Hello AT,
When remodeling a master bedroom would you add a reach-in closet along a wall or dramatically shrink the size of the bedroom and add a walk-in closet?
Thanks for your ideas/suggestions,
Beth B.
Dear Beth,
This is a very personal decision and most of it depends on how much other storage you have in your apartment. However, the other question is how much stuff do you really want to store? Either your stuff gets more room or YOU get more room.
Looking at it from another point, if your bedroom is real big and adding a walking closet wouldn't compromise the design and proportions of the room too much, go for it, otherwise, keep your bedroom feeling like a master bedroom and get by with less storage space. As you may know, we are not big proponents of overdoing the storage and prefer to pare down and live lighter.
If you go for the reach-in closet, we recommend not installing doors and covering it with curtains instead. This will give your reach-in the feeling of a walk-in as you never have cramped quarters of difficulty finding things in the closet.
Anyone else?
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Reach-in. Altho my prewar reach-ins have always been too narrow (19") for any California or Elfa-style system. Drag.
On a recent episode of Small Spaces-the homeowner/designer mentioned that walk-in closets actually waste space. Instead, she created a 2ft deep closet which took up one entire wall- floor to ceiling.
There is no one answer to this question -- depends totally upon your needs and the layout of the room. While I agree that walk-in closets do waste a bit of space, if you have space to spare they may be a very elegant solution to your storage needs.
One thing to consider is how the closet doors impact the use of space in your bedroom. One of the things I rally like about my apartment is that the closets are outside the bedroom, lining one side of the hall opposite the bathroom door. As a result, all of my bedrooms walls are freed for furniture. Additionally, now that I have a partner -- who needs to get up for work earlier than I -- he can rustle through them for clothing without disturbing my beauty rest!
As far as a walk-in closet goes, think of it in simple mathematics. If a walk-in closet is 5x8, or 40 sq ft, the perimiter is where the closet rod will be. In that configuration, assuming a standard 24" depth of hanging space, you have 10 linear feet of non-corner closet space. Take that same closet and make it a reach in, and in that same 40 sq ft of space, you have 20 linear feet of closet space with no wasted corners. You double the useable space. In that same vein, taking the 'is your space for you or your stuff' way of thinking, go back to the 10 linear feet of closet you would have had with the walk-in, make it reach in, and you just got 20 sq ft of floor space back, enough for a 'check yourself before you wreck yourself' floor to ceiling mirror, or whatever bedroom accessory fits your style.
what Joey said .. also, remember the closet walls take up space. Lining a wall is much better than cutting your bedroom in half, in my book.
I just renovated my space, destroying all closet and internal walls, and wow, suddenly I have a spacious loft instead of a cramped one-bedroom with great closets.
On the other hand, I'm now trying to get the co-op board to open the basement for storage...
This is a question that's answer will vary greatly depending on whether the answer-er is a New Yorker or from basically anywhere else in the world.
If you live in a studio in New York (or a two bed room in New York that is the size of a studio anywhere else in the world), or a prison cell, or in a Volkswagen bug, you probably don't want to build a walk in closet.
If you live in the vast land that extends beyond the Hudson and East Rivers, you may indeed have the space to build a walk in closet (hell, I've been in some that are bigger than a 3 bedroom in New York). I am of the belief that basically all of the clutter in most people's bedrooms comes from clothes, in my case usually thrown hither and tether while assembling an outfit, and so I would do anything to get my clothes out of my bedroom and into another room.
My perfect bedroom is just a bed and a chair and some side tables and my boyfriend. That way we can sleep, or not, and not have to look at the morning's apparel casualties.
Kudos to Joey! Makes sense, but there really is nothing simple about Mathematics. If there were, we all would have come up with Joey's analysis. The intersting thing is, you can create a smallish reach in closet along a wall. Then, if it's not enough, you can extend the closet and, eventually, have a closet that is absolutely the right size.
There's something undeniably luxurious about a walk-in closet. You can paint it an unexpected color and install a light fixture. Yes, the mathematics may not add up, but a wall of closets leaves you standing in the bedroom when you open them up, while a walk-in brings you into a secret, compact room, all your own.
This is great and just what I was looking for - but I still haven't figured it out. I'm trying to redesign my master bath with closets. To reach-in or to walk-in space in the bathroom or in the closet? It seems that reachin's are a more efficient use of space . . .
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