Forget any dark colors. Use Bright white. Use a regular door that swings out so you can access storage behind it like shoe pockets on door back and hooks or pegboard on wall. I have belts, scarves and all sort of accessories in shoe pockets that hang the full length of my closet door.

Run clothes rod down 11" wall I am not sure if you can get a double hung rod in that low of a ceiling but you might could get a small shelf above the rods. Put shelves at the back wall and pegs or hooks on the other long wall. These can only hold thin items maybe bathrobes and few purses or shoes. This is too narrow for any fancy decorating, but you can do alot of creative storage.

That is a very narrow room. Is there anyway to open up the long wall instead?

Is this a rental or your permanent home? what is on the other side of the long wall in the closet. You need at least 24" depth to hang clothing, which leaves you only 19" walkway--very tight. Any dark color on the walls or ceiling is going to make it look like a cave. Paint it all white--any white will do, and make sure there's some lighting so you're not fumbling around in the dark trying to find a piece of clothing.

If you are petite, using smaller hangers can give you an extra inch (16" vs. 17"). Look at hangers.com for "petite" sizes.

IMO not a WIC at all and we need context . Post the floor plan of thta whole space where this is and maybe someone can help. 19" to use as an aisle for choosing an outfit is just not enough ,small hangers or not

@Lorraine Leroux @Diana Bier Interiors, LLC it is a permanent home and each side of the wall is the building hallway or my neighbour's place so I can't open it up I'm afraid. There's no other use for the room than as a closet

Here is the floorplan @Patricia Colwell Consulting

How do you access the loft? It looks like the spiral staircase only accesses the bedroom and closet. Is there just a ladder that you use to climb down to the first floor?

If you used the the skinny closet attached to the bedroom + the loft as another closet, you'd have a lot more storage. However, I assume that you have some other plans for the loft - especially since it has great windows.

You could also incorporate that area that steps up into the closet - it seems like the length is between 5-6' - you could use that wall + the little wall that connects to the long wall of your closet (I don't know if your layout is positioned correctly so that north faces up -if it is, the little wall on the west).

How long is the area of the bedroom at the end where it comes in a couple feet?

Where are you putting your bed? What size bed are you using?

idealy you would like to have a 3' aisle and 2' for hanging clothes. (Hangers without clothing are about 17" wide).

Obviously your closet space is not going to accommodate hanging clothing well, but sometimes we have to "Make" something work.

12" deep shelves may be able to be positioned along the wall and used to store folded clothing and just use the back wall for 2 tiers of hanging space.

This will only leave a bit over 2' of walking space - not generous but big enough to manage.

Maybe add some additional hanging space with perpendicular rods.

Marie Kondo has a clothing folding method that may become your best friend in this endeavor.

@dani_m08 Yes, it is a ladder to access the loft. I was planning to put a desk in there for WFH office. My bed is a queen, against the 14'9" wall as the opposite side and stairs are open to the first floor, so there is only a railing there.

The side where it shows "7'1" is 5' long and there is a radiator and a drywall covering over vents makes the ceiling there only ~5'10. I was hoping to avoid using those areas as closet space because its open to below so it is kind of blocking the air flow/view if I build there

Start by thinking about what you need to store and how you prefer to store it. Do you mostly fold your clothes or is everything on a hanger? The items you hang up, do you need full length, all shirt length or something in between? Do you have alot of accesories and shoes? What else are you hoping to store in this space?

I wonder how much money you want to invest in this apartment. The "open to above" space seems very wasteful in such a small apartment. If that were my permanent home, I might want to investigate incorporating that air space into the second floor. I did something similar in my vacation home with a 2-story foyer--we used the space to make an office.

@Diana Bier Interiors, LLC I'm hoping to eventually get approval to connect the mezzanine with the small loft; I think with the ceiling height being very low they were trying to keep it airy (both main and upper floors would then have finished 7'2 to 7'4" ceiling height). The neighbourhood and building is high-end so I think the money invested would be worth it to make it into a legal bedroom. The current structure could likely support that weight on its current reinforced concrete joists.

The main costs for me if I do that would be removing the spiral staircase, drywall/iron partitions, and gas fireplaces on the far wall to make a standard set of stairs. If I do that I would definitely want to have frameless glass partition/railing to keep the view and light in, so this may not happen for a few years considering that cost. If I went that far into remodelling, it would really free up my main floor's kitchen size constraints. Here is the full layout:

My initial thought was about extending the upstairs bedroom area to connect it to the loft + potentially adding more floor area up on that second floor. It would be nice to have a bathroom upstairs - the idea of needing to go down a spiral staircase in the middle of the night in order to use the restroom isn't very appealing to me.

HOWEVER, I assumed that it might be difficult to receive approval in order to connect the bedroom to the loft area. It would be great to be able to turn the mezzanine into a lawful bedroom.

I had a feeling that the loft area would be used for a home office. It would be nice to have a separate space for an office (if needed) + the views must be incredible with the two large windows.

Jennifer Hogan's suggestion of the perpendicular rods will fit the WIC. First use blue tape on the floor to mark out how much space you need to walk, then set the length of the rods. For safety, avoid putting them at eye level or have them all terminate in a long horizontal rod.

@dani_m08 yes! It would be amazing to have the upper floor connect to a window. Our city permits are quick for renos like this, around 3-7 days, and strata would usually approve when the city does. Only downside I'm anticipating is higher property tax but I think it's worth it. I am not a fan of spiral staircases or that ladder either, definitely would love a standard size.

This will be a tough space to redesign with the low ceilings and limited space. The spiral staircase may be the only real option. A straight staircase is usually about 10'x3' + the landing and I don't really see space for it unless you eat into the den and loft. or possibly place the stairs where the kitchen is now and convert the den into the kitchen space

You may be able to move the spiral staircase up against one of the walls.