Service Spotlight: Closet Design

What’s something you push off until the last minute when it comes to spring cleaning? If you said “cleaning out my closet,” then this one's for you. 

Most of the time, we find that people have a difficult time cleaning out their closet because of the closet space itself. While having a single rod and a shelf above it may work for some people, that is not the case for most. Now, we get it, the idea of replacing what you already have with a “custom closet” may sound quite intimidating, but trust us when we say, it’s easier than you think and 100% worth it. I was a closet designer for about 3 years, which is actually how I met our CEO, Stasia! I can tell you from personal experience, that once you have a really good understanding of what your needs are, the rest of the process is easy peasy.

Something I would see a lot of during my time as a custom closet designer would be people shying away from the idea that having a custom closet can’t possibly be attainable. A custom closet simply means addressing what your needs are to keep your space as organized and clean as possible, as easily as possible. While LED lit shelves and marble countertops are beautiful, they aren’t required for a closet makeover.

Some wire shelves and mesh drawers will do the trick almost every time. Our favorite brand for this, as you may know, is Elfa. It’s a modular, sturdy, and multi-functional system. It can also be somewhere in the middle of the closet spectrum. Regardless of what you decide you want your custom closet to look like, as this is dependent on each person, the most important part of this project is in the end, making sure this space works for you and will continue to work for you in the future as you bring in more clothing and inevitably get rid of some. 

As always, before you begin your journey to a custom closet, we still need to move through the beginning of the S.P.A.C.E acronym. And if you’re new here, the acronym S.P.A.C.E. stands for Sort, Purge, Assign, Contain, and Equalize. The organization process of getting your clothes in order prior to installing a new closet will allow you to really see what you’re working with and ensure that everything you do end up keeping, will have a designated home. So first, we’ll need to sort and purge. Remember to donate any clothing that you don’t want and is in good condition.

After you’ve purged, we’ll need to Assign. Some things I have clients consider when deciding how they want to assign their clothing to a space: 

How would they prefer to store their clothing (by category), to make their life easier? On hangers? No folding required. Drawers? I want this to be hidden away for a sleek look. Open shelves? I need to see it or else I’ll forget I have it. Out of sight, out of mind, and not in a good way. 

Will they be storing any accessories or shoes here? Or are these things they’d rather keep in another location in the home (shoes in the mudroom, accessories in the vanity, etc.).

After you’ve done all of your sorting, purging, and assigning it’s time to contain. So here comes the best part – designing your custom closet! This can be so much easier than some people may think. Take the information we just asked ourselves and turn it into a layout. I want to hang all of my jeans, so I’ll need at least two feet of hanging space for those. I want to put all of my socks, bras, and leggings into a drawer, so I’ll make sure I have at least three drawers for those, and so on. Being able to visualize what you have and how it’s going to be stored will allow you to come up with how much of a certain storage type you’ll need.

In the end, you’ll put it all together and there you have it: your custom closet! Of course this isn’t going to take all of the two whole minutes it may have taken you to read this, because while this is a fun project, it comes with lots of decision making, and decision fatigue is real! If you do experience this, we are always here to help you go through your clothes and ask those hard questions of how you want to store things, what you want to donate, and doing the designing process; it will ease the stress of doing it all by yourself. This is especially true when it comes to assigning, containing and equalizing.

So remember, take your time, think about what will work best for you, and Happy Designing!