Fedora Hat storage

[Aureliano]

Aureliano good idea using the foam rings to stack the hats. The hanging rack is about the same size as your shelfs. As you can see in the second picture I have a open hanging rack for sweaters. My wife is an orgaization nut she grew up with a Navy senior chef for a father. Who still thinks we are all still in the navy. So everything MUST be ship shape at all times. If I leave a hat out of its place for too long it drives her nuts.
So with your foam ring idea I can get say 18 hats in each rack. In to order 5 more I quess. I have room in the closets for them all.

I'm like your wife and that drives mine nuts! glad to hear my idea helped you.

 

[HatsEnough]

My problem is that many of my hats are in boxes matching the hat model or manufacturer. I have about 20 hats in their original box (like the Strato, or the Penny Marathon box, or the Flagship, etc.). They take up a ton of space.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

I have the boxes for some of my hats I Just stack them on top of the bookcases in my den which is where my hat closet is. More for Deco than storage. Hat boxes have so many different shapes that they become hard to use if storage is an issues. We moved into a 4 bedroom Patio home an there are just two of us at home now so I have all the closets I need.

 

[Serial Hero]

Thanks for the great ideas. I've been looking for a good dust free way to store my hats.

-SH-

 

[hasselhoff]

I keep my hats on my drawer. Not very elaborate, but for now it does the trick!
I keep my tools on a nearby shelf.

 

[Oldsarge]

Gosh, what a lot of great ideas! I'm going to clear out a couple of shelves in the closet in the "library" for hat storage when I start acquiring better quality hats. Right now my wool felts and straws are more or less on their own!

 

[alanfgag]

self control

While I was out of town last week, my wife made me an anniversary gift... kind of an "us" present. I'd been looking to find some way of collecting my hats in one place - also keeping them out in view so I can see (remember) what I have and encourage a varied wearing rotation.

We have a spare bedroom that Donna uses as a sewing room and library for her costume design resource books. Years ago we had two shelving units in there but after a while sold one at a yard sale. Donna ran into the fellow that had bought the shelves years before and asked if he was still using them. She wound up buying them back and setting them up in the sewing room for my hats. She put a ribbon on it and surprised me on my return home, adding a small sewing box for my hat repair tools and brushes. It was a great present. For you young guys, we all reach a point in life where empty space (physical and mental) is worth it's weight in gold.

This past weekend I spent a little time getting organized. I wanted to get most of the hats out of boxes because I tend to forget what's in them. I left in boxes only the rare and fragile hats and the few where the box is clearly original. Donna got me some 1/2 foam, which I cut and stapled to make a support ring. It helps shoulder the weight of the stacked hats and protect the ribbons from damage.

It's a work in progress. There are still some additional hats scattered around the house. And I need to do a better job storing the summer straws. But now I can see what I have and decide what to wear a little better. Did I mention that I love my wife?

 

[HatsEnough]

Neat. Now beware that they get covered in dust.

By the way, the way I remember what's in a box (and I use mostly the tall three hat boxes) I put a slip of paper with the hats inside written on it tucked into the box and sticking down out from under the lids. I usually group the hats the best way I can. This three-hat-box is all Whippets, that one is all Open Roads, etc.

 

[alanfgag]

It's a concern. I think the best defense is to handle the hats regularly and to wear them. For me, wearing is where the pleasure is and I wear the hats in boxes less.

 

[Justin B]

100% agree Alan. I have nowhere near the amount of hats that you do, but I try to wear them as much as possible. Obviously there are a couple I like best and a couple that I only put on with a certain suit or shirt...but I own 'em to wear 'em. It's like a car...they're meant to be driven not stored away just for the sake of having them.

 

[HatsEnough]

I wear the hats in boxes less.

I agree that this is an impediment. I have some 100 hats and constantly getting inside that boxes is a bit of a hassle, especially if the hat I want is the one on bottom. Looking at the hat boxes and reading all the slips of paper I have sticking out of them to choose a hat is a chore that could easily make me not bother if I was even a tiny bit less interested in wearing them as much as I do. It would certainly be easier to just scan them all open air like that and grab one when I want it.

Unfortunately, this house of mine is a dust bin. Anything that sits for more than a few days gets covered in dust. So, I have to suffer with the way I now do it.

My dream would be to have a room covered in glass enclosed, one hat-sized bins all there to gaze at. When I want one, I could just open the little glass door and grab it. And I could see all my hats at once. Wouldn't that be cool?

Think of something like this...

... only instead of Star Wars figures, they are hats with little glass doors keeping the dust out. At least that is my dream idea.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

nice but it would take a big room to store hats that way.

 

[HatsEnough]

nice but it would take a big room to store hats that way.

Well, as long as I'm dreaming about my ideal hat room, I may as well dream of the palatial estate that would surround it!

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

How about something like this. From the Borsalino hat museum.

 

[HatsEnough]

Me likey!!

Now, if I can find a good Italian cabinet maker, imported from Czechoslovakia, and re-imported to the United States.

 

[randooch]

Alan, that is awe-inspiring. Not just the hat collection, of course, but your lovely wife's selfless gesture. It could bring a tear to one's eye! Thanks for sharing.

 

[EggHead]

Hmm, I guess in about 20-30 years when we begin to die off, there will be a lot of vintage hats for sale.

 

[randooch]

Hmm, I guess in about 20-30 years when we begin to die off, there will be a lot of vintage hats for sale.

An astute observation.

 

[EggHead]

But on the brighter side, hats are a green technology product. They are resold, reused, and refurbished all the time.

 

[alanfgag]

Alan, that is awe-inspiring. Not just the hat collection, of course, but your lovely wife's selfless gesture. It could bring a tear to one's eye! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!... though I think getting my hats off the dining room table helped inspire her. I've spent a lot of daydreaming hours on how to suspend fitted open shelving (a la Optimo) in the curved wall of this room. I think Donna wanted a quicker path to getting her house back. 8^)