Closet storage is a premium for most of us, but a lucky few will at one time or another be in a position to actually decide how big their closets will be. Unfortunately you may now be faced with the agonizing decision between designing many large storage areas for storing all sorts of items, or skimping on closets and mazimizing your living space.

Before you make your decision about the final square footage that you require or are prepared to allocate to your closets, you might want to think about some of the factors that go into designing the perfect closet. This will mean deciding what the closet will be for, and also figuring out what an appropriate size for those storage spaces actually is.

Before the current trend towards closet makeovers, creating extra storage space where there was none before and oversized walk-in ensuite closets, our storage options were often limited to just the essential ‘tiny square closet with a clothes rod and a hat shelf’. Now with renovation projects creating new and imaginative storages spaces, and new construction allocating space for large walk-in closets, you need to give more thought as to what makes a good closet design, since it’s harder to make a larger storage space effective without proper plannning.

So the first big question when designing each of your storage areas is whether it should be a walk-in or not. The biggest factor for most people will be the space (and therefore cost) that a walk-in closet requires. If that’s not a concern for you, then the second question should be “do I really need a walk-in closet”? Remember, if you have too much storage space, it will typically be used, and the danger of clutter is just as much a concern as if you have too little room to store your items.

If you determine that bigger isn’t better in your case, then make sure you put as much effort into properly designing the available space for your smaller reach-in closet areas. Having a well fitted and organized closet shelving system will help you maximize the amount of stuff that you will be able to comfortably store and access. Remember to think about the opening, and whether all areas of your closet can easily be accessed – otherwise you will end up with wasted space.

Regardless of closet size, being able to find your items is important – therefore a good lighting plan is one of the biggest considerations when designing your storage space. Choose lighting that will provide ample light to all spaces you will be storing and looking for items, and keep in mind where you will be when you are in the closet. You may need to have one main lighting source, and several spot sources for hard to see nooks and crannies.

Ultimately you need to design the closet organizer system itself. There are a ton of options these days with respect to closet shelving systems, and you have endless options for components which fit together and function as a whole to create a perfect storage system for your items. You need to consider the items you have to store, and choose a system that lets you access each item without disturbing the other things you have in your closet.

The best closet design makes the most efficient use of available space for the items you wish to store, but also allows you to easily find and remove items, as well as put them back, without requiring you to do a mini re-organization every time you open the closet door.