Help me reclaim my door knobs for their intended use.

June 28, 2006 9:14 PM

Do you have a good way of storing your bags, totes and/or purses?

Right now I have more than a couple of bags (6, to be exact) that are hanging off of all available door knobs. I don't have a lot of room for storage which is why they got relegated to door knobs, but I don't like this because it looks kind of messy. Oh yeah, and it makes it hard to turn the door knob. heh

I know someone who bought a canvas hanging-shelves contraption and stores one bag per shelf, which they say works well, but unfortunately I don't have the closet space.

Does someone here have an ingenious method for storing their bags? Thanks in advance.

posted by moonshine to Grab Bag (24 answers total)

I try to put the smaller bags inside the bigger ones and work my way up; anything canvas or cloth and be squished. If you have leather goods, you really need to treat them right, so no smashing.
posted by tnoetz01 at 9:20 PM on June 28, 2006

bags inside bags! and then put the bag under your bed.
makes retrieval difficult but at least they disappear until you don't need them.
posted by amethysts at 9:21 PM on June 28, 2006

Store each bag in a successively larger one Russian nesting doll style. Hopefully you can get this down to one or two really heavy bags, which you should be able to throw under the bed or at the back of a closet.

On preview: see above.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 9:23 PM on June 28, 2006

I store mine in plastic bins on shelves in my closet.
posted by LoriFLA at 9:33 PM on June 28, 2006

ok, so we're all doing the little-inside-big, Russian Doll thing. I also hang them up on a closet hook, or on a hanger in a closet (a strong one).
posted by rmm at 9:33 PM on June 28, 2006

Mine are in a pile on a floor, but they're actually meant to be on a hanger in the hall closet. It's just a clothes hanger, but I hang bags on it. Sometimes. Usually they're on the floor, though. And one of them doubles as a cat bed, but that was never my intention.
posted by easternblot at 9:48 PM on June 28, 2006 [1 favorite]

There is always the 'under the bed' option. You can also put your extra linens, sheets, and comforters in the bads and then put the bags in the linen closet. (This is assuming larger bags such as luggage)
posted by galimatias at 9:56 PM on June 28, 2006

I buy over-the-door hooks and hang them from there. Basically the same as using doorknobs, but I find it looks nicer and keeps them away from the ever-present dog hair.
posted by youcancallmeal at 9:57 PM on June 28, 2006

Umm, bags, not bads. I can't spell. Long day . . .
posted by galimatias at 9:57 PM on June 28, 2006

Do you have an empy suitcase or trunk, or have e.g., end tables with storage areas where a few of them could be stashed?
posted by Cranberry at 11:33 PM on June 28, 2006

My doors fit too tightly in their frames for over-the-door hooks. The doors just refused to ever close. Argh.

What worked great is a 4 level clothes rack mounted from the hinges. No permanent damage, doors open and shut easily, and plenty of compact storage.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 12:07 AM on June 29, 2006

I use this handbag file from the Container Store. Takes up much less space than the hanging shelf type organizers.
posted by xsquared-1 at 5:07 AM on June 29, 2006

this works for me. it takes up far less space than a hanging shelf on your closet rod, but I actually hung mine up on some hooks inside my closet door.
posted by chelseagirl at 5:09 AM on June 29, 2006

I have a coat tree that I put mine on. And I have about 12 (backpacks, laptop case, messenger bags, purses).
posted by misanthropicsarah at 6:22 AM on June 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

I have a big beach bag that I stuff all my smaller bags into, and hang the beach bag from a hook inside my closet door. Similar to the nesting-doll idea, but I don't nest them all inside each other.
posted by tastybrains at 6:29 AM on June 29, 2006

my place has high ceilings, so i have shelves that run along the wall a bit higher than eyelevel, on which i have attractive bins in which i store purses, evening shoes, hats, and other things that i don't mind standing on a stepstool anytime i want to retrieve them. in my last place, i hung them on a coat tree in the corner, which was messy, but functional, and stacked the box purses on a shoestacker.

(i don't do the russian doll thing cause i lose tracks of them that way--yes, i have too many bags).
posted by crush-onastick at 6:40 AM on June 29, 2006

I put a vertical line of 8 medium "designer" Command strip hooks next to a door that I have my over the door shoe rack on. I hang a few bags on each hook. It gives me a place to hang my bag when I come in the door, it's visually interesting, doesn't take up too much space, and I can match my shoes to my bag.
posted by Juliet Banana at 8:14 AM on June 29, 2006

I use a leaning rack intended for magazine. I bought mine at Overstock but they are showing one similar here. I use standard pear-shaped shower curtain rings like these to hang the bags. I have enough room left over for scarves as well, and the whole thing is fairly attractive.
posted by AuntLisa at 9:44 AM on June 29, 2006

I've put up hooks at various heights on the back of a couple of closet doors and hang my most often used bags there. You can hang quite a few of them on one hook, as most lay flat, and still close the door (the gap between the back of the door and the shelves or items hanging in the closets is actually quite significant for me). I used screw in hooks, but those 3M ones might also work but probably carry less weight.

I've got probably 20 bags of various kinds hanging this way and the big bonus is that I can see most of them and swap around quite frequent. The less often used ones are stored in the closet all inside a larger duffel. Yes, I have a big bag problem.
posted by marylynn at 12:41 PM on June 29, 2006

A wall-mounted hat rack is great for this purpose as well as necklaces and bracelets. That's what my bentwood hatrack from the '70s is doing right now.
posted by wordswinker at 2:29 PM on June 29, 2006

Although I don't own this, these Handbag Hangers could work. If you use all 6 bags fairly regularly, it would be a good way to keep all of them handy.
posted by pricklypear at 3:31 PM on June 29, 2006

My wife has a pretty extensive collection of purses and bags, and we display them in a spare bedroom by just putting a grid of small nails in the wall and hanging them. The different length handles/straps make an attractively irregular pattern despite the regular grid.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:18 PM on June 29, 2006

Response by poster: Ooomph. Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I am going to go with the "russian doll nesting" suggestions and take a picture of what bags are in the bag because I have a bad memory.

And Easternblot, that's hiliarious.
posted by moonshine at 9:52 PM on July 5, 2006

I'm very lucky: my apartment has loads of closet space (and storage space in the attic. Plus my parents live not too far away.) I have one small closet with lots of small shelves and I've dedicated it as my shoe/purse closet. I feel like Kimora Lee Simmons! (minus the fabulousity)
posted by clairezulkey at 9:34 AM on July 6, 2006