Should every nook be filled with closets in the name of “more storage,” or should some spaces be left for personal interpretation?

"More storage," in my mind, doesn't have to mean "closet"... It can also mean shelving (open or closed, or a combo of the two) or freestanding furniture.

For example, I am in the unfortunate position of owning a million books, but I have a severe dislike of bookcases filled with *just* books. I like to leave entire shelves empty except for a nice vase, a plant, photos, or other interesting piece of "personal interpretation" (I like that!). Which means I "need" a quarter million bookcases, lol.

I have, in general, a strong love of freestanding furniture, and if it wouldn't just absolutely *kill* resale, I would really like to make all bedroom closets European-style wardrobes, and fill a pantry space with various things like baker's racks, wine cabinets, and wall-mounted hooks.

I also prefer a mix of enclosed spaces and furniture type storage. One reason is that a closet closes off the space and is generally bland but a nook that is well sized for a shelving unit leaves open space above it and allows me to have interesting and unique furnishings. However, we live in an existing house with not enough space for ugly storage...my extra freezer is in an open nook in our office and we had to add doors to the bedroom closets when we moved in...building with an intentional mix seems right to me, and that mix probably varies by person, as well as being dictated by budget, open storage often requires the purchase of more furniture and containers, which can be costly.

We are thinking this topic through, as well. I don't necessarily like the look of closet doors everywhere; builtins get expensive; and we already own a credenza and at least one dresser that work just fine. The credenza will go in a nook (instead of builtin cabinets); maybe we'll have shelving above that. And the dresser will go in the master closet. My feeling is, why pay for someone to build or install drawers or cabinets or shelves when I already have a nice dresser, credenza, etc.

Me? I'll take build-in, hidden storage any old day! It's neat, it's tidy, it hides things that are NOT neat and tidy. Okay - I am a bit of a "saver" - but to my mind, one cannot have too much storage space these days.

Even living alone at my advanced age, I find I'm buying stables in far larger quantities than I once did. The weather may be bad, I may not feel well - I want plenty of paper goods on hand and non-perishables. And I want a clean, neat place to store them.

Ditto the above. I love the idea of personal interpretation. In my case, cabinetry, custom or not, stays more organized and is often more useful than a small closet. Cabinetry, an armoire, or whatever also usually looks much nicer than a closed door and, because it typically isn't solid floor to ceiling, it also preserves a sense of spaciousness.

Spaces like the photo ^^^ are just as necessary to a well designed house as closet space. Both add something slightly different to a space.

When we bought this house, it had ONE closet, a 60s style thing with folding doors, wasted space and one rod. A rather nice custom cabinet in the niche.

.... it now has none. I don't miss it.

In the middle of replastering ... the niche turned out to be a lot shallower than we thought.

Now there is a bookcase where the cabinet was, the cabinet moved into the shallow niche and another is next to it with half-height hanging over drawers. There's an armoire behind the camera for full length hanging.

Long term plan is to build in a mix of hanging rods, shelves across the entire wall, with tall bookcase at the right.

I'm an 'anti-hoarder' so I don't like the thought of lots of closet space all filled up with stuff. I like the idea of a mix of practical storage (pantry, Xmas decorations, extra linens, etc) plus free standing cabinets/shelves for interest. Our house has a 12/12 pitch roof so it has lots of extra space behind the walls upstairs for storage. When we were in the framing stage my DH and others were pushing hard to put an extra closet here or there just because we could. I did not want a bunch of extra doors in all the rooms just for the sake of having an extra closet or four. I kept saying, if we need that much space for stuff we have too much stuff! We did compromise a bit and put in two extra storage closets, but instead of regular doors we used a Murphy bookcase so it's hidden storage. You can't tell there is a closet at all, just looks like a built in bookcase. One in my oldest daughter's room and one in the guest room.

Gthigpen...where did you source your Murphy bookcase?

ILoveRed - my DH. We looked online but the prices were high. Not saying they aren't worth it, but we are in money saving mode so he opted to do it himself.

I like a mix

I saw a walk-in closet first time in my life when I first came to the States. I thought it's kinda neat))

When my late Grandma did her first and last remodel, in the eighties, she "borrowed" space between two rooms (we had three altogether, and it didn't go by bedrooms like here)-and that's how we had two big, not walk in but still quite big closets. That was neat too. It was a nicely sized apartment but we were six people there. Everything was very organized..had to be. But we had lots of free standing pieces..say my and my brother's clothes all except for coats went in a small wardrobe, and the wardrobe wasn't in our room, but in a different, bigger room, where Grandma and Grandpa slept. Books, we had in every room. We have a lots of books now too-but to be honest, it's but a small percentage of what we used to have when I was a little girl. One can't compare.

In short, I still find the concept of built in closet pretty neat)) But I love free standing pieces too, a lot. I think the right mix gives one function, form, flexibility and beauty.

So I go by that.

Except for the garage..that's my DH's kingdom..and he abhores the thought of ruling there too..:) but doesn't want anybody's help as much as I beg. He thinks closets help, shelves help, this or that surface will help..no, nothing will help..I will help if you let me:) The concept is important, but it can't be fully functionable and enjoyable without people handling it, you know.

I wanted a built in old fashioned "linen press" in the worst way and have the perfect place for it. Alas, I could not justify the cost. So, a plain old double door closet in the upstairs hallway it will be.

i have another place upstairs that would have made a nice little closet but I plan to put an antique table and lamp instead. Those places make a home unique and well, homey.

Alan..my laundry room too often turns into the family closet simply because I can't get the kids to put their clean clothes away!

In our house we've decided to do well-organized IKEA wardrobes (fitted out with trim so they look built in) rather than traditional closets. My rationale was twofold:

1. Closets have 2x4 stud walls, which means you're losing 4 1/2 inches (stud plus drywall on both sides) that you could have used for storage. Wardrobes probably have 3/4" sides, so that's almost 4 inches of space gained. Doesn't sound like much, but in a small-ish house it can make a big difference.

2. Closets really restrict your furniture layout options. It's not a big deal to move an IKEA wardrobe to a different part of the room, but you'll never move a closet - and some of us like to change things up from time to time.

OK, fine, there's a #3...

The wardrobes we're using have all kinds of amazing interior organizers and I suspect they'll stay much more organized than a closet would. I know, I know, there are closet organizers too... but those can cost as much as the IKEA wardrobe. So...

TL:DR - wardrobes over closets, except where there's room for a walk-in closet.

How fun! I think some spaces should be left for your interpretation. However, I personally like all built in storage. I am from Japan, and most storage is built in there and a buyer does not need to buy storage furniture!