MY finish guy said he can install so that will be helpful. Not thinking I need a lot of fancy stuff. Storage for sweaters and hanging clothes mostly. Shoes on the floor aren't a big deal for me. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. I know they want to sell you as much as possible. Thank you for your thoughts!

It isn't cheap, but they will last a long time.

I figured out the design mostly myself and had all the measurement for the person at the store. We then sat at the computer at the store and the design person laid it out based on my initial ideas. We then reworked it with some of their ideas.

I have long hanging space, double hanging space, drawers, shoe racks and shelves.

Have you gone to the store? Seeing all the options in person was the best way to visualize how they would work for me.

chispa thank you. No I did not. I wanted to have someone come to the house first to measure and discuss ideas then have them draw it up.
I assumed it wasn't cheap but at least it is 25% off right now so that helps!

Since you didn't go to the store, which I highly recommend before you sign/order anything, at least go to the website and look at all the pretty photos of different closets, etc. It should give you a good idea to start with.

If you are planning to get drawers, see if you can wait until December when they are 33% off. Right now I think it is just the shelving that is on sale. You could get everything but the drawers now. Once you have everything in place, drawers are easy to install.

Unless appearance really matters, you can probably forgo the wood edgings on the drawers. I can’t imagine they add any functionality.

I like having the liner on the ventilated shelves if clothes are going there, so don’t get the lines. Seems like it defeats the purpose, but solid wood shelves take up more room. Ventilated with liner takes up hardly any space.

I like to keep a couple of the small blue hooks that go on the front off my shelves, to put something on a hanger, or a belt, or something for a little while.

My son has the platinum elfa in his closet. We love the way it looks. The other kid and I have white. (My other house was like an elf a showroom, had it everywhere: garage, Mudroom, laundry, family room closet, front hall closet, bedroom closets. The only reason I didn’t do it in the pantry is the pantry was only 21” wide and the standards and brackets took up too much valuable space! The plain, skinny stuff from the hardware store worked out better!)

We have Elfa in every closet in this house. They are excellent at advising based on your stated needs and their computer program will show you exactly what it will look like on each wall. Very easy to install...this was the third house we used it. Fairly easy to reconfigure if your needs change. We used the wood drawer inserts in our first installation. They looked really good, but that closet was smaller and in the next 2 houses I left them off. Definitely a better, more finished look, but I wanted to use the money elsewhere. We have no dressers in our bedrooms because the elfa system stores everything in the closet.

"wait until December when they are 33% off"

That's a pretty good sign that these are 50% overpriced most of the time. I'm presently going through options with a client & my custom cabinet maker is beating these retailers on equal materials. There are likely more local options. Don't worry so much about price per piece, but look at the totals including installation. Some systems take a lot of pieces for each drawer for example, so the total is bigger than you initially see.

I find a dresser from Ikea works well in my walk in closet and I hate shoes on the floor since every time you vacuum you have to move them all so shoe storage IMO is a must . I like the dresser for items like underwear , socks and t shirts for sure

I don’t have any specific advice - but please share what you choose and final pics! I’d love to see what you do. I’d love to design an elf a system for our closets eventually, just not in the budget right now.

I just LOVE the container store. If we won the lottery someday... most women would go shoe shopping. I’d go to the bike shop and the container store! :)

Kate I have to admit, Ive never been in one and fear I will want everything in sight!

They sell a really great stepladder that is amazingly lightweight. I also bought a bunch of glass canning/storage jars to store spices that were stinking up a cabinet. It is a fun store to visit ... but not on the weekend!

We converted a tiny bedroom in a very old house into a closet/dressing room. I used the free standing Elfa because I knew that the room would need to return to a bedroom when we sold. In our current house, most of those components are now our basement storage, but some are in various closets.

I like the ventilated shelves with liners, rods, plastic drawer with lids. The ventilate drawers are good for some things. That was the only drawer option when I first started using the products.

I didn't like the pant rack as well as I thought I would. The pullouts for shoes were ok for me, but DH hated them. He does better with shelves.

I have lots of t-shirts that will not fit into my bureau and also a few sweat pants and lots of sweaters so not sure whether to do shelves or shelving and drawers combined. Probably will do some double hung rods with a single hung for dresses. I also have scarves that are right now on a hanger with multiple holes for scarves to be woven in them. I want to utilize the space as much as possible. I can use guest closet space if need be or totes but I prefer not to.

I saw this on someone else's post and kept it. They used IKEA. I like the small shelves on the second picture and think maybe I could use something like that for t-shirts and maybe sweaters too. Granted it is a man's closet but it gave me some ideas, however, I do not want to spend tons of money. Not sure what ventilated shelves are so will have to check those out. Thanks Moxie!

It's really hard for me to keep t-shirts folded nicely on a shelf. I put them in a drawer, folded to stand on edge.

link to a photo on a blog that shows how.

In my last closet, I did narrow shelves to hold my swearers and jeans, it worked out quite well.

Moxie, I started folding my tee shirts and some sweaters and pajamas that way last year and I love it!

We contacted several of the larger well-known brands to give us quotes for our closets and we were surprised how quickly the cost went up when you added any of the mandatory "extras".

On a whim, we asked a local cabinet maker. His quote came in at about half the price. And it was with much better finishes.

He told me later that this was the easiest project he had ever done, and he probably could have charged even less.

And this is in one of the most expensive markets in the US. Every contractor is more expensive here

Thanks M.
He is currently building me cabinets for each side of my fireplace and a mantel which has not been easy as he is making the mantel look like barnwood.
I also asked him to put in the pole and shelf above in all my other closets and to install whatever I buy, if I do, from the Container Store. He might make storage for my master if need be but I think he is up to his eye balls with our house already and we only have 5 weeks to get in. He built my house and is doing the finish work. His work has been impeccable.