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Im going to bring in a closet company to re-do my children’s closets. It is for 3 rooms. A 14 year old girl, an 11 year old boy, and an 8 year old girl. They are not walk in closets, but they are very wide (maybe 10 feet) with folding doors.
Keeping in mind that I dont want to have to do this again as they get older:
Does anyone have any suggestions about what I should be asking for?
Anything that closet companies often suggest that might be a mistake?
I would make sure the clothes rods are height adjustable so they can grow with the kids. Ask the closet company to come up with a plan that can be easily changed as the kids needs change. Modular units that can be used as shelves or have baskets added.
Forget about those special inserts for drawers, no kid I know will fold their socks or underwear neatly enough to use them properly. Special accessories like a valet rack, jewelry drawers or accessory holders are pricey for what you get.
I would make sure the clothes rods are height adjustable so they can grow with the kids. Ask the closet company to come up with a plan that can be easily changed as the kids needs change. Modular units that can be used as shelves or have baskets added.
Forget about those special inserts for drawers, no kid I know will fold their socks or underwear neatly enough to use them properly. Special accessories like a valet rack, jewelry drawers or accessory holders are pricey for what you get.
Do the modular units look modular or do they look built-in? My wife was going to have a designer from The Container Store come in, but I cancelled the appointment because everything they had looked like it was on tracks on the wall. Ideally I would like something that is adjustable, yet, looks finished.
Make sure the girls have some long hanging for dresses.
Shoe shelves. Include a space for tall boots for the girls.
A stack of drawers. Girls will eventually need some purse storage.
Making space for toy storage and laundry drawers were a waste for us.
We put hooks on the walls for ties and belts (ours do have walk in closets though)
Thank you.
So by laundry drawers, do you mean the laundry bin that pulls outward from the top? I was planning on putting one of those in each of the closets. Just curious why you found that to be a waste?
Most closet systems hang from the wall in one way or another. You can get a completely built in system but they would be very expensive, especially if you are going to need to accommodate changes as your kids grow. The Container Store carries both ELFA and TCS closet systems. TCS appears to have that built in look you want. https://www.containerstore.com/tcsclosets/index.htm
The previous owners of our home installed ELFA systems in the closets and even though they're on rails and are pricy plastic, they're great because they're adjustable and everything is nice and organized.
Big deep drawers are better than lots of little drawers. They want to just shove all of their clothing of a certain type into one drawer, not sort it into a bunch of different drawers. In one bedroom we put in a unit with lots of little drawers, she used only a few of them and just stuffed them full (until the drawers broke).
Do not assume anything will stay the same. Specialty holding areas (like shoe holders) are not always good int he long term. Suddenly she decides she will only wear calf high boots. What do you do with all of those little shoe slots now? (Ferrets like them).
Do not bother putting in drawers that are up high. They will never be used. Up high storage should be open shelves only.
Don't get cheap press-board components. They will be broken before you know it. Even if you have to get less, get quality. They should be able to survive kids standing on them or climbing into them. No matter how impossible it seems, they will get on or in them.
In general open storage (shelves) seems ot be preferred to drawers or other closed storage (cabinets). They like to be able to see their options without fishing through a bunch of drawers.
Layers of lighting. LEDs are cheap. Multiple levels of shelving will block ceiling light. Either put in a wall light that can shin horizontally, or up lights at each layer. Frustrating when you pay all that money for a really cool storage unit and they have to use a flashlight to find anything.
Flexible space is best. Do not assume they will use it the way you expect them to. They might do it your way for a few years, but eventually they will find new and completely unanticipated uses for the spaces. To them it is part of being your own person. They may pull out your 'Socks" drawer and put it ont he floor to have added shelf space for Gi Joes.
Wire shelves like Elfa are great. You can get the cheaper ones at other stores. I just like lots of shelving for the kid's closets with a space to hang stuff as well. Then you can reorganize it as you wish
I like baskets and containers instead of drawers. Much more flexible and the kids can see what is in there. For laundry, just leave a space for a large bin. Those soft rubber bins with handles work great. Then they can just carry them to the laundry.
We left space on the bottom for shoes. I figured the floor is the most logical place for shoes
It's a pretty easy DIY project once you get the hang of it.
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