I love seeing your closets!! We have his and hers closets in the master, and I'm not satisfied with them (and we haven't even moved in yet). Our trim carpenter suggested a simple layout for rods and shelves, which looks great. Then I asked for shoe storage like rows of cubbies (meaning get more shoes in less space). He put in a slanted shelf along the baseboard. He was so proud of it, I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wouldn't meet my needs. Now, I'm kicking myself because I'm too wimpy to insist that he rip it out and redo it. Also, the floors have been finished now. I'm to the point where I have to pick my battles. Anyway, our best storage plans for our master are to de-clutter before moving in and to keep as much as possible in our huge cedar closet (for out of season clothing and shoes).

I've never made a big box, but I did glue foam board (or foam-core board, whichever you call it) together to make a smallish one. The toughest part is getting square cuts so that it's easy to glue the sides together so they're straight. Tacky glue is the best bet for making them stick, bcs it's really hard to clamp. Or, maybe contact cement, but I don't know how it will react on the foam core of the board. You could probably add reinforcing strips inside each joint (just cut a 1/2" wide piece, and glue it to the bottom of the box, and to the side, pressed firmly in place. One thing I *don't* like about plastic bins is that the sides angle down (so they'll nest during shipping and while in the store), and I'm so greedy about storage space that I keep wishing I had that space back. Plus square things don't sit well in the bottom. And the rims and handles take up space I begrudge as well. The thing I don't like about cardboard is not that they break--they're sturdy enough in every instance I've dealt with. (in fact, plastic gets brittle & can shatter). But the corrugations can create homes for bugs. I haven't had much trouble w/ them, even though I live in the Cockroach Capital City of the World. But I'm always aware of it.

What you store is totally personal. I have three IKEA Pax 36" wardrobes (in the white, raised panel design) and love them. I have 2 deep ones for my clothes (there's only one closet in the master bd, and it's 4' wide) and one shallow one for linens. Few halls will be able to take a deep cabinet. Ours is 6' wide, and because of the door layout, a 2' deep closet would be claustrophobic. We do not have many linens, but our shallow cabinet is FULL with just linens for our family of four, plus some dirty clothes space at the bottom. The nice thing about the depth, though, is that everything is very accessible. We keep our meds, tp, etc. in the bathroom. Triage everything BEFORE investing in more storage. How many towels do you really need? How many meds are old? How many are duplicates? Lots of people have Nyquil AND Mucinex AND Sudafed without realizing that there is only ONE effective OTC decongestant, ONE effective OTC expectorant, and ONE effective OTC cough suppressant. Have a small bottle of decongestant/expectorant for the day (cough suppressant optional), one expectorant only for night plus Afrin for night use in emergencies, and that's it. With a bottle of pain killers and a swig of the alcohol of your choice, and you can recreate whatever branded blend you desire with a lot less total space. The basic rule is to learn to check ingredients before buying and make sure you don't duplicate products.

ditto vcheethi -- I painted our master bedroom walkin a nice beigey tan (like Tobacco Road) back when I was planning to do the same color in the master bedroom. We were painting the closet first, so we could install a closet organizer system. Well, it took a few years to get around to the bedroom and I went in a totally different direction - sort of a bright apple green with white trim. Now the closet (which, since it's a walkin, is really like another room) looks drab and dingy. I want to paint it white, but it's going to be such a pain to work around all the shelving and closet organizer stuff. My dh gives me "that look" every time I mention painting the closet. (And truthfully, there are about a million other things that need to be painted more than the closet, so he does have a point.) But I wish I had just stayed with white.