Hi AT,
My bedroom closet takes "long, narrow, and awkward" to a whole new level. The closet is 12 feet long by 2 feet wide, with a 3 foot wide door halfway along it's length. I've installed three short curtain rods (two deep on one end of the closet, one deep on the other). I also have a shelf on each end, sitting on the shelf rail. Lastly, I installed about three linear feet of hooks on the shelf rail right in the middle, so that they are the first thing you see when you enter the closet.
I like to keep my dirty clothes hampers out of site in the closet, but that means I have to reach over them to get to my hanging clothes. I also can't help but feel like I'm wasting a whole lot of vertical space.
It's a rental that I'm not sure I'll be in for more than a few years, so I don't want to do any custom closet installations. Any tips for maximizing this space?
Thanks! Holly
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wow, that's a weird closet! how about elfa drawers on one side? stack two, wide 10-Runner frames. the tall ones are 22" w x 21" d x 41" h, so you'll end up with up to 82" in height. you can put some long-term storage behind it, since the frames will only go to about half the depth of one side of the closet. on the other side, slide in a rolling garment rack. you can roll the rack towards the door opening to view the hanging clothes, then roll it back when you're done.
elfa system
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=&PRODID=61502
garment rack
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=&PRODID=59851
Cyn's rolling garment rack sounds like a terrific idea.
Cyn the Elfa system may not work. My closet is 10 feet long and 3 or 4 feet wide to put the Elfa system in my closet means I have very little space to move around. But I like the garment rack idea and may do that one.
I have a similar closet and I put one of those rolling kitchen carts in there.
Hi Holly, I had a closet like this in my first appartment. It wasn't as long as yours - probably nine feet - but it was the best, most organized closet I've ever had. We put in about 6 deep shelves on each end of the closet so the entire height was usable. This wasn't anything fancy, just two small strips of wood nailed into each wall and then a piece of plywood set on top. The plywood had a white veneer so everything was very clean. We cut the plywood right in my bedroom with a power saw on top of two milk crates but if you measure carefully (the depth of the closet did change a little from the top to the bottom) you could just have that done at the hardware store. We then put in two high shelves running the width of the closet (they can just sit on top of the shelves on each end with a support in the middle) with the pole for hanging clothes attached to the lowest shelf. I believe this only cost about $75 and was very simple. The higher shelves were for items like suitcases but the shelves on each end were great for keeping sweaters organized (instead of in a giant heap), shoeboxes, towels and linnens. I did also have a very bright light in the closet so I could see back into the corners. Since my room was the size of a postage stamp the closet held about everything I owned at the time and did it beautifully.
Thanks for all the ideas, everyone! I'm glad to hear that others have had to deal with closets like this before. :)
I too had a closet with similar dimensions, and had to share it with my husband. When we first moved in, there was just one big long pole that ran the entire length of the closet with a shelf on top. We found that it was a much more efficient use of space to put a closet system on each end of the closet, with double poles and some shelves. We had cool looking hooks for hats, robes, etc, but the coolest part of the closet were the 2 clear vinyl, "over the door shoe organizers" that we attached to the wall opposite the door. We stored our shoes in there, as well as belts, scarfs, jewelry, etc - it was eye catching and colorful, and an easy way to keep track of everything.