These closet photos are good fantasy material. They're not just walk-ins, they're live-ins. As far as real life, my closet components--hangers, walls, shelves, doors--are all white, in hopes of making my closets, all small, seem brighter. I think it's easier to find things and discern clothing colors in white closets.

These are indeed beautiful closets. Yet most are they're bigger than many of the apartments featured on this site.

I'd love to see you guys do a post on how to get a small closet (a reach-in) to look beautiful on a budget.

I've been trying to think of how to achieve the look of the closet in picture #2 without breaking the bank. Actually, the closet could look like any of the beautiful ones here (except the Ikea one with clothes behind the bed -- the dust!) on a small budget and with the most luxurious materials possible -- meaning, please no melanine.

I often wonder about the wisdom of having sunlight streaming into a closet. Fabrics will fade quickly when exposed to daily doses of bright light.

On the other hand, I'm planning to convert my small third bedroom into a large "walk-in" closet, so I love the inspiration!

If I had this much space, it'd be a joy to organize my things. Where are the tiny closets? Or even average-sized closets? I think there's a big challenge to not only organizing smaller closet spaces, but fitting everything in there (and neatly). None of those pictures address the issue of fairly limited space, although I realize this post is more about the look of your closet. But #1 does mention everything needing a place.

And if I had an entire (huge!) room to devote to my clothes, as shown in #1, I would not dump my pretty shoes in a pile on the floor, even if I were trying them on :)

I second Terry's suggestion. I'd love to see AT do a post on how to 1) maximize a small closet (with different budgets) and 2) beautify a small closet (with different budgets). My closet is so small but has a high ceiling, and I'd love to find ways to make better use of the space and better organize my belongings -- again, similiar to #2.

Having said that, these closets are gorgeous.

That is a good idea Sarah. They should find someone who has a closet that needs organizing, say someone who doesn't have a bedroom closet and uses her (or his, sure, why not) office closet for both clothing and office supplies, and fix it up and show it on the site. ;)

I would happily volunteer myself for that experiment. :)

My closet may be small, old and unorganized, but it has one thing going for it - a lightbulb! I cannot express how much I love the extra light, particularly on dark, cold mornings such as this one.

I'm a total closet whore; I always look at those pics first in a magazine/website.

I agree with the comments about doing a blog on small closets and space maximization.

hmmm. Nice fantasy closets.
Most the world doesn't live in fantasy though.
We're thinking of re-doing our closets on a zero dollar budget, and a post like this is just torture to look at. I know I must be in a different class if even my belongings would not look at home in such a closet as any of the above. They would just look too cheap next to the splendor of these rooms/closets.

I agree that it would be nice to have a much more down to earth view of closets on a future post- one with a small walk in- one rail closet that teaches what kinds of things you can do to maximize space, and visual cleanliness while being useful on a budget.

Love the third photo! So organized! Except how they left their bed in the middle of the 'closet' floor.

I don't know anyone who has a whole room for their clothes. Using these kinds of photos as 'inspiration' for a post about organization is a little tough to swallow.

I like number six though it would be much better without those weird doors.

face palm

The thing that is -killing- me about the Ikea closet in the third photo is that there is room for whole other level of shelving, and it's not being used. That said... my closet is less than half the width of that one, so maybe they don't need the storage as badly as I do.

I turned my second bedroom into a dressing room with frames, drawers, shelving, etc. flanking both walls. There are two 96 inch tall windows in there. This fall, I had to get rid of EVERY wool sweater and polo I had folded on the shelves near the window because they were bleached by the light. I have since purchased miniblind for both windows and put heavy canvas drapes on top of those to block out as much light as possible in there. This year I am going to get those windows tinted as dark as possible. I don't want ANY light getting into my dressing room. I refuse to not eat again just so I can rebuild my sweater wardrobe.

As Carrie would say, "Ya done me proud".

I think the idea of open closets, or for example just having shelves or a wardrobe rack in your main bedroom area is really cool. Makes it seem like shopping in a cute boutique every morning. If I am not mistaken, these images were kind of intended as inspiration (from real walk in closets) for people who may not have any closet space at all, and how you might incorporate some wall shelving or a rolling rack perhaps to make things look cute and organized, even without a proper closet.

The money spent on most of these is nauseating me.

Well it does say "inspiration" in the title. Though I agree that featuring some real life/regular sized closets that are well-organized would be worth showing. That's actually on my to-do list this weekend. I also have smallish but tall closets that are not being used to their best advantage.

darcitananda, I totally missed that interesting interpretation. It could work for one person who really loves clothes and has a big room and a stylish wardrobe.

I was only impressed with #14. The rest are mostly meh.

I especially did not like #3. I did a similar IKEA Stolmen setup in our last NYC apartment bedroom. However, I do not like the idea of having clothes hanging where the headboard would be. That's awful.

Btw, is that Kim Cattrall in #5?

Picture 11: Honestly who in the world owns that many pairs of strappy gold heels and brown boots. Is this Melania Trump's closet??? SO CONFUSED!

I think seeing a makeover with a smaller closet will be fun, but can we put the fangs and claws away?! I see most of the highly critical, bitter commenters of A.T. 2010 have not lost a step over the holidays! Everything we see in life just is not going to be immediately attainable. Whining won't change that. But you can make storage space a premium over some other features in your next apartment search.

My dream closet is to have an entire room dedicated to the entire family's clothes (two adults and two children) with drawers and shelves, and washer and dryer. Then we'd never string laundry all over, because ALL the clothes would be in one room.

BambiJo, That's a sensible idea. Why hasn't it already become popular?

Miami's Elaine, I assume that people who aspire to have stylish apartments also aspire to have stylish wardrobes. Isn't that why we visit apartment therapy? I figure that those who have a closet full of soccer-mom sweats probably have bad wall paper, frilly dust ruffles, and plastic covered lampshades, so in that case it wouldn't matter really change the overall look. ;) </snark>

matter *or*

darcitananda, Your ideas are interesting. I don't aspire to stylishness, that's not why I visit AT, and I'm unclear on the connection between sweats and the decor you mentioned. Other than that, I think I agree with what you wrote.

My wardrobe wouldn't make good accessories for my bedroom or, to look at it from a different angle, I wouldn't care to sleep in my closet. On the other hand, a stylish single young woman, perhaps one in the arts, could make a cool bedroom that way. One size doesn't fit all.

The gold shoes is Mariah Carey if I am not mistaken - she has a HUGE closet just for shoes.

I live in a one bedroom 630 sq ft condo but I managed to make my closet glamorous looking, along the lines of some of the ones in these photos (but of course much smaller). I actually have a decent sized walk-in closet for such a small place, and in the corner I put a small lounge sofa chair. When I redid my carpeting in my bedroom I spent the extra money to have my closet re-carpeted too, and I took an old but nicely flower-patterned bedsheet and covered my wood shelves with it and stapled them on the bottom like I was wrapping a present. A large mirror, a cute fixture to hang my belts on, pink walls, a new light fixture, a few pictures of shoes, and pink clothing bins all pulled the look together to make it a very posh looking on a relatively small budget.

arielleb, It sounds like you were really clever with your closet, and you described it so clearly that others can follow. That's inspiration. I display just hats, necklaces, hair accessories, and two large mirrors since the guest room's small and has a lean-in closet and dresser.

oh good, i've been wondering what to do with that fireplace in my closet

sarcasm aside, i do love these pictures. sigh!

The list of tips useful regardless of closet size helps my imagination to cross the gap between squeezing maximum use from every square foot in my home to the stratospheric shoe closet in Mariah Carey's home. This post is a stimulating mental stretch. Thanks, Beth.

How about a post on reach-in closets?

Hi all - Thanks for the comments (those born of frustration, and others! :)

Like many of you, I have a standard rental 6’Lx2’Dx7’H one-bar reach-in closet. As such, I’m always looking for inspiration on how to turn a storage challenge into a something that is not only functional and organized, but into a space I actually enjoy using. One of the first things I did upon moving into my apartment was to paint everything white, closet included. That way, regardless of where I went from there, I was at least starting with a clean slate. The next thing I did was to remove my sliding closet doors. (Basic wood hollow-core doors, that aside from being completely uninteresting, prevented me from freely accessing half my closet at a time.) I then replaced the doors with a tension rod and a pair of inexpensive white canvas curtains from Ikea. Instantly, I felt 100% better about my closet and my room. Next, I switched all of my mismatched hangers to wood hangers from Target. Again, just this small change made my closet feel more cohesive and organized. I am now ready for the next step - transforming what is a fairly organized (albeit in need of year-end purging) closet into a beautiful space. Again like many of you, I do not have a walk in closet or a separate dressing room (although I’d be lying if I said I don’t dream of one or that I’m not envious of Keisha Kornbread for being able to make one a reality!) That said, I will be applying inspiration gathered from the images above and using many of the tips I mentioned to transform the space I do have. (If all goes well, you may get to see a closet makeover like you’ve mentioned soon!)

Again, thank you all for the comments. If nothing else, they help highlight topics worthy of future exploration. :)

hi
i really love the idea in the third picture top row
i llike how they basically made a "walk in closet" behind the bed
does anyone know th eexact link for that post on decor 8 becasue i can t find it
help!

Those shoe closets are killer.

aquafiestas - Here you go :) http://decor8blog.com/2010/11/25/beautiful-norwegian-home/

I just had my bathroom and closet re-done. Wanted a chandelier in the closet but, codes will be codes. The only lighting allowed in a closet is ceiling fixture that touches the ceiling. Low hanging fixtures, sconces, etc. are fire hazards.
Bummer but, would be of a bummer if my closet burned.

Not every post has to be basic DIY. A posted space so out of my league that there's no way to get from here to there is fine, too. Fantasy inspiration is good. Daydreams are free and fun. AT is as close as I'm going to get to satisfying my idle curiosity as to how people with bottomless pockets design their homes. Thanks again.

thank you to bethanyseawright

I need a love seat like the one at the top of the page. Anyone have any ideas?

These are all beautiful WARDROBE ROOMS, but would also love if everyone would share images from their own organized "real-life" closets. I just did some spring cleaning in my 1BR NYC apartment and if anyone is interested, here is the link to images and items I used for organizing.

http://denisehatzis.com/2011/03/09/im-not-crazy-im-just-super-organized/

Closets can also be used for shoe storage quite usefully as well.

carlosclassclosets.com is the place to go