Walk-In Closet Re-Do

A few days ago I shared my kitchen renovation and today I’m sharing my walk-in closet. I’m not calling this a “renovation” and instead calling it a “re-do” because I didn’t really change the whole thing as even though it’s a walk-in it’s got limited space. I just re-did some things and made some changes to maximize the space.

This closet is in my master bedroom and is your standard walk-in, but it has a weird shape in the back. Now that I think about it, I think the wall that juts out in the back is from my linen closet in the hall.

So when I first got the place, the closet had one wire rack along the left side wall, a rack against the narrow back part, and one on only half the right hand side. It was only a half wack on the right hand side because the closet door opened in. My contractor/neighbor said it was probably done by the builders because a rule of thumb is that a door opens in to whatever room it is being used for so even though it doesn’t make sense for the closet (it literally cuts off the room and wastes so much space) they would just install it that way unless told differently.

So that was the first thing I knew I wanted to do – change the door and have it swing out so that half that wall wasn’t wasted. I also had that rack changed in to a full length rack and added a second rack to that wall. That means long pieces (dresses, jumpsuits, dusters, etc.) hang on the left hand side and shorter cardigans, pants, skirts, on the right with the double racks. I also have a ton of sweaters as most of you know if you’ve been following me on here for a while. So I had my neighbor cut wood shelves to length and made a wall of shelves in that weird back part of the closet for all my sweaters.

I have pants (non-dress pants) folded on the top of the left hand rack, leggings, sweatpants, joggers on the top of the lower rack on the right side, and pullovers and holiday sweatshirts on the top. Oh and my shorts as well. I also have some hats and a container of bathing suits on the bottom wire rack. On the floor under my dressers I have a plastic bin of some tote bags and large bags.

Below the bottom shelf in the back, I have 2 sets of mesh drawers from The Container Store. In these drawers I have tights, socks, underwear, and bras. In the baskets on top of the mesh drawer sets I have beanies, scarves, gloves.

On the wire shelves, I have plastic liners from The Container Store which are amazing. I saw them at the store in their closet display. They are so great for wire shelves because you lay them down and your clothes won’t get those wire lines. I loved them so much I bought more for my linen closet, the shelf above my washer & dryer, and also my pantry. My pantry and utility room have wire shelves too so this makes a nice flat surface. For hangers, I’ve been using non-slip velvet hangers for years as they are slim and not bulky so it maximizes space. I also have my dress pants and skirts on hangers from The Container Store where you can hang multiple pieces on one large hanger.

Tucked behind my dresses is a foldable step stool so I can reach the top shelves! Lastly, on the inside of the door I have a hanging door mirror. The mirror comes with the hooks for the top of the door, however whenever I opened and closed the door the mirror would bang agains the door since the bottom wasn’t secure so I used Command Hook stickies – the velcro kind for wall mounting – and stuck those behind the two bottom corners to stick to my door and it’s perfect!

It looks cluttered mostly because the closet is narrow, but I know I have a lot of clothes! I’m constantly pulling things though for selling and donating. Since I took these photos last week, I have pulled out a few sweaters for selling and donating.

So on top of all those things I changed/added, I also changed the carpet since I had all new carpets installed in the bedrooms and the walls were also painted since I had the whole place painted.

Almost everything in my closet (besides clothes!) is linked in the collage below. The only thing I didn’t link are the plastic containers with my tote bags and bathing suits which are think are from Walmart and are just ones I’ve had for along time for storage. Oh and the wood shelves, because I’m pretty sure my neighbor just bought wood, cut them to size, painted them and installed them.