Custom Closet Systems

One of my biggest dreams for our new home was for both my husband and I to build a custom closet system.  Each apartment, condo, townhouse we lived in had a closet system installed so we have chosen to take it a step further to create it bigger and better.  This is one of the many reasons why we chose the ROME model for it's functionality and practicality.  It allowed us to custom create our home because essentially the ROME model is one huge box.  Nearly each square foot is livable with the exception of the small, small, small location for the HVAC system running through the house from the basement to the second level.  You can easily create what you want especially with the large loft on the second level which can be turned into a fifth bedroom.  I saw one family take the loft with the two bedrooms and split them in half to create two large master bedroom suites.  Sweet!  I have also seen a family shorten the loft for a little boy's room and use the other portion by extending it through the closet to create a bonus room instead of a loft.

As for me and my house, we masterminded a wonderful option to create my dressing room and my husband's gentlemen's closet.  This allowed us to turn this side of the house into our super master suite.  I can enter my dressing room from the bathroom or the hall way.  In the past, we have worked with California Closets, Elfa, and Hubby's DIY systems.  I thought we were going to work with California Closets again; however, the customer service sucks and they are way too expensive.  I like the Elfa systems because they now have different color options and styles to choose from; but I wanted to use a custom closet system.  We did not choose Easy Closets which was another option and with their service everything is done online.  You send in your measurements and your design and they ship the product to you and you self install which at the end of the day is a DIY project which works well for people who love DIY projects.  One day while thumbing through the newspaper, I stumbled across Closet Stretchers right here in our neck of the woods!  SCORE!  I was extremely happy because they met my desire for excellent custom service, quality workmanship and easier on the pocketbook!!!  

So let the preparation BEGIN:
1.  I knew from the beginning Bedroom 2 would be my dressing room and after carefully looking at the floor plan my husband (bless his heart) told our SR to have them exclude the wall between the master bathroom closet to an create an opening to create a larger space.  HUBBY was ON IT!  Love Love Love him for coming up with this option.  He did a great job extending my idea and love him so much for this.......

2.  AND I masterminded his closet design.  I must admit he gave me a hard time because he couldn't see the vision I had for his closet.  He wanted to keep the bathroom in bedroom 3 for guests and he wanted to keep the sitting area in our master bedroom.  It took several and I mean several conversations to get him to see the vision I had for his closet.  LOL  I had to get him to see that we did not need the sitting room because we had LOADs of places to sit throughout the house and I had to get him to see that we did not need five bathrooms just for the two of us.  LOL  So I put in the  custom request to combine the sitting room and the master bedroom closet with an opened casing to create his combo gentlemen's closet.  Now that the closet systems are installed guess who is a happy camper and is in love with his new closet.  YES, you got!!

3. Lastly, I wanted us to have additional coat closet space because the little mudroom closet was not going to work for us.  My original idea was to turn the laundry room upstairs into our coat closet and build a coat closet system in the garage.  Well, we kept the coat closet system in the garage only.  I decided to use the laundry room as my "Lady Lair."

4.  Called Closet Stretchers and we designed both closet systems to both our preferences.

5.  I picked paint colors for both of our closets (Spring Romance for me and Ashen for him).  We hired someone to paint the garage, my husband's closet and my husband painted my closet that ultimately looks like a wall paper finish.  He did an awesome job.

6.  My husband picked out the lightening for my dressing room.  Too cute!

The men divided up into three different teams and they took the entire day from 8:00 to 6:00 pm to install all three systems!

Team #1
Building the Coat Closet System

They had to build the system around the Central Vacuum!
I wish I had caught this when Guardian came out to mark the X on its location. :-(
It's so beautiful it doesn't matter now, just a lesson learned! The Coat Closet has shelving for shoes with single and double hanging to maximize the space.  It made perfect sense to build it in the garage instead of trekking through the house and up the stairs.  I am still searching for a certain type of tag to label the baskets that will house our scarves/gloves/hats including the huge basket of socks for guest to put on while visiting.  

Team #2
Building The Gentlemen's Closet

The door above the basket houses the ironing board and iron.

The unit with the knob houses a pull out hamper for his clothes!

Found the chair at Marshall's!
Found the picture on the wall in our old apartment!  lol

In this picture you can see how the sitting room and the master bedroom closet was combined to create the combo closet.

Team #3
Building Her Closet 

I love the sparkle the chandelier gives the ceiling and it looks so pretty when the the recess lightening is on too.
Credit goes to my hubby for picking our this jewel!
We found it at Lowe's for the fraction of the cost of the one I picked out at this lightening store.  
I will just use the credit for another item. :-)

You can still see that sun beam reflection from on the wall from the lightening and one of the recess lights.

The Interior Designer kept scratching his head as I described how I wanted him to build the island! I did not want it sitting in the middle of the floor and with some character.  I wanted it to be attached to the unit to give me extra hanging and storage.
It was hysterical and he was a joy to work with.
I highly recommend their services!

This is the shoes/handbags/jewelry section of the closet.
The combo towel rack and laundry basket is an all time favorite organizer that came in handy for the closet.
I purchased two of these back in 2004 from Harriet Carter Catalog; unfortunately they no longer carry it.
 I have the other one hung behind the door in our water closet instead of using the towel bar over the tub.
You can find one similar on eBay.

My Dressing Room Window View--I could sit here for hours!
I am now searching for the perfect pillows for these chests or will switch it out for the linen storage bench I found on overstock.com
The men were suppose to leave this space open for my bench;
but once they put it in I let them keep it there.
We shall see if I change my mind!  I have to work with it a little more!

My dressing room is still a work in progress.  I have pictures to hang and other accessories.  Of course, I get to organize all my clothing in the dedicated spaces.
 My husband moves quicker than I do and have most of his things inside his closet.
I am in LOVE with my dressing room and I thank my HUSBAND for being patient with my vision and for making it happen.
It's a girls DREAM!

This is Harley's Corner!
It's still a work in progress. I want to hang framed pictures of him on the wall above his house.  One of the pictures will be the largest one below or the black and white next to it.

As you can see, this is one of the many reasons why we chose to take our time and move to prepare our home.  I did not want to bring a bunch of boxes in the house without each item having it's own home.  So we prepared the space slowly but surely and will continue to do so.  

Thanks for stopping BY because I know this was a long post!!