23 Ways to Turn Your Garment Rack into a Genuine Piece of Home Decor

In middle school, I decided it was time to decorate my bedroom. Until that point, my parents had managed things—filling my room with baseline decor, like a bed and dresser. But at age 13, it was my time. And the first piece of decor I set out to purchase was a mannequin. Yep, like the kind of thing you’d find in a clothing store.

You see, I was really into fashion. And I dreamt of having a way to display my recently styled outfits for all to see.

I eventually got my hands on a mannequin, spent a few weeks dressing it, and then gave up. I quickly discovered it’s incredibly tedious to change an inanimate object in and out of clothing on the reg, and I realized there were other, more practical ways to announce my love of fashion through decor. One of the most convenient among them: the garment rack.

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Sure, garment racks are also the kind of thing you’d typically find in a clothing store. But unlike mannequins, they’re actually a practical way to store and display clothing—mostly because you don’t have to dress anything, but also because you can take hangers off and put them back on with genuine ease.

I ended up acquiring a garment rack sometime in high school, and I used it for everything. Every Sunday, I’d style the outfits I planned to wear that week and keep them on my rack. Before vacations, I’d use my rack to work through my getaway wardrobe until I reached pared-down perfection. And packing for college, I used my rack to compartmentalize my wardrobe: Stuff I thought I’d bring with me went on the rack, and stuff I thought I might not need stayed in the closet.

The options for organization were endless—plus I was able to display my love of fashion through bedroom decor, which is really what I’d wanted to do in the first place.

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Whether putting a garment rack in your room is a creative choice or necessity (I know how small New York City apartments can get) for you, there are plenty of ways to go about it. Here, 23 genuinely cute ways to turn your garment rack into a piece of home decor.