This guide will help you design and organize your closet.  I design closets on a daily basis for our company in Michigan.  There is no one size fits all.  Over the past century our desire and ability to acquire clothing, shoes, and jewelry has grown tremendously.  In the days of our grand or great-grand parents a simple free-standing wood wardrobe was sufficient to hold all of their clothes.  Today, based on what I see in the homes of my customers, people have closets that range from simple 5' wide reach-in closets to enormous 20' x 30' walk-closets.  Regardless of the size of closet it there is a need for practical organization and a desire to put things away in a beautiful space.

For a reach-in closet the basic design in the picture below DOES work for most people.  This design works well for a bedroom, or even a entry closet.  It very efficiently increases the usable space in the closet.  The double hanging section alone accounts for as much hanging as was in the closet with just a shelf and rod.  when you look at it that way you can see that they have gained at least another 18" (depends on overall size of closet) for hanging and a lot more storage in the form of shelving and drawers.  In a bedroom the drawers are used for socks, underwear, etc.  In an entry way closet they would hold hats, gloves, etc.  Instead of drawers you could use sliding baskets or even just simple open shelving.

.

Before you jump up and order a system that looks just like this, you need to consider what you are trying to store in the space and how you would like to store these things.  For example, if you are trying to design a closet for a young boy that doesn't have a need for long hanging but really needs a place to put away his toys this is not the best design.  He would be better served by removing the hanging rod in the long hanging area and adding shelving all the way down that side of the closet. 

What if this closet was in a room you were going to use as an office?  I would then change both hanging sections into open shelving.  In the center tower I would add taller drawers at the bottom for hanging files and shallower drawers above these for small storage supplies.  As you can see the options are only limited by your imagination.

The beauty of the closet organizers (especially the professionally made units) is that they offer flexibility.  This unit has two vertical panels mounted on the side walls out of view.  These side units allow you to easily change the closet to meet the boy's needs but yet change it back to long hanging in the future when you sell the house.  All without adding unsightly holes to your drywall. 

Lucky enough to have a walk-in closet?  The size of an average walk-in closet has increased dramatically in new home construction.  Homes built between 1960 and 1980 had walk-in closets that typically were about 30 to 48 square feet (5' x 6' to 6' x 8') (at least in my area, I am sure in Beverly Hills it was always enormous).  Granted, I am usually in mid to higher-end new homes but it appears the AVERAGE new construction home closet is between 72 to 120 square feet.  Homeowners have much more to store and organize. 

With a walk-in closet it is that much more important that you plan ahead.  I cannot tell you how often we rip out what the builder has put in because it doesn't work for the new homeowner.  There are so many things to consider:  quantity of each type of item (e.g. how many shoes, shirts, pants, etc. are to be stored in the closet. Ballparking it is o.k.); how do you like to store your pants and shirts (folded on a shelf, folded over a hanger, hanging by the cuff or waist band?); how tall are you (if you are tall or short you will want to move the hanging rod up or accomodate the size requirements of your clothes).  Of course there are the unique items to consider as well:

• Do you have a full-length mirror nearby?  You can build it into your closet. See two options below.

• Is your goal to make your room more serene by eliminating furniture? (This is a trend we are seeing.  Plus, if you have enough room in the closet it really makes sense to have all your clothes in one space)  If this is the case you will want to consider how many drawers do you need.  I find that people tend to try to put all kinds of things in a drawer that could be on a shelf.  In general it is better to store sweaters or other outer garments on a shelf so you can easily spot it.  Think about it, it is alot easier to find something on a shelf that it is to dig into a drawer. 

• Lighting in the room.  As you can see from the pictures above, natural light is a bonus.  If you don't have natural night you need to make sure you have plenty of light in your closet to tell the difference between black and blue.  As a side note, the darker the closet organizer units you choose the more light you will need.  Darker hues absorb light and make the room darker.  This is overcome in the far right picture above by incorporating ambiance lighting into the crown molding.

• How does the door open?  I gotta tell ya, this is a big pet peeve of mine.  It seems builders still haven't considered that unless a closet is the size of bedroom, the door is an obstacle.  I have had customers actually remove their door because it annoyed them so much.  In some homes this can be a nice design attribute (if the closet is pretty); in others this is not a good idea (e.g. you are organizationally challenged).  If you choose not to remove the door and there is actually usable space behind it I would plan to put the least used items behind the door.  Lately, I have been advising my customers of new construction (often I review blueprints before they break ground), to have a french door made.  We did this in our own house.  The plan called for a standard door to be installed.  I called up my door supplier and asked if they could cut the door in half vertically.  They were happy to oblige and it didn't cost me as much as it would have if I ordered a true "french door".

• A new trend that I am excited about is the incorporation of laundry facilities in the closet.  This makes SO much sense.  While you may not have enough room for a standard side by side unit in your closet, a decent sized walk-in closet does have enough room for a small stackable unit.  This is on my to-do list in our own home.  I confess, I am laundry challenged.  It sneeks up on me and before I know it I have a mountain of clothes that my family jokingly refers to as Mt. McCoy.   A big part of this problem is that the laundry room is out of sight/out of mind when I am getting dressed or taking off my clothes.  Of course, I walk by it everyday as it is near my back door, but somehow I have developed blinders as I walk out for an appointment or an errand. Mt. McCoy looms large, however, when guests come over.  Once I have a stackable in our closet we can do the laundry and put it away with minimal foot traffic and avoid the smug looks of the in-laws.

• Closet Height.  It used to be that the standard height for a closet ceiling was 8'.  Many closet organizers are made with this thought in mind and they do not exceed 7' tall.  Seven feet units leave an open top shelf for storage in a room with 8' ceilings.  If your ceiling is 9' or more you should not waste that 2'+ space that would be left with a standard 7' unit.  Some closet vendors make 8' units that give you one extra foot of storage - this is not something a do-it-yourselfer will readily find.  Eight foot units are much more unwieldy and are usually reserved for professional installers.  If you have 10' or more in ceiling height you can take advantage of triple hanging by using pull-down garment rods.  (these are also good for the vertically challenged in a standard closet). See photos below:

• Accessories.  Some items that are useful in a closet as they help you stay organized are: jewelry inserts, valet rods, belt and tie racks to mention just a few.

Designing your own closet may be a little overwhelming for you.  If so, contact a professional closet designer.  You can either pay them just for their design time (many would be thrilled to provide you with detailed designs for a reasonable fee if you explain you want to do it yourself) or you can have everything taken care of for you from design to installation.  Be sure to ask questions, a good designer enjoys helping their customer.