Nothing fuels my fire more than that of a frantic phone call from a stressed out mom or homeowner. When they need help, I find the time to fit them into our schedule. Last Spring, I received one of those calls from an interior designer. She had recently helped a mom turn an off master retreat / sitting area into a full-blown walk-in dream closet. It was an interesting space with one wall nearly full of windows. At first glance it is so stunning…and it is, don’t get me wrong, but unfortunately, the custom closet company made some big time errors with the design. Errors we are still hoping they will remedy without her having to invest more money.

I can’t express enough how crucial it is to bring in a space planning expert before spending thousands on a custom design. No matter the space. It’s your hard earned money and you want to be sure it’s going to be perfect. If you can bring someone in to review the designs in-person with the closet company designer on site, you’ll rest assured your design turns out as you dreamed. It’s also good to have another set of eyes read over your contract. Make sure to note verbiage about edits you may need to make after install is completed AND and the company’s policies / guarantees.

Sadly, I see this situation time and again – and I know what you may be thinking – you think a custom closet company would or should have experts coming to your home to design the space, but that isn’t always the case. These people may be designing a space day in and day out – multiple times a day…but they aren’t putting your clothes away. They don’t think the way a space planner or professional organizer thinks / sees a space. And sometimes they are just doing cookie cutter designs. In general they take a rough look at the volume of your items and types of clothing…but they aren’t considering other very important factors.

I’m not throwing anyone under the bus here – and as much as I want to say the company’s name, I won’t. (Although a few weeks ago I saw another design they installed that has some of the most aggressive errors seen in my years and years of organizing closets. Like – so bad I can’t even explain it all. And you’d for sure fall over if you knew how much they spent on the closet.). I’m speaking in general. I’m sure there are great custom design companies out there…I know a few. But the vast majority of spaces we have organized after an install have had major flaws. And again, I’m so sad the company isn’t willing to fix the issues without additional investment from the homeowner. Really stinks!

Alllll that said…we did our very best to move her into her new closet and couldn’t wait to share the end result. Even though I am still going to bat for her and hope things will be remedied soon!

BEFORE

Here’s the empty closet…

Not sure if the first big issue isn’t already smacking you in the forehead…but it’s the island = it’s height and width.

Focusing on the positive, we had her go through every item in the closet she shared with her husband…and only the items she truly loves AND WEARS made it over to the her new space. This was only part of her donations. My truck was totally full – all the way to the front passenger seat…

Very proud of her efforts. She’s an empty nester and had never been through her clothing in all those years of raising children. It was a total joy to move her into her brand new space and new life chapter!

I went with the white huggable hangers to keep her closet crisp and tight. Really wanted her clothes to shine…

( white hangers )

As categories took shape, bundles of clothing were walked over to me by the team. We had about 3-4 organizers in this space and every bit of their help was needed. From helping her purge to categorizing to folding to getting everything off the old hangers and onto the new ones…it was such a fun day with the team!…

AFTER

Get ready for this truly stunning, light-filled after…

Making the best use of space, I made room for some of her beautiful handbags to hang with my favorite purse hanger…

( purse hanger )

We loved her collection of shoes as well…

The baskets up top hold special items – pieces she wore to her children’s baptisms, special pieces handmade by her mother, items from her wedding and honeymoon and more. All kept dest-free with these lidded baskets…

( lidded baskets )

Something about this view gets me every time!…

My end goal was for her feel extra special walking in here each day…setting up this section like a little boutique. She loves it!…

So bright and beautiful!

Grateful her designer found me and made the call. Could not have enjoyed this one more! And she is such a sweetheart!

If we are able to make progress / get updates done in the closet I will be sure to mention in an upcoming post. In the meantime, we did the best we could…and I’m sure you can see the love. It truly is such a great use of an otherwise wasted space. They weren’t using the retreat for anything other than a sitting room.

SHOP THE POST

If interested in any of the products used in this closet, you can find them linked throughout the post or right here…

Hangers

Hanger Clips

Purse Hangers

Lidded Baskets

Hope you’ve been having a great week and have something fun planned for the weekend. My kids are returning today from a long trip and I can’t wait to have all my chicks back in the nest for a fun weekend. Hard to believe we’ve come down to the last 2 weeks of summer. Kids head back to school August 13 and 14th around here…so early! We are going to soak up as much time as possible with everyone home.

Have a great weekend guys!

xx

Sam

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