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Photograph courtesy of The Closet Factory
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a spacious and orderly closet
Looks like we're all going to have to find a new place to stash our skeletons. Closets are coming out in the open, baring all and taking up more room than ever before. "I cleaned a house the other day with a closet bigger than your living room," my housekeeper confided. "And there must have been 200 pairs of shoes, too." Local builders, remodelers and custom-closet designers confirm the trend: McClosets are in. Reach-ins and walk-ins are still acceptable, but closets-as-rooms that feature a comfy chair, TV and fridge are all the rage. Whether you want to squeeze the most storage space out of the bedroom closet or supersize, help is available.
"Most people aren't good with throwing stuff away, and closets become the place where people junk everything," says Jennifer Quinn Williams, founder and president of Saint Louis Closet Co. Designers at Williams' company and at three other major custom-closet builders in town, Beyond Storage (formerly California Closets), Closet Factory and NewSpace, must visit your closet in person to determine your needs. Some clients apologize profusely before opening the closet door and make the designers swear not to reveal the contents, but taking inventory is part of the process—every pair of shoes must be counted, along with sweaters, socks, handbags, belts, ties and hats. Shirts, suits, skirts and dresses are lined up on hangers and measured to figure out just how many inches, or feet, of rod space is needed.
For many years, a rod and a shelf were the only components of a standard closet. Accoutrements such as velvet-lined jewelry drawers, built-in laundry hampers, shoe shelves and glass-paneled doors were unheard of when St. Louis-based NewSpace opened for business in 1984. "Organized space versus a shelf and a rod was a completely new idea 22 years ago," says Sue Collins, merchandise and marketing manager at NewSpace. "We had to show the consumer how to organize." Today, consumers have a dizzying array of shelving, drawers, baskets, hardware and finishes to choose from when designing an organized closet. While the towers and drawers used to be built out of laminate, Carl Alsbach, president of the Closet Factory, says melamine predominates now. "It's made the same way, but the surface of the exterior is thinner than laminate," he says. "Now it's really prevalent, and they've just begun coming out with wood-grain melamine. It provides a better look." For a stratospheric cost, you can get all-wood closets. Or you can get a combo. "We do a lot of combinations of melamine bodies with wood trim and wood doors that give you the look of wood on the exterior but at a lower cost," Alsbach says.
Custom-closet companies manufacture the pieces to your closet puzzle right here in St. Louis. On-site measuring, design plans, removal of old fixtures and installation are standard services at each company. Since each closet is unique, it is impossible to quote exact prices, but Williams offered these ballpark figures for design and installation using the lowest priced, basic materials:
- Simple linen closet: $200
- 6-foot sliding door/reach-in closet: $450-$500
- 6- to 8-square-foot walk-in closet: $800-$1,200
David Gast, a 20-year custom-closet veteran who renamed his showroom and 12,000-square-foot wood shop Beyond Storage last November, says he can remodel the same closet in three different price ranges: good, better and best. Custom upgrading a closet in any price range, according to Gast, is a good investment. "It's a tremendous selling point to have custom closets when selling your home," he says. "We're building cabinetry for your closet, like for a kitchen. Both upgrades get a good resale return."
Americans spent $2 billion remodeling closets in 2003, according to the National Association of Home Builders, and all indicators point to a nationwide trend toward more and bigger storage spaces. "When buying or selling a home, small or large, organized closets have moved way up on the homebuyer's 'must-have' list," says Monte Bordeaux, president of NewSpace. "It definitely adds value to the home." Bordeaux points to real estate ads as evidence, saying, "Agents are putting NewSpace closets as a feature of the home in their listings."
When it comes to new construction, the word "closet" may be passe. As Williams likes to say, "Closets are coming out from behind closed doors." Closets are morphing into separate rooms 100 square feet and larger. In many cases, closet doors are disappearing altogether as spaces between bedrooms and baths become dressing areas with comfortable seating. Dressers transformed into islands surrounded by beautiful paneled doors, crown molding and baseboards complete the metamorphosis from closet to room. In the trade it's called the "lifestyle look" and can reflect each customer's personal style, from traditional to contemporary.
In St. Louis' older homes, closets are often miniscule or nonexistent, a situation Gast blames on the city's 19th century property taxes. Then, tax assessments were based on the number of rooms in a house, according to Gast. Therefore, closets were kept to a minimum (in size and number) in order to keep the room count, and taxes, low. The lack of storage space is a challenge for homeowners as well as custom-closet remodelers, and the trend toward fancier, more furniture-like storage systems is clearly suited to closet-deprived older homes.
While closets are still the core business for St. Louis-based custom remodeling companies, they all report that demand for organized space is growing beyond the bedroom. Pantries, mudrooms, home offices and garages are all undergoing space utilization uplifts with built-in shelving, lockers, file drawers, cabinets and other storage solutions. The recent boom in scrapbooking has even inspired several companies to design tables and custom storage units for this popular hobby.
And once one is done, you never know what the next upgrade will be. "The most unique thing we've done recently is build a coffee bar and fridge into the island in the middle of a large walk-in closet," Alsbach says. "That's the neat thing about this. You can take anything they're interested in and build it in there. People are only limited by their imagination in terms of what they want to build into a custom storage system."
At Beyond Storage, where 40 percent of sales fall into the non-closet category, Gast says getting organized can be addictive. "I warn people that it's like eating potato chips: After you do one closet, you'll want to do another one."
Shelves to Drawers
Drawers come in all sorts of configurations—velvet-lined, divided, sectionalized. But now even shelves are being reconstituted into, well, drawers. Thanks to a line of products produced by a California company called Shelves to Drawers, items long hidden in the back of cabinets can (with the addition of some custom hardware and wood) be pulled out into clear sight.
Ted Paradowski, the local rep, makes a free house call to show you pictures of the Baltic Birch plywood drawers; he measures your cabinets, orders the parts from California, assembles the pieces and installs them. The 1/-inch-thick drawer bottoms with vinyl coating can hold up to 100 pounds. A standard drawer (up to 30 inches wide and 22 inches deep) costs $80.
Helpful Websites
www.napo.net - National Association of Professional Organizers offers an easy search tool to find a professional organizer near you
www.easyclosets.com - Provides custom design for do-it-yourselfers
Out in the Garage
“If you’ve got a candy apple red Corvette, we can make the cabinets in your garage match,” says Vic Larico, owner of Joe Organized. Add a black and white racing deck tiled floor and the former ”man cave” is transformed into a garage for the 21st century. Close on the heels of the organized closet revolution, garages are getting a makeover.
“People are tired of the mess and junk. They are looking to have a garage they can be proud of, like their kitchen,” claims Doug Eisenhart, whose Garage-Tek franchise has installed organizing systems in more than 500 St. Louis garages since 2002.
Garage-Tek’s patented wall panels and modular storage components are at the high end of the market. Prices vary according to the number of cabinets and extras you order, such as a workbench, ceiling hoist for bicycles or floor covering. A two-car garage from a custom installer with just the basics can run from $2,000–$5,000. Do-it-yourselfers can always resort to pegboards and hooks or try Whirlpool’s new macho storage line, Gladiator. “Men get off on it and wives love the order,” says Mike O’Brien with Garage Storage Systems. He says customers are amazed when their garage is redone. “It’s like having a whole new room in your house.”
Garage Innovations
4801 Tholozan
314-832-1980
Garage Storage Systems
314-604-3800
Garage-Tek
680-K Crown Industrial
636-537-3344
Joe Organized
(no showroom)
636-561-5637
