Untangling the scarf situation

Even collections can be optimized. I admit, hoarding scarves might be off-brand for me, but I do love (and sometimes even wear!) them. You know what’s on-brand, though? Designing and building a super-custom, super-functional and super-pretty scarf display!

Iteration 1: Over-the-Door

My scarves used to be stored in an over-the-door clear shoe organizer.

In our previous Cambridgeport apartment.

• Pros. No permanent installation (great for rentals)! Easy to take scarves out and put back.
• Cons. Looks messy and is hard to find scarves when pockets are overflowing with 2+ scarves apiece. Installation requires a door far from sunny windows.

Iteration 2: Curtain rod

Constraint #1. The only door in our upstairs master bedroom was flooded with light, so I worried about the scarves fading there.
Constraint #2. There wasn’t a good spot for my scarves in our new clothes wardrobe, either!

Two , one ?! We also had a super-ugly (but in a dark corner!) furnace access panel right next to the bed. SOOOO…

I put up a curtain rod to hang my scarves on instead.

• Pros. Pretty enough! Easy to see all scarves at once. Covers the ugly furnace access panel.
• Cons. Hard to put scarves back, and looks messy when I try. Accessing the panel also required taking all scarves off…

Function » form, always. You know me. If accessing the furnace and the scarves was a pain, we needed a better solution.

Iteration 3: Custom swivel arms!

I bought a strip of primed 1x4” wood from Home Depot , cut it to size (79”), painted it to match the wall , then screwed in 2.5” hinges, spaced ~1.5” apart, and attached 8” stainless steel hooks to each hinge with double-sided, heavy-duty adhesive tape and 3mm Chicago screws/buttons/rivets.

Since I attached the entire contraption to the wall using 18” French cleats, I can lift the organizer off the wall if needed for furnace access!

CHECK IT OUT! I left every fourth hook empty to (1) accommodate an expanding scarf collection and (2) so that the scarves I had covered the length of the wall. I also put white(r) scarves closer to the window just incase they got more light exposure.

Andddddd I can easily fold over the hooks to access scarves one at a time and put them back without making a mess!

Cost

Totally worth it! And even better, it turned into a fun little afternoon project with my kids. What could be better?

Shilpa Kobren is the Associate Director of Rare Disease Analysis at Harvard Medical School where she focuses on analyzing genomic sequencing data with patient clinical information to derive insights into human diseases. Shilpa lives in an 1890s urban apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and two energetic toddlers. She retains her sense of peace amid the chaos by creating and iteratively improving systems that optimize daily efficiency in her family's constrained living space.