Replies

1. 
   bobl | Oct 04, 2005 10:47pm | #1

   what are yu wanting to put in it?

   Kinda like asking how big should my house be?

   you storing one season's clothes, all four seasons?

   for both people (assumung 2 )

   how many clothes, shoes, etc?

    

   bobl          Volo, non valeo

   Baloney detecter

1. 
   skippy | Oct 04, 2005 10:55pm | #3

   I guess what I'm looking for is how wide do I make it to allow for someone to manuver between racks/hanger poles that are on two sides of a 10' long closet?

1. 
   stinger | Oct 04, 2005 11:06pm | #4

   I think I would want at least 36 inches clear between the hanging clothes, and since you can figure them for about 24 inches each side, it looks like you need at least 7 feet of width for a "galley" walk in closet.

   Imagine yourself in a 36-wide hallway with hangups on both sides.  That is what I am envisioning.

   If you do it this way, a nice touch would be a full-length mirror against the endwall, since you really cannot use the wall space there without compromising the end space of the two sides.

2. 
   bobl | Oct 05, 2005 12:35am | #5

   our closet is 8'9" roughlyhave about 63" between the hanging clothesenough to have a ironing board comfortably in. 

   bobl          Volo, non valeo

   Baloney detecter

2. 
   jackplane | Oct 04, 2005 10:52pm | #2

   Minimum finished dimension from the interior, 2' x 5'. At least that's what it is in my small townhouse.

    

3. 
   CapnMac | Oct 05, 2005 01:24am | #6

   What is a good size for a walk-in closet in the master bedroom

   Good question.

   Door width plus 2 x trim width plus 24 will suffices for a minimum.  30" between shelves is very narrow-feeling.  So the 36" that was previously recommended is a good place to start.

   The "what are you storing" question is also good, even if it sounds flippant. 

   Go measure how much cloest rod you are using now.  Have suits and/or long coats, raingear, etc?  Measure the rod space for those, too.  Take your run of cloest rod, and round up to a convenient value.  Subtract your "long stuff" length, or 12" which ever is greater.  Divide the result in half.  Now you know how little space you need for your stuff on a doubled rod (39 & 78" AFF).  Assume a partition about 30" over for a hamper or other storage.

   Lay this out on a plan or in tape on the floor and show spouse.  The rest you'll be told how to do <g> 

   Ok, so maybe you have a rational spouse, you can take the same measurements and get some spacing.  Leave room for more stuff.  Any left over space you can/should look at for some of the cool closet storage units.  Maybe an ironing board can live in the closet.  Maybe getting rid of Unc' Vinnies heirloom applecrate bureau is possible with a drawer unit in the closet.  It takes some cut-n-paste trial-n-error to make a great job of it.  On paper, on the floor, same same.

   Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
4. 
   BobS | Oct 05, 2005 04:07am | #7

   I just ripped out the stuff in the walk-in master closet of the house we just bought and built new shelves and poles from scratch. Looks nicer than the wire stuff. Anyway we have a similar setup with a long corridor and its 5' wide. This is just barely wide enough to have a rack of clothes on each side and we are both pretty thin. Another 6" would be great. Another 1' and we could change in between pretty easily. So 5' is minimum.

   Some points to consider:

   1. The mirror on the end wall is a great idea but figure out how to light it first. We didn't, which was a mistake, and now its a bit dark down at the end and you can't get too close and see stuff.

   2. Our floors are hardwood. If yours are as well, make the closet big enough so you can easily find a nice area run to put inside. Ours was not easy to find a rug for because its so long but I wasn't about to move walls.

   3. If you have the height, make one wall have 2 racks - a high and low, and on the other side have just one but give it enough height for dresses and suits.

1. 
   FastEddie | Oct 05, 2005 04:19am | #8

   I can't believe you have two rows of hangers and an aisle in a 5 ft wide space.  Are you sure that's right?

     

   "When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it."  T. Roosevelt

1. 
   BobS | Oct 05, 2005 04:11pm | #12

   Yeah, its tight in there. But it was a renovation and I wasn't going to move the wall or just put in one row. The hangers on opposite sides aren't at the same height which helps. One wall has a bar at about 7' and 3.5' while the other is at about 5.5' (all rough numbers from memory), so I think helps a bit. The aisle is maybe a foot wide. Best we could do with the space.I'm pretty happy with it and my wife is very, very happy with it which is the important thing. Wish I had though more about the lighting first though.

5. 
   cliffy | Oct 05, 2005 04:35am | #9

   Assuming you are the male of your household, make it big enough that you can store all your stuff in 25 percent of it!

   Have a good day

   Cliffy

6. 
   NotaClue | Oct 05, 2005 05:45am | #10

   You might want to take a look at easyclosets.com. Not so much to buy the system from them (though I think we are going to; it's just easier), but because they have a really neat design tool that makes out floor plans and elevations, even for irregular closets.

   Let me know what you think.
   NotaClue

1. 
   skippy | Oct 05, 2005 05:22pm | #15

   NotaCLue-

   Easyclosets.com on-line design link very helpful, thanks.  You put in demensions and they will tell you if it will work with two hanging units or drawers/shelves etc.  Very cool. 

   It appears that for a closet with hanging units on opposite walls the total width needs to be at least 80" so, they're looking for 30" between sides to manuver yourself around. Thanks again.

1. 
   BillBrennen | Oct 05, 2005 07:14pm | #16

   I once built a house with a walk in closet that was 6' wide and 11' long, with single poles on both sides. It worked well for 15 years of occupancy, and we are not small-bodied people, either. The effective aisle width was wider than 24", more like 29". Because my wife and I are both tall, we could have the poles higher, so our shoulders would brush against soft clothes if we had to pass in the aisle. We got really good at the closet dance during our years there.The walk in closet in our current home measures 5'-10" wide by 7'-4" long, with some double pole areas. It is tighter, so we take turns using it, mostly. It feels roomier because my side is partly empty. Hers, of course, is jammed.Bill

2. 
   junkhound | Oct 05, 2005 08:35pm | #17

   Did not see anyone say "welcome" yet Skippy, so Welcome.

   7 ft by 10 ft would be good to start with, after 40 years or so wife eventually will take all of that though, so you need another 12 ft by 15 ft room with 25" deep closets along all the walls for her to  expand to.  You will get to keep about 5 feet of the closets in the room at the other end of the house, or be relagated to outbuildings ........

   PS:  see the thread on 1100 sq ft. Habitat houses.

1. 
   Ken | Oct 06, 2005 04:17am | #18

   I think you added a "0" She'll fill her side and yours in 4, in my experience.

3. 
   NotaClue | Oct 12, 2005 08:18am | #19

   You're welcome; glad it helped!
   NotAClue

7. 
   caseyr | Oct 05, 2005 06:14am | #11

   In Portland, OR, for years they have had a show of $million homes called "The Street of Dreams", for the last couple of years they have added "The Street of New Beginnings" - more affordable homes for merely a half million or so.  Went to the latter and measured a number of closets.  Can't find my notes so I think most of them were between 7' x 8'(long) and 8'x10'.  There was one that was 64"x64", and I think there was one that was only 6' wide but in that one they only hung clothes on one side and had 12" shelves along the other side. 

8. 
   JonE | Oct 05, 2005 05:06pm | #13

   Read through the responses so far, lots of different answers.  There will be no hard and fast answer to this - you need to go with what works for you.  Whatever you choose, you will fill up the space, guaranteed.

   We designed a master closet 8' wide x 8' long, which is absolutely huge in my opinion.  I'll use about a quarter of it, if that.   Plus I have 9' celings, so there will be twice as much accessible space as in a standard wall closet.  Should work for a year or two.   One thing we have done in the past is put in a small closet in the laundry room or basement that is lined with cedar panels - makes for a good long-term storage for the suits, uniforms, wedding dress, etc. whatever you have that you might only wear once in a great while (or never again).

    

9. 
   Bruce | Oct 05, 2005 05:15pm | #14

   I did ours at 9'square, and we're real happy with it.

   Door is in middle of one side.  Walk in and there's a built-in dresser with shelves above for each, left and right.  One full-height bank of shelves for shoes and/or sweaters, the rest hanging rods.  Most rods stacked one over the other, small section of full-height.

   I get my dresser unit and shelves, plus about 4' of double rod.  Wife owns the rest.  Pretty happy with the whole thing.