Not aware of anyone that uses real wood anymore. My local container store has a new line by TCS. Very nice looking 1" mdf all around. It is an upscale version of California closets. The price includes installation. Nice deep drawers. The cost varied from $4k to $10k. What is your budget? There are some great choices if you style is contemporary from companies like Poliform and Eggersmann but the prices can be quite high.

Good luck!

I did my closets with ikea kitchen cabinets...the high cabinets go to the ceiling, and inside all the shelves, drawers, drawer dividers, and other organizing stuff ikea is known for. I just added closet rods where I wanted to hang clothes. Plus its all behind doors, so it looks great all the time!

I second the Ikea suggestion - very versatile and inexpensive. You can also utilize their bookshelves and other furniture items not typically used in closets to create storage areas and displays. They also are available in a variety of finishes - white which always looks nice or a wood-style finish. Also usually easy to put together and move around if necessary. Definitely worth a look, imagining how you can repurpose things to suit your needs. :)

I also love ikea closet system. I've also used easyclosets.com to do my master. Looks like wood and has held up nicely. They have a nifty online design feature that is really easy to use and a design tech will review your order to make sure you've maximized the storage space. Good luck.

What you'll get with a high quality closet organizer company is better quality veneers. Nothing wrong with that. High quality particleboard or plywood is more stable and will not warp.

Using IKEA is a good suggestion. We considered it but decided to go with bids from a couple of closet and cabinet co's. The closet guy came up with a much better idea than what I had, so we're going with them. Just ordered and will be a couple of months before install.

Went to the Container Store yesterday to look at their closet systems. The new TCS system is drop dead beautiful but so very expensive! Here is a pic of the "Chesnut" color which looks a lot walnut. But this setup was over $10K. I think if you had a decent size closet, this could easily run $50k. And the salesperson said this will "never" go on sale.

numbersjunkie, please tell your DH he did an amazing job!

>>but the labor was his.>>

And there in a nutshell is the answer. I remember when we needed to replace our front door, and we are not handy (by choice). My DH agonized over two inexpensive HDepot models, one of them $125, $50 cheaper than the one I wanted. He almost fainted when the first bid for install came in - $2100!

The second bid came in at "only" $1800, LOL.

Lesson learned: labor is the real cost!

Our home is a modest cottage in a start-up neighborhood. We have vastly over-improved it but there is a limit beyond which we will not go, because it makes no sense. We have already "put lipstick on the pig", but dressing it up in Chanel couture and Jimmy Choo heels is too much even for us, LOL.

My custom closet organizer is white melamine, high-density particleboard. It will look clean and neat, and work better than what I had before. Fortunately I had no need for wire baskets or shoe racks, which quickly up the cost. Eventually we will do the other four big closets in the house, as consistency is important in resale.

We found our closet company on Yelp. 5-stars, early days with them yet, but it was certainly helpful to get a new Yelp customer 25% discount!

With luck I will be able to post a photo or two in a few months, with Before/After.

We are spending more on the interior of the MBR itself. Custom-built bookcases, with a special king-bed storage headboard. Off-white laminate with highlights of maple veneer for just a touch of neutral color.

Our MBR is also our library, so it holds not only all our DVDs but also ten full-sized bookcases. We're hoping the eight custom bookcases will allow us to size down. I like to describe our MBR suite as "big, but far from beautiful!"