Closet Design
Once you’ve made the decision to tackle your closet, you make come to the realization that your current shelving or hanging system is not adequate for your needs. It’s time to look into a closet design.
There are many kinds of closets out there. Many have pieces and parts that you can buy, but beware! It’s not as easy as it looks to come up with a good closet design.
It’s always a good idea to have a professional draw something up for you. However, if you really want to tackle it yourself, keep the following tips in mind.
Draw a plan: Take the measurements of your closet. Depth, width, and space to the right and left of the door are necessary to know when designing your closet space.
Draw and overhead diagram of the space. If you have angles in your ceiling and walls, draw a picture of each wall face-on and get the measurements of all parts.
(Note: If you have angles, please consider having a professional help you with the closet design! This is where it gets truly complicated!)
Hanging Space: On all closet systems, clothes on hanger stick out approximately 21” from the wall. This is key to remember when planning the space, and leads us to…
Walking Space: There should always be a 24” aisle in your closet. If your walk-in closet is much less than six feet wide, you don’t have room to put hanging space on both sides of the closet. 24” is adequate for most sizes of people.
Accessibility: You have got to be able to REACH everything in your closet. Don’t line the back wall with shelves or hangers, then jam the side walls’ shelves right up against the back wall of clothing.
Leave a few inches to access that back wall’s contents. You are not “losing space” by doing this; you are creating a usable space.
If you have so many clothes that 5” of hanging space makes that much difference, it may be time to cull just a little bit, so your closet is truly spacious and usable.
With these few tips, you’re on your way to a usable closet design. Keep them in mind, and you may have the space of your dreams!
