top portion. While many people today will use this to house their televisions, it is actually meant as a place to hang their finer clothing.

Remember, when armoires were first created, homes more than likely did not have the closet space that is present in the houses that we live in today. Because of this, these large cabinets were used as a way to keep clothing organized and clean. Over the years, higher end models were made and actually considered a type of status symbol. The fancier and more expensive the armoire, the more likely that the owner came from class and wealth.

They can either be made in a simple style but typically they have carvings and embellishments that are made out of wood to decorate them. These can be purchased either as antiques or brand new ones are being made in the same French/European styles that were so popular centuries ago. Those who have a new one can easily make theirs look like an antique with just a few tricks that they can find online.

When looking for a wardrobe armoire that fits the French/European style, look for those that are made of wood. They should also have drawers on the bottom with a cabinet at the top. New ones can be made to look antique with just a few tricks that can be found online which are quite easy to do.

The first time anyone goes out furniture shopping, their jaw usually drops at the price of the individual armoire. Even for a cheap furniture set, the price tag on that one item can be well over $500. While there are less expensive options, when someone is in the home that they plan on spending the rest of their lives in, they want everything in it to be special. When the time comes to get your permanent furniture, here are a few reasons to justify the purchase.

Many times, situations will dictate what anyone is able to purchase. The funny thing is that many people will still spend more than they can afford just to have a decent looking piece of furniture. If the future of the armoire is a garage sale, why spend the money now? Go with a cheaper alternative, like a portable armoire, until the time is right.

Looking at expensive armoires, the first thing that anyone will notice is the immediate jump up in quality. Many of the cheaper models will be nothing more than a fancy finish and particle board. This is something that will not hold up and will eventually have to be replaced. The better models will be made from solid wood and will last a lifetime. As long as there is no style change in bedroom sets, the wardrobe armoire will never have to be replaced.

In addition to just flat out being a better piece of furniture, they are usually much more attractive and richer looking. People will immediately recognize the quality of the piece because the stain will hold true and it will last over time. Cheap armoires will chip and deteriorate over time. As long as they are cared for properly, an expensive armoire will look as good in twenty years as it does the day it is brought home.

How about buying an expensive armoire because you deserve it?

Sometimes buying something nice just makes us feel better about ourselves. This is not a TV that will burn out or a phone that will be obsolete in a few years. This is something that will be featured in the home for the rest of our lives. If there was ever a room in the home that deserved the very best, it is surely the bedroom.

Everyone is very familiar with the traditional 2 door armoire that is many bedrooms across the globe, but when a different look is desired, a 3 door wardrobe armoire will do the trick. This unique piece of bedroom furniture puts a different twist on a traditional piece, but the look is not just for design. The extra door gives some much needed shelving to allow the armoire to serve its true purpose as a wardrobe closet.

The HomemartAmerica 3 Door Wardrobe Armoire is featured on Amazon.com for $309.99. It has a very modern looking black finish that is ideal for a bedroom with a lot of sharp lines and that shuns the look of traditional furniture. If modern is your thing and oak stain does not have a place in your heart, this is the perfect wardrobe closet to finish off the bedroom. This exact model is also available in Mahogany ($289.00) and White Maple ($199.99).

Pandora also has a very affordable and beautiful 3 door armoire. The Pandora 3 Door Wardrobe PAN3203 (HS) has a Mahogany finish, mirror on the inside of the third door, hanging rod, 2 additional drawers and plenty shelving in the extra compartment. This is a business man’s dream as there is plenty of space for suites, folded shirts, shoes, ties and any undergarments. If a man wants his own closet that can have everything in a single space, this is it.

Another great 3 door wardrobe closet is the Ameriwood Wardrobe with 3 Doors ($369.90 on Amazon.com). The oak finish is nothing spectacular, but it is loaded with room. It is a little wider than most of the models that we have seen and also has the drawers moved off totally to the side. This allows for longer garments to be hung and is the ideal 3 door wardrobe armoire for the young lady that is looking to store her multitude of dresses.

While there are models out that the cost significantly more, such as the Mission Style 3 Door Wardrobe Armoire, there is really no need to spend that kind of money unless you are determined to do so. The more expensive models are not offering more space, just a higher grade of wood or better finish. If value is what you are looking for, any of the models reviewed above will do nicely.

Stand alone closets offer many benefits and users around the home.

First of all, one can strategically place them or orient them in the room to their liking. This means that if it works out best to place a stand alone closet directly on the side of the bed your wife wakes up, then you can do so. Or, if this means it’s best to place the stand alone closet in the corner of the room, well, you can place it there too, no problem.

Even if the stand alone closet, such as a wardrobe closet is heavy and bulky and can’t really rightly be considered a portable closet, they can be moved as needed, something that obviously can’t be said for closets built into the design of a home.

The stand alone closet also offers the potential for decor benefits than a normal closet cannot. The doors themselves can be fitted with mirrors or artwork. This is also true of the sides of the closet. The legs of the unit may be designed with some flair, suggestible of Victorian and other styles common in antique wooden furniture.

The top of the stand alone unit can be used to place photos and other items arranged thoughtfully. Many stand alone closets come with engravings or designs built into their frames, making them not just functional but nice to look at and complimentary to the rest of the decor in the home.

The quality you’ll find in a stand alone closet depends on how much money you want to spend. The available designs run the range from focusing on function over beauty (for instance, Rubbermaid closet systems) to focusing on both beauty and function. Certainly, the more money you want to spend usually equals a more elegant design, higher quality materials in both the wood and metals used, and extra features such as additional drawers and cabin work inside the unit.

Finally, let’s take a look at one more area in regards to stand alone closets. There’s also a large distinction here between different items that are all stand alone closets but are quite different from each other. Broadly you can think of three different types of styles here. In one corner you’ve got  stand alone wooden wardrobe closets, which are heavy, made of solid wood, and sometimes costing  upwards of thousands of dollars. Then you’ve got what’s called a stand alone portable closet, designed to be economical and mobile, sometimes even with wheels on the bottom. And finally you’ve got the stand closets that are neither a wardrobe armoire nor portable closets, but function in their design and look as something in between, but with limited mobility. These are more like modern day wardrobe closets but are cheaper and not made with as high quality materials as an armoire.

Some families were lucky to have an old fashioned, antique wardrobe closet – also known as an armoire, from the French term meaning “wooden cabinet”, passed down to them in the family tree.

And then other folks just collect them. Somewhere in between are people who simply appreciate them and would like to own one, without any intention of being thought of as an antiques collector. They are just someone with good taste, perhaps!

The good news is that while going out and finding an antique wooden wardrobe closet isn’t as easy as going to Target or Home Depot, locating an armoire isn’t all that hard. It can be even a bit of a fun adventure!

What are the best places to check? I’d first recommend doing it the fashioned way. This mean hitting up estate sales. These are coordinated sales events in which someones entire estate goes up for sale. The culture surrounding these estate sales increasing the chances of finding antique wardrobe closets. How so? Usually the individual whose estate is up for sale was an elderly individual, meaning they might have antique furniture by virtue of simply owning something their entire life. Secondly, many estate sales cater to upper class folks, further upping our chances of finding valuable furniture and antiques. Estate sales are also an excellent way to locate a wardrobe closet, get a hands on, close up look at it, and then place a private bid. This is certainly something you can’t do online!

After estates sales, I’d recommend looking in a close by corner. I’m talking about your average yard, garage, and family sales. Since this could theoretically be a tedious process of visiting dozens of yard sales, here’s a tip to speed it up: look the garage sales up online. Then, do a search for “wardobe closets”, “antique wardrobe closets”, “armoire”, “armoires”, and “antiques”. See what pops up with those search requests, as it goes through the items people casually list online in their yard sale post. Often, you will get many hits this way, and as such, can quickly narrow down which garage and yard sales you’ll actually want to attend. You might even find photos online and a price of said items.

Lastly, in the same vein as looking online at yard sales, the third and final method is to search your local Craigslist. Craigslist maintains pages for hundreds of cities, counties, and areas around the world. Even if you’ve never heard of it, most likely, you have a Craigslist page for your town. Here people sell thousands of items every day in free classified listings. Simply key in the same search terms we used in regards to yard sales (above) and see what you find. It’s also very easy to negotiate prices for items found on Craigslist, as most people aren’t so much trying to make a profit as they are simply getting rid of items.

Actually, there is one more method beyond the 3rd one above. You can always work with an antiques dealer. If getting an antique wardrobe closet fast and quick is your concern, and price isn’t so much of a problem, using a dealer is going to be a sure fire way to find high quality antique wardrobe closets. You won’t get a deal most likely, but you will probably get a quality piece of work, and come home in a single day with an attractive antique wardrobe closet!