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Thread: how to maximize closet space?

  1. #1

    how to maximize closet space?

    hello all

    I am putting some shelves in my daughter's closet and would like to get some tips on how to best use all the available space.

    The doors are 81" tall while the ceiling is 108" (9ft). The depth is 26". How can we layout the shelves so that the space above the door is accessible and usable?

    I was thinking of putting 18" deep shelves at the bottom (roughly 0 to 60") and then use 12" deep shelves at the top (from 60" to ceiling)

    Any tip would be very appreciated.
    Thanks much

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    joe, oftentimes there's a usable space between the back of the doors and what's inside. I would be tempted to put pockets for shoes on the doors. Doors that size could hold a lot of shoes. Make sure the hinges are stout enough to hold the weight (which, really, should not be that much). If you plan to put shelves that high, it may be good to find a place for a convenient step ladder.

  3. #3
    Your closet dimensions sound common. I think you should take a look at IKEA's closet systems. Not that I'm suggestion you buy anything from them, it's just that they know more about squeezing function out of space than anyone. What you can do is examine their sizing and storage schemes and use them as a guideline for dimensioning your own build.
    Edwin

  4. #4
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    Blouses and shirts don't need a full length closet to hang. You can place hanger rods at 40" and 80" above the floor to make two tiers of hanging, with a shoe rack in the center and a full height rod at 80" on the other side of the shoe rack.
    Lee Schierer
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  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    Blouses and shirts don't need a full length closet to hang. You can place hanger rods at 40" and 80" above the floor to make two tiers of hanging, with a shoe rack in the center and a full height rod at 80" on the other side of the shoe rack.
    Lee has excellent ideas. I did double level hanging in all of our closets. There wasn enough room in the smaller three for shoe racks.
    George

    Making sawdust regularly, occasionally a project is completed.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Joe,

    I think it depends, in part, on what you plan to store in the closet, and how frequently things in the closet need to be retrieved. We have a couple of linen closets in our home that are similar to what you describe (not quite as deep), and the highest shelf in each is about 6" below the top of the door opening (shelves about 6" less in depth than the closet). I think your idea is workable, but I wouldn't want to store anything that I needed to get at frequently on a shelf above the height of the door opening. I'm 6'1" tall, and could comfortable reach something on a shelf maybe 5-6" inches above the top of the door - beyond that, I'd want a step stool. Assuming your daughter is shorter, those highest shelves will be even harder to get to.

    We use the top shelf in one of those closets to store taller stuff - 3-packs of paper towels, 9-packs of toilet paper, a couple of gallon-size thermos jugs we use for picnics. We're still not using the full 9' height of the ceiling, but we are using some space above the height of the door opening.

  7. #7
    How wide is the closet? It is going to be very hard to get to anything above the height of the door regardless of how you do it if you have to reach in from the doorway. If you have 12 inch shelves, you only have 14 inches of depth to get up there. Not enough for more than your arm. It is possible but you will be feeling around blind to get what you want.

    If the closet is wide enough, about 7 foot minimum, might work with 6, you could walk in and have shelves on both ends. That would make the full 9 foot height available. My clothes closet is 7 feet long and 3 feet deep. I effectively have 12 feet of hanging space because I have double bars on both sides. Above the door height, I have U shaped shelves above one hanging space and my standing space in the center. On the other end, I have a bank of drawers about 6 inches high with hanging above and below it. That top rod is a bit of a stretch but I put my least used things on that rod (suits and dress shirts). I am 6 foot two inches with long arms. I did make the door swing out which is a compromise. I could have had it swing in like normal but I didn't want to have to get around it to use the end where it would swing into.

  8. #8
    Thank you all. A lot of great ideas. We definitely need a step ladder for the upper shelves. My daughter is just 5'3" but still growing

    Few additional details. The doors are 69" wide and 81" tall. They are 2 sliding doors which make getting into the closet harder.
    The closet is 102" wide thus there are 2 small recessed areas (one on each side).

    I did a sketch (see picture) of the layout and did incorporate the double rod for the pants and shirt, while keeping a short single rod for the long dresses.

    But I am still unclear how high the top shelf can be pushed up. Of course, we would put less used items up there (for example, in summer her winter clothes can go into box placed on the top shelf) but still not sure how to get in there w/ a step ladder. Right now the top shelf is at 70" from the floor and there is a lot of unused space at the top.

    Thanks much for tall the excellent input

    alice-closet.jpg
    Last edited by joe webb; 06-10-2019 at 3:47 AM.

  9. #9
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    Joe, it looks like you’ve gotten a lot of great input from other folks regarding the design, so I’ll weigh in on the method.

    My wife’s closet exploded in February. The hanging rod came down which was holding some of those fabric shelves and the whole thing became nonfunctional. Of course, she asked me to fix it and gave me a design she wants.

    I find this task daunting because of the constant in and out of the house to the shop to get everything fit just perfectly without turning our room into a construction zone. Also, I was thinking that I’d end up finishing the closet in place which causes issues for those with allergies in the house.

    Bear with me here.

    So, after putting it off for going on 6 months, I finally decided on an acceptable course of action.

    I’m going to install French cleats in the closet and just construct and bring up one piece at a time. This lets me do the entire build in the workshop (including the finishing process) and gives my wife the flexibility to (have me) move stuff around down the road if it’s not working like she hoped.

    Closets are a surprisingly personal thing and there are a million ways to organize them.

    Good luck!

  10. #10
    It might not work for everyone but I like the space above the door to hold a hanging rod. That way jackets, shirts, and pants on hangers utilize the hardest to use space while still being accessible. This frees up an equivalent space down low .

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Fred Falgiano View Post
    Joe, it looks like you’ve gotten a lot of great input from other folks regarding the design, so I’ll weigh in on the method.

    My wife’s closet exploded in February. The hanging rod came down which was holding some of those fabric shelves and the whole thing became nonfunctional. Of course, she asked me to fix it and gave me a design she wants.

    I find this task daunting because of the constant in and out of the house to the shop to get everything fit just perfectly without turning our room into a construction zone. Also, I was thinking that I’d end up finishing the closet in place which causes issues for those with allergies in the house.

    Bear with me here.

    So, after putting it off for going on 6 months, I finally decided on an acceptable course of action.

    I’m going to install French cleats in the closet and just construct and bring up one piece at a time. This lets me do the entire build in the workshop (including the finishing process) and gives my wife the flexibility to (have me) move stuff around down the road if it’s not working like she hoped.

    Closets are a surprisingly personal thing and there are a million ways to organize them.

    Good luck!
    Thanks Fred. That would be a topic I would have to bring up once I nail the design. I am pretty much in the same situation. I have to so the work in the garage and bring pieces up to my room which on the first floor and totally opposite of the staircase. Thus it's quite a long way to carry things around. I also work slow and need to learn to do things as I go, thus this is not gonna be a 1 weekend project. Thus her room has to be operational while the project is ongoing.

    I was also thinking of building one "vertical unit" at the time, finish it, bring it up and screw it to the walls. Although we don't plan on re-arranging things given the closet is small thus there isn't many configuration possible, the idea of using french cleats is great. It's much easier to install the cleats to the wall first, and then throw the unit on top of it versus having to hold it straight while attaching it to the walls.

  12. #12
    For some reason the previous picture isn't viewable


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