After swapping my vanity and dresser for one low dresser with a mirror, I had more space in my tiny bedroom but lost the perch for my perfume cabinet. I hadn't been completely satisfied with the perfume cabinet, anyway. It was too deep, making it difficult to see — let alone reach — the bottles in the back. Plus, it was completely made of glass, so I kept a heavy cloth over it to keep out the light. Ugly and impractical. But what better options are out there?
So begins (again) the search for storage for my hundred-plus bottles of perfume. This time I want to do it right and find a cabinet I can use as long as I wear perfume. It's time to set criteria.
First, I want a cabinet with shallow shelves. When shelves are too deep, it's easy to forget about bottles stored toward the back. When you do remember them, you have to puzzle through a Rubik's cube of rearranging to get to them without knocking over other bottles. Also, I want a solid cabinet. No windows and no need to construct goofy curtains to keep out the light.
Finally — and this is the toughest requirement — the cabinet needs to squeeze into a narrow space between a closet and a window. That means the cabinet must be tall to hold all my perfume, and yet not tip over. I could bolt the cabinet to the wall, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it. I'm thinking a cabinet built like a tall, skinny pyramid might work best. That way it's stable, and I can put a box of decants on the widest, bottom shelf. Of course, that also means it has a larger footprint and steals more space from my train compartment-like bedroom.
On the bright side, after I unloaded my old cupboard onto the bed, I discovered lots of perfume I'd neglected. For instance, Balmain Jolie Madame. I love that fragrance! How could I forget its burst of green, then leathery violets? I wore it the next two days straight. And Niki de St Phalle! Just in time for spring. Plus, my bottle of Parfums de Nicolaï Sacrebleu had been hidden behind a wide Jean Desprez Bal à Versailles for months. That's what I'm wearing today. Unfortunately, the top layer of bottles from two jam-packed boxes are all I'll be able to wear until I get my perfume into its new cabinet. Whenever that may be.
What perfumes have you recently and joyously rediscovered? How do you store your perfume? Have you figured out some clever solution you can share?
Note: image is My BPAL Box [cropped] by Meggrs at flickr; some rights reserved.
Nothing idea-wise to share. Mine are all crammed into a 3-level, curio cabinet that sit on top of a desk in my room. Because 3 of the sides are clear glass, I have to “front” the light-facing side with either empty bottles or “lesser” scents. What do not fit are jammed into the sides of my dresser drawers or sit in boxes piled on the floor of my closet. The CEO is becoming more annoyed each day as weekly packages of new scent acquisitions arrive.
On the other hand, I’m happily wearing the reformulated version of Arpege edp. I acquired it early last year and the little clear glass splash bottle has been languishing in the back corner. I can see it easily but getting to it is a different issue. Recently I decanted some into a little sprayer and decided to wear some today as I try out the Chanel LE BdI and CdR on each wrist. I’m falling in love with this Arpege all over again and wondering why I haven’t paid much attention to it in the past. Even my vintage square bottle of perfume sits in its box, languishing while I’m out on on the quest to try new fragrances, seeking the next HG. How silly of me!
It sounds like you’ll need a new perfume storage unit soon, too!
I’m glad you rediscovered Arpege. It seems fitting, the link of a musical term with OperaFan.
I bought a bookcase at Ikea–the widest I could find. You get the option of buying extra shelves, so I did.
The lowest shelve is filled with large cookbooks and magazine to keep the bookcase stable.
Because the shelves are a bit deep, I have created a step at the back of each shelf by placing old paperbacks on their side. Each shelf hold one olfactory family. The back portion (on the step) is for the out of season bottles, so I do a rotation twice a year to rediscover my treasures (and to dust).
For light control, the bookcase is located inside my tiny walkin closet.
So glad you mentioned the Niki de St Phalle. It’s one of my favorite!
Oh yes! My samples are kept on my dresser (also in the walkin) in extra large brandy snifters, the kind that were popular in the 70′ they were sold at most flower shops with a rose floating inside.
Or set on the top of pianos at bars for tips?
A bookshelf is great since the shelves aren’t super deep. Great idea! My closet is crammed with other things or I’d have my perfume in there for sure.
Love the idea of the step created by books, I think I may use that!
That sounds perfect. I love that you could buy extra shelves, and your books-steps is fabulous idea too. Books and perfume, my two favourite things.
My recent rediscovery is Dzongkha, which I find perfect for early spring.
Storage-wise, I keep my bottles in an Ikea white metal cabinet (Ikea PS is its name), tall and thin, divided in two compartments with many adjustable shelves. It has to be fixed to a wall, but it’s very handy and it’s the best thing I’ve found, reasonably priced, to store my stash in a supersmall room.
Does it have doors? I’m going to check that one out. We have an Ikea close by.
Three cheers for Dzongka!
Yes, two separate doors with key. The one I have (but it’s no longer listed on their website) was born as a cd and dvd storage unit and has holes on the doors that you close up by inserting cd cases of your choice. The one they sell now is not meant for that usage and seems even better, same measures. Hope this helps!
Yes, thank you!
Ha! I’m guessing I’ll win the award for “Most Ghetto Storage Solution!” I was storing my bottles in the bathroom medicine cabinet until I read here that I’m supposed to avoid heat and light. I didn’t really have an alternative, though. Best I’ve been able to come up with (for free) was an old soup stock-pot with a tight-fitting lid! Advantages are that it’s heavy, so pretty good for temperature regulation, keeps bottles out of the dark, and it’s sorta vaguely interesting sitting on a low cabinet in my room. Downsides is that I’m already running out of space, and it requires that I remove bottles from the top, which can be difficult depending on the shape of the caps! Oh, and it’s kinda ugly!
My samples are arranged in a wooden flatware organizer I picked up at Goodwill and a variety of votive candle-holders and shot glasses (for the ones I don’t want to lay on their side for fear of leakage). Again, not exactly ideal but cheap and vaguely functional.
I’m *definately* on the lookout for something more functional and preferable more stylish than both of these solutions! However, as I live alone, rarely have company, and would rather spend my money on perfume than cabinetry, I suspect these will remain for some time!
Urm. . .”keeps bottles out of the LIGHT” that should say. . .
Hey, a soup pot is pretty creative! What’s going to happen when you want to make soup, though?
We had built-ins put in the closet for my husband’s shirts. I’ve taken a couple of the cubbies for perfume storage. Although they are deep, I have the bottles lined up and organized so I know what’s there. My samples are divided by company/perfume type in various containers (with a little note under the container generally describing the contents). I’m pretty happy with the system and like the surprise of coming up on a sample I haven’t used in awhile. However, if this keeps up, my husband is going to have to get rid of some shirts….LOL!
It would be perfect to have a custom built-in in a closet for perfume (although the shirt cubbies sound like they’re working out.)
I took myself to The Container Store this weekend because I needed a new “storage solution” for my perfume samples. I just got a big plastic bin with a lid and some separate compartments to fit inside so there’s some semblance of organization.
As for my full bottles … people will be shocked and appalled but I just keep them out on my dresser (actually they are spread across two dressers, three if you count the bottles on my homme’s dresser, which are mostly his). Our bedroom is pretty dark because the blinds are almost always closed and all we really do in there is sleep. So far I haven’t had anything turn. When we move I plan to investigate moving them into a cabinet of some type.
Oh! And today’s rediscovery: I wore L de LL for the first time in months, after reading a commenter here say that her bottle turned. Love it! Can’t wait for summer when it really shines.
Terrific! I can’t wait for spring, either.
Ditto, really. I keep mine on my dresser bc I have nowhere else to put them, but it’s on the far side of the room from the window. It also faces east, so it gets just the early morning sun if I *do* open the blinds. And I rotate my bottles by season, so the warm weather scents are currently snuggled in the boxes in one of the drawers, waiting for spring.
How nice to be able to admire your bottles from the bed!
Mine are also all spread out on top of both my dresser and bureau away from direct sunlight. All the bottles abut each other and there isn’t room for even one more bottle (which is good as I don’t have any $$$ right now anyway)!
I wonder if anyone makes “dresser top extensions”…
Yes, I did. Bought nice clear plastic boxes in MUJI (kind of Japanese Ikea). Boxes are small, like a jewelry box (that’s their original purpose), have two drawers. Special grey plush inserts with more compartments can be bought for peanuts. Boxes are stackable, yet stable, due to thickness of clear plastic. even looks stylish. and they can be bought for a song. I bought them in London and dragged back home to Croatia in a suitcase. Perfect for samples. The first drawer right underneath is reserved for full size bottles, with option to split into the next one below.
Very clever! Practical, too.
If your bedroom is dark enough, why not have them out? I shut off the furnace vent to my bedroom, but it’s too light. It sure would be nice to be able to look at them all, though.
Hi Angela, great topic and thanks for the reminder of the Niki de Saint Phalle — what a great spring scent! My storage solution isn’t perfect, but it works OK for me for now: In my bedroom, I have an antique five-drawer chest. One and a half drawers are set aside for samples/decants arranged in a compartmentalized honeycomb-like divider/holder I found at Bed, Bath & Beyond (was marked to hold socks, scarves, etc.). The other 1 1/2 drawers hold boxed and unboxed bottles (sectioned off by perfume house), with a corner earmarked for scents set aside for giveaways, swaps, etc.
A dresser is nice solution. You probably know the tops of perfume bottles better than most people now!
I have my collection in a couple of dresser drawers, too. I keep the bottles in their boxes (if I have them), so they’re easy to identify from above. Samples and minis are in a couple of antique sectioned wooden boxes I inherited from my mother-in-law, who was the most stylishly organized person ever to walk on this planet. Come to think of it, she also gave me the dresser, too, which is painted a gorgeous ochre with paintings of fruit on the drawers and little display shelves next to the mirror. I love it.
Well, you’ve done well to inherit such gorgeous and practical things!
Have a question about storage- I was told to keep it on the door of the fridge. Is this wrong? Any help greatly appreciated. 🙂
My fridge is always so overcrowded with junk (my sister’s not mine!) that I hate to even think of mixing my precious fragrances in with that. I do sometimes keep a large bottle of a cologne like 8711 in the fridge during the summer for a nice spritz cool-off when the Midwest heat & humdity sets in. (I really should just keep my fragrances in our basement. It is perfect wine cooler temp down there!)
Seriously considering the comments about the mini-fridges. Hmmmm.
I keep Jean Nate in the fridge for the same reason.
yep, I started out keeping perfumes in the fridge…eventually a few things occurred —paper labels were ruined from condensation and what I have to assume was some pretty wild red-kool aid pouring—then I noticed that some perfumes at low temps “settle” and components will separate so you need to plan ahead to let the bottle warm up for a while before spray (like I’ve got time for that!) and then lastly…I had too many bottles and my family kicked me out of the fridge. *harumphfff!*
I’d be freaked out if I saw my perfume separating! Thanks for the warning.
As with preservation issues with most things books, photos, disks, etc – the most important thing if you cannot keep items in *perfect* storage, is to keep the environment as consistent as possible all year round.
Wild fluctuations in temperature are more harmful than anything. Being wishy-washy and putting fragrances in the fridge and then taking them out again is more harmful than keeping them someplace dark and relatively consistent with temperature throughout the years. A basement storage area is really the best solution for the average perfume nut. After that, a dark drawer or cupboard or storage box. If you have a regulated temperature in the house all year round, that is OK too. Few of us live someplace where the temperatures inside the house are going fluctuate more than 10 – 20 degrees throughout the year. We are pretty similar to our bottles – few of us want to be in super hot or super cold conditions.
Such great advice! I’m lucky enough to have a basement. I suppose what I should do is keep at least part of my collection down there (although it’s sad not to have it upstairs near me!) Then I could use a smaller cabinet, too.
I don’t know the particulars in terms of optimal temperature, but I do know some serious perfume lovers who keep their rare perfume in the fridge, so you’re in good company.
I’ve heard stories about condensation ruining labels of fridge-kept fragrances. But I admit to keeping my small bottle of Annick Goutal Petite Cherie (famous for degenerating quickly) in the fridge. 2 years now, no turning. But it doesn’t have a paper label, either.
That’s a great record for Petite Cherie!
agreed. I keep Petite Cherie and Calyx in the fridge still….because they like it there. Everything else is in cabinets….and now there’s plenty of room for Gator Ade in the fridge…sigh.
So true. Gatorade just doesn’t smell as good as Miss Dior. Not even Wildberry Blue.
Would you take a shot at building something yourself – a plain, shallow cabinet to your specified dimensions? Or do you know some handy-type who could do it for you?
You know, I’ve seriously thought about it, and that just might end up being what I do!
It’s a viable option.
We’ve been looking for bookcases for our family room for aaaages, and haven’t found anything both appropriate and reasonably-priced. Then we mentioned it to a friend with a workshop, and he’s going to make them for us.
My bf designed and made built-in bookshelves for our library (originally a small dining room) three years ago, some years after we’d first thought of it. He did all the carpentry work, we both painted the cases and walls. Success! Of course we both wished we’d done it long before.
Isn’t that so often the case? (At least it is with me!)
Nice!
Oh! that’s a very nice idea….plus bolted to the wall with good support underneath is a must –those bottles get heavy!
We have a built-in mini-fridge in our master bath, originally intended for frivolous things like champagne and half and half but now wholly devoted to fragrance. I don’t want my half and half to taste like Derby, anyway. Les Exclusifs de Chanel are too large to fit, but luckily they came with nice light-tight boxes, so they sit on my dresser. Samples are unceremoniously stuffed into Ziploc freezer bags and stashed in a drawer. DH offered to make me a test tube-type rack for them, but I don’t think he realizes just how many samples I have. 😉
What a nice and accomodating DH you have!
I count myself lucky…but I don’t push my luck. I space out the sample orders and perfume purchases as much as I can!
That’s perfect! Now we need homebuilders to wake up to the special master bath perfume fridge.
Actually, that would not be so hard to do. There are mini-fridges designed for built in bars, and even refrigerators that are built like a two drawer file cabinet. I don’t know if they require a plumbing line (for drainage of coolant), or if any come with the option of a cabinet style front. With a little imagination, it should not be too hard to figure out how to integrate one into a bedroom or walk in closet design.
It seems like the most important elements would be space and a grounded outlet.
You are absolutely right. All bathroom outlets have to be grounded and rated for moisture. Our mini-fridge does not require a separate water line. They’re surprisingly affordable. One even could get a dorm-sized version and hide it under an Ikea end table in a bedroom. Voila! Scent storage!
Or–and the idea factory is just revving up–we could adhere carpet to the minifridge’s sides and turn it into a cat scratching post! O.K., maybe under a table is a better idea….
I have a a bookcase in my home office which I dedicate to my two obsessions – Swatches and frangrance. The shelves are deep but since the shelves are book/album heigh – I can look back to see everything.
Here is a picture so you can see what I mean –
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/199548_10150116711166924_642591923_7175770_8131405_n.jpg
I am completely drooling over your collection. What do you friends think when they see your display?
Oh wow, I love this! Thanks for sharing the picture–it’s inspiring. How nice to be able to feast your eyes on your collections.
Wow…. thoroughly impressed!
When you said Swatch, I thought you meant fabric swatch. lol I love Swatches! In fact I think I see a couple that bear strong resemblance to ones I had in the ’80s! Lovely display. This is ideally what I would like to do with my fragraces, so that I can enjoy them all the time.
LaMaroc, I had the exact same reaction! Ha!
Gotta say, it would be lovely to be able to enjoy my bottles like that!
Oooh, just lovely!!
gorgeous! I would stand there for hours!
Thanks for the photo! I could look at photos of perfume bottles all day. Do you worry about the light getting to them?
Never have a I seen so many swatches…. I’m stunned!
and I want to know which Frederic Malle that is on the top shelf….
That pic captures everything a collection should be! intriguing, colourful and dazzling.
That is one really lovely, well-kept collection 🙂
My fiance (does anyone else hate that word?) is a furniture designer and made me a perfume box for Christmas. It’s pretty cool, when you lift the lid it raises the floor of the box so you can access your perfumes and a light turns on from below. My samples, however, are shoved willy nilly around the house.
That is what I would love to do. Just go into a custom furniture shop and speak with a designer and see what I could get.
Wow — that sounds amazing.
I love it! I need to design something and have someone build it for me.
Hey, you can always call him your Honeybun. Or Tool Master (he might like that.)
this is where we all need to consider Miz Kitty’s Perfumidor idea….
She needs to trademark that!
Want to see a pic!
Yes, yes, picture please! It sounds amazing,
That sounds AMAZING! what a lucky girl you are!
I’m afraid my dear CEO thinks duct tape is an acceptable building material….*shuddering *
I do hate that word too, unfair there isn’t another one. “Guy I’m engaged to” doesn’t have the same feeling, makes it sound unfortunate.
Mine gave me a plastic tackle box for the samples and its GREAT. Now I just need 10 more. But your box sounds lovely, one of many custom gifts in your future!
Tackle boxes are a great solution for samples!
so are ammo boxes. I use the big shotgun shell boxes (Plano molding company 12/16 gauge) for my 5ml decants.
I despise that word too! It’s so pretentious sounding especially if one’s fiance drinks beer and watches football.
And whose guy doesn’t? At least one of the vices–beer OR football.
I am lucky to have a huge bathroom closet that stays pretty much the same temp year round. There’s no shower or bath tub so there’s no humidity and it’s in a nice corner of my townhouse that isn’t exposed to any outisde walls. This is where I store all of my out of season fragrances. The in-season ones I store in an basic MDF cabinet with three shelves from Target that sits in my bedroom next to my closet. All of my samples are stored in old glass candle holders (cleaned out) of various sizes and stored in the top drawer of my dresser. I really would love to have just a consolidated, dedicate “perfume cabinet” though!
I just finished updating my Full Bottle spreadsheet. This is for all bottles 10mls and up (so it includes travel size but not minis). I currently have (drumroll) 237 FBs. And I have to say, when I look at my list I’m not happy with myself. I should love each and every bottle there, but a good half of them are bottles I’m very “meh” about. I’m cursing myself for buy those three bottles and not *one* LE Chanel! tsk tsk!
Sounds like you have a great system!
I know what you mean about confronting those bottles that are just o.k. but not mindblowing. I always mean just to buy things that rate between and 8 and a 10 on my person 1 to 10 scale, but it’s amazing the number of 6s and 7s that sneak in there.
I have two min-frig’s. The kind you buy at Costco. I keep them both at the max temp, which is about 49 F degrees. Just under the 54 F used by the Osmotheque Paris. I love having a safe, dark,cool place to store my juices. I have FB in one and decants/samples in the other. Makes perfect sense to me.
The FB are organized by house in separate plastic tubs. One for SL, for Creed, for Parfums de Nicolai, Diptyche, Chanel, etc and Mainstream. The less notable or oddballs are on the doors, arranged basically by age.
The decants for daily use are in plastic tubes by fragrance type: Warm, Cool, White floral, Chypre, Woody, Citrus, for easy location by mood.
The samples are in sealed bags by note (Fig, Almond, Vetiver, Iris) or by House.
I really wish I could buy blanks (I know there’s a name for them- bottled filled with water, not fragrance, for photography) of great bottles to have on my bathroom counter. No way will I subject a beautiful fragrance to the light, heat, and humidity of the bathroom just so I can admire the pretty bottle.
Hi Ikat, do you mean factices? Some of those are just gorgeous
and if empty, you could fill them with colored water.
Yes, thank you Ann, that’s exactly what I was looking for.
I just googled for Buy Factices and ZOWWIE- they are phenomenally expensive. Actually cheaper to buy the bottle+juice and empty the juice into something else.
Prowl eBay for empty perfume bottles. Some are still expensive, but others go fairly reasonably.
You’ll just have to use them up faster so you can fill them for display!
Ikat, you’re right, the factices or dummies are often expensive, being larger. But you can often find empty bottles on ebay that are not very expensive. You could try searching for your favorite perfume name plus bottle (e.g., dix perfume bottle to find an empty Le Dix bottle).
I should note that I decant my favorites into 5 or 10 ml decorative spray bottles that I purchased from Alice-Aliya to use as a daily or travel spray. No one ever said collecting fragrances was a cheap hobby……
You are astonishingly well organized! I’m jealous.
O.K., so it’s good to know that 54 degrees is the optimal temp, and that you can get pretty close with a minifridge!
Hi Angela,
I use a shoe holder that hangs over a door. It’s on the linen closet door outside our bathroom which does not get any use from the kids. It has clear plastic pouches on it so I can very clearly see each bottle w/out rummaging around. My small samples go at eye level and I keep similar sample scents together but separated by bubble wrap in the same pouch.
I also tend to keep one or two full bottles of special favorites in my night-stand drawer (which is lined in a nice felt).
And I do have 3 full bottles on top of my dresser because the bottles are pretty and I like to display them. Can’t bear to hide them away.
Scent I forgot about and am enjoying again is EL’s PC JWM.
I fear I don’t have enough doors in the house to handle my collection, but I think that’s a really great solution for someone with a mere few dozen bottles. I hope people are taking notes out there.
I counted a combined 96 bottles and sample bottles in my shoe rack! Seriously I had no idea I even had that many! Holy crap!
That shoe rack holds a lot more than I imagined! So it really could be a good solution for someone with a sizeable collection.
I am having the same conundrum. Right now I have my fumes mostly in a couple of drawers, but they are running out of room. I have a small mirrored night-table sized set of drawers that I may have to let go of in favor of a cabinet of some kind. Either that or something I can stack on top of it. I might just do that for the time being, because is it a favorite piece of furniture.
A mirrored nightstand is just too glamorous to sacrifice! There must be another solution. Keep reading, maybe someone has found it.
When we re-do our closet space, I’ll have a shelf available for full bottles and larger decants. I think it will be fairly full right away so I’m considering buying one of those step-like expandable shelves often used for spices. This would keep the back two rows elevated enough to see the labels but the plastic look of the step shelving would be mostly hidden by the bottles.
This project is somewhat far down on our list of things to do, but it gives me a bit more motivation to hurry through some of the other unexciting stuff to get to the closet sooner.
Yes, spice shelving was one of my thoughts when considering an economical alternative to my soup pot! 🙂
The kitchen-themed perfume collection!
I bought one of those spice shelves and used it for a while until my collection got out of hand. They’re great, though.
Angie: have you been to that warehouse store in the Pearl District that sells everything under the sun from China, Indonesia, India? They have some fantastic cupboards, even narrow ones the last time I was there. I was tempted to buy a big wooden pharmaceuticals cabinet till I calculated the shipping cost to Seattle (easier and cheaper to ship one from Thailand)! Also, DO bolt your cabinet to the wall…we’re in earthquake territory. Though I guess there are worse ways to die than being crushed by cascading perfume bottles, and the obit could be quite something: “Drenched in fine vintage perfumes, Angie S was simultaneously crushed and drowned by her beloved perfume collection in yesterday’s shaking!” HA!
LOL! Kevin!
Maybe it’s a plot for a soap opera? The lovely and mysterious new heiress (or is she?) in town is knocked on the head by her cascading perfume collection during an earthquake (or was it?), leading to amnesia! Will we ever know her true identity? 🙂
….The search dogs were unable to find her because they were distracted by the funk of the MKK….
😀
…(or will we?)
Oh, and I meant to comment that I love that place, if I’m thinking of the same one you are! I’ve always wished I had some excuse to buy one of those lovely Chinese cabinets will all the little square drawers. . .not right for perfume, but so lovely!
Oh, a gorgeous Asian chest with a big tassel tied to its handle! That would be very nice. I’m starting to wonder if I should take out something in my office and put my perfume there. Then maybe I’d have room for a regular cabinet.
And yes, I guess I should bolt it down….
As a native Californian, I can’t imagine having bookshelves or any kind of case furniture that isn’t bolted to the wall.
Yes, it’s the safest. But, ugh, the work with the drill and special screws and everything.
I’m hoping for inspiration here myself. I’ve got my samples and decants organized in plastic storage boxes, in separate baggies marked by house/creator. But my larger decants and bottles are on top of my dresser, on top of a trunk, and on top of the entertainment unit in my bedroom – also in a large plastic underthe bed storage bin (DH does not know about that one – not reading this, are you honey?) I need a better solution myself, but we’re space challenged at present. I’d love to get a nice big bookcase – actually I have those, but they’re filled with books. Sigh.
I have 6 bookcases in my tiny house, but they’re full of books, too. I’m not quite ready to swap books for perfume, but it’s mighty tempting. I could put something under my bed to boost it up and maybe slip an underbed tub down there. A thought.
Do you have a paperback section? You could store your out-of-seasons behind the paperbacks. Just scoot all your books to the front of the shelf – as libraries do – and you’ve got nice dark and probably insulated space behind.
Brilliant! You’re so right!
I got a wonderful cabinet at World Market. It has three shelves on the right side, somewhat deep, but not horrible, and three nice, deep drawers on the left side – perfect for tall bottles and boxes.
I had a peek to see if I could link to it, but couldn’t find it – however, they have some nice stuff that might just be the ticket.
I forgot to mention that there is a door with a magnetic latch on the side with the shelves, providing a nice dark environment for my collection.
It’s not a tall cabinet, but it’s a nice ritual to sit down on the floor in front of it to choose what I want to wear each day.
A door makes a huge difference. I hated my ugly blue cloth.
I’ll have to check out their website–thanks!
As a very new perfumista, I have not that many bottles, perhaps. Certainly not 100+, more like 20 FBs, then decants, samples, and minis.
I store mine in my dressing table, which has a lid with a mirror inside and two deep drawers. One contains my FBs, another one is full of samples. The mini stand inside the table under the lid (yes, I open it every day and close after use, so my minis are away from light. I put the Summer bottles toward the back of the drawer in the Winter, and the other way around.
I am going to expand a little and use the CD holding case for bottles, samples, decants, and packing materials. I don’t have it yet (still processing the order) but I’ll see how it works.
That sounds like a nice solution. Thank goodness for deep drawers!
I’ve done a great deal of investigation/consideration on storage for an overpopulation of beads (ranging in size from nearly microscopic to six inches in diameter) and here are some suggestions:
1. Typical cabinets are designed for plates or to show off a few fancy items; not serious storage for collectors of a lot of stuff.
2. Cabinetry with drawers or bins is a lot more expansive than shelving;
3. For sample collections, try researching “storage small parts” on the internet. You will find everything from industrial cabinets with fittings for bins, small shelves and and small drawers for small to tiny items. I have found AKRO plastic small drawer cabinets to be very useful. http://www.legacybeads.com/cabinetorderpage.html has craft cabinets with drawrs in various sizes; the larger sizes would be okay for bottles and the smaller drawers have inserts available which would probably be good for sample vials.
4. Another possibility which I investigated, bu did not pursue because of price, was “medical cart” techinology, which includes drawers and stands for small vials.
5. You can buy sturdy plastic bags by several hundred or several thousand count over the internet., as well as lots of those cardboard boxes or little cloth bags which jewelers use. Vials (or small bottles) can be placed in them and then packed in big plastic boxes.
6. Storage aint cheap, and there is never enough.
Thanks for the excellent primer! Perfect for sample storage.
Uline.com has all sorts of useful things – little ziplock bags, parts drawers, etc. Lab, museum and library supply places have storage systems for objects as well as books. Thomasnet.com has links to manufacturers of anything you can think of.
Oh dear. I could chew up hours looking at websites like these.
I used to collect beads – meant to make jewellery with them but have MANY more than will ever use. Plus, I dont even bead anymore… Actually, most of my dressing table, which has very deep drawers, contains flat plastic cases which are compartmented. Most of my beads are glass but I also have metal wood resin and stone and have them sorted by colour and material.
I just gave all my beads and jewelry-making supplies away. It was such a good feeling to get rid of it, knowing that it would be put to good use…rather than staring at me from my shelves!!!
I guess at some point thats what I will do. I had some really good stuff – swarovski crystal and semi-precious stones that I thought I would use once I was more experienced / :
This is a very important topic! Thank you for letting us discuss it.
I don’t have a good system at all. Most of my FBs (around 60), are in a cupboard. That means they are safe from the light and moderately from temp. changes, but it’s so hard to reach the ones in the back. I haven’t found a solution yet.
Many of my decants are in a lipstick organizer thingy, like what you’d see at the drugstore. That’s good for 70 decants, but the rest are just in a box. Such a mess.
My samples are in nail boxes from the hardware store, arranged by house, alphabetically. At least those are well organized.
I like the Ikea idea someone mentioned. I’ll have to go there soon!
I think I’d better check out the Ikea website, too, although I love Kevin’s suggestion of some sort of Asian-inspired cabinet.
I keep my perfume collection in a large soft close drawer which is perfect. I can see all the bottles and they don’t rattle around when I open and close the drawer. I need to get an organizer for my samples.
Samples can be a bear to organize. It seems like they multiply, too!
One reason I love the changing seasons is because I can rotate my “out of season” fragrances out of the decorative hatbox on my dresser top and back into the nightstand.
I just got my Terracotta Voile d’Ete out of the cabinet the other day while looking for something else, and it’s nice. (Wish it lasted longer, though.)
But I don’t want to even talk about samples storage. My already-tested samples are stored in plastic craft organizers – in the nightstand – but I’m lagging behind on the ones I haven’t gotten to yet.
A hatbox would be such pretty storage! The mad hatter would have to live with me for it to work with my ridiculously large collection. Samples are another question altogether…
Love the hatbox idea, Mals!
Hi Angela! I also have a narrow space for perfume storage and looked at all kinds of beautiful cabinets before deciding I’d rather spend my money on perfume, not on the cabinetry. I found the perfect set-up at Target -assembly required. There are several combinations to choose from so I bought a 3 shelf cabinet with doors and a 2 drawer section (for my perfume boxes). The 2 pieces sit one on top of the other. Plenty of room for my 100+ bottles. The decanting supplies are in a lidded box that sits on top of the cabinet.
You have such a good point about priorities and money! I’ll check out the Target options.
that sounds very good to me and as luck would have it….there’s a Target not too far from me….
Yup, that’s what I have in my bedroom for in-season bottle storage. The three-shelf cabinet with a door holds my bottles and a three-shelf unit without a door holds my perfumes still in boxes. (They’re in the darkest “espresso” stain.) Since they’re MDF/particle board, they don’t look terribly expensive but they are such good organizers for all kinds of things.
I keep about half my perfume in an old wooden stationery cupboard-husbands- but I am allowed a shelf at a good height so I can see what I have hidden at the back. The rest is stored in boxes, hidden in the back of the wardrobe so that no-one knows just how many bottles I own. Occasionally I swap a few over and discover bottles I had forgotten – Its like Christmas!
Isn’t it amazing the games we place with ourselves? I say I have 100+ bottles, but the truth is I have no idea how many bottles I have. Hey, maybe I have fewer! (yeah right)
you can always list them in a word document then format for numbering….it’s a shocker when they’re numbered
I’m not sure I can stand the shock!
I would, possibly, have a similar amount of bottles-which will never be emptied even if sprayed on as body sprays or squirted on each time I walk past the cabinet-its quite sad! I have been giving some away “to good homes”.
I’ve had the same thought about my own collection, and decommissioned a few bottles for the same reason….
I mean “deaccessioned” of course. Still working on my first cup of coffee.
I love reading about how everyone else stores their perfumes. Gives me ideas since I’m running out of space. I keep my full bottles on a shelf in my temperature controlled walk in closet. I store them in their boxes to make extra sure that no light hits them. Out of season scents are stored in a heavy cardboard box with dividers. My samples and decants were taking over though so I bought several ammo boxes – some big enough for 10 ml decants, a smaller size for 5 mls and even smaller to hold my 1 and 2.5 ml samples. Those are divided into Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. Any samples that are awaiting testing go into a test tube holder in one of my drawers. It’s not a test tube rack but rather what test tubes are shipped in to labs.
Not the best system ever but it’s working for now!
I keep my samples–at least, some of them–in ammo boxes, too! After a while, I ran out of ammo boxes and never replenished my supply, so they all went into labeled plastic shoeboxes.
I have a medium sized wooden dresser; All my perfume bottles, make-up, jewelry and other accessories occupy the top drawer and my clothes occupy the other three drawers. It works for me because my perfumes are in the dark but i’m kindof worried for summer because it gets really humid in my small apartment. Also another downside is constantly re-arranging my other stuff to accommodate my vast collection of perfume bottles lol! I haven’t really rediscovered anything i like to keep all my perfumes in rotation or by mood.
I worry about temperature in my bedroom sometimes, too. It’s only for a few weeks a year that it’s pretty hot. I guess I could move things into the basement if it got too scorching. It sounds like you’ll soon need a new arrangement, too!
Angela – I currenlty use the top drawer in a very large chest of drawers to store all mine but the very tall (Kenzo) and the very short and stumpy and weird shaped. It sounds to me like you need to track down one of those types of DVD storage towers with a door on it. DVD’s ar about 7″ tall or so and about 4-5″ wide. Just tall and deep enough that you won’t have to dig in the back. With so many people ditching their DVDs, it seems like you would probably be able to find a used one relatively easy. OR you could just have someone custom build a more shallow styled “jelly cupboard”, which is normally a narrow, tallish cupboard with a door about 5-6′ tall. I am very patiently awaiting a hand me down jelly cupboard from my mom after they sell their house to move my collection into. Otherwise, to the drawer!
The last sad straggler I found was my bottle of Marielle Burani which got thrown in with the misfit shaped bottles, and was covered with some other perfume decanting supplies.
I love the jelly cupboard idea. I’ve never heard of one, but it sounds so old fashioned and charming. Plus, it sounds like a good size.
I use a jewelry armoire for my samples and decants,
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3958857
My FBs are displayed on mirrored vanity trays on my dresser. I only have about 40, and am not worried about light or temps ruining anything.
I don’t overlook anything, because I can see it all, and I have turned in to quite the bottle ho; I enjoy the entire ritual of perfume, and seeing all the beautiful bottles is part of that for me.
I’m jealous of your being able to see all your bottles. There’s something so nice about that. And it’s less likely you’ll forget something wonderful.
I started reading this list & immediately thought of this very product. It is very good for the people with deep shelves, as it raises the bottles in the back to a visible level. It is a much cheaper solution than having new cabinets custom built.
I wonder if you’re thinking about a spice shelf? They’re sort of like stepped shelves.
Media storage shelves are really the best if one has a dark room or everything in boxes. I’m finding that things are easier to find with those since the width is smaller than that of regular bookshelves. But I must say that even if the bedroom I keep my collection is darkened I still keep only the Montale or stuff in boxes on the shelves. Otherwise the ever unappealing big brown boxes which are ugly but make stuff fairly easily accessible.
The big brown boxes are what I’m working with now, so I know the feeling!
A few people have mentioned media shelves, and I really think you have something. The size is almost perfect.
I keep mine in an altar cabinet my husband built for me.
Angela, if you can find a carpenter who can build you a cabinet to spec, you will find that it was worth the expense. A piece of furniture dedicated to the purpose and made according to your requirements will give your perfumes the special space they deserve. 🙂
I’m sure you’re right, and I’ve already started sketching ideas. Even if I could take something already built and customize it…
My perfumes are all over the house. But the greatest bit of luck is there is actually an inset on a north facing wall that is about a foot wide and four feet high and maybe 5 inches deep in my bedroom. Perfect for perfumes and there’s room to add another glass shelf. Something like this could easily be done between two studs in a day (if you hire a professional).
That’s a perfect-sized space! Especially if it were against a wall that didn’t get a lot of sun.
I use the Expand-a-Shelf (like this: http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/cabinetOrganizers/upperCabinets?productId=10000696). I would like something prettier, but at least it is functional. You can fit numerous bottles in a small space and still be able to see everything. I should probably move it to a darker space. I recently purchased Petite Cherie, and I’m going to keep it in the fridge at all times and see how long it lasts.
I used to use one exactly like that, but my collection got out of hand, and I moved to a larger cabinet. It was really handy, though.
I have a 1920s flame mahogany secretaire / bureau type thing which I got for a very reasonable price from a second hand store. It’s not too deep (no more than 30cm), has lots of pockets and cupboards and drawers and a fold down table top which is very useful when I’m shuffling things around. And it holds an unbelievable amount of stuff (also has art supplies, stationary and other stuff in various parts!). Some of the old writing bureaus are fairly narrow and quite inexpensive while still being interesting in their own right. Of course, they’re dark inside and wood is a good insulator. I guess it’s probably not going to suit your needs but if people have a space and the time and willingness to hunt, it may be a good option for them too.
That sort of thing really appeals to me, because I love old furniture. My dream would be to stumble upon the perfect cabinet in a secondhand shop–like you did!
Rather than dressers, I have a pair of consoles from Pottery Barn (or Crate and Barrel, I get them mixed up), which are less deep than dressers. They look like they have small pharmacy drawers, although only the top row are actually small. Those small drawers are perfect for boxless bottles, decants and mini bottles. Of course, all the drawers are gradually being taken over by perfume. 🙂
I do agree that you should bolt whatever you get, but an interim solution is to use shims (wood or plastic – ideal for bookcases, too) that tilt the furniture back toward the wall.
I’ve thought about getting a consult from one of those closet companies (e.g., California closets). That might be a good way to get something semi-customized. Let us know what you decide!
What a great idea about using shims to tip a cabinet back slightly!
I’ve though about fitting shelves into my closet, against one of the side walls. The closet is pretty small, though, and there’s no light in there. Otherwise it would be perfect.
Based on the ads, I think some of these companies have branched out into cabinets and bookcases. Seems to me one should be able to have them something like a bookcase with exactly the shelves one wanted plus doors. That would be ideal!
So many good ideas mentioned here today! Makes me want to shop! I use a couple of entertainment center “towers” that I found at a furniture store clearance center …the shelves are a little deep but because they are glass it’s pretty easy to see everything and not too inconvenient to reach to the back. The front doors have a 6″ wide glass panel but I covered those on the inside with black felt from the fabric store. Each tower (at the top moulding) is 29″ wide.
Angela, I’d be happy to send you pictures but I don’t think they’re exactly what you’re looking for . But I understand that finding storage for 20 or 30 bottles has a wide variety of solutions…finding storage for 3-400 bottles presents a certain challenge….my own collection is around 400 not counting my back up bottles. I’m a perfume ho. 🙂
I’m swooning with pleasure thinking of your collection! I think the towers you mention would be too large for my space, but they sound like a brilliant idea–I especially like the idea of lining the inside of the window with black felt.
Angela, I strongly recommend that you ask Daisy to see her photos. That’s all I’m gonna say….
Hint taken. As soon as I’m finished here, I’m sending her an email…
Two choices for u Angela. I do a mosaic class once a week and the lady who teaches the craft has built her own pyramid shaped cabinet…seems like u need to find a fellow crafty/arty friend to help u out for the space u need…Later, when you have a better space…only an antique asian cabinet for u!!!
So many great ideas..its been great reading all of them. I was so lucky to get a tibetan veeery old cabinet from my ceo for our 20 anni (He was hoping that organizing my fumes would be the beginning of the whole home….) well this cabinet smells of spruce..its amazing even after 90 years…it keeps cool because of the wood. I do however, still keep them in their boxes, which is a pity, cause I cannot really get the whole visual enjoyment of the perfume…I also have a dream, to have a whole perfume wall!!!!This would be a a total art piece?sculpture…it would have a sliding door(to blend with the room, covering it all day, with temp control. When opened, the lighting would go on and the display revealed…hah, now for the rest of the dream…to design the rest of the room….and the whole house!!!
I remember when you got your cabinet! What a wonderful gift. I love your “perfume wall” concept, too. That would be truly amazing.
My collection is under 30 full bottles. I keep these in a cupboard under the sink in the bathroom. It has a door, and I also keep them in their boxes. Unfortunately I’v realised the bottom of the boxes are getting sort of mouldy, so now I keep the plastic round the boxes too! I wish I could enjoy the display of them, but i don’t want others to know how many I have! Its a little illicit because I do not have a full time stable job and really shouldn’t spend so much on scent. I only have about 7 minis which I keep in a pedestal drawer, and probably less than 30 samples, so I keep these in pouches and zipped make-up bags…
If you’re out of work, so much more the reason to enjoy your perfume out in the open! You need the encouragement of seeing something beautiful.
( :
I was always worried about putting my frags into the fridge in case of separation or food odours etc, so i got an old wine cooler fridge from a friend who didnt want it any more. It has tinted window on the door which keeps the light out & the temerpature is adjustable so it never gets too cold for condensation etc & can still keep a few bottles of wine on the bottom shelf!
Perfect! I’ve seen small wine coolers, which would be ideal for my most cherished bottles, but it would have to be a whopper of a fridge to accommodate the others.
Ah! Good question! I recently discovered my old love for Patchouli 24! It’s been ages since I’ve worn it, since my decant ran out. So I ordered a large decant (very reasonably priced) from TPC. Waiting with baited breath for its arrival! LOVE it. Never tried Jolie Madame……..will give it a go when next in Liberty’s. Are you referring to the vintage, or the current?
I hope you get the Patchouli 24 while there’s still some chill to the air–it’s such a warming fragrance, I think. I have the new(ish) Jolie Madame, and I like it just fine.
Hi, I’ve been on a similar search myself and while my collection is no where near as large as yours, I saw this on a perfume blog and just about died:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/roundup/creative-reuse-roundup-109244
Now the big problem is finding the darned thing which is a search in and of itself but much more focused. There’s an unfinished wood store where my parents live that I may have to poke around in. I’ve also thought about commissioning an etsy woodworker.
Someone sure likes her Chanel! That would be a good solution for the back of a closet door, too.
P.S. Right now I have an antique asian cabinet that I got while I lived in Seoul and it’s absolutely gorgeous. It can be locked and has butterflies and roses on it. At the time, I bought it with every dime I had and didn’t know how to say my address in Korean so it was quite an ordeal getting it to my place but it really is an ideal place to store jewelry and perfume. I installed those push lights to the top of each shelf so it’s pretty great. The problem with it however is that I love to see my perfume and my jewelry needs some more breathing room. Here’s a picture with a cute little model:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b5d730b3127ccecc4332a7ec3900000010O18AcNXLdw5ZNwe3nwk/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D1/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
What an amazing cabinet! There’s lots of room, too, it looks like. The model is especially adorable!
Oh, the cabinet is lovely, but the model is absolutley adorable!
Hmmmm, just realized that pictures like this might not be allowed. If not, I apologize, but you know what they say about pictures….
Photos are fine! Sometimes using tinyurl to shrink the links is useful, though.
Since I plan to live forever and I want my perfumes to last as long… mine are in their boxes and in a closed linen closet… 😉
But, like you… occasionally, I find something that gets hidden. Today I’m wearing Chanel No. 19 only because it got pushed to the back of the closet and I had forgotten how lovely it was…
To me, Chanel No. 19 must be the most elegant spring fragrance out there.
I’ve been wearing the heck out of it, as long as the weather is right for it.
I MUST get some!
Taking a break at lunch time and reading all of these wonderful ideas! Since I live alone, I’m able to commandeer the refrigerator, but that has its problems as well – the ultimate in deep shelves!
I get the following catalogue, and they always have lots of cabinets and shelves and at fairly reasonable prices:
http://www.homedecorators.com/index.php
Good luck!
I can go wild in those “organizing” stores, even though I’m a lousy housekeeper and not particularly orderly. There’s something so seductive about them!
Yep… perfect for spring and truly elegant!
You mean Niki de Sainte Phalle? I love it!
Angela, surely the cabinet of your dreams is waiting at Goodwill!
I got mine at Really Good Stuff for $35–had to clean it up, replace a shelf, and put in beautiful glass instead of the mirror. The bottles live there, and all the minis are in a little glass cabinet.
Both hang on the wall. The sad part is that if I acquire more bottles I will have to add an annex. I’ll see if I can post a link to a picture later.
Oh yes, I’ve started trolling the secondhand stores. Maybe I’ll get lucky like you did! You’re a lot more handy than I am, though.
I have four tiny vitrines for my minis. My Escada Summer L.E. collection gets a shelf in a bedroom with my Lolita Lempicka collection on another. The perfumes that I use are on two shelves in the bathroom with a few more on the counter and in a small holder under the mirror.
There’s a difference betwee displaying fragrances that one uses and displaying sheerly for their aestheic and historical values. For the latter, I have a Billy from Ikea. I replaced the wood shelves with glass. I wish the sides were glass too. It’s an important consideration in choosing a future vitrine to show my bottles. I display empties and factices wherever possible. From time to time, I change my displays on a whim as to chronlogical order or colour blocking. I try not to have too many bottles per shelf as less is more. I have tried to display just certain houses too but I can’t bring myself not to show some of my real beauties from various lines.
But I know you have a truly stupendous collection of bottles. It would be impossible to resist having them on display!
Babydoll,
you may know that this is a subject near and dear to me. I use an old armoire (will be refinished in the spring, whenever that is) and am getting El O to affix those pull-out glidey things, which will eliminate lost bottles. One tactical/practical suggestion (from someone who knows from this)…the cabinet dimensions you are describing are scary and I would highly recommend you rethink the bolt-to-the-wall. You can do it easier than bolts right into the studs. If nothing else, do an inverted H support – bolt it to the wall trim on the bottom and then you can do something as simple as good, solid pictureframe hooks up above. It will at least give you a fighting chance, should your tall, narrow cabinet suddenly get tired of standing upright. Heavy-duty picture wire can hold a lot of weight – do two separate spots on the back of the cabinet to give you two shots at holding the cab in place.
xoxoxoA
Armoire! Slidey shelves! That sounds truly marvelous, and the perfect solution for the deep shelf. I’d be tempted to put a chair in the armoire and pull the door shut after me.
Oh, I know you’re right about anchoring the shelf. If I do get something narrow, I’ll definitely make sure it’s sturdy. I have a man on call for that kind of molly-bolt duty.
Sorry for the typo as the comment decided (?) to post before I had a chance to proof-read.
I also wanted to say that the Swatch watch display would be so fantastic if they were shown vertically, perhaps hanging in some sort of order, maybe by year, on a board.
I have two grocery store cardboard boxes full of just Guerlains, as well as several shoe and other boxes of them. If only I could open a museum. Sigh!
Hey, maybe you should start a blog as sort of a bottle museum! Each day–or a few times a week, whatever is convenient–you could feature a photo of a different bottle and a little history about it. I know I’d be a faithful reader.
Me too!!
I have some suggestions for you!
http://www.biszet.com/english/products/products.html
The full-length one is great; you can have it fully recessed or only partially.
http://www.robern.com/product/line/%20detail.rbn?category=Cabinets&line=m_cold
I know there was another one, but forget who made it…
Or something like this… (you could fit fabric inside to cover the glass)
http://www.trendpulse.net/blog?page=3
It comes in 2 sizes:
http://www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/product.aspx/portobello+cabinet/-/portobellocabinet.htm?ps=search
Okay, too much glass, but hey, it’s lovely:
http://www.grahamandgreen.co.uk/product.aspx/glass+wall+cabinet/-/glasscab.htm?ps=search