Closet! Closet! Closet!

All I have been thinking of these days is about closets. With lot of pondering and second guessing have finally completed our master closet design.

We are using a three door ready made wardrobe at the moment and we intend to build a customized closet very soon. The space that we intend to build our master closet is long and narrow ( 96"X53"). Its is also a passage way that leads to the bathroom.


First I started with a L shaped design.  A  deeper storage in the  shorter arm of L with double hangers, a corner storage connecting the longer and shorter arm and a narrower longer arm with lots of shelves. The deeper storage for hangers , open corner shelves and hinged door for the narrow longer arm. The shorter arm with the hanger space was common for  both me and Mridul as it was the only one deep enough to hold hangers.

It got me thinking and I decided to edit the design to have two separate section for His and Her. It made sense to have separate section for both, each responsible for their own space. Nobody needs to be overwhelmed by the clutter created by the other. You guys might be thinking, separate closet space should have been my first choice from day one. No-brainer, right?! But I was too occupied about not building too deep a unit so that we have enough space in the passage way.

The decision to opt for a sliding door over the hinged one made my design simple. Now there would be enough space for the passage way as well as deep enough closet for the hangers. So two separate sections of 48 " long and 22" deep. No more L spaced closet It is a 96" long , 96" and 22" deep straight closet.

I used Maratha Stewart  website to design the interior of the closet.

In the process of designing this closet, reading through articles and the discussions with the carpenter came across some good tips:

• In india most of the closets that are custom made by carpenters are 24" deep by default. But after due calculation, I feel, 22" is a good enough depth to hold hangers. So it gives your room that extra 2" space.
• A sweater once folder is 12" wide. So the width of the shelve should be in multiples of 12 to optimize space.
• Optimal hight for a shelve is 10" to 12". It helps in easy storage and prevents a pile from toppling over.
• Dimension of a standard plywood sheet: 96"X48" (8 Ft X 4 Ft)
• For a hinged door, ideal width is 16" to 18"
• For sliding doors, the bigger the width of the door, they are smother to slide compared to a narrower ones. Max width 48' 

Anyone else designing any closet? Please let me know if I am missing out on anything or if you have any design tips.