Tell me about your walk-in closet

[Anonymous]

I’m old and have never in my life had a nice closet. I actually have the space for a decent walk-in, and I am thinking it might be a gift to myself this year. (Weirdly it feels almost like a gift to my younger self, because I grew up in a pretty chaotic situation).

Please me about your walk-in closet. Who built or installed your closet? What’s right about it? What little touches do you most appreciate? What would you do differently today? Also how do you share it and how do you divide the space?

Thank you so much for anything you are willing to share.

[Anonymous]

If you can, put a small washer and dryer in it.

[Anonymous]

Build in upright supports for the clothes bars, instead of just wall mounting them. Clothes are heavy.

2 bars on one side for shirts, 1 bar on the other side for pants and hang that one higher than you think so you can put a boot storage box or something on the floor underneath. Shelves or drawers on the short end and a shelf up high around the whole space.

Think about lighting. And include a full length mirror if you can.

[Anonymous]

I have a small primary bedroom walk-in closet with a nearly square footprint. It's small so we can only have rods and shelves on the back and right-hand wall. The front wall mainly fits the door/doorway. And the door opens inward against the left wall. Even if the door opened out, there's not room for rods and shelves on the left. So it's an "L-shaped" closet layout instead of a "U".

We moved into a 3 BR townhome without kids, so I kept the Primary Bedroom walk-in and my husband took the 3rd Bedroom traditional closet for his space.

We installed our own custom organization for the space using components purchased at Lowe's. Mainly a large corner tower. The solid MDF shelves (no wire) and rods are mounted on walls on one side and the tower on the other.

Overall the large tower adds a lot of storage space for stacking things like jeans and towels. I like it and would put it in again. It's sort of rectangular.

It also works well, even though I'm female, with ladies' clothes, to have two rods spanning the same space (a higher one for shirts and a lower one that I also use for tops but a man would use for pants). We planned the closet so a man and a woman could share it. This side is very space efficient.

The other side has a single high rod spanning the full length. But I put a small organizer on the floor in the middle and connected a lower rod between the tower and the organizer. The organizer is a 3-shelf unit that holds bras, underwear, and socks in bins. This organizer functions somewhat like a dresser. So, the only full-length hanging area in the closet is about 25% of the width. I have very few dresses but this space can feel a little too small. I've considered removing the organizer to get more full-length hanging space and more floor space but don't want to give up the built-in half-length rod to the left of the organizer.

I've had this built-in for 20+ years. So far it's been pretty space-maximizing. I'm glad we put it in ourselves. I think I did a good job of planning around my typical possessions. And we only spent about $400 and it looks pretty good.

The one quality problem we've had is too long a run of unsupported solid MDF shelves on the long side. I hate the bulky metal support brackets that go under the middle of shelves. Both for aesthetics and for blocking movement of items in the vicinity. So I didn't put them in. On the long side, the shelves are slightly bowed now after 20 years. I am considering whether to remedy that or live with it. I only put light things like dress shoeboxes up there. It's maybe an inch of sag across 5 feet of shelf. Enough that you only notice if you stare at it. The short side has zero sag (it's more like 3 ft of shelf).

We also customized our downstairs coat closet with IKEA components. That went really well. We put in a central tower and extra shelves on both sides. We didn't need a full-length, full-width closet just for coats. This space has been very valuable for organizing our downstairs.

[Anonymous]

After several years with a long rod and shelf on the long back wall of my rectangular walkin closet and do it yourself Elfa shelves on the right and left sides, I finally had my closet designed/done. I got estimates and designs from 5 places, and they ranged from $1,400 to $6,000, and what was so facinating to me was the different designs/layouts each place choose. I went with Closet Stretchers who were reasonably priced and did a fabulous job. I love my closet.

On the right and left sides, half the wall is double rods, and half a single rod. One side has 2 rows of tops (long sleeve and short sleeve) and pants, the other side has blazers/jackets, cardigans and skirts and exercise jackets/fleece, and dresses. Along the back wall are 3 sets of shelves and drawers, that hold everything from under garments, t-shirts, socks, work out gear, sweaters, jeans and more.

On the 3/4 wall (includes the door to the closet) are many racks for shoes and a jewlery organizer. My spouse installed 2 fancy chandeliers that I picked out, and then I splurged on a colorful wool area rug (over hardwood) that I absolutely love.

[Anonymous]

What’s your budget? Are we talking DIY, Elda or the full $20,000 blowout? And what’s the size of your space?

My basic advice is to take careful stock of your clothing. The whole point is for it to be entire custom. If you know “i have 6 linear feet of long dresses” then you’ll get something that exactly fits your needs versus going with a design that looks good but then has too many long/short spaces

Do you need a bench? Makeup table? Mirror with decent lighting is definitely needed if you plan to dress IN the space.

How many purses & shoes do you plan to store? How many flats vs heels vs boots? The more detail you have, the better the design you’ll get

Get a couple of the little sliding hooks for ok where you pull them out to hang your outfit for tomorrow or the stuff that’s not put away yet.

Jewelry or accessory storage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can, put a small washer and dryer in it.

This. And a small table to fold and iron. We also like having shoe shelving with lights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s your budget? Are we talking DIY, Elda or the full $20,000 blowout? And what’s the size of your space?

My basic advice is to take careful stock of your clothing. The whole point is for it to be entire custom. If you know “i have 6 linear feet of long dresses” then you’ll get something that exactly fits your needs versus going with a design that looks good but then has too many long/short spaces

Do you need a bench? Makeup table? Mirror with decent lighting is definitely needed if you plan to dress IN the space.

How many purses & shoes do you plan to store? How many flats vs heels vs boots? The more detail you have, the better the design you’ll get

Get a couple of the little sliding hooks for ok where you pull them out to hang your outfit for tomorrow or the stuff that’s not put away yet.

Jewelry or accessory storage?

I do my makeup and hair at a nice vanity area outside of my wardrobe area bc I do not want the possibility of makeup or hair spray to get onto my clothing.

[Anonymous]

A valet hook (or two) is a small touch that makes a huge difference. I like to hang my clothes there for the next day. It also helps with steaming things to have a dedicated space.

[Anonymous]

OP, and I really appreciate everyone’s feedback. I am reading everything and it’s definitely helping me think this through. Thank you so much.

The space isn’t huge — will probably be 10’ by 7.5’, which I figure with pocket doors is enough for two “rows” with a full length mirror at one end? Maybe a tighter U-shape? I assume there’s no room for a washer dryer, though that would be amaaaazing.

Closet is shared with DH who mostly has casual clothes and button down shirts, a couple of sports jackets, not a suit guy.

Budget - would be nice to keep to 10k if thats doable. More would be over-investing for the house. TBH, for me the value is beyond financial. The part of me that longs for order/calm wants total custom cabinetry….but DH will be more practical about ROI. That said I would prefer wood/plywood to MDF if possible, but maybe that can’t be done for the budget.

I don’t need makeup in this room.
My clothes are mostly casual — very few long dresses, few dresses. A handful of skirts and nicer pants I do like seeing my clothes, so I’d ideally hang long sleeve casual shirts and thin sweaters.
Handbags: max 12?
Shoes: A couple pairs of tall boots, a couple of wedge sandals/shoes, far more flats and sneakers.

Jewelry: not a ton. I currently keep earrings attached to a strip of burlap ribbon that’s hung on a wall, and necklaces/bracelets on some hardware store hooks in wall or draped over a mirror. A better system has thus far exceeded my imagination.

The main thing I want is to stop rummaging. I am constantly rummaging in bins — undergarments and socks and tights and bathing suits and whatnot. I rummage for workout clothes, which are jumbled in with regular clothes. The rummaging is weirdly triggering for me.

We also don't have good places for the stupid, rarely-used stuff (shoe polish and water shoes and glasses cases, that sort of thing), so are always digging around for those.

Would be nice if there were room for sheets and towels, but not sure that’s realistic.

Would love good roll-out drawers or bins. Yes to valet hooks.

Based on this does it sound like my best bet is Elfa? Something else?

Again, thank you. This is out of my wheelhouse and am truly grateful for your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

We used closet stretchers. It is something I truly enjoy EVERY DAY and I think adds a ‘wow’ factor to the house that will help when we sell.

This was probably like $30, but I love my valet hook!

[Anonymous]

We turned a small guest room into a walk in closet (it's probably smaller than WICs in newer homes today!). We have a two sided dresser island with a granite top in the middle which I love. I have one side and DH the other. We repurposed an old glass dining room chandelier to hang over the dresser island.

I have a large shoe storage segment on my side, and another dresser section. plenty of hanging space. And we each have a short bench section which I use more than I expected.

We used California Closets and it was worthwhile to just have the whole thing designed and done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can, put a small washer and dryer in it.

This. And a small table to fold and iron. We also like having shoe shelving with lights.

So the suggestion above is to turn the walk-in closet into a laundry room.

[Anonymous]

We have ELFA for both of our closets. There's now different levels of ELFA (basic to fancy), but we kept it to the base/metal level, and that has been fine for me. But the wood options - with lighting - look really nice as well. I really like having the various pullout bins for sweaters and such, and the specialized racks for different shoes and jewelry. Agree with others - LOVE having a valet hook. I spent a lot of time thinking about my space and doing an initial online design (tweaked by the consultant in the store), but I like the fact that I could rearrange it a bit in future years, if I ever want to.

It's not one of those super spa-like closets, but it is organized with a place for everything - that made a big difference in how I feel every day getting dressed. Feels so much calmer and less frazzled.

My closet is about 9'x7' and that cost ~$3500, a couple of years ago, including installation costs. It's basically a big U. We got it all during one of the 30% off sales. (I already had some ELFA components from an earlier closet, plus I have my dresser in the closet - if I had used new ELFA to fill in those spaces, probably would have been ~ $5k.)

[Anonymous]

Full length mirror is helpful - we have a sliding door that has a mirror on both sides so you can see it from inside & outside of the closet.