My mom always told me not to use the word cheap, it just sounds, well, cheap! So I will revise my post title to:
“How to Build a Master Closet on a Budget”
Now I know the term “budget” varies from person to person, however, the ClosetMaid systems were the most inexpensive closets I came across and still had the look of an expensive closet! For example, my closet below cost about $1,500.00, which was really cheap to us because we were prepared to spend between $3,000.00 to $4,000.00. This closet system allows you to build a closet within your budget!
January 1, 2020 I woke up and exclaimed to my husband, this is the year we are going buy and install a closet system for our master bedroom. I’ve never had walk in closet let alone a beautiful closet system to showcase all my shoes and clothes.
As the saying goes, when you try and plan, the universe laughs! After nearly two years of our infertility journey, we became pregnant with twins. There goes my master closet, right? WRONG! I initially had a budget of $3,000.00, which is pretty low if you compare the many custom closet companies out there. However, once I started researching closet systems on a budget I realized how simple and inexpensive they could be. I mean most closet systems are pretty much the same set up with different features and finishes.
You can see before and after pictures of our master closet below. How amazingly beautiful and organized is my closet?!? OMG I can’t EVEN! Now all I have to do is get my husband to put his dirty laundry in the clothes hamper!
Before I begin, let me just say to all the single gals out there, you CAN do this YOURSELF. I built the main systems and drawers myself, though I had my husband anchor everything to the wall, he’s better at measuring & math, though if I was pressed, I could have definitely handle this entire closet on my own. So, don’t be afraid .. I’ll walk you through everything!
This tutorial is for the ClosetMaid Style+ closet systems, however if you choose another closet style this tutorial will also aid you in your installation process!
Let’s Get Started!
First thing you’ll need to do is measure:
The main system of my closet is built on three (3) of the Floor Mount 6-Shelf Wood Closet Kit with Hang Rods pictured to the right. Obviously before you go and buy three of these systems, you’ll need to measure your closet. My husband always says:
“measure twice cut once!”
I’ve violated this rule on a number of occasions and have regretted it every time.
The specs of the closet system above are below and may be too big or too small for your closet — SO MEASURE!
Dimensions: 14.7 in. Diameter x 121.12 in. Width x 82.46 in. Height
Color: Bleached Walnut
Style: Floor Mount 6-Shelf Wood Closet Kit with Hang Rods
There are four main ClosetMaid styles as indicated below (in order by price). Each system comes with its own style, colors and dimensions. You CAN’T mix & match! So be sure to do your research and figure out your style!
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- ClosetMaid ShelfTrack
- ClosetMaid Selectives
- ClosetMaid Style+
- ClosetMaid Impressions
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The pictures below depict “Floor Mount 6-Shelf Closet System Kit With Hang Rods.” These come in many different material and colors. Click on the pictures to shop and compare.
ClosetMaid ShelfTrack
This is the most inexpensive closet system and good for apartments. We had this system prior to our new closet system.
ClosetMaid Selectives
I put this simple closet system up in our nursery because it was inexpensive, about $60.00. We didn’t need anything fancy!
ClosetMaid Style+
This middle priced system, in Bleach Walnut, is what we chose for our master closet.
ClosetMaid Impressions
You can see this system is a bit more fancier and well made. We almost opted for this system, however it wasn’t in stores and didn’t have the color we wanted!
We bought our closet system at Home Depot. You can compare and shop these styles here:
To further complicate things, each one of these systems come with their own style of accessories. For example with the Style+ system you can choose between three style drawers:
Style+ 10 in. H x 25 in. W Bleached Walnut Wood Traditional Drawer Kit for 25 in. Tower Frame
This style also comes in colors: Chocolate, Modern Walnut & Teak!
Style+ 10 in. H x 25 in. W Bleached Walnut Melamine Modern Drawer Kit for 25 in. Tower Frame
This style also comes in colors: Chocolate, Modern Walnut & Coast Teak, Noir & White!
Style+ 9.96 in. H x 24.8 in. W Bleached Walnut Melamine Shaker Drawer Kit for 25 in. Tower Frame.
This is the style we chose! This style also comes in colors: Chocolate, Modern Walnut & Teak & White.
So, be sure to do your research and figure out your style BEFORE YOU START BUYING!
TIME TO BUY!
Once you’ve decided on the color, style and dimensions of the closet system you want, you will need to determine how many Floor Mount 6-Shelf Wood Closet Kit with Hang Rods you’ll need. As you can see I had three walls in my closet and one of these kits fit perfectly on each wall. The only thing I changed up was where the hanging rod went.
**You can determine where you want you accessories (ie drawers, cabinets, doors & shoe organizer) at a later point.
Wall 1 
Wall 2 
Wall 3
You can see all three are the exact same Floor Mount 6-Shelf Wood Closet Kits with Hang Rods just positioned differently! This may not be so easy for you, so you’ll definitely want to plan out your closet system before you go and buy all your material.
Again, we bought our system at home depot you can compare systems here:
Now that you have your Floor Mount Closet Kits, it’s time to assemble them. The tools below will make it much easier to put everything together:
Now, just follow instructions!
Mounting Time… Errrr!
If you assembled your wall mount kits correctly they should look like this. Please forgive how terrible my pictures are, I wasn’t planning on doing this tutorial at the time.
You can see, there are three (3) permanent shelves. You will add the remaining removable shelves at the end to make six (6) selves, however, these three shelves cannot be moved once installed.
Note, the kit on the right of this picture has the third shelf in a different place to allow me to have a small vanity. Note, I diverged from the directions!
Once you get your Closet Kits assembled, you’ll want to position them to where you want to mount them to the wall. Make sure you measure and decide exactly where your rods will go.
Once you mount these, they aren’t coming down!
You don’t want to mount everything and find out your rods don’t reach the wall.
Time to read the directions again — this is where you’ll need your drill! Isn’t it fun using power tools?!?!
We mounted each unit in six different places. Also, we had about a one (1) inch gap from the wall because we had floor boards on the base of our walls. I believe this unit allows for at most a 2 inch gap!
Good luck!
~RODS~
Time to mount the rods. Seems pretty easy, but if you don’t get them straight then everything’s off!
So, make sure you measure!
The only input I can give is that when I first hung the rods (as described by the directions), the clothes hung really far away from the wall. This gave us less space in the middle of the room.
So, I repositioned them inward a bit more. I hope this make sense. The picture shows were I first hung the rod and then where I decided to change it too.
Word to the wise, if you decide to do this, it will mess up the installation of your top shelving (if you opted for top shelving!). We had to cut / shorten the top shelving brackets as you can see from the picture above.
♥PICK & INSTALL♥
YOUR ACCESSORIES
Below are the accessories that I came across while researching our closet. These are all for the Style+ line in Bleached Walnut, however they do come in most other ClosetMaid lines as well. Click on the pictures to shop!:
Style+ 48 in. W Bleached Walnut Top Shelf Kit
This allows you to put storage on the top of your closet.
Style+ Bleached Walnut Shoe Shelf Kit for 25 in. W Style+ Tower (2-Pack)
We bought these, however if you have heels the front of the shoe slips under the wire – doesn’t look great. We cut the wire to fix that issue.
Style+ 5 in. x 25 in. Bleached Walnut Shaker Drawer Kit for 25 in. W Style+ Tower
There are different style, colors and sizes of drawers – see above!
Style+ 25 in. W Shaker Bleached Walnut Closet Door Kit
I opted not to have the doors – reminder me too much of a pantry!
Well there you have it! I hope this tutorial helped. I can’t stress enough to do your research as there are so many more ClosetMaid systems, styles and colors that I did not touch upon. If you used this tutorial, please let me know if I can improve anything and be sure to send me pictures of your closet! ♥
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