Walk-in Closet #4 - Done

I finished the dresser cabinet and other details in my daughter's walk-in closet. As shown in the photo, we decided to go with a light maple top, which contrasts nicely with all the dark ebony wood.

At the bottom of the picture, you can see my DD's shoes. We decided to make the toe space under the cabinet 9 inches deep to allow for shoe storage. I could have made this deeper (all the way to 24 inches), but it would have become a black hole for junk. This depth seems about right to be useful, but not a pit.

I still need to set the door, then do the trim - but that should be pretty simple. I have 5 other doors to do as part of our basement remodel, and I am planning to do them all at one time. I have a very simple (almost fool-proof) method of setting pre-hung doors, which I will post when I install them.

Walk-in Closet #3

I finished installing the drawers and shelves into my daughter's walk-in closet. Here are a couple of pictures. Of course my daughter needed to hang at least one thing in there for the shot.



These drawers are 24" deep, giving quite a bit more space than a typical dresser.



All I need to do is build and install the cabinet tops - hopefully by the end of the weekend.

Here is a tip on how to easily install tight-fitting shelves...

• I have found it hard to cut shelves that sit on pins exactly right - they are either too tight and get damaged, or too loose and rattle a bit.


• Cut the shelf 1/4" inch less than the width of the box or cabinet they need to go into. This will give plenty of room for pins and an easy fit.


• Apply a piece of protection felt to each end. This is the self-adhesive felt used to protect hardwood floors from furniture feet. These are about 3/16 thick, but can compress.


• The felt allows easy install and removal, but the shelves are tight when in place.

Walk-in Closet #2

Yesterday, I was able install most of the closet organizer I built for my daughter. She wanted the thing stained dark black, and I have to admit that it looks really good. The pictures here aren't very good - its hard to get nice photos through the doorway.



The wood used here is laminated pine, stained with Minwax ebony color, and sealed with Minwax Polycrylic.

The picture below shows the built in dresser frame. I still need to install the drawer slides and top. Tha small cabinet will have a single drawer, and leave space above to hang long dresses.

More Resources on Building Closet Organizers

I found a fairly good on-line magazine: Extreme How-To. After I got over my personal prejudice against the overuse of the word "extreme', I found the publication to be OK (and free is a good price)

I just received the current version yesterday, and its has an indepth article on building your own closet organizers. There is enough information here to get you through the entire project.

It details how to layout, assemble and fit the pieces into your closet. My general estimate is that if you DIY this from basic materials, you will save 50% of the cost. Even if you do buy a kit and install it yourself, the techniques shown here will help you be succesful with it.

One thing I really like about the magazine is that you can either look at it online or download an executable file to read it off line. Since I travel quite a bit, I download it and save it for an upcoming flight.

Walk-in Closet #1

As part of remodeling our basement, I am adding a walk-in closet to my daughter's bedroom and a large storage closet to our bonus room.

While our house is relatively large (3600 sf), there is minimal storage. Since our basement bonus room is about 1300 sf of open space (in the shape of an L), taking 4 feet of the end of it is hardly noticed.

Here is the plan (orange walls are new)

This closet is basically 4" x 8", which I think is about the minimum you would want for a walk-in. You could argue its too small, but it provides 8 continuous feet of closet space, plus takes most of the area in front of the closet (the clearance space you need for standing) out of the room. This actually increases the footprint of the bedroom quite a bit.

We are moving my daughter's old closet to our boys' room. These are closets have just a four foot opening, and they need space as well.

Here is a diagram of the design we came up with. This eneded up being a combination of daughter, DW and me all putting our ideas in the mix. There will also be some shelving along the back wall, not shown here.


After looking at the prices, quality and options for closet organizers, I decided to build it myself (for more on cabinet building, click here). We are using 5/8" laminated pine boards from Home Depot. I'll add pictures in a few days. I figure I can cut the cost in about half, and make exactly what we want.

Most closet organizer sites want to sell you a unit and are not focused on helping you with building and designing you own. After searching a while, I did find a good resource: Designing a closet organizer by Ace Hardware. It provides typical dimensions (I inserted the table below), plus overall installation techniques.

Five men's suit coats	12" wide, 38" long
Six men's shirts (on hangers)	12" wide, 38" long
Man's shirt (folded)	8" wide, 14" long
Man's pants (on straight hangers)	44" long
Man's pants (folded on hangers)	27" long
Man's dress hat	6" x 11"
Man's shoes	9" wide, 12" long
Woman's dress	68" long
Woman's robe	52" long
Woman's dress	50" long
Woman's jacket	36" long
Woman's blouse (on hanger)	34" long
Woman's blouse (folded)	10" wide, 13" long
Woman's skirt	36" long
Woman's shoes	6" wide, 9-1/2" long
Sweater (folded)	10" wide, 14" long
Boots	9" wide, 12" deep, 14" high