One Room Challenge: Planning a Closet Layout

October 6, 2021 Janet Lorusso

We are on week two of the fall One Room Challenge Dressing Room Do-Over project. If you are just joining us, you can see all the sordid and embarrassing before pictures in Week 1 as well as a bit about what the One Room Challenge is and a bit about me!

I am a guest participant and appreciative of the opportunity to get this project done, finally, after living with it for 20 years. We certainly cannot say I rushed into this LOL, in spite of the fact that 8 weeks is a REALLY short window in which to get it all done these days.

Full disclosure: we were allowed to start early lining things up to stand a better chance of getting it done on time. Of course I did not start early since I was too busy on other projects, so all bets are off as to whether I’ll make the deadline. BUT it will get done in any case, which is a big WIN in my book!

So, a huge thank you to the One Room Challenge and media sponsor Better Homes and Gardens for providing the motivation and encouragement to finally get this show on the road!

In my dreams, I have a walk in closet like one of the ones below, with high ceilings, a chandelier, specialized storage and an ottoman. That top one in the picture is Nate Berkus’s closet. I love that he has more shoes than I do! The elegant black one was spotted in House and Home magazine.

My reality is a little different. I do not have a walk in closet, nor do I have tall ceilings, but I do have 13’ of wall closets and space for an ottoman in front of them - so all in all not complaining.

I am smitten with the wall color in my room which is my favorite color and falls somewhere in the tiffany/robin’s egg blue-green family, so I will be working with that color scheme. Here is my inspiration/mood board for the classic, elegant feel I am after for the dressing room.

This week was all about getting the planning and logistics underway.

First things first, complete measurements. For every project I use this app called Photo Measures on my ipad and my phone. It allows me to add the measurements right on a photo.

This week, I’ve done a comprehensive layout that gives me all the storage I will need.

When planning a layout, I needed to be mindful of where the bits of front wall fall so that any pull outs would function easily and properly. And I needed to make sure the interior lights wouldn’t interfere with any of the floor to ceiling partitions.

I looked into several closet systems, but none were exactly what I needed. I mostly just needed a lot of shelves and rods and a couple of specialized storage components for accessories.

I counted and measured shoes, suitcases, and the length and number of scarves in my collection. I recently was gifted a lot of jewelry from my Mom’s collection too, and I wanted to be sure to have some customized storage included to accommodate that. I don’t have a collection of hats, but here is an ingenious solution we created to organize a vintage hat collection for a previous project.

I found a pull out pants rack that would store all my scarves neatly and with easy access, and a series of jewelry and accessory drawer liners. I measured the size of my specialized components to make sure I would have the ideal space to accommodate them. Shelves and rod heights and spacing are optimized for my particular wardrobe.

The partitions and shelves will mostly be 13” to 14” deep, but the section with the accessory drawers and scarf storage will be 19” deep to accommodate those specialized organizers.

Please note: this post contains affiliate links meaning I may make a small commission on any purchases at no additional cost to you.

I’ve gathered some closet organizers below - click on the image for a direct link to shop

I wanted pairs of mirrored divided light French doors for the closet openings. It appears I can’t get the closet doors I wanted any time before I die IF I could get them at all…but I do have an ingenious backup plan to solve my door problem. Plan B should do nicely, but I’ll share that another week.

The great news? My carpenter came this week to look at it all and can build exactly what I have planned…hopefully before the looming deadline.

In other progress, The organization components I ordered have shipped and should arrive imminently. I’ve also ordered one of the fabrics I will need, and samples for the other items, and I’ve delivered the cute shaped but dilapidated ottoman to the upholsterer for rescue and reviving.

I should have some samples to share of the pretty parts for next week! In the meantime, please check out the other One Room Challenge participants HERE for lots of inspiration!

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