Wire Shelving Will Organize Your Closets

Nobody ever complains about too much closet space. Not only are closets helpful in organizing our possessions, they can help a room, and a home look better because so much stuff can be put away instead of left out to give a look of clutter. Closets can come in different shapes and many sizes, such as walk in closets. If you really want to get the most use out of your closets, you should consider closet organizers.

sliding closet doors mirror

Most closets have doors. Doors are important in closets, so most people prefer to have them. They keep everything out of sight, and can even be considered a part of the decoration of the room, such as when they are covered with a mirror,or have an interesting pattern such as raised panels. When the closet door is closed, all of the potential mess is out of sight of your guests.

SLIDING CLOSET DOORS

In areas where you do not have a lot of room for traditional doors that swing open, the best solution is folding doors. These are very handy since they give you all of the advantages of swinging doors, but take up half of the room when they are opened. The rails that come with folding closet doors should be of good quality so that the door can open and close easily and smoothly. If you install a light inside the closet, you can hook it up so that the light goes on automatically when you open the folding doors. This is a very handy feature when you need to find something in hate back of a closet.

Sliding doors also work well to allow you extra space in the room. If the walls allow for it, it is really good to have sliding doors that can slide into the adjoining wall. These types of doors are called "pocket" doors, since they slide into a pocket in the wall. For additional ease of use, you may even consider install a motor that could open and close the sliding doors automatically.

If your room is small, a great idea that many decorators recommend is to cover your closet door with a mirror. This serves a dual purpose, since you will have a mirror when you are getting dressed, and the mirror will make the room appear larger. A mirror such as this can be installed on just about any closet door, and can either be half or full.

Wire Shelving Will Organize Your Closets

Adam Peters is the author of many resources on closets related topics published at http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com Find more publications about decorating wire shelving at his website.

SLIDING CLOSET DOORS

Building Closet Shelving - The Rule of Three

Building closet shelving needn't be a chore. In fact it can actually be very satisfying to figure out what you need and then put it into place. You can either go it alone and built your closet shelving completely by yourself or you can choose to incorporate components from a ready-made system.

sliding closet door track

Either way, you'll want to remember these three rules as you put your plans into action.

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Rule 1: Measure Twice, Cut Once (Twice Plus Once = Thrice!)
It's happened to me more than once that I've measured a wall for some shelves and then had the wood cut to the wrong size. It's not my sloppy measuring that's to blame, it's the walls. Check for yourself. Measure your closet at the highest point you plan to put shelving and then halfway down, and again at the lowest height you'll be using. Many times you'll get different measurements simply because the wall wasn't built exactly straight. It's easy to compensate for that but only if you know it in advance.

Rule 2: Get Advice From a Three-Year-Old
Really. If you're building closet shelving for a preschooler or older child, ask their advice and get their opinion on your design. You'll find, for instance, that a place to store dolls' clothes next to her own clothes will please your little princess. And remember that whatever you build now will need to be easily adaptable as your children grow. Make sure that there is suitable storage space for shoes, clothes, toys and sports equipment.

When we planned our first walk-in closet for the girls we made a double height hanging space. The lower bar was for clothes currently in use, so our kids could be independent about choosing what they wanted to wear. The upper level was for clothes that were either worn less frequently or which did not yet fit. As the kids grew and the hanging space needed to be higher up from the floor, we simply removed the lower bar.

Rule 3: Get Advice from Co-Closet Sharers
If your closet is to be shared, make sure you get input from your partner. In our case, I'm tall and my wife is somewhat shorter than me. When we originally designed the closet, I envisaged an even split on the vertical plane. That is to say, I would take one side from ceiling to floor, and my wife would take the other.

What neither of us took into account were the problems our height difference would cause. I can stack shirts neatly on the hightest shelf. My wife has to throw her jeans and tops up there and that shelf, as a result, is in complete disarray. In plain terms, it's a total disaster.

The solution is clear. I'm going to have to give up some of my sliding baskets and take over her top shelves. Instead of the vertical split, we're redividing the closet in horizontal terms. She gets all the low shelves, I get all the higher ones. Not exactly a perfect solution but a necessary compromise.

So, don't do as I did. Do as I'm telling you. remember the Rule of Three when building closet shelving and you should be just fine.

Building Closet Shelving - The Rule of Three

Joel Benstein is a Do-It-Yourself enthusiast. Over the years he has taught himself basic plumbing, electrical repair, window screen construction, gardening and landscaping. He is also an avid woodworker. You can see examples of some of his projects and get ideas and information for shelving in your home at http://www.home-shelving-guide.com

SLIDING CLOSET