No pictures, and not that I'm terribly organized, but this is what I do to avoid complete chaos in the small walk-in closet I share with DH. There is an organizer system that was installed by the PO of the house, with the right side having one bar to hang clothes and the left side a low bar and a high bar. I use the right side, and DH uses the left side. (I don't mess with his side. He tends to keep clothes that he doesn't wear for a long time, but he's pretty neat.) Starting from the left, I hang all my tops: Sleeveless Short-sleeved Long-sleeved Then pants Then skirts Then dresses Then evening wear/dressy clothes Sweaters go on the shelf above. Our closet has a pegboard attached to one wall with moveable hooks. I hang the nightgown I've worn the night before and any bras that I've worn since washing them on a couple of the hooks. (Clean nightwear and bras are kept in my dresser.) Shoes: seldom-worn shoes (dress shoes) are in a hanging cloth shoe bag on the other wall of the closet. More-often-worn shoes are theoretically in a bench by the front door, but in practice tend to be strewn about in front of the bench. But we don't have that many shoes, and it's easy to pick them up and put them in the bench.

" It had games, blankets, sheets, towels, beach towels, wash cloths, hand towels, wrist/ankle/knee braces, heating pad, poison ivy wash, candles, candlesticks, votives, old cough drops, nyquil...as you can see just about everything." Sounds like this closet became the junk closet, like many people have junk drawers in their kitchens. There's nothing wrong with a catch-all closet, unless you don't like it. What I'd start with is determining what you want to store in the closet. It could be linens, but it could also be anything else that you have to store but don't have room for elsewhere. It looks like you used to store a few categories of things in the closet: 1. Linens. blankets, sheets, towels, beach towels, wash cloths, hand towels. 2. Medicine/first aid supplies: wrist/ankle/knee braces, heating pad, poison ivy wash, old cough drops, nyquil. 3. Decorative items: candles, candlesticks, votives. Or maybe these were black-out supplies? 4. Games. Storing things where you use them is a great idea. You are already doing this with the guest towels and sheets. Can you do this with any of the things you are currently storing in the closet? The games in the family room, the candles in the kitchen or living room? Or you could store all linens in the rooms they are used in (if there is storage space) and use the linen closet for games and candles and decor items. Just because someone decided to call this a linen closet doesn't mean you have to use it as one. But let's say that you decide to make the closet for linens and medicine/first aid. Spend a little time thinking about how you use your linens. Do you and DH use a clean bath towel daily, or use one for three days or use one for a week? How often do you do laundry? How often do you have overnight guests? What else do you use towels for--laying sweaters out to dry, drying a dog, wiping up spills, workouts, etc.? Get a feel for how many towels you use in a week, add in a few spares for emergencies, and you have the number of towels you need to store. Go through the same thing with sheets and pillows. Err a little on the side of too much rather than too little. I live alone and while in a decluttering mood, thought that I only needed two bath towels. Completely forgetting that I handwash most of my sweaters and need one towel to squeeze out most of the water and another to lay the sweater out on to dry. Yeah, that required a trip to the store. For small stuff, like OTC medications, I find it helpful to group them in a container. I like to use those boxes they sell for photograph storage--there are a lot of pretty ones out there. Then label the box. "Cold stuff." "First aid stuff." "Painkillers." "Braces and wraps."

Hats: Put hat hooks along the left wall, above shoulder height. Or hat cubbies above shoulder level. Shoes: consider this idea along the left-hand wall, above shoulder level http://www.ikeahackers.net/2016/07/organized-shoe-storage-without-using-inch-precious-floor-space.html  Shelving: you have room for at least one shelf above the current top shelf, running all the way around the closet. Hat boxes, seldom-worn shoes, holiday decor ... On the right, a short section for hanging robes and walking clearance, then SHALLOW shelves for folded clothing, with baskets for underwear. If you store shoes sideways (parallel to the wall) even big shoes fit on shallow shelves. I've seen some good things done with bookcases (Ikea Billy) for closet shelving. Buy extra shelves and adjust them to suit the height of the shoes. Rods: I would consider making the left hand space all rods, with a double rod section for shirts and single for dresses - you are losing a lot in the corner. Or, if some of the hanging things would be folded on shelves if you had more shelves, figure out how much rod space you really need, add about 50% to it, and make the rest shelving. Instead of the standard height, put the top rod as high as you can comfortably reach up to hang and remove clothing, with drawers below. Drawers: Small dressers can be stuck under the hanging clothing easily, once you know what you need. Baskets on shelves can replace drawers for corralling small things and underwear. Back of the closet: flat hanging - scarves, belts, ties https://coopandhome.com/2015/01/25/150-custom-closet-system/ 

I had Elfa installed in our garage, 2 boys closets, pantry, 2 master closets and an understairs utility closet. The total for all of these was not even close to 11K. Maybe 8K total for all. I did notice that Elfa has a new system that looks more like California Closets, maybe that version is the style the other poster mentioned as being 11K.