Designing Your Own Closets

Have you ever had a dream of having your own custom closet? Instead of watching those wonderful home improvement television shows where they are always unveiling new and interesting custom closets, why not design your own? Believe it or not, you may already know the basics of designing custom closets by having watched those shows. Here are a few simple guidelines that you can use when designing custom closets for your home. It's quick, simple, and easy enough that anyone can do it. Here's how.

• Design. There are all kinds of possible designs available for a custom closet system. When you are looking at making your own custom closet system, you need to ask your self basically what you want? Do you want something that you can walk into? Or something that makes a smaller closet more organized? Either way, you should sit down and actually sketch out a rough floor plan for your new closet system. It doesn't necessarily need to be exactly to scale. You should make notations as to how big each item will be so that later on you will know what you need to purchase.
• Storage. While drawing your plan, keep in mind that the primary purpose of a closet is storage. In your design you need to keep in mind that there are a few necessary basics that should be included. You will need an area for shoes and boots, perhaps a space for large hanging items such as dresses and coats, and another area for smaller hanging items such as shirts and pants. How much space will you dedicate to each? Finally, keep in mind that you may want to dedicate a part of your closet for general storage space as well.
• Materials. What materials do you envision your closet being made from? What many people may not realize is that often the final cost of your closet will rise in direct proportion to the materials you use. For example a wood laminate closet may easily cost you around $3,600. Often real wood will cost you dramatically more.
• Who to do it. When designing your custom closet keep in mind who is going to actually be building it. While it may be nice to think that you can do your own carpentry, often this kind of work is harder than you might think. It is usually best to hire someone to do the work for you. However, if you will be doing your own construction try to keep the design rather simple so that it is easier to install.
• Cost. As you are designing your custom closet, keep a running tally of what the final cost is going to be. It is easiest to do this by having a copy of the measurements that you made, and finding the cost of the different materials at your local home improvement store. Remember that it is entirely possible to add $2000 to your final cost if you have hired someone else to do the work for you.