Back in 1886 they didn't have the quantities of clothing and other stuff we have today. They used armoires for clothing - which are stand-alone closets.

I don't know what stores you have near you, there doesn't seem to be an Ikea in Montana. You can buy armoires that you assemble yourself from Home Depot. You might watch craigslist for people selling used ones.

Is it possible to turn one bedroom into a clothing closet/storage room? If so, you could buy inexpensive stand-along clothes racks and place them in there.

thank you I will check that out. because the roof is the old barn style I have to make sure that what ever I get will fit .

Ikea sells some of their furniture on-line. For inexpensive and moveable, they might be your best bet.

I've also found armoires at second-hand stores and finish-it-yourself furniture stores.

If you are handy, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to build a closet in the attic. You could ask the landlord if he would provide all the materials, you could do the labor. That way, even though you'd have to leave it behind when you leave, you would be out maybe a day or two of work, but no money.

You could always just hang a curtain a few feet out from a wall and put a clothes rod behind it.

I agree with the idea of asking the landlord for permission to install something a bit more permanent, if you want to--make the argument that you'd have to leave it anyway, and it would make the house much more appealing to a subsequent tenant.

Otherwise, I vote for things like this:
adjustable, two heights
http://tinyurl.com/dual-clothing-rack

clothing rack w/ a zipper case to protect from dust
http://www.overstock.com/Office-Supplies/Deluxe-Wardrobe-Storage-Armoire/3300236/product.html

If you want open ones (the zipper would be a pain in the neck for me), you could hide them behind a folding screen.

(This one's kinda cool--you can hang stuff from it)
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hang-It-Up-Folding-Screen-Black/5934959

But it would probably be MUCH cheaper to simply ask the landlord for permission to attach a clothing rod to the joists, and hang a curtain in front.

The rods are roughly $5 to $15 at Home Depot.

You could use one for the clothes and the other for the curtain in front of it.

Get two sets--one for the clothes, the other for the curtain.

We have a contract that allows us to do anything to the house to make it better . As long as we pay for everything. Landlord will not provide anything for the house. I have been on website looking for portable closets or something that will fit in a tight space. the stairs are tight and everything that go's up has to be small enough fit up the stairs. I have been to 2nd hand places and the only thing that i found would not fit up the stairs. At this point I am thinking that I Need to just build a small closet at the top of the stairs.

Building a closet would work.

But do check Ikea again. Most of their furniture comes flat-packed and you assemble it yourself. And you can buy most of it on-line and get it delivered.

Also, don't let the height of the wardrobes scare you away. You can always put a wardrobe a few feet out from a wall and use the space behind it to store more things.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea clothing storage

Hah! I just saw this on the Ikea site. Take a look for some ideas on how to build storage into a small space.

Here is a link that might be useful: wardrobe makes a walk-in closet

Our house has No Closets either and we have one free-standing wardrobe that gives us about 4 feet of hanging space that we fight over. Actually, I gave up the fight and let the boys have it, DH and DS, so none of my clothes are on hangers - all folded on shelves or in drawers (or draped over chairs, 'nother story :-)).

Truth is, much that is usually hung up doesn't need to be, and hanging isn't really the best thing for lost of clothes anyway, especially long term stuff that you don't wear often - you get those shoulder bulges that are never quite where your shoulders are. And hanging is a very inefficient use of space. If you took everything down that is hanging in your closet (and I've done this with a small wardrobe) and folded it up on the floor, it would take up way less space than a whole closet.

In our house we tend to iron right before wearing, I suppose if you iron in advance you do have to hang after ironing.

Other ways to hang clothes on hangers includes putting hooks up on walls and hanging hangers on those (Lee Valley has some long hooks), or use those 'over the door' hooks.

It all depends on how much REALLY needs to be on hangers.

Karin L