A large space means nothing unless it’s used to its full potential. That’s how I felt about my master bedroom closet since the day we moved in. I had more than enough space to hang my clothes, but the vertical space was not used functionally at all. I knew a good, affordable closet system was just what it needed!
My Closet Goal
Every project should have a goal, and for this one it was to get ALL of my wardrobe into one space. The desire for less furniture in my bedroom drove my motivation to empty my dresser, but just designing and installing a custom closet doesn’t happen with a few dollars and a wiggle of your nose, unfortunately.
If you remember my 2019 goals post, HERE, I talked about using the IKEA ALGOT system. It’s a modular and affordable option, but after a long trip to IKEA and a cart just short of a few parts, we were told that this system may be discontinued soon. With that, a few necessary parts were not going to be restocked. Plan B.
Finding the Right Closet!
I have some amazing friends over on Instagram who directed me to the new Allen + Roth closet system at Lowes. I was beyond excited about many things:
- The modern, sleek look
- The affordability
- The fact that we only had to drive 5 minutes for any pickups or returns
- The option to customize the many different items to create a closet that fits our needs
What We Used
- Allen + Roth Closet Wood Closet Kit
- Allen + Roth Wood Drawers (2)
- Allen + Roth Wood Closet Tower
- Allen + Roth Wire Baskets (2)
What It Cost
For a completely customized wood closet system for a 8.5′ closet, we spent just over $500. That’s slightly more than the metal ALGOT system that comes with a million pieces but FAR less than the other custom wood closet systems that were $900-$1,600!
Tips For Designing Your Closet
Design your closet with studs in mind.
The towers absolutely have to be hung on studs. Make sure to mark your studs before creating your design. This caused us a brief moment of panic once we started the install. Thankfully, we made it work!
Think about the small things.
Filling in holes, refreshing the paint, and even changing out the light pull chain can all add to the overall feel of your space. This little pull chain made all the difference for just $4!
The shelves and rods can be cut to size.
The towers are obviously a set width, but you can customize the shelves by simply cutting them down with a miter saw. The rods start at 36″, so we had to cut one down to fit our 21″ gap with a Dremel tool. These steps took added to the time it took to install our closet, but it truly made our space one-of-a-kind.
Utilize Your Vertical Space
This is the most important step to truly get the most bang for your buck in your closet space. Think about stacking clothing rods, adding drawers, and plenty of baskets to use up every square inch you’re given. We added four extra drawers to our towers instead of open shelves to truly give me optimal storage my jeans, shirts, and endless supply of leggings.
To put it into perspective, I have the same amount of clothing rods in terms of inches, but I’m now able to fit every article of clothing into one space with room to spare! No extra dresser needed.
Organizing My New Closet
This project forced my to touch every item of clothing, which I then went full Marie Kondo and got rid of every piece that didn’t bring me joy. I now only have what I need and truly love. It’s such a refreshing feeling.
I then color coordinated all of my hanging clothes. This was life changing! For one, I now know I don’t need the 5 gray short sleeve shirts now that I’ve seen them side-by-side. It helped me to minimize the excess. Two, I can easily find items. When I go to look for something in my closet, the first thing I look for has always been the color, so it makes sense to organize them by that.
I struggled with my shoes for the longest time. I didn’t know how I wanted to store them, but I did know that I didn’t want the scattered on the ground like before. Once my entire closet was installed, I realized that I didn’t need the metal baskets for clothing items, so we hung them high enough to have shelf space at the bottom of the tower. I then placed my everyday shoes on the open shelf and stacked my remaining shoes in the baskets by seasons.
Before
After
Who else gets giddy over organization?!? I now stare into my closet before I go to bed at night…like a freak. It’s not a space I want to close behind doors anymore. You deserve to be proud of every space in your home, even your closet. Now I can say that I’m proud of this little corner who’s sole purpose is to store my clothes. What a time is this!
