When we added 400 extra sq feet to our home, we created a dream room for our three girls ages 8, 11 and 13. We added one large walk in closet with a specific purpose. We were strategic in our design for function and space. We took into consideration how our girls lived, and the space we had available. I say "we" because I planned all of it down to the inch and Trey installed the whole thing according to my plans. If you would like to see this addition from the beginning, you can check out what we did here, here and here.
Just as a reminder, the space started as an empty open area that we added a floor and closet to. The new walls are in red.
There is an L shaped closet that we carved out on the other side of the new washer/dryer hook up. Once we framed out the space for the W/D, we realized that it wasn't deep enough for our appliances. Drywall hadn't gone up yet, and it meant taking another six inches from the closet. It doesn't sound like much, but it effected the space that our oldest would get. She lost about 10 inches of hanging space. So I had to rethink some things.
In the original plan, the back corner would be 30" of hanging space, and there would be shallow shelves that were about 20" wide. When we had to cut into this space, we ended up putting a narrow set of shelves next to the fixed piece on the back wall. I ended up using the little nook space for a double hang. As it turns out, Chloë didn't have as many long things to hang, and the shelves were the perfect size for uniform pants and shorts as well as all her t-shirts.
The rest of the design was centered around three fixed pieces, two that we had, one we would design based on something I had in my closet. Each girl would get their own space and have their own hangers to, hopefully, mitigate fights. We picked three different colored Flor tiles for the closet to coordinate with the hanger colors-because I am extra like that! We painted the walls a neutral grey and used white pieces we picked up from HD to finish everything out.
Here, you can see into the closet, the back wall, and that little space in the corner all the way around.
Once we painted, we installed the tile in a checkerboard fashion.
Next, we installed the bigger pieces.
This is the first thing you see when you walk into the space. Rachel, our middle, was the one who cared the most about her space and would generally keep it the cleanest. She also had a lot of clothes. There is a double rod, and a single rod next to it.
We got the drawer piece from HD in 2004. They don't make it anymore. When we installed it in our last house, there wasn't enough room for the drawer fronts, so we didn't put them on. Eventually, we got rid of them, not realizing we would be able to use them nine years after we got them-go figure. The drawers are 24" deep and wide. The top piece curved into the shallow 15" deep, making it a great piece for shelves and drawers. Rachel and Lilly both had space for three storage bins up top and a place to put their carryon suitcases. Eventually, Rachel made the shelf above her drawers a jewelry station as her collection grew.
Next, we installed the corner piece. In the space that was left over, we did the double hang and long hang. I gave myself some wiggle room here in case there was another hiccup.
We decided to let Lilly have the corner because it had the most "storage" space. Lilly's wardrobe consisted of hand me downs from both her sister's, and a few new pieces. As a result, she had the most clothes. She was also the messiest of the girls, so putting her around the corner, helped to hide that mess.
This drawer/shelf combo was next to the corner piece. The drawers were Lilly's, the shelf piece was the start of Chloë's space. As the oldest, she did not have as many pieces. She didn't really care too much about clothes, so this smaller space really worked for her. We had a small vintage three drawer dresser in the big room for her as well.
Next to this was an angled wall that we needed to hang her long pieces on.
This angel made it impossible to just hang the rod wall to wall. Trey made a piece to make this space flush. You can see it in the picture below as well. We painted it the same color as the wall to help hide it. Finally, we added two more selves, cut to fit that corner, where she stored most of her sweatshirts.
This is that very back corner we used for her double hanging space. It was about 20" wide, more than enough for her school shirts and all the rest of her tops and jackets.
We added a shelf above for one storage bin. Again, because she didn't have as many clothes as her sister, she didn't need as much storage. As you can see, the shelf and the rods came out further than the nook. There was enough space between this and her long hanging space that it was ok they were sort of sticking out.
Eventually, we added hooks on that wall for hats and to hang outfits. So if she had a special event coming up, she could leave the outfit on the wall in anticipation of what was to come.
All of the baseboards were installed around the pieces we put in, giving this closet a finished look.
Finally, we needed to figure out how to close this space off. Then I found this amazing tapestry on Urban Outfitters (which, sadly, is no longer available).
The paint in this part of their room was picked to blend in with this tapestry. We hung it like a curtain with the IKEA Kvartal system. Man, I loved that system!! The Vidga system replaced the Kvartal a few years ago, but we haven't tried it yet.
To hang this tapestry, I started by measuring how high I would need it to be. Next, I used some basic hem tape to adjust the top of the tapestry. We decided to loose part of the top, not the bottom. Once it was "hemmed", I used a small hole punch in the fabric, spacing the holes in an even fashion. And then I hung the tapestry with the glider hooks. This made it so easy to just slide the curtain open or shut. I think doors would have made this space feel heavy. And this piece was so whimsical and just perfect for a closet shared by three girls.
This space was perfect for the five years we lived here. There were still fights and complaints when girls would leave everything out or steal clothes. Overall, it was super functional and easy to use for three growing human beings. One of the best organizational projects we did in this house!