Rubbermaid has a closet design tool (as do most of the closet hardware makers like Martha Stewart et al) that works pretty good. Your budget is a bit low for such a big closet, however.

One thing I did a while back was paint an old hand-me-down dresser and put it in the closet for storage.

Go to http://www.easyclosets.com/ they have an online design tool and tell you what can and can't be done. Even if you decide not to purchase through them, it will give you a nice design you can do on your own. I have not found any cheaper prices than what they offer though and they deliver very quickly. I have them in my closet for 2 years now and they are still in perfect condition.

Depending on your space, I would have two laundry baskets to one side below where the clothes are hanging, one for laundry, on for dry cleaning. Then three plastic storage containers on wheels for storing sports clothing and sweaters, on top like wise for seasonal wear ( clothes you don't need just yet). You could hang a couple of shoe organizers in between the clothes and use these for either storing scarves or shoes. Even small purses. In the empty corner if you can get a small bookcase and organized your bags there. You can always design the bookcase to suit your dresser with DIY ideas. If you have free wall space, hang up a pocket organizer for your accessories or small items like socks and the like.

Some examples (of what I mean) and ideas from Houzz:





( containers)

( basket idea)

How many inches of short hang (shirts, tops, jackets, slacks over the hanger) do you need want? How many inches of long hang (slacks hung long, dresses, robes, long coats) do you need/want?

Plan for hanging first since the closet is the primary space for hanging storage that take up larger blocks of space. The rest of the space can be configured with shelving. I agree with rinqreation to focus the hanging on the 54" sidewalls. Depending on how much of short versus long hanging you need will determine the configuration of the side walls first.

Your $200 budget is doable for a do it yourself project with fixed wire shelving. Anything else will most likely exceed your budget.

Thanks for the blueprint and suggestions. I will look into all of these. I wanted to use a dresser we have, but it's too long for the 32" wall space; but maybe I use it for the 54" wall? I don't have many dresses or long hanging items.

Without more specifics as to hanging needed compared to shelving, I will echo rinqreation's layout. You could use one 54" wall for long hanging with 2-3 shelves above, the other 54" wall for two levels of short hanging with a shelf above. The dresser would then go on the back wall between the hanging and you will be able to easily pull out the drawers. If you put the dresser on a 54" wall, the hanging on the back wall may limit drawer pullout or access. Then you could put additional shelving above the dresser. Depending on the size of the dresser you may put it off center and have additional storage or hamper there.

@closetexperts- what specifics do I need? I'm new at this and have only ever had a single standard door closet.

I have 12 long dresses; 15-20 pairs of shoes that consists of tennis shoes, boots, and mostly flats. 90% of my clothes are just the short hanging items; I have about 12-15 pants that I fold over to hang short. The other 10% are shoes and the long dresses, and linens. Husband has all short hanging items and hats (baseball and cowboy hats) and 6 pair of shoes.

Does this help?

Just to add that replacing all the metal hangers with simple plastic 10-for-a-dollar hangers will prevent tangling. Add some fuzzy hangers for knits and a few nice wood hangers for jackets. Worth the money.

There are baseball hat racks that can be very useful in keeping them in order in a small space. Try amazon.com. Men who own cowboy hats may want boxes for their best hats and a couple of hat hooks near the back door for their everyday hats.

By the way, some dressers are short enough to allow a clothes rod over them. Measure the men's or women's shirts to see what will fit and what you can actually lift down and put up. Too high a rod is not useful.

What are the dimensions of the dresser you would like to use (length, depth, height)?. Is your ceiling height about 8'? From what you have provided your long hang need is about 18" of rod space. Short hanging for you and your husband, 90% does not translate into inches. How many inches of hanging rod space do you need? How many does your husband need?

You can buy DIY closet organizers for under $200 at Home Depot and Walmart ( such as this one http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Customizable-and-Configurable-3-to-6-Closet-Kit-Titanium/8195153?action=product_interest&action_type=title&placement_id=irs_middle&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id=55150773762&category=0:4044:90828:132948&client_guid=7817dd78-eb81-4e7d-8994-daa9121e746f&config_id=0&parent_item_id=8195152&guid=47b475e6-f49a-4e68-bce0-55b585b6554b&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&findingMethod=p13n)

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/4-ft-8-ft-deluxe-starter-closet-white/959437

Simple hack ... slide one or more tall bookcases or stacked dressers in for shelving and then attach the closet rods between them for hanging space.

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e8/85/d4/e885d454096a3b8d2531c1968c52606b.jpg

Get some custom closet companies to come out and do a design. They're usually free. You can at least get an idea of how to use the space efficiently, if you get a good designer. Then you can figure out how to use off-the-shelf systems (that are within your budget) to achieve a similar result as with the custom company's system.

mean design- What do you do when you design closet for someone, do you give them all your ideas for free and diagrams of how to do it? Do you get paid even if they go to home depot and buy a DIY kit? I am just wondering how this helps the closet companies?

I am asking because I would like to do the same thing but It feels sneaky to me.

So mean design, how about you waste some time driving to and from my house, spend money on gas both ways, give me your free advice and do a design for me for free. Will you give me 3 hours of your time for free?

If you are going to waste someone's time, at least go to their place of business with all the measurements, and a complete inventory of what you need; inches of short hang, inches of long hang, number of shoes, sweaters, shorts, jeans, hats. Take pictures of the space and how you are using it.

Better yet go online to easy closets.com and use their online design tool. Or take the above info to Container Store if you have one in the area.

I am willing to design this closet here for free, IF Brooke is willing to provide the info I am asking for. Most of the suggestions here so far are too general to optimize the closet to fit her and her husband specifically.

Even in this size closet, there are lots of possibilities. But if you are going to DIY, and I respect that, I do a lot of DIY myself, DIY the homework too and don't steal someone's time and money!

When we did our closet, I used Easy Closets online. You give them the dimensions and they email you a diagram and pricing. Doesn't take them long to respond and will give you ideas. You can also ask for tweaks to fit your needs. You won't be under $200, but if you like the plan, you can slowly build it over time as they will ship as much or as little as you want at a time.

I also like the idea above about using open shelves. IKEA has an open shelf unit for $40 that would work perfect called BILLY.

sunnydrew and Closet Experts, I worked for one of the largest u.s. closet companies. This is how it works in MY region... the company paid for materials and advertising, I got the leads, I spent my time and gas to go to appointments that they made, and I gave potential clients a proposal, for free. Sometimes they sold, sometimes they didn't. I'm not saying I LIKED working for free (I'm no longer working there), but that's how it works... again, in MY region. (I like to think my sales vs. time spent on all proposals evened out.) I'm just suggesting this as an option, to the original poster, because their budget was so low. It's too much trouble, for me, to tell the original poster what to do in words, on this forum. Others might choose to take that extra step and run with this design problem, and do the design work, and provide drawings and such in this thread; sorry, I'm not that type. Best of luck to the original poster.

So Mean Design, since it is too much trouble for you, you encourage bad behavior you did not appreciate when you were a victim of it? Why did you bother at all?

Sometimes someone asks simple questions here that can be answered quickly and without much trouble. Sometimes situations are posted by folks who have few or poor local resources. Sometimes someone asks fairly complicated questions that lead to encouragement to solicit the help of a pro.

And sometimes a poster will present dilemmas that can be solved pretty easily if they are asked appropriate questions and provide usable answers. This dilemma is pretty simple to a pro, but responses here have been general in nature, offering suggestions that can improve the situation, but not optimize the solution.

You may not be willing to help here, but I am. Because in so doing, maybe I can promote the value in contacting a pro instead of relying on very generic or personal responses that have little value to the OP. Or show there is more to consider in finding the optimal solution Brooke is seeking. And maybe in so doing, I may be contacted by another Houzzer that is seeking a pro and sees that I have a clue.

Yes there is a lot of DIY here, but this community is better served than those who depend on the bulk of bad programming provided on TV. There is a difference between asking what color paint your friend likes, or experience with an appliance someone has had, and developing a logical solution based on a variety of factors, weighing various pros and cons. At least here, people can get guidance on when they may be in over their head and who to turn to for a solution. There are going to be good and bad DIY results. Here there is opportunity to find better results.

I would rather spend my time educating and assisting and in turn promoting myself than waste time driving and designing for someone who is intentionally stealing from me. I believe pointing this out serves all of the Houzz community in the long run. I also believe the community is better served than by just paying to advertise in Houzz.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!