Are you building a new house and trying to figure out how much storage space you really need? I think we can all agree that you can never have enough storage space. But when it actually comes time to finalize the square footage, you might find yourself leaning more towards enlarging the living spaces, and shrinking all the non-living space such as closets and hallways.

Well, to help you with some of the decisions that you will be faced with when trying to figure out exactly how many and how large your storage areas should be, I’ve come up with a few key points to keep in mind. Making sure that your closets are functional, and not over or undersized, will end up creating an easy to live in space with a good tradeoff between living and non-living storage space.

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.

When you are designing your storage spaces, lighting is often the last thing people consider. Just remember, if you can’t see where you are putting your things, or you aren’t able to see things when you are looking for them, then it almost negates the value of that extra storage space. Make sure that shelving or stored objects don’t block light from getting to other shelves, and keep in mind where you will be when you are looking for things, and you yourself don’t block the light.

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.