Regarding purses: I typically get in the habit of using the same one day after day for a few months, but I have other ones that sometimes rotate in. To store my purses, I use one of those sweater cubby things (9 or so individual compartments) that hang over the clothes pole. So I keep the small inside-the-purse zippered pouches and wallets and similar stuff in the top cubby, my SportSac crumple-up duffles and such in another and purses in the rest of the cubbies. I chose this storage solution because everytime I put my purses on the shelves in my master closet, they just tipped over on each other and looked sloppy. BUT: I put the sweater cubby/organizer in the guest closet, just across the hall, because in my master closet I put a metal shelving unit on one side for my foldable tops. So it might be an option for you if you have a guest closet with 12-14 inches in width available.

First of all, after reading Shee's thread, I'm seriously considering painting our master walk-in a pretty shade that compliments the bedroom. Our master is done in creme/goldish tan/aqua. The aqua is more in accents and on one chair so I'm thinking of painting the closet aqua!

Now to your questions LOL (Shee's thread has many of us thinking about our closets.

We have the typical shelving with one side having the upper and lower rods. Also a high shelf above the main rod/shelf which holds items not used as often. I have purses up there. I also have a shoe rack on my side which I like. As you walk in the closet, on the wall facing you, we have a tall chest which is a combination of drawers and the bottom is doors with two shelves. I like having the majority of clothing in the closet - there is very little clothing stored in our bedroom. I also like using pretty containers and baskets on my shelves to hold smaller items, items not used often or even non-clothes items. I have a few boxes of keepsakes stores in there. We don't have hampers in our closet because we have those in the master bath linen closet - but I do have a large handled basket (sort of like a wicker laundry basket) which comes in handy for dry-clean items, maybe something to be returned, something that needs hemming/mended, etc. I also have some hanging storage items (the pocketed ones) in pretty fabrics (the pockets are clear) for odds and ends jewelry, belts, whatever. Some hanging pieces that will hold belts, scarves, etc.

I like our closet in general and we've made good use of the space but I am serious about painting it and putting in a new (pretty) light fixture.

Oh! Also - a small stepstool (as I'm short and some items on the upper shelf are hard for me to reach) and if you have room a chair or bench.

tina

I am having my custom cabinet maker create lazy susan's for my closet corners to put shoes in. Sort of a take off on this idea by rev a shelf. A lady whose house we visited had them and she loved them.

{{!gwi}}

OMG, Beagles, I LOVE, love, love that shoe storage idea!! I've never seen one like it, but it looks to be a great use of corner space and will hold a lot of shoes . . . which I have. Is there a place to buy that metal unit? I also like the idea of the clear dividers between the purses, although I'd need a lot more for all of mine ;^D
Thank you so much for that pic!!!

Pammyfay: I have a purse storage piece similar to yours right now. I found it at Target. You're right, lining purses up along a shelf always ended up in a mess of tipped over purses for me, too! Thanks for the idea!

Tina: Your closet sounds wonderful and very well thought out. I like your ideas for the added hanging storage pockets. I recently bought a folding step stool for my closet,too. Boy, does that come in handy, as I'm only 5'6"! I found mine at Bed,Bath & Beyond and got it with one of their 40% off coupons. I liked it so much that I went back and bought another one for my pantry. I think your idea of painting your closet to coordinate with your bedroom colors sounds great. I hope that you'll post pics of it for us.

Thanks for all the great ideas. Please keep them coming!
Lynn

That's great shoe storage! Our closet designer blew it on our shoe storage, so I've now hijacked DH's and made him pare down! LOL

I saw a closet in a new home once that had a sort of lazy susan tower in each corner. It wasn't specific for shoes. It had multiple revolving shelves, so would work for shoes, purses, etc.

LOL Lynn, it sometimes takes me awhile to get around to my projects, but if/when I do, I'll share.

I'm only 5'2!!

tina

our walk in closet is 8' x 4' approximately. We put up the rubbermaid wire shelves w/ hanger bar on the back wall and along 1 long wall (approx 12' of hanging/shelf space). We then mounted kitchen wall cabinets from IKEA approximately 6 inches off the floor for folded cloths. We have 4 cabinets in the space and it's been more than enough room for the pants/jeans/sweaters we've accumulated (we have a crazy # of sweaters).

Tina's post made me remember one idea that definitely didn't work for me . . .
one of these convertible chair/stepstools:

Doesn't it look like a great idea? I thought so, too, but I wasted a lot of money on this one! Why? Because, what started out being a very well-made, solid oak piece of furniture, quickly turned into a too-heavy dust catcher!That's because the very reason I bought it, it's solid, heavy build (I was thinking safety) causes it to also be: (1) very cumbersome to open and close easily; (2) heavy and awkward to manuever around our closet quickly and easily; and (3) because we have brick floors throughout our home, the top edge that gets flipped over and rests on the floors in the stepstool position gets scraped up every time I use it. I have one in the dark brown stain, and it quickly started looking very shabby.

So, after a year or so, I found this great foldable stepstool at BB&B for $14.99. It's from E-Z Foldz and I love it because it's lightweight, easy to open and close and it folds to only a couple of inches thick to store. I've since gone back and gotten another one for my pantry, too. Using their periodic 40%-off coupons, these are super-great buys!

Lynn

Lynn,

Thanks for posting that great step stool from BB&B! I'm going to get one for our closet, too. Although I'm fairly tall, (5'-8"), my 6'-4" DH is never around when I'm doing "closet work". We have 9' ceilings, and higher shelves over our clothes rods that are impossible to reach comfortably. It's a nuisance to go to the kitchen to drag out the kitchen step stool, so often things that need to go on the upper shelves end up taking up space on the lower ones. A fold up stool like that one you showed would be perfect in our closet.

I do have one of these revolving shoe caddies that we love, but one up to the ceiling would be even better. Ours holds 18 pairs of shoes, but we probably have twice that many!

I have cedar on the sweater section in my closet. It's pretty and it works!

Terriks: I just found this idea, which looks a lot like the idea you described. It's over on the Closet Factory's online site.

I'm becoming fascinated with the ways people have ingeniously put those wasted, tricky closet corners to good use . . . and this is another briliant one!
Lynn

OK, what do you all think of this idea: look at the (above) pic that I just posted from the Closet Factory. Do you see that full-length cabinet door at the far left? My idea is to put in a double cabinet similar to that one, directly across from the entrance to our closet doors . . . BUT, have mirrors mounted on both of those cab doors! This way, it would visually expand our small walk-in closet; enhance the light from the skylight and overhead light, and give us a full-length mirror, without us having to give up our precious little wall or cabinet space for it. I can't have the mirrors mounted onto the closet doors themselves and they're special handmade ones that DH would prefer we don't cover up. I've been trying to design this redo for (frustratingly) over a year now, so you may have seen these doors of mine on another thread a while back:

So, what do you think???

Yes Lynn, that is very similar, but the one that I saw didn't have the hanging space at the top, just revolving shelves.

I think this must be a triple post for me, but I had to pop back in to say a huge THANK YOU to Beagles and Nanny for the great revolving shoe tree idea and to share the one I found over on Amazon. They carry the four-tier/ 18-pair one that Nanny has and also (be still my heart!) a six-tier/ 36 pair one for $64.93. Finding an innovative, practical way to store all our shoes has been one of the main reasons I've never finished a closet design for us. I know that it may not work for everyone, but this THE perfect design solution for us! Now I just need to find the perfect sweater/tee shirt and purse storage ideas (for our closet) and I'm finally good to go!

Please keep all you closet ideas coming, as I'm sure I'm not the only one out there searching for ideas that'll work for me.
Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE this forum??????
Lynn :~)

I am really glad that worked for you lynninnewmexico. The rev a shelf one I posed, which is called Lazy Shoe Zen (cute name) is also for sale: http://www.amazon.com/Rev-Shelf-Shelf-Shoezen-shoes/dp/B003SGA95Y

However, to me it seems very overpriced at like $523.

I am actually having lazy susan shelves built by the person who is doing our kitchen cabinets. I intend to keep shoes on one of my corner susans and my purses on another.

I also love this idea for jewelry organization.

The wall when you first walk into my future walk-in-closet was just empty space leading to my regular hanging storage so I am also having my cabinet person do a BIG version of this (46 inches by 46 inches) et to turn that into space for hanging necklaces, bracelets, etc. I'd imagine you could hang other stuff too (belts?)

Compumom: Too funny! That's what I did with the full-length hanging area on DH's side of the closet!

Tina: 5'2"? OMG, maybe that stool won't be tall enough for you! And here I was griping about being only 5'6". And, please do get that closet of yours painted so that you can show it to us.

Thatgirl: what a great idea to mount Ikea cabs on the wall to hold clothes! Thanks for that out-of-the-box brilliant suggestion! May I ask why you mounted them 6" off the floor? This isn't a criticism, I'm just wondering at your reasoning. Is it to help keep crawling bugs out? We have centipedes here so I'm always worried about them getting into our shoes! How tall are your cabs and what do you have over them?
Nicole: are the sweater sections of your closet closed cabinets? I LIKE the idea of laying those thin cedar boards that are made for closets, along the bottom of my closed cabs where I store my sweaters. I hadn't thought of that, but it's simple and so darn practical . . . thanks! Question: does the smell permeate all the clothes so that people around you can smell it when you're nearby?

Nanny: you're getting lazy susans for your closet, too? I really LOVE that idea! When we redid our kitchen a few years ago, I had a Super-susan cab installed in a corner and I love it. Until today, though, I'd never considered using one in a bedroom closet, but the practicality of it is undeniable. I hope that you'll continue to keep us all posted on this closet of yours, as it sounds wonderful!

Beagles: Love that jewelry hanger idea!

We have 2 of those 20 pair of shoe white melamine storage things. (great description huh?) They seem to me to be more efficient at storing shoes than the revolving things does but probably not as much fun!

I have 2 tall storage units for sweaters and tshirts. The first one was built in to our closet and the second one was purchased at Lowes. They are approx. 30 inches wide by 7 ft tall. Two sweaters can be placed side by side on the shelves.

I have many Vera Bradley purses that I store in a clear tote. They don't stack well and this keeps them corralled.

Interesting thread.

Love that spinning shoe rack!

That's my biggest wish...a space for shoes. Right now, there's a few in boxes in my closet, some more in DH's closet (he doesn't want them there:)), some under the bed in bins and so on...

I don't see having enough room to install cubbies in my closet. Need another solution...
Our bedroom is on the 3rd floor-that's all that's on this level is he master bdrm suite So...I've thought about cutting out part of the wall on the 3rd floor landing (leading into bdrm) and making a recessed cabinet and installing a door.
Same concept as recessed med. cabinet..only @ 6ft instead and installing shelves for shoes/bags etc. Again, DH thinks I'm looney:)
Crazy idea?

Lisa, I don't think it's loony as long as it's done right. We're actually pushing out the back of DD's reach-in closet, and expand it to a walk-in. The extra space is coming out of our guest room.
RNmom: do those melamine shoe cubbies really hold one pair of average shoes per slot? Good idea using a clear tote box to chorale your soft purses! I like to keep everything as visible as possible in our closet, so I don't forget to wear/use them.

Any other good closet ideas that we all might be able to use?
Lynn

Lynn, i'm opposed to a dresser/chest-of-drawers in my bedroom because my large, 3 door armoire that holds the tv takes up a whole wall. I also like a reading area which is a library table and two chairs. My 'nightstands' are not typical either, but rather a small chest-of-drawers, and a dresser/vanity piece of furniture for the other one. I set things up the same way in my last home, and like the idea of having clothing/shoes/purses all together, which keeps me in one space and not running back and forth if I decide to change something i'm wearing. A big mirror is a requirement!

I have the chest stacked on top of the dresser, and pushed all the way to one side. With this extra space i'll add shelves for sweaters or shoes. I have a ton of ideas running through my head for my 'Hollywood glam' closet, and hope to have it finished in less than a year. ;o)

Patty Cakes: I'd love to hear about all your Hollywood Glam Closet reno. Fitting a dresser /chest of drawers into a closet is very convenient, as you mentioned, just to have everything in the same place as you dress. In our closet, we each have a built-in cabinet to hold sweaters, a tall stack of built-in cubbies 12" wide to hold folded tee shirts, etc. All my purses for the Fall & Winter seasons are in a stacked purse keeper on the shelf above my double rod section. But that makes them so high up I have to use a step-stool to real them. I hope that I can find a better solution for our closet reno.

We have an ironing board set up permanently in the closet and I love having it ready whenever I need it. Now, I might have to throw all the clothes piled on it to the floor, but it's still ready!

Love the shoe tree! If we bought one of those for a corner, we could take the shelves for shoe storage out of this unit, I could sew a nice pad and pillows, to make a sitting space, and we could mount a huge mirror on the wall behind the seating area.
Thanks so much for the idea!
Here's the old shoe side of the closet:

and the new (painted) shoe side:

its beatiful this option of decoation for our home very good tips

Here is a link that might be useful: Manualidades

Lynn, I wear a size 11 and yes they do hold my big shoes. We have an older possibly cheaper version from Target that has smaller openings. I don't know if they all have bigger cubbies now or if you need to compare when shopping. They really help keep the shoes contained in our closet.

I'm trying not to be totally envious of everyone with their walk-in closet dilemmas, as I have not one walk-in closet in my house. I was trying to see if I could glean any creative ideas for my tiny closet (5ft x 2.5 ft). I really wanted to get rid of chest-of-drawers because the room isn't that big.

It was okay when I was single because I had all the closets to myself. :) Now I have a husband and two girls who feel it's only reasonable for them to have a closet; the nerve..lol

The shoe tree is a neat idea for the shoes, but I love shoes and I like boxes. I have about 50 pair right now in my closet. Not sure how that would work with boots, sandals, flip flops, etc.

Lynn, I love that six-tier 36 pair shoe tree! Unfortunately, we don't have a corner unoccupied to use it, otherwise I'd get that one.

Legacybuilder, it's true that the shoe tree can't hold boots or flip-flops, so those have to go elsewhere. I'm the only one who wears flip-flops, and most of our sandals slide on to the tree just fine. We're in the South, so we have plenty of those.

I'm needing better sweater storage, most now are on hangers and that's not the best way to keep them, especially during summer months when they aren't in use.

What's your favorite way to store sweaters when not in season?

Nanny, I'm hoping to get some great suggestions for sweater storage, too. Right now, we each have a 3-shelf cabinet in our closet to store sweaters and an open 12" wide tower with 6 shelves to hold tees and more sweaters.

Legacy Builder: 50 pairs of shoes? OMG! Yes, one of those would definitely come in handy . . . better yet, two!

Torsade: wow, nice looking closet! Did you have it built for you or do it yourselves?

Bumblebeez: I've always wondered about having an ironing board in a closet or laundry room. I'm glad to hear that they really do come in handy there. Great suggestion!

My husband and I started with a one bedroom apartment,shared a closet. The weight of my clothes brought down the closet. Since then, we always had an extra bedroom for my clothes. When we bought the house, I needed one that was functional. We still share one in the master, so this one is strictly mine.
http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p254/mojabengk/My%20Closet/

Most closet systems cannot accomodate 365 pairs of shoes neatly; it'd cost an arm and a leg if I were to install the cubbies even if I doubled the shoes; I needed a row of suits; row of blazers, etc. The qoutes I got were WAY!! more than I could afford. The shelves my shoes are on were left over library shelves; the island is a marble table a friend gave me that sits the jewelry and phone; the dresser from Goodwill stores hose, gloves, pocket scarves, winter hats etc. Being short, I have a stepping stool. I guess, the short of it, is some ideas might be great and/or affordable, but with everything, one needs to look at her needs, the amount of clothes/shoes/purses etc and tailor her space accordingly. It doesn't have to be expensive, just creative which is why I enjoyed reading other people's ideas. PS: I have a programmed dehumidifier that keeps the room at a certain level to avoid any stuffiness. The closet is 17x24 and with that much stuff in there, it all needs to breath.

Thank you, lynninnewmexico! Our closet was panelled as in the first photo, when we bought this house. We painted the panelling. I've been wanting to add seating for putting on shoes and socks, and am excited about the corner shoe tree idea, to make room for bench seating!

I have a huge un-usable corner area in my non-walk-in closet... I am going to need some kind of lazy susan system to be able to use it at all. I read a post somewhere where someone made their own lazy susan shelving by using one of those rotating platforms that you put a TV on.

The three most useful items in our close:

1. A place to sit
2. Telescoping rods attached about 6ft or higher on the side of a cabinet to hang clothes on that you are planning to pack for a trip, say, or that you are picking out to donate, or even for different outfits you are considering wearing for an event. We have 3 of these and I do not know how we managed w/o the.
3. A shallow drawer into which you can put jewelry organizers that are available online

I am so loving the shoe tree idea. Tell me -- don't laugh -- is dust an issue with that? The space I have in mind isn't in a closet, it's an open nook that runs along the side of our sliding door to the deck off our master. With so many shoes to store, it's obvious they're not being handled and therefore are just sitting there...collecting dust. Any thoughts/experience on this?

I am so loving the shoe tree idea. Tell me -- don't laugh -- is dust an issue with that? The space I have in mind isn't in a closet, it's an open nook that runs along the side of our sliding door to the deck off our master. With so many shoes to store, it's obvious they're not being handled and therefore are just sitting there...collecting dust. Any thoughts/experience on this?

I keep all my shoes in boxes to keep dust off. I also use hanging garment organizers for seasonal clothing. But I keep my clothes a long time. Handbags are all in containers also.

I also posted this on the other closet thread. One of my favorite things in my closet is this "island" cabinet that I made that houses laundry baskets and has our ironing board on top. We took the legs off the ironing board, then made some legs out of wood and attached it to the top of the cabinet.

I've been paying attention and learning.

Look what popped up on the Detroit Craigslist. Ugly, but all-inclusive!

Here is a link that might be useful: Combo chair-stool-ironing board

Yikes, Jamie, that must have been the original model way back when! It sure does look shabby and old! Mine doesn't have the added feature of the ironing board, which I'm sure, turned out to be something no one used. Being oak, like mine, though, I'm sure it's one VERY heavy dust-catcher ;^D

Terriks, I'm glad that you added that pic here, too. I love your idea and I LOVE that it was a DIY project. I'm really hoping to find ideas that DH & I (and anybody else here) can do ourselves.

Bumblebeez, what kind of containers do you keep your shoes and purses in?

Yesiyesi: sorry, but I'm afraid to click on your link. I have a strong feeling that it's SPAM (which is not allowed here) and that's where a person can pick up all sorts of nasty trojans, etc.

Torsade: I'm excited for you, too. Please keep us posted on your closet changes and I'm anxious to see the final outcome. It sounds like a great idea. You might even consider adding a shelf above your new seating area to take advantage of any extra space.

Oofasis: I, for one, am not laughing . . . that's a good question. But again, only speaking for myself, I'm so desperate for a good, reasonably priced solution for my many shoes that I'd happily deal with any dust them . . . but that's just me ;^D

KSWL: all great ideas, thank you!!! I agree that someplace to sit is so handy. We keep our convertible chair/step stool in the chair position for that reason (and because it's too heavy for anything else!). I've been wondering about those telescoping rods you mentioned and am glad to hear that they are a good investment. I'm now going to try and incorporate a couple into our closet reno.

Sasha'sM: You know, ever since I posted that one pic from the ClosetFactory's website, I've been trying to locate that kind of super-susan made for clothes. So far, this is one of the only places that seem to carry something similar:
"Ovis Cabinet Organizers"
I don't know if one would work in our closet, but it seems to be a good, practical idea for some people. You definitely can get one if Closet Factory does your closet, though.

Bharensi: Your closet sounds wonderful! I know that I speak for many of us when I say that we'd LOVE to see pics of it if you ever want to share them with us. Good idea about using a dehumidifier. Here in New Mexico, we don't have a humidity problem, but for areas where it's a problem, that's a good, practical idea! I also like that yours is a DIY project. Using the GW dresser and all of your other ideas are good, reasonably-priced solutions that we all can use. TFS!
Lynn

Bharensi's closet pics are on the other closet thread

Here is a link that might be useful: Other closet thread

Terriks: thanks! I just popped over to look at her closet. Bharensi, your closet is HUGE! And I thought that I had a lot of clothes!

Last night, DH & I were looking through the new Frontgate catalog and saw this shoe storage idea:

Each box is purchased separately and you can stack them any way you chose, to work in your own bedroom or closet. they come in 3 sizes and 3 finishes . . . but they're very pricey, being made of hardwood: from $25.50 to $49.50, depending on the size.

QUESTIONS:
* Nanny: Thanks to you and Beagles, I'm determined to install two of those revolving shoe trees in our closet. How much space, width-wise, should I allow for each tree? Each will be in it's own walled-in space in the back two corners of our closet.

* Has anybody seen any other good ideas for purse and sweater storage?

Lynne,

My shoe tree takes up a 20" x 20" space. Don't forget that it's the shorter version that holds 18 pairs of shoes. It has three tiers, each tier holds 6 pair.

I'm having a cabinet made w/ shelves. Glass doors on the front. Plan to get these dividers or something equivalent thereto:

You could get an ikea cab/bookcase and do the same thing, probably quite inexpensively.

i'm about to redo my bdrm closets too.
i have one small but very deep hall closet, in which i keep all of the vitamins, shampoos, soaps and all other health and beauty stuff, as well as cleaning supplies.

it's a HUGE pain to keep it organised.

so i am building 4" shelves across a wall in the walk in closet.
all of those supplies are going there so nothing gets buried or falls over and leaks, etc. i'll be able to see everything at a glance too.

the shelves are coming out and the doors off of the little closet, and a tall dresser is going in there, framed by the nice trim around the doorway.
wall sconces recessed inside on either side and on top of the dresser i'll have my makup mirror and perfume bottles, with extra stuff hidden in the drawers. i never sit to fuss with hair and makeup, so i think this will work well for me.

the drawback is i'll be standing in the hallway, but it's only dh and i, but it's so deep i can step into the closet a bit if necessary.

in the bedroom proper i have decided i do not want a set of dressers.
so i am building a three piece built in across the dresser wall.
upper doors will be mirrored inside, lots of pegs inside because we're too lazy to use a hanger, but not too lazy to hang on a peg!
base cabs will be tiltout laundry hampers, one for each of us.
lol, i've been thinking about this for a long time!
now to ponder the shoe storage question...