Walk-in closets are a feature that has grown in popularity and size in the last couple of decades. Whereas the single closet gave way to the double closet, today’s standard in luxury is definitely the walk-in. With consumer culture taking off at lightning speed, the necessity of a walk-in closet was soon apparent and builders rushed to fill the void. Today, walk-in closets are the standard in any luxury home and expected in nearly every other property. However, having the space for a walk-in closet doesn’t mean that it is complete – the finishing and features given to the interior of the space are what truly set apart the different closets available.
Materials
Standard walk-in closets will come with the regular steel bar found in closets. It is up to the homeowner to customize the space to their specifications. The kind of material chosen for this will certainly depend on your budget and what you consider necessity. The most basic material is metal. You can get inexpensive closet kits from any big box home hardware store that you can put together yourself to create different shelving levels and bars. A level up from metal is press wood shelving. Again, kits of presswood closet shelving can be found in most big box stores and can be customized to meet your needs. The deluxe version is to have custom shelving built out of real wood. However, this will naturally involve a professional and a much bigger budget.
Lighting
One of the key elements to any space is the lighting chosen – the same holds true for closets. A big window will need to have a good lighting system so that you can see every nook and cranny of your space without effort. Some closets even have movement activated lighting that turns on automatically when the closet door is opened and switched off when the door closes.
Features
Closets can have shelves for sweaters, cubbies for shoes, drawers for jeans and unmentionables and bars for hanging clothing. Depending on size, they can also have descending bars mounted right on the ceiling for those seasonal items that you only access once-in-a-while. They can have mirrors, centre islands fitted with additional drawer/storage space and they can have seating. The sky is the limit when it comes to closet customization.
Regardless of the size of your walk-in, making it your own is really the only way to get the most out of all the space you have!
