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Design Dilemma Storage & Closet

How to design a 41" x 23" closet for clothing storage?

last year

last modified: last year

Hi, any ideas on how to maximize clothing storage in a 41" wide by 23" deep closet? Should we do drawers or something else? We want it to hold kid's clothes - shirts, pants, shorts, socks, underwear, etc. We currently have a single bar/shelf with clothes hanging, a bunch of unorganized storage above that for larger items, and a few cube storage pieces on the bottom. It feels like the space could be used better than it is. How do people lay out a small closet like that? Should we put in a system with drawers of some sort?

Comments (7)

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Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
IMO mostly drawers and a bit of hanging space above the drawers and if boys IMO you need no hanging space at all girls need dress hanging space . Can we see the closet and get a bit more info from you .
apple_pie_order
last year
Will this be the only clothes storage? No chest of drawers elsewhere?
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Hi All, After years of drooling over the Elfa stuff, I broke down and bought one closet of this stuff for my new house. In my old place I had purged and purged and got my stuff down to reasonable stuff. I was so proud and it was MUCH easier to find stuff. I also found that I gravitated towards color oraganizing, I think from watching too many episodes of Clean Sweep :) In the new house, I'm starting with just the MB reach-in closet for now. My house is 53 years old and doesn't have near as much closet room as my 33 years old condo did... So, I figure to stay uncluttered, I NEED to have closet organizers systems :) At least that's what I'm telling myself... I'm putting in the MB one this weekend in fact. I put the Top Track and standards and some of the ventilated shelves in yesterday and then I decided that I wanted to "flip" the first and forth "columns" in the plan because of logistics of stuff outside the closet... I.e. I have a night stand that would be in front of drawers that pull out and I thought even though they would clear I didn't want to reach to get to the contents. I thought since this stuff is so "modular" I should be able to flip it and not have to buy anything else. But just to be sure that the system would still be "sound" (as in structural) I decided to take the plan papers back to Container Store and get them to use their CAD software and flip it around on paper for me... Well it was doable. And my goal is to have it all done today and have the rest of my bedroom unpacked!!! I'm sick of living out of boxes and a suitcase. Next is the linens closet and then eventually the Guest Bedroom reach-in closet, which is the same size and everything as the MB closet, since it's on the mirror side back to back. But in that one, I'd probably go for no clothes hanging space... but since I have no real "hall closet" (i.e. for coats and stuff) I might have to put some hanging space in this one for that... But I am hoping that one of the teeny hall closets might work as a coat closet... but I doubt it... better to let the one be a storage closet or a utility closet (vaccuum, mops, etc, plus cleaners and such)... but I do have a garage now (yeah, I've never had one) and much of hang-up stuff like mops, brooms, etc are better for there... but I do want my vacuum real handy since I use it all the time... Oh the planning... you can see I have much more to do... but in the meantime I'm hoping that at least my MB stuff will be set. I'm doing the Birch and White stuff. Some wood trim and basically the white ventitlated stuff. Very open, very visible.. I like that. Also I used so much container type stuff already in my old MB that I'm hoping that some of that will just move into my new MB closet without a problem. This is the purses, travel bags and doohickeys, hats, off-season clothes. Also sweaters.. but now those will fit in the pull-out drawers... In the old one I had put a 2 shelf titatium mesh rack for shoes so it was 3 shelves including the floor. I'm foregoing that in the new closet and going with my shoes being on open shelves... some in clear shoe boxes (dress shoes and occastional wear stuff) and the rest of everyday stuff just set on open shelves with liners... I'll let you guys know if this winds up working. Don't know yet... sounds good in principle but I'll have to see in practice... Cheers, --jans
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It all starts with what your clothing needs for optimal storage. If your clothing can be folded without harm (t-shirts, levis, knits) you would need more shelves, fewer hanging rods. If your are extra-tall, you need to make sure the hanging rods let the shirts hang instead of dragging. Shoes: how many and what size?
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The corner opposite the door is going to be difficult to access. I like the idea of a double rod, with some space for long items - but I'm not sure crossing rods in the corner is the best way to achieve that. You won't be able to hang anything in the corner, with a perpendicular rod in the way. Are you willing to do a closet system that allows you to have varying heights on the same wall? Perhaps 2 feet of a single rod, for dresses, and 3.5 feet of double rod. I have a double rod in my closet, and the shirts on the lower one almost touch the floor. I lose floor storage, but I can actually reach the upper rod!
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I have one of those L-shaped thingies! I'll try to find it. I mounted mine on the INSIDE of the door frame, well above the rod, so that it sticks out into the closet, above the clothes themselves, taking advantage of that space just above the shoulders of the clothes. One thing I like about this solution is that I have lots of different styles of hangers, and they will all fit. My biggest reason for getting this was so that the empty hangers would be all in one place, when I took the clothes off them. Here is the one I have. I never fold it up, though. https://www.containerstore.com/s/closet/hangers/hanger-accessories/white-wall-hanger-holder/123d?productId=10025748&country=US&currency=USD&utm_source=tcscompshop&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=google&cid=cse:PLA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4Y-k3qPO2AIVgksNCh3MkAosEAQYBCABEgLIBfD_BwE
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drdavidge
Original Author
last year
It's shared between a boy and a girl. We have another similar closet in the room but it's larger, 56" wide. We use that for bulkier clothes/jackets hanging from a bar, toy storage on top, and stroller and larger toy storage on the bottom. We currently have a 6 drawer dresser that we would like to move and use the closet instead - the closet system would essentially replace the dresser to free up space in the room for other things. Apartment living.. so trying to maximize space!

Drawers in a closet like this always confuse me, I'm never sure if they end up taking up too much space. I guess 24" drawers would leave just around 7" of space on both the left and right sides?

Excuse the mess in the picture - we have some purging to do here too!
acm
last year
In the long run, a closet system can make a huge difference. However, (1) if you do short shelves for little kid clothes, then they no longer work when somebody needs full-length for dresses, etc., and (2) you're already using most of the vertical space with your cubes and other stuff. Not sure you can realistically get more in there!

If I were designing this closet, I might get a bit more vertical space, but I'm not sure how much your chaos up top can compress.

Definitely don't think I'd try to wedge in a lot of drawers, but that depends on whether you're keeping any dresser/drawer storage elsewhere, like under the beds. If you have to have them, you might have to be prepared to rearrange by the time your daughter is a tween (or maybe you have to move by then so that separate bedrooms)...

I did all of these at Easy Closets, where it is easy to see some options, relatively inexpensive to buy them, and you probably want a handyman to help you install them.
Jennifer Hogan
last year
My sister swears by Marie Kondo method of organizing and folding clothes to maximize space. She has almost no hanging space (maybe 6") for a few dresses. Everything else is folded in drawers. Small closet and perfectly organized.
einportlandor
last year
For a cheaper option than drawers, install shelves and use bins for the clothes. I did this for one of my kids -- one bin for underwear, t-shirts, jeans, pj's, etc. I can't say clothes were neatly folded but it was easy for her to toss clean clothes in the appropriate bin. You can add a hanging rod above the bins, although in my experience most kids clothes don't need to be hung. I did something similar for my own tiny closet (old house) except the bottom half of the closet is for hanging clothes with shelves/bins on top. I added a pantry shelving unit on the closet door and use it for shoes. Works well considering the limited space. The Container Store has a great selection of bins, baskets, etc. and they often have sales.
stiley
last year
The Container Store website has a design tool where you enter your dimensions and play around with drawers, shelves, hanging space. There are also lots of inspiration pictures. Even if you don't buy the Elfa stuff, it could still help you plan your space. Each of my kids has a new closet about your size that I'm trying to make as efficient as possible. My kids are elementary and middle school age, and I've learned that they prefer to store things in drawers and baskets, so I'll have lots of clear bins too. It can be a full-time job to keep kids' stuff purged!

You can also design the systems that can go on the inside of the door. Baskets, hooks, shoe holders... lots of options. I use one of those systems in our tiny coat closet and it's awesome for the small things like sunglasses sunscreen, masks, gloves, etc. For the kid closets, one door will have hooks and baskets, and the other door will have hooks and shoe holders. You could do one door per kiddo in your closet.

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