Make Life Easier: Mastering The Master Closet

In my 31 years I’ve had a variety of bedroom closet styles and sizes:

• Wide and shallow with gliding doors at my parents’ house
• Minuscule and shared with Erin from Elements of Style during freshman year of college
• Built-in wardrobes during other college years
• Tiny, shallow, and oddly configured with a spigot (yes, a spigot) at the bottom in my post-college apartment
• Small partial walk-in shared with my hubby in our apartment
• And finally, a walk-in I’m satisfied with in our current house:

The master closet is the same size and configuration as our pantry. The door opens in to the left, and there is no space for shelving on that side. So, we’re left with two walls to work with. When we moved in there was very basic wire shelving (sadly, no “before” pics). The previous owners had installed California Closets in their child’s bedroom (our 3rd bedroom, known as the “blue room”) but hadn’t bothered with the master – what a shame! I love the look and functionality of California Closets, but when we moved in there was no extra money to spare and I set out to find an alternative. The solution is semi-custom, cost about $300 in materials and supplies, and is based on two of these systems from ClosetMaid:

homedepot.com - at the time, Target had the best price

Before selecting which ClosetMaid components to purchase, my dad drew a scale model of the closet as well as the various possible components, which he cut up on separate pieces of paper. This allowed us to move the different components around on the model to see which would work best. Mr. JC and I agreed that we only needed one rod to hang his suits and my dresses, so the rest of the rods would be doubled up. Dad cut the shelves of one of the components in half to create the shoe rack, and we measured our longest shirts to determine how high and far apart to hang the other rods. Additional boards and mounting brackets were purchased to add the long shelves at the top as well as the shelf above our suits and dresses.

Since it’s a small walk-in with really only two usable walls, I’ve made the most of the space. Inside, to the right of the door frame I mounted a belt rack:

On the wall that the door opens onto, we hung a robe hook above an old over-door mirror that I mounted directly to the wall. We had this over-door shoe bag left over from our old apartment, which now houses more of my shoes as well as small purses and evening bags on the inside of the closet door:

Container Store, $39.99

Two canvas baskets under my blouses and trousers, from HomeGoods, hold large handbags, and wire shelf dividers from Container Store split two of the shelves in half to stack sweaters. The rug on the floor is a Turkish prayer rug I purchased in Istanbul, a splurge that cost more than the whole closet system!

Key Tools:
I’ve used all of these (or similar products) in my closets over the years. These particular products are all from The Container Store, but similar versions can be found at Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Wal-Mart, and other home stores (even HomeGoods if you’re lucky).

Key Tips:

• Measure twice, cut once! Determine the dimensions of not only your closet, but your clothes as well, before you purchase or build any closet system.
• Organization is imperative for small closets. You’ll be extremely surprised by how much stuff you can fit into a small storage space if the space is planned well.
• Edit, edit, edit! Sort clothes and accessories into three piles: keep, toss, donate. Keep only what fits and what makes you feel gorgeous.
• Don’t ignore hidden spaces like behind the door, on the floor, and near the ceiling.
• If you share a closet, agree in advance which space you’ll each take. For us it was easy since the hubs is a foot taller than me – he claims the upper rods and top shelves, and I get the lower. We each take half the belt hooks, I get all the shoe space, naturally.

Is this master closet my ideal closet? No. Of course I’d like even more space to display shoes (especially tall boots, which now hide behind the door) and handbags. But I can safely say that I’ve optimized every square inch of this closet.