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How to Plan a Custom Closet

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

Friends, I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a series on the blog! My organization-loving self is more than a little giddy. I have officially dubbed this week “closet week” because we are tackling our master bedroom closet, and it is going to be awesome!

Here’s what will be going on around here over the next few days:

  • Today I’m going to talk about the plan for our master closet– the struggles we’re having with it now and the solution we’ve come up with to get the very most out of our closet space.
  • Tomorrow I’ll talk about installing our new, much more functional closet system and share a sneak peek of the new layout.
  • And Thursday will be the big reveal of our new closet space!

How’s that for instant gratification? 😉

How to Plan a Custom Closet

Since organization is near and dear to my heart, I wanted to make sure to tackle our master closet soon after we moved into our new house so we could have solid systems in place from the get go. Even though our house was a new build, we didn’t have much say over the closet’s layout or organization systems, and our current system has some definite downsides.

Because I thought it would be easier to show you the current challenges in our closet and how we plan to fix them, I put together a video so you can see exactly what I mean:

A huge thanks to EasyClosets for providing a closet system for this series! My favorable opinion of beautiful and functional closets that keep our house organized is 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Here’s the closet layout we’re working with:

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

As you can see, the closet is a good size– I’m definitely not complaining! It is sort of separated into two “pods,” the larger of which we’re using for my clothes, and the smaller of which we’re using for Donnie’s. Currently, the closet looks like this…

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

my side

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

Donnie’s side

So basically, we have 3 main challenges with our closet’s current system:

  • It has an unconventional layout. With many angles and walls to contend with, finding super efficient storage solutions is a challenge.
  • The wire shelves aren’t my favorite. They’re not very deep, not very pretty, and they definitely don’t make the most of the space we have in the closet.
  • Nothing has a set function. Even though we’ve only been living here for 2 months, the closet is already becoming a catch-all space.

I was worried about how we were going to solve these problems because I know that a generic, off-the-shelf closet system wasn’t going to cut it for this space. Then I discovered EasyClosets, and it was like the heavens opened and the angels started singing. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but I was SO excited to find a solution that could be customized to our specific closet and needs and could be delivered right to our door. Win-win!

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

With EasyClosets, I could either go into their design tool, put in my closet’s dimensions, and design everything myself or I could have one of their designers come up with a plan for me at no extra charge. Though I did go in and play with their design tool so that I could check out all of the different things they offer, I ultimately handed over the reins to one of their professional designers, Debbie, who came up with the perfect design for us.

When I first talked to Debbie, I gave her all of the dimensions of our closet and I also let her know what was on our closet “wish list”– what functional things we needed our closet to have so it would work for us most effectively. Our list included:

  • Space for hanging clothes
  • Drawers for folded clothes & personal items
  • Hamper
  • Ironing board
  • Jewelry storage
  • Shoe storage
  • Full length mirror

It was a tall order, but Debbie worked her magic and came up with a plan that included everything we wanted and more and truly maximized our unconventional closet layout.

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

You can see the overhead view of the closet layout, with parts A, B, and C being my side of the closet, and D, E, and F as Donnie’s side. The front view shows the layout of each individual part.

On my side, I have plenty of hanging storage, both for longer items like dresses and shorter pieces like pants and tops. There are plenty of shelves, some of which I can use for that jewelry storage that was on my wish list. I have room to store my shoes, and if you look closely at Wall B, you can see that Debbie was able to work a fold up ironing board into the plan– it will be hidden by a drawer front! We also left one wall bare on my side of the closet, and that is where I am planning on hanging a full length mirror.

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

Donnie’s side of the closet will hold the hamper (shown on Wall D), plenty of shelves for shoes and other items, and hanging space for his clothes.

Once we had perfected the plan with Debbie, we placed our closet order on a Tuesday and by Thursday, allllllllll of the boxes showed up at our door– 31 of them to be exact! So quick!

Love this plan for a new, custom walk in closet with EasyClosets! Click through to the post to see how they are getting organized and planning to maximize the storage space in the closet!

We couldn’t wait to dig in and start installing! EasyClosets made the process, well, easy, and we’ll be back tomorrow with all of the installation details (and a little sneak peek too), so be sure to come back for that!

Follow along with our whole master closet series in these posts:

How to Plan a Custom Closet (You’re here!)

Installing a Custom Closet from EasyClosets

A Beautiful and Organized Master Closet – The Reveal!

Working with a small closet? These posts may help:

How to Organize a Small Closet

How to Create an Organized Kids’ Closet

[Psssttt… Get 100 brilliant ideas for organizing every room of the house here!]

Have you ever installed a closet system yourself? Do you have any tips for us? Let me know in the comments!

Have a wonderful day!

Small Signoff

A huge thanks to EasyClosets for providing a closet system for this series! My favorable opinion of beautiful and functional closets that keep our house organized is 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

7 Comments

  1. We installed Easy Closet in our master bedroom closet several years ago. It’s a great system, that maximizes your closet space. You will love it.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Ooh I love to hear that! Thanks so much for letting me know, Kathy! We are looking forward to the new closet! Have a great week!

      ~Abby =)

  2. Can’t wait for the BIG reveal!!!!!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks, Jen! I’m excited too! 🙂

      ~Abby =)

  3. Brittany Quinn says:

    Wow great post I saw your other post on your closet reveal. How awesome I’m glad you left the blueprints to your closet design. I can’t wait to show this to my husband we built our closet from the ground up. But I want the design to be a lot like yours because yours is the most organized if ever saw. I’m going to try to make my closet similar to this. I really loved this post.

  4. Hi – we are about to finish construction our our Palermo and have the exact same close and I’m in love with your built-ins. I was wondering on your dimensions – did you do a standard bath (i.e. didn’t upgrade to the master bathroom suite that cuts off part of the closet as a result)? Also – now that it’s installed, anything you’d do differently or feedback?

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Hi, Amanda! We did the bath that has just the shower with two shower heads, no tub. So I think we have the full closet and didn’t lose any space in there. We love the closet built ins! The only thing I might tweak is that the hamper is kind of small, so I may have done one on both sides, but since it’s small, it also makes me stay on top of the laundry, so that’s a good thing! 🙂 I hope this helps! Enjoy your Palermo!

      ~Abby =)

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