We're in a similar situation as oruboris was in last year - we need to move into the house next month and would like to get a conventional 30-yr mortgage. The finish house appraises for twice the loan we need. Things unfinished will be carpet in the two upstairs bedrooms; countertop, sink, and faucet won't be installed in the upstairs kitchenette, and base molding won't be complete upstairs. For the downstairs - no crown or base molding, kitchen cabinets won't be complete, and most interior doors will not be installed. Oh, and the closets will not have the hanging rods & shelves. So, I called my bank last week to see which of these items we need to focus on after we move in, in order to get a loan. I was told that the house has to be 100% complete - every last piece of crown molding has to be in. The direct quote I got was, "anything that would increase the appraisal has to be done". I see threads all the time where people move into a partially completed house - what sort of loans are they getting? Or is this a result of the housing crisis? Anyways, I will be talking with another bank next week, and we still have the option of converting our construction loan to a 20-year loan at a not-great-rate. Just wondering how other people handled this situation.

It's hard to tell from the first picture what the exact closet shape is, so I can't help a lot. As it looks to me though, I'd use that upper back area for long-term storage (suitcases, out of season clothing) and put a hanging rod in the lower area. The other closet is exactly like the closets in my old home. We solved the wide but shallow problem by making them into mini walk-in closets. I posted this diagram on another thread awhile ago about organizing closets. This is a diagram of our one very wide and shallow closet. We hung double rods perpendicular to the door on the sides and parallel to the door in the middle. It was wide enough to still be able to get to the side clothes with clothing in the middle. Our other closets were not as wide, so we just hung the double rods perpendicular to the door. Top view then side view. Blue lines are hanging rods and shelves. If you put the shelves at about 42" and 84"' you can easily reach to hang clothes on the top rods. Or just have a small stool handy. Or whoever is taller gets the top rows. :) The long hanging side we hung at about 6'. There's still some room on the floor underneath for a laundry basket for dirty clothes. We used wire shelves and the metal wall-mounted rods. You just need to find the stud and attach it all the way up. It's fairly easy. And then you can move shelves as needed and cut the wire shelves and rods to size. It's pretty inexpensive too! We installed these all the way to ceiling to maximize storage space.

aliris you and I have in common some of our concerns and similar views on them too. reluctantly I have come to a few conclusions. here are some solutions that work in spite of the negatives. in no particular order. a/ a curtain on big rings that make a noise when you whack the curtain out of the way. incredibly good even though it makes a noise. a/ 2/ a pair of curtains each one on a pivoting rod. you swing them out when you want, for sight lines, and can leave them pinned back most of the time, framing the opening. b/ bypass doors on the most silent of all on rollers. an even number of doors, not odd. with or without a base guide. c/ an expensive mirrored door on hinges d/ nothing, and ideally a layout that puts a panel in the way of the most disturbing sight line / sigh line. e/ pocket door(s) a lot depends on whether or not the closet gets closed ... Hth

Sorry, been a few days since I've had a chance to check in. Les917, I'm trying desperately to avoid something I have to paint. I've gone down that road, and it wasn't pretty! I can find TONS of double rods in other colors, but I'm searching & searching for something that's "ready to go". $150 for just the brackets, that I have to paint myself, is a bit steep considering what it's being used for, too. Wow, I had no idea brackets could cost so much. But I will certainly peruse the site a bit more and see what else they have. Thanks for the point in that direction! monkeyjac, those are the "industrial" type metal ones I was referring to. I need a deocrative rod. I figured tons of people here might have secret curtain rod resources, but maybe this is more of a universal challenge than I expected. :) I continue the search...