walk-in closet or reach-in?

10 years ago

The dilema of maximizing the closet space without affecting the living space is a long discussed topic... And here we go again...

We have two tiny rooms in our 1928 home that we just bought to create a better sized master bedroom. Now the room is 19'x13'. Ideally, I would have just long reach-in of 13x3 and leave 16x13 living space but because of the location of windows and hot water radiator (windows on either ends and one end with a window and a radiator...) can't have use either end of the wall to create 13x ** closet.

Now the choices will be building a walk-in closet of 5'x5' (6'x5' would be ideal but it looked as though it was eating up too much room) on the corner away from the windows, or do 7 or 6'x3' reach-in, It would "look" better with the reach-in because the room is now a perfect rectangle without a closet and deeper closet space sticking into the living space amy look a bit weird (though I could turn the nook created into a mini-seating space...). One of my friends told me that despite everything, making a walk-in may be better for the home's resale than a reach-in, especially with the length of the possible reach-in being that small.

Would it be worth while to create a 5x5 "walk-in" (far from the ideal dimension as a WIC..) or stick to a reach in?

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Comments (8)

adellabedella_usa
10 years ago
Personally, I wouldn't do anything to make a room look odd. Weird remodels make it harder to re-sell a home. Since it is an older home, I think you could get away with the reach in closet.
j-yk
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for your input. Yes, a deeper closet would be a bit awkward... If I go with a reach in, I could put a backless storage bench by the window or do a built-in bench later when we have more money...
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Carolyn ~ Good point about heavy jackets and coats needing extra depth. I completely forgot about that because I have never used BR closets for coats! I don't know anyone who does -- coats are always kept in the closet by the outside door, bymmv. And yes, the coat closet is 34" deep. In my room with 12' closet, a) multiple bi-fold doors were used, they only take 1' foot of space when open and b) the area in front of the doors is walkway beside the bed. Walkway is needed whether or not the floor space doubles as standing-access area for the closet. One thing I learned (and it's hard to believe until you've lived with it a while) is that if you store all your clothes in the closet, you don't need the usual extra space alloted for dressers/bureaus because you don't need the dressers/bureaus! Multiple small drawers stacked up and used instead of shelves actually provide more usable area because stacks of folded clothing don't fall over, and you don't have to lift anything to reach the item on the bottom of the stack. Apparel stays clean and neat because each drawer holds only one item, or in the case of socks or undies, a limited number of items placed front to back in the drawer which are each easy to reach. Also, nothing ever gets lost at the back of the shelf because the whole drawer is visible and easy to access front to back. Okay, I probably sound like a salesman, but I'm not, it's just that I'm so impressed with how much easier life has been since I switched over to using those neat drawer-boxes. The next time you have to dig something from the bottom of a dresser drawer, think about how much nicer it would have been to just reach for it without having to dig.
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we just did the closet maid system at lowes. we did the expressions (i think that is the name) and it has everything you could think of! the closet is about 10 feet wide and 4 feet deep so we did both of the sides and the back. it cost us about $1000, but i feel it was worth every penny! if we had just done shelves ourselves, it would have saved us about $500, but nothing would be very organized. another option is ikea. they have some amazing closet organizational systems. but you have to go into the store. you can't tell anything on their site! good luck!
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Closet - love it. Foyer closets are usually for guests - and if you won't have a TON, why not have it do double duty! Brilliant. Living in the South, we don't have a ton of coats -- and visitors typically don't bring them into the house. We typically carry a coat with us "just in case" but leave it in the car. The real reason I want a coat closet at all is so I have a place to store our own bulky coats, which otherwise would take up all the space in our master closet. We'll have hooks for currently-in-use-coats, but I want to have a place to pack away winter coats when they're no longer needed. My friends put a six pack of beers in their walls. Like my husband would give up a beer. As far as looks go, a box bay might look good! I thought about that, but I think I'm just gonna say "no" to the idea ... and go with double or triple windows in that spot. Put a gun in the time capsule to generate good stories. Like I'd give up one of my guns! ? Change porch shape to mirror bay window. Now that's an idea I hadn't considered. I will ruminate on this. I liked it because it increased the size of our living room and gave it a feature. It also had stained glass over the double hungs. Yes, it was dark until late afternoons when the sun would get low enough to shine through the glass. Then it was like a jewel box. I had it set up much like your picture. That sounds lovely. Here is a question about a closet with doors on both sides that only you can answer for yourself, MrsPete. When you hang up coats, do they always face the same way? If not, the jack-n-Jill closet is great. But if they do always face the same way, will it bother you that opening the closet from one side or another reveals coats hanging in different directions? First, I hadn't applied the term "jack and jill" to this closet, but it works! Second, yes I had considered that ... it'd bother me a little -- 3 on a scale of 10. My old house had a bay window at the end of it. Great space for the two chairs as you mentioned, but I will say no one ever sat in them. If we celebrated it also would have been the perfect spot for a Christmas tree. I actually found it to be an awkward space. We'll need SOMETHING at that end of the living room ... otherwise it'd be an empty spot. Yes, I had considered the Christmas tree! Love your capsule idea. We're not doing that, but tomorrow when they pour the slab, we're going to head over to the house to embed 18 cents into the slab. (According to the Gematria, a Jewish mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters, the Chet has a value of 8 and the Yud has a value of 10, adding up to the number 18 which means Chai. Because of this, the number 18 represents good luck and gifts are often given in multiples of Chai, or 18. It symbolizes giving the recipient the gift of "life" or luck.) I'm glad you explained that because when I saw 18, I was definitely confused, as that's not a cultural reference of which I was aware! Interesting. Also very exciting that your slab's being poured. I'm not sure of the closet idea. You might lose some storage space. Would you do pocket doors? I could see it as being used as a walk through space too. Could you make it bigger so it could be used as a walkway, with closets on either side and pocket doors to close it off? No, you're imagining it bigger than it actually is -- and that's my fault for not giving any dimensions. This is a SMALL coat closet. 3' wide x 2' deep ... with a door on both sides so coats can go in /out from either side. It can't really be bigger (without decreasing other areas of the house that are more important to me), and since it is JUST for storing coats, no need for it to go bigger. No to pocket doors because of the items next to it ... plus, this isn't a door that'll ever be left open, so not an ideal spot for a pocket door. Again, thanks to all for your ideas.
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I have that closet. My condolences. I put shelves in the dead ends and have it restricted to (in your example) 62" of hanging space. About a third is full height and the other is half height so approx 22" of full height hanging and 80" of half height hanging. I use the shelves for suitcases, rubbermaid totes, other large things like that. It's not ideal, but it's better than what I had.
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Frankie_in_zone_7
10 years ago
I would give some thought to how you plan to customize the interior. A lot of walk-ins are created w/o regard to the dimensions that are really required to make "walking in" work. A reach-in with well-place rods, shelves and cubbies--especially nice if you use adjustable shelf supports in at least a portion--could be really useful and will LOOK useful to someone looking at it later.
aa62579
10 years ago
5' x 5' is really not enough room for a walk in closet to have rods on both sides. (Think that you need to devote 2' to each hanging side. Now, even if that 5' was the inside measurement of the closet, that still would just leave you with a foot to shimmy down. Not enough room to maneuver or to remove clothes. At minimum, you need 6' interior measurement for width to give you a 2' center aisle.

If you just do rods down one side, you have wasted a lot of space. What will you do with that space? You could do shelves, but make sure you don't block access to the hanging rod.

So, look at your storage needs. Most places need more hanging space in the master, not shelves. You can use a dresser, etc., to do the same as shelves would.

So, a 5'x'5' walk-in closet will give you 5' of hanging. With either of your reach-in dimensions, you get 6' or 7' of hanging space.

How tall are your ceilings? If they are tall, you can do quite a bit of storage above and I would recommend the 3' depth. If your ceilings are not tall, you could go with a 2' or 2.5' inside depth. (I would stick with at least 2.5', especially if you have any coats or puffy clothing that would stick out a bit more.)

Remember that the measurements I am saying are for the inside dimensions.

I vote for a reach in.
orcasgramma
10 years ago
What about window seats between 2 or 3 smaller reach-in closets? Sarah Susanka talks about 'setting in' windows by building around them so light bounces off the surrounding book cases or closets - to make rooms brighter. Perhaps 2 or 3 smaller closets (like wardrobes) but designed to let you have window seats would work.

If you do reach in closets you don't have to have just 1 and could plan them to look more like furniture.
mustang49
10 years ago
If you have a lot of clothes/shoes....etc. I would go with the walk in regardless. But for a small room I would do a reach in
wildchild
10 years ago
Our guest room has a 5 by 4.5 "walk-in". Those are interior dimensions. If you have clothes then it really isn't very useful. Remember that each rod needs a 2 foot depth for hanging clothes. More if you have larger people or adults using it. If you turn corners you have another 2 square feet of dead space.

The poster above covered the issues with rods on each side.

We ended up putting shelves on one side and a corner shelf/cubby thing my DH built. That left 34" of hanging space which we doubled by adding another rod below it when my DD was living here. Now we just use it for overflow.

Go with the reach in. There are closet systems available that make reach-ins just as organized as a walk in.
sherwoodva
10 years ago
Another vote for the reach in, as it is a better use of your space. We have a 1938 house with reach in closets, and we re-configured them to maximize the space, with a high and a low rod, as well as a short one inside the door (not an over the door rod). We got the last one at the Container Store. Out of season clothes are stored on the second floor.

If you are planning on being in the home for at least five years, I would not worry too much about resale value. Remodel it for how you want to live. We did not move or tear down any walls in our house, but the MBR was already a generous 12 x 12 feet.

Whatever you do, enjoy your house! They don't make them like that any more.

walk-in closet or reach-in?

Comments (8)

adellabedella_usa

j-yk
Original Author

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walk-in closet or reach-in?

Comments (8)

adellabedella_usa

j-ykOriginal Author

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j-yk
Original Author