The upstairs of this house had two bedrooms sharing a bathroom between them. Each room had a big walk-in closet, and both were running the same wire rack system. Three walls of it. The kind that comes in a box and takes an afternoon to put up. It works fine for a while, but it does not last and it does not look like anything.

I pulled both of them out and built something to replace them.

Closet One

Before

Wire racks on three walls. Popcorn ceiling. No real system for anything.

Build

I demo’d the racks, scraped the ceiling, patched the walls, and mapped out the footprint before cutting any wood. That part matters. A closet is a small space and every inch counts.

After

Three structures. A floor-to-ceiling shoe cubby on the right. A center tower with open shelving above and cabinet doors below. Double-hang sections on both sides. Everything has a place and you can see it all from the door.

Closet Two

Same design, same house, second room. But by the time I got to this one I was paying closer attention to the wood. Birch plywood has a lot of character in the grain if you take the time to look at it before you cut. On the cabinet doors especially, I selected and oriented the panels so the grain had somewhere to go. It is a small thing. You might not notice it right away. But it is there.

Details

• Removed wire rack systems in both closets
• Removed popcorn ceilings, repaired drywall, primed and painted
• Built custom birch plywood storage systems in each closet
• Shoe cubbies, open shelving, double-hang sections, and cabinet storage throughout
• Black steel hanging rods
• Grain-matched panel selection on closet two for a more refined finish