Every new year, my wife Raquel and I set some goals: we set business goals, individual goals, and goals as a couple. Raquel has been recently captivated by the Marie Kondo movement of being surrounded by spaces that sparks joy. So it was no surprise that this year’s (2020) hot goal topic was organization. We set a goal to organize our home in a way that was more aligned with our lifestyle. So we started with our closets.
WHEN DISORGANIZATION AND OVERSTUFFING BECOMES NORMAL
As most men do, when we moved in together, I took the smaller closet in our bedroom and she took the larger 8×7 walk-in closet space. It didn’t take long before I had started spreading my sporting and winter gear across some of the other closets in the house. Very quickly, a level of disorganization, overstuffing, and clutter became the norm. Before we knew it, we accepted and adjusted to not having a better closet space system in our home.
BRAINSTORMING WAYS TO INCREASE CLOSET SPACE
However, once we decided we would start with our closets, I immediately began to brainstorm ideas on how to increase closet space without having to tear out and reframe walls in the bedroom. That’s when my wife came up with the idea of giving up her walk-in closet to me. She did what? You read that right. She gave me her walk-in closet! But, you know where this is going, right? She was so kind to give me her closet because she wanted to build her own 15×14 walk-in closet!
While I thought it was a crazy idea at first, I secretly loved the idea of having my own walk-in closet with all my sporting gear, work clothing, and seasonal clothing. I also liked the idea of no longer having the hassle of chasing anything down in the other closets. And if she wanted to build her own closet for her stuff, then this was clearly a win/win situation.
LET THE BUILD BEGIN
I essentially let her know what I wanted space for and she got to work on a practical, functional design (inspired by closet designer Lisa Adams). My wife got creative with cupboards, shoe shelves, drawers, special hanging sections, lightning, and one of my favorites: a dedicated area to put my laundry. That was my favorite thing to say good-bye to, an overflowing basket of dirty laundry. Now it was tucked away out of sight. To bring this vision to life, we hired my good friend Bertram Smith from Bertram Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to build it for us.
I have known Bertram for 30 years and know first hand the quality of his work. When I moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1991, he was one of the first people that helped me get construction work. Thanks to him, I have always had enough work to take care of my family and personal needs. Everything I know about construction, I learned it from him.
I am more than thrilled with the final product! Having a walk-in closet just for me that is not only functional, but pleasing to the eye, has eliminated chaos and brought more ease to my life. If that is not enough (and believe me it was), we also increased the resale value and saleability of our home. Buyers just love homes with good, functional closet space.
A burning question among homeowners before renovating their home is which upgrade will bring more value to the home and reflect in sale price? A custom closet organizer will go further than you thought possible. I can tell you from experience, that by showing everything has a place to go will definitely catch a buyer’s eye. Homebuyers today want to know that all of their belongings will fit in the property they’re purchasing. This alone will speak volumes to its value.
If you are looking to sell your home and want to move forward with your own closet organizing project, make sure you read MY TOP 5 CLOSET ORGANIZING TIPS to get you started!