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…

Read the rest of this article »