I am SUPER interested in hearing from folks in this thread. We had a contractor in several years ago in hopes of exploiting the space in our awkward walk-in and reach closet. It wasn't a great experience. Valet rods have both come loose. NO storage containers we can find fit the shelf spaces. Part of the rod space hides about a third of another part of the rod space. Fortunately my DH took the top rod and we DID gain a lower rod, but the top rod is ironically the much more spacious rod, although I'm the one with more clothes.
We did have cedar lining installed, which i think helps a lot since we live in a fairly rural area and there are LOTS of insects.
I've stacked folded clothes (and I admit, often non-folded clothes!!) on dressers and shelves for quite long enough, now, and we're looking at floor to ceiling wardrobe choices. We have baseboard heating along the longest wall of our bedroom, which means we can't put closed shelving or furniture there. So we're looking at the IKEA PAX wardrobe designs to fit on the other longest wall. We have a bed wall on a third wall which includes pier cabinets, but I could better-organize those, I think, too. It feels really cramped in our bedroom.
If I went with a contractor again, I would be careful to get multiple bids, and to take my time comparing them very much in detail. I remember doing some research when we did the clothes closet, but obviously, either did not do enough, or were too dazzled by the idea of a closet design solving the actual structural challenge.
For a long time, I thought that I had way too many clothes. However, after some time watching YouTube, and lurking on YLF, I think I have a reasonable amount of clothing, but far less space than many other people have to house it. (This is certainly true of our kitchen too -- basically we have an old-style small house, and today, house size is about triple what we have!)
