How big is your closet? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

How big is your closet?

Marley

Veteran

A few months ago, my 23 year old nephew moved in with us and took over the 2nd bedroom and closet, which meant that my husband had to move his clothes out of that closet and cram (and I truly mean CRAM) them into "my" (the master bedroom) closet. Now, neither one of us can truly see what clothes we have and things are getting lost and falling off of hangers and its just one big mess!

So, that got me to wondering because I've read that some of you here at YLF share your clothes closet with your DH or SO while others have large walk-in closets all their own!

I just got finished measuring our closet - it is 10' by 2' - sliding door style, so that you can never see everything all at once - and it has a built in dresser which is placed on one side, so it takes up a LOT of room. There is not any room to put any of my shoes in the closet or handbags or belts or hats - it is just too little.

Perhaps, the problem is that I have too many clothes? . . . Naah! Its the closet's fault! - or my husband's

So how big is yours?

General

38 replies

Latest reply was from anne

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

I have one standard sized closet, with a pair of accordion. It used to be a coats-only closet that was tiny (maybe 4 ft wide, 2 ft deep, standard door height), but my dad doubled it and put on accordion doors so it's about 8 ft wide, 2 ft deep, standard door height.

There is 1 bar to hang things, and a shelf; I wish it was bigger, but it's okay.

MsMary

Veteran

In the master bedroom we have two closets, each of which is 51 inches wide, with bifold doors. I have one of them to myself with one row of hanging. The other one has two rows of hanging and the top row is DH's shirts and jackets, and the bottom row is half my skirts and half DH's pants.

BUT... today we started work on the guest room remodel (formerly my son's room), and part of the project is to build out those two closets (also two 51-inch-wide closets with bifold doors) with a combination of shelves and hanging space to store my shoes, bags, and most of my clothes so I can move out of Hubby's closet in our bedroom. I'm very excited!!

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

I thought that our closet is dismally small at 7' by 2' but it looks like it is about average. Both me and my hubby use it (but my things take about 2/3 :-))
MaryK, I hear you! I have now a small spare bedroom in our house in addition to 2 bedrooms of our sons who are away at universities. My plan is to build a walk in closet out of this small bedroom - a girl can dream, right? As soon as we finish a reno in our kitchen (we started it last year in March ...:-()

rosee

Veteran

Standard closet 6' by 2' (accordian doors), but I put in wire shelving with 2' of single rod and 2' of double rod hanging, with another 2' of shelves (about 6) for folded clothes. I'm currently holding 2 wardrobes in there: one is size 4 - 6 (most of my clothes, that don't fit), the other size 12 (what I currently wear). I don't have any other place to store my "goal" clothes so I also store them here, but towards the back. Pretty much everything fits in just fine -- shoes on the floor, bags and hats on the upper shelf. Also have a small set of drawers (4) that hold socks, undies and stuff I don't know where to put.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

The BF and I each have our own closets facing each other in our bedroom back home in CA. They are average as far as I know - they have about a foot and half more width than the actual doors (far corner of photo). We share a coat closet of roughly the same size in the spare bedroom next door. But I also have a 7 drawer dresser full and he does not have more than an acrylic 3 drawer Walmart storage thingy so I take up more room.

EDIT: and it's fair to say my stuff is CRAMMED in there even with multi tier skirt and pant hangers. I hope through this last year of purging I may have some more wiggle room to better see what's there upon returning home with my wardrobe. Here (in FL) I have a full 8' closet to myself but would never fill that . . . I think

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

nicoleb

(website)

Veteran

Tiny. Our house was built in the 1950s and we have closets from that time as well. BUT we are in the middle of finishing our basement where I will have a much needed 10x10 walk in closet with a vanity all to myself! <3 Exciiiiitteeedddd!

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I haven't measured, but I am going to guess that it's about 6 feet by two feet. I share that with my husband, and we have put in organizers (shelving in the middle which houses my shoes/boots and sweaters, and his side has two rows for hanging). We do manage to stuff most everything in there, and there is no extra closet space anywhere- no linen closet or coat closet or extra bedroom.

sarah

Veteran

Hmmm...about 7' x 2', and I share with DH - it's one reason why I never hang onto anything that I don't wear often. But I think DH is a bit frustrated - the only access is the door at one end, and, you guessed it, his clothes are towards the other end.

Frances

Marley, I can sympathize. I just moved into a new apartment, which is nicer than my old one, but which has a smaller closet (5 ft. wide x 1.5 ft. in depth). I think I've lost about a foot in width, and I am not sure what to do about the lack of space. The clothes bar is already sagging beneath the weight of the clothes! I'm thinking of getting an armoire to supplement, but there isn't much room for one in my tiny jr. bedroom.

This post has 1 photo. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

thimblelina

(website)

Veteran

Ooh Marley... I've been so curious about this! Thank you for asking. I've been imagining that everybody here had big old walk-ins. My husband and I share a standard depth closet, but perhaps it is a little wider than average. He has 43" of hanging bar on his side and I have 35" on my side. Am I the only woman in America with less closet space than her husband?? I've just never owned very many clothes. And since he has ironed shirts, dress suits and NPS uniforms, he's always had more stuff. There's a cabinet down the middle which we share. As you can see, my shoes runneth over at the moment. Need to work on that. The very bottom shelf holds a basket with our whole family's bathing suits and towels. (I think I started doing that to keep the children from wearing their swimsuits around the house as loungewear when they were little... LOL.) We share an armoire as well. He has the top two shelves and I have the bottom two. That's where I keep jeans, shorts, sweaters... all the folded stuff. On the very bottom I keep three "capsule" piles: workout/xcountry ski, sleepwear, and housecleaning/gardening. I try to never leave the house, the trails or the back country in these items! I keep my underwear and my socks in open baskets stored in an old scavenged pine olive oil store display shelf. The galvinized seed storage cabinet holds my secret stash of nail polish colors: 9 cubby drawers that can hold 15 bottles each... do the math! Yeah, I own 2 lipsticks and a bazillion nail polish colors. Weird.

Thanks to all who shared their closet crib details. I'm not so deprived as I might have thought. Lyn*, the closet remodel your dad did for you sounds like what we want to do with our kids' rooms. They have long, narrow closets, but only a tiny doorway for access.... very frustrating! Frances, I love your shoe storage! I am hoping to get some of my favorite shoes out of the closet and featured more prominently in my room. L

This post has 4 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Aunty

Veteran

I live in a tiny 1930's cottage so space is very tight.
We have a triple wardrobe between us. I should think it is about 4.5 foot wid by 2 foot deep. I can just about manager 30 hangers on my side, that is for everything. Shoes have to go at the bottom. I also have 2 drawers in a chest of drawers. There is a very small hallway cupboard for coats.
I would love to have more space so that the clothes could breath!!

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Thimbelina- your closet set up is very similar to mine. My husband actually has twice the hanging space that I do (so you're not the only one!)- his side has a top and bottom rail, and mine just has the top.

Lynne

Veteran

another ylf-er with fewer clothes than her DH here! I have a 3 door closet that is 5' long, and I keep everything there including the linen for our room, except for outerwear and shoes which are in a closet near the front entrance. I hang as much as I can - I like to see everything, and I don't rotate clothes for seasons.

Marley, it is so kind of you to have your nephew with you; I hope it works out well.

Kristine

Veteran

I'm with Nicole, my tiny 1950s closet doorway is 24", with a total length of 36" and 24" depth. I also have a tall thin dresser.

Marigold

We live in an apartment but I am lucky to have a walk-in closet, it's not the biggest and is terribly organized (I seriously need to go through it one of those days before the warm weather gets here to stay!) but still a walk in, I use it a junk storage (my sewing supplies, old baby clothes that I need to donate, a lot of shoe boxes and more), a picture would haunt you, so I'm sparing :). Husband has 2 free standing wardrobes in our master bedroom, we are lucky to have a truly spacious master as well

Janet

(website)

Veteran

We have a small walk-in, and my half is packed! I have too much.

Plus in our den (finished basement) we have a standard bifold door closet that holds miscellaneous stuff, including bins for bulky ski and sport wear, and out-of-season coats and clothes.

teri

Veteran

too dang small.... I share the master closet with my husband and he gets pissy when I encroach on his side...lol
He even has his nice dress shirts in a spare bedroom closet....lol
He has as much as I do...............almost

I had to start stacking my shoe collection on his side and he''s not very happy about it. I have to keep all my purses in a closet in our study.

This post has 2 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Lisa

Veteran

I don't know measurements, but it's a full walk in, one side is mine and two sides are hubbies. Then I have a double door closet in another bedroom all mine, a coat closet near the fornt door, and two dressers in the bedroom. I have far too many clothes.

Kappy

Veteran

We have separate his and her walk-ins in the corners of our master bath. Each closet is about 6 1/2 feet by 5 1/2 feet. The 6.5 foot side has a tall hanging rod and the 5.5 foot side has double hanging rods. The closets aren't rectangles because the door cuts into one corner on diagonal. Hmm, hard to explain. I love having my own closet!

Diana

Veteran

I have two VERY SMALL built in closets and one smallish freestanding wardrobe from IKEA, and, let me tell you, it is NOT enough room for all my clothes. The two built in closets are very shallow and stupidly designed - they have normal (not sliding) doors that do not open onto the entire closet so there are very dark and narrow spaces on either side of the door. My apartment building is like 100 years old, and the closets were very small then and apparently so were hangers, since normal hangers only fit in the part where the door opens; for the parts on the sides of the doors, I have to use children's hangers which my clothes like to fall off of. I'm guessing it's only 12" deep or so! There are some built in shelves in the closets that I use for sweaters and stuff. The Ikea wardrobe is for coats and jackets, as they are too big to go in the built in closets.

Totally unfairly, BF has two gigantic sliding door closets in his apartment, and at the moment one of them has nothing but his 5 suits hanging in it. =P (Ha, I would totally move in w/him just for the closets but unfortunately New Jersey is a bit of a commute to Boston!)

rae

(website)

Veteran

Mine is about the size of yours. It's filled, and my belts, workout clothes, shorts, and heavy sweaters have to live in a chest of drawers since they don't fit. My pumps all live in one of the kitchen cupboards. O_O I think *my* problem is that I refuse to cut down my casual wardrobe now that I can only be casual 2 days a week. Is your nephew staying permanently? If so, then the only answer is to build another closet, clearly.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Teri, I'm kind of envying your shoe wall there. I have a few shoe racks assembled across the floor on my side of the closet, plus out-of-season shoes are in boxes in the back of the closet. I wish I could see them all better! I would love to get one of those closet organizing companies to come redo our closet. It's an odd shape (vaulted ceiling and a wood beam running through it), so I feel like the space could be used more efficiently.

In addition to our walk-in, we have an antique armoire in one corner of our bedroom that was my husband's closet in our old house (which had the tiniest closet ever!). I've now converted it to storage for my t-shirts, athletic wear, scarves, hats and jewelry.

Liz

It strikes me as a bit ironic that all these women who look so pulled together and beautiful, have less than adequate closet space. DH and I share a huge walk in closet. There's a wall in the middle so we each take 1/2 plus we each have a dresser. All that space and I have a wardrobe full of items that don't fit, don't flatter or don't match anything.

Scarlet

Veteran

Up until now I have had one lousy Ikea wardrobe, okay and some of hubby's as well. But now that we have more space I am expanding into two, all for me! This will include jewelry and make-up as well. I suppose it is close to 7 feet for me me me! This will all change when we have a family at some point...

April

Veteran

I have a "walk-in" that's really more of a "step-in", at 3.5 feet by 3.5 feet. But it has two clothing rods, a skinny drawer unit for underthings and socks, hooks for handbags and belts, a tie rack for necklaces, and a shelf way up high for items that only come out/go back once per year, so it holds more than it seems like it would.

My bed has a platform that houses six large baskets, and my folding clothes are kept in those. My shoes and jackets are in another, very small closet in an adjacent office room.

This post has 2 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Sylvie

Veteran

I have exactly half of a 70 inch closet with a single clothes rod. Foldable clothes/socks/underclothes go into my half of a chest of drawers and one drawer of the nightstand. Out of season clothes live in two plastic boxes on the top shelf of the closet and dress shoes in shoe boxes stacked the floor.

Coats are in the coat closet and the overflow shoe collection has moved into the office. My few purses live in the office closet as well.

I used to have a whole width closet to myself with two stacked clothes rods in one half and a single clothes rod on the other. I purged half my closet the last time I moved.

The primary requirement for the next place I live in is a walk in closet.

Patty

Veteran

All our closets are still full of pre kids adult stuff--unmade plastic models, books, collectables,to us anyway--dust mites, suit cases, outdated computer equipment, contents of offices long ago vacated, lamps,baby clothes---Man! I got to get in there with a rake or molotv cocktail.

Anonymous

I have one freestanding wardrobe right outside of my bedroom, I'm borrowing one of the wardrobes in my brother's room (he's at a boarding school so his room is usually unused), and then I have one chest of drawers in my room and two in a small room which belongs to my bedroom. All of those are pretty crammed... But I can say to my defense that a lot of that has to be cleaned out! There are a lot of old and unused clothes that I should get rid of...

I would much rather have a walk-in closet of decent size so I could have all of my clothes in one place. Actually I could use the smaller room (the one where I keep my two chests of drawers) as a walk-in closet, but unfortunately I need to use it as a storage room... But I'll keep dreaming about that walk-in closet!

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I have a 42" closet, about 3.5 feet. It is insufficient, the closet and my living space was designed as a guest house. The kind of place where someone stays one week. Not the kind of space where one lives.

My boyfriend and I are planning a big renovation on a building on the ranch that we'll turn into our house. It will take 5 years or so because he'll do most of the work. A walk in closet is in the plans for us!

12