It’s finally here! A long-awaited project we have been so excited to tackle is complete. You may remember I shared the renderings of our custom walk-in closet a few weeks ago. Now, it’s installed and ready for our professional organizers to come in and work their magic! But before we dive into that, I want to talk about the installation process and why we designed this to be a specific way. We’re about two weeks into having our clothes in this new walk-in closet and it’s still neat. It’s functioning and we are really loving it!

Right when you walk in, you see this big LED-lit display. Our custom walk-in closet has hanging and drawer space designed for our wardrobe and our needs. The bulk of our folded items are in these six drawers. They are about 30″ wide fit everything from all of our undergarments, pajamas, activewear, t-shirts and more.

At the very top, I had the closet designer create these three big storage cabinets so we could tuck away our Hefty storage bins. Those usually hold things we don’t wear too often and right now, things I love, but currently don’t fit in because I’m pregnant.

This is also the only portion we chose to light in our closet. I had an electrician wire it so the LED lights turn on when the door to the closet opens. It’s been a game-changer! We still have access to the switch to manually turn on the overhead chandelier, too.

Welcome to my side of our custom walk-in closet! I have space for hanging tops, pants, dresses and more. The narrow shelving is to house all of my knitwear since I have quite a collection. The shelving with the drawers is for all of my shoes. Each shelf was measured to fit my shoes, but it’s also adjustable if needed. The drawer space underneath will house accessories such as tights, belts, socks and more.

Speaking of drawers, I ordered these brass knurled drawer pulls and love them. The texture is something I really wanted and felt comfortable incorporating in a closet because I know it won’t get dirty.

Johnny’s side has much more hanging space since that’s what he needed. He’s going to be able to hang everything from dress shirts, casual shirts, pants, elevated t-shirts and even his gi for Brazilian Ju Jitsu! The two drawers on the far left from the middle section are his so it’s nice and convenient.

The Installation

We were so eager for our cabinet, waiting for them to manufacture everything felt like forever. In reality, it was more of a two-month wait. Once everything was made, the installer called me to schedule a time and the install took a total of two full workdays. We had to deal with inclement weather, but the team was great at making sure everything got in as quickly as possible.

We did have one little hiccup: someone at the warehouse drilled the holes for our hardware incorrectly. New drawer fronts have been ordered and when those come in, the installers will come back out to swap those for us!

The Cost

As I’ve shared in my weekly newsletter, custom closets, especially custom walk-in closets, can be expensive. We shopped around a few places before choosing a vendor. The first quote we got was about $30,000 and our mouths were on the floor. Sticker shock was real to say the least. For us, spending that amount in a closet wasn’t outrageous, but spending it on a closet our size in our current home absolutely was. The quote just didn’t meet the scope.

We got another quote in the $20,000 range and while it was better, it still seemed high for our closet size: 6.5 feet wide by 12 feet long. Thanks to a friend, we got another quote and that’s the vendor we went with! For the closet itself, our quote was $14,000. I paid about $1,000 for the demo of the original closet and drywall repair so the walls would be in good condition. Then, I hired an electrician for $375 to set up the wiring for our closet lighting and swap out the chandelier at the top.

There’s also the cost of cabinet hardware, too, but what I liked about the vendor we went with, Inspired Closets DFW, they let me choose my hardware. All the other vendors wanted me to pick from their options.