@Fairway Style Living

Thank you very much for the helpful feedback and suggestions! You mentioned using your own knob hardware - does that mean you went with the drawer frames and drawer fronts to conceal the ventilated drawers? We decided to do that as well, choosing drawer frames and fronts in white for a more sophisticated look. Do you have any photos of the finished install you could share? Thank you very much again for your kind response!

I have an Elfa system installed by The Container Store in my bedroom closet. The closet is TINY (old house) and the designer worked with me to eek out every inch of storage space. I think it's a good value compared some other vendors I priced. They have good sales once or twice a year so it's worth waiting for.

Ive installed my own in 2 houses, total of 5 closets. Good quality and not hard to do yourself if you have a drill, a measuring tape and a level. But don’t buy or use the wall anchors they provide, which are crap.

@einportlandor

Thanks for your feedback. I agree that the system is a good value especially given how flexible it is after installation. We looked at the option of a California closet for my wife's WIC but the cost was exorbitant and it's not adjustable.

Our goal with this project was the same as yours in terms of maximizing the capacity of these two main closets without going nuts on price. The quote we received for elfa was on sale, although it seems many vendors nowadays will list everything as on sale, so in effect the sale price becomes the regular price.

Thanks again for the input. If you have any photos I'd love to see them.

@HKO HKO

Thanks for the advice. Do you flip houses? Maximizing existing closet space seems like a relatively low cost renovation with high ROI, especially for us living in Manhattan. I’d be interested to hear about what other improvements you make if that’s the case.

No, not a house flipper but we redid the basement at our old house circa 1919 with tiny bedroom closets, so we put in an 8x20’ walk in, a toy closet and a linen closet. All elfa. Then got a job in another state and sold it and bought a 1957 house with one prior owner and crappy closets. Did elfa there in several more. Elfa only goes on sale I think twice a year so the sales are more real. This is a good time to buy.

@HKO HKO

Do you think the improvements you made to the closets in your old home made a difference in the home’s value and what it ultimately sold for?

No because the house was in Chicago, and I bought at peak pricing in 2005. But it did make the house a lot nicer! I think overall like most remodeling you won’t see 100% back in a resale.

@HKO HKO

Thanks for your reply, although I would have expected closet improvements to have had some impact in a housing market like Chicago. In Manhattan, where every square foot in an apartment counts, having enough closet space is near the top of most people’s must-haves.

You're right though that it is rare to recoup >100% of costs with most renovations. I can always hope though!

This is a photo of the guest bedroom closet we renovated. For the price and the relative ease of installation, I’d say this was a worthwhile and cost effective renovation.

Our apartment is in a new development and as you can see from this before photo, not surprisingly the developer didn't leave us with much to start with.

Great improvement! My husband and I will likely go with The Container Store and elfa too!