Squeezing a closet in a small space

Question for everyone… We are looking to add a closet to a closet-less bedroom. The onlY wall it really works on has a window on the adjacent wall 25″ from the wall we want to put the closet on (25″ from the window frame, the window pane is approx 30″ away). Three questions, if the closet wall comes right up to the window frame will this look weird? Two, 25″ makes a 19″ closet space if you take into account closet frame and dry wall, is this too small for regular use closet? And three, anyone heard of making a frame wall smaller, maybe 3″ or smaller? Any ideas/suggestions are greatly appreciated! Kyle

anonymous

in Construction 13 years and 8 months ago

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anonymous | 13 years and 8 months ago

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Thank you for the great advice everyone (even wyckoff), I am leaning more towards some sort of built-in design now… I’ll try to post the room layout when I get a chance, floorplanner.com is a great site by the way.  The room is 15’X15′, there is a covered chimney stack (32wX12d) in the middle of the wall where I was considering putting the 2 closets on either side and shelves in the middle.  The space toward the inside of the house would have no restriction, it is the space to the left of the bump which creates the issue listed above.  I hope this describes the issue more clearly.

slopemope | 13 years and 8 months ago

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sometimes it can look okay, if you leave an inch between closet wall and window frame.  frame the opening of the closet with matching molding like what is around the window.  i wouldn’t hesitate to use 2×2’s or something more creatively thinner  as long as it is solid like a built-in.   Just to be clear about the room and scale, and to make sure we are following your description, a quick and dirty sketch (free on floorplanner.com) would make sure we are all on the same page.

wyckoff | 13 years and 8 months ago

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DUDE – THAT IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE SH!T!!!!  Buy yourself a nice armoire that can handle the amount of storage you need, have one built to spec, or take that whole wall and do custom built-ins to solve your storage problem.

elbow | 13 years and 8 months ago

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One of our closets is only 21.5″ deep.  It doesn’t work well for men’s clothes or for some dresses.  I really think you need the full 24″ As mentioned above, in your case I’d recommend a millwork rather than a stud and drywall solution. I did that in a Windsor Terrace house that had two small rear bedrooms.  To enter the second room one had to walk through the first.  We ended up doing a closet/drawer door piece perpendicular to the door to the second room.  Part of the new cabinet was accessed from the hall, the rest from within the new room.  It was built more or less like a kitchen cabinet, so the front and back were not thick. Finished out it ended up looking like it had always been there.

Arkady | 13 years and 8 months ago

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A hanger is 18″ & clothes won’t add much so long as you’re not doing coats.

daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 8 months ago

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A 24″ interior is more than enough for anything except the bulkiest of winter coats.  So 21-23″ should work. Have a look at your current closet and measure what’s being hung now.

stevecym | 13 years and 8 months ago

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we have done this by building closets out of birch plywood and trimming it out with solid wood like a built in piece of furniture.  Some times people want these because they want the look of a wood built in to compliment something else in the room and sometimes because they want thin walls due to space limitations.  In one case, where the space above was going to be used to store some heavy items, we used steel channel in side the front of the unit for support. Steve http://brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/tinkerswagon

Rick | 13 years and 8 months ago

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You can make the closet with thin metal stud & track, half inch sheetrock, making the wall about 2 inches thick. “Will the closet look strange next to the window trim?” I have seen this done, it can look okay however it will look rather forced. Another option would be to have a custom wardrobe made. It will look more like furniture and you could easily move it.