We had the pleasure of recently working with a lovely couple with a very small master closet. The odd space and single wire shelving plagued them daily, leaving them feeling hopeless and frustrated. Their budget was minimal, but so were their belongings, helping to make logical, affordable sense of what the closet would soon become.

A few things we noticed off the bat. One: there was a designated his and hers side, with hers being the largest but with the most unusable space due to a large bookshelf being used as shoe storage. His side was too small, his clothing packed in tightly, hers really no different, making it impossible to retrieve one item without several falling. Two: the closet had turned into a multipurpose area, housing the couples filing cabinet, as there was no other feasible space for it in the mail living areas. And the couples only wish--have space in the closet to incorporate the filing cabinet. No issue with us, we only stressed that it should be the only piece of furniture allowed in the space, suggesting the other space hoarding pieces go. The clients both happily agreed.

We decided to maximize space with a minimal budget, we would continue with the existing wire shelving and add to it. First, we knew we would need to use vertical space to incorporate the couples shoes, her accessories (jewelry, perfume), and a laundry basket that would separate the couples clothing. By using the smaller side of the closet we could accomplish this, the only downfall would be that the couple would have to share one side of the closet for their clothing.

After taking inventory of what clothing would go back into the closet (the couple had already edited their wardrobe prior), we decided the above scenario could work beautifully, if and only if, we added a second short shelf for her workout clothing. We discussed our vision with the client and they gave us their approval and so we began.

Over a period of just a few short days, we removed all of the contents of the closet, including shelving, painted, installed new shelving, and replaced all contents of the closet in a gorgeously organized fashion, all under the clients budget. We installed floor to ceiling shelving to store the couples shoes and boots, accessories, and accommodated a wheeled, three compartment laundry basket to keep the couples dirty clothing separated. We utilized the shelf above the couples clothing and used white nordic baskets to store out of season accessories, with the ability to rotate items as needed based on season. We also installed a short shelf below to incorporate the workout clothing of our client. Final touch, and only request of the client, we added in the filing cabinet without it being in the way!