3 Pro Tips for Making the Most of a Small Closet

Do you have any small closets in your home that you have labeled limited, inefficient, or even useless? Coat, utility, bathroom, and hallway linen closets are a few commonly overlooked and under-utilized closets in houses. These spaces can be awkward to work with, however, they can also provide a unique touch to your family home!

My Custom Closet highly recommends paying attention to these distinct spaces. With the proper design, these closets are fun to work on and can “pack a punch” when it comes to storage and organizational ideas.

When people start home improvement and cleaning projects, they take notice of all the nooks and cranny storage spaces in their homes. Some may think, “Wow, I wish this closet was bigger” or “I should have originally designed a more spacious closet!” However, these small spaces have great potential, even if you cannot picture it at first glance.

How can you hold more in these cramped places? When designer Bryan Fulop of My Custom Closet answers this question, he often looks up to see what is far above the closet header—more space.

In a compact closet, there is usually at least another 12 to 18 inches of interior space above the door frame. In addition, many of these closets may also have a deep set of interior “sides” that are also overlooked. My Custom Closet will find a way to put those high, and wide, empty areas to use while maintaining accessibility.

The main idea for these areas is to utilize a “tiered” approach to the space. Often shelving, and perhaps drawers, are the best solution for these narrow spaces. Here are three pro tips for making your closet more useful:

Pro-tip #1:

If the closet has drawers, it may be nice to consider removing the doors of the closet to add more functionality to the closet. Utilizing attractive, consistent bin storage makes this possible and still keeps a clean appearance.

*The curved side panels create the tiered effect which makes for narrow shelving as you go up higher in the space but allows for accessibility to whatever you store. We recommend clear bins for these spots or large labels for bins so you can easily see what is up higher.

*Doors are gone! We used a large industrial grade laundry bin to store fresh towels so the towels don’t use up valuable shelf space.

*With this closet, we can fit in a 3 tier rolling cart and also a large foot bath, a large clothing steamer, and an ironing board just below the shelves!

Pro-tip #2:

An important item to have in or near the closet is a folding step stool. This item is important to be able to access higher shelves. Also, a folding step stool is compact, making it easy to store in your closet.

Pro-tip #3:

If you choose to have a door to your closet, do not forget about the empty space on the back of the door! An over-the-door hook or organizer can hold many of the smaller items, freeing up storage in the drawers or shelving units.

Still not convinced your small closet can be an efficient storage solution? Some of the various closet design ideas to transform this area into a unique and practical location include the following:

a small coffee/beverage bar if in close proximity to the kitchen
a hobby space
a toy and game closet
an office supplies space
a storage place for electronics with a built-in charging station

Ready to move your home improvements to these tiny spaces? Start looking at your small closets and contact us today! Email basic closet dimensions and pictures to [email protected] and we can help you come up with design ideas for the category you are wanting to feature in the closet.

*Have you heard about our special? Buy a Master Walk In Closet or a Walk-In Pantry and get a 6 foot Reach In Closet FREE!