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Planning and Installing a Closet System

*This post is sponsored by EasyClosets…and by that I mean that I received the closet system for free in exchange for blog posts about the closet and my experience. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.*

When we bought our last house, the master closet had a single rod and shelf around the whole thing. From day one we planned to rip out that rod and build an actual closet system that utilized the space and gave us the storage we needed. A couple of months ago we sold our house after owning and working on it for eight years, and guess what the closet had in it? Yup, that exact same rod and shelf…because that’s the way life works.

closet after purge
(One of my many “after” pictures, because I could never keep that thing organized.)

Enter the new house. We designed it, built it, and moved in while it was still very unfinished. We’ve been in it about two months and while the house is amazing (or at least will be) the fact that there is no storage in our closets or cabinets or anyplace to put anything is starting to drive me crazy. With baby number four due tomorrow I may be freaking out a little, because the house is a hot mess and there isn’t much I can do about it.

master bathroom

(master bathroom/master closet floor plan in the new house.)

Enter evil nesting wife and (almost) mother of four…

Me: “Adam, I need a closet. I need a place to put things before this baby gets here. Everything is a disaster and it’s stressing me the heck out.”

Sweet helpful husband: “I can build a closet,  just design what you want.”

Super pregnant wife: “Noooo no no no, that will take forever…I want something NOW.”

Slightly scared but supportive husband: “Okaaaaay… I can put a rod up in it tomorrow.”

Impossible to please wife: “Heck no…if we put a rod in it will never leave. We can’t do that either.”

Enter EasyClosets. EASY Closets…man that name appealed to me. It’s a custom closet system that you design online and it’s shipped to you ready to assemble. It’s not just a rod and it’s not something that will take months to build… it sounded like heaven. So I went online and designed a closet.

walk in master closet design from Easy Closets

The design process was simple, even fun,  and I created a closet that 100% fit our needs. We don’t plan on having our stuff anywhere else (no dressers in the bedroom or whatnot), so this closet had to fit everything. After I finished I had one of their designers look it over (which was super helpful), and I made a few changes based on her suggestions and then put that sucker on order.

A week or so later I had a closet system sitting in my bedroom. (Future bedroom…we were still sleeping in the kid’s bedroom until last week. We hoped to finish the ceiling in our bedroom before moving furniture in, but that didn’t happen.)

labeled boxes from easy closets

It was a ton of boxes (28, as pointed out by my friendly neighborhood UPS man) and each one was labeled with a very specific list of the contents. There were even two boxes that said “OPEN FIRST” and contained the instructions and important pieces so we could start without digging through each box.

img_5854edit
(Before opening anything we had to provide adequate climbing time for our 18 month old climber…dressed in the finest of baby garb, of course.)

So how easy is it to install an EasyCloset? Well, pretty easy. The system goes on a rail and once you have that in place it’s smooth sailing.

assembling an easy closet

That being said, it’s an easy closet…not a magic closet. Even though putting it together is simple, it’s still work and takes time. For example, the drawers came assembled…but the knobs, drawer fronts, and drawer slides had to be installed separately.

easy closet drawers

soft close drawer slides in closet

It took us about three days of working on it in bits and pieces to get the closet put together. Although, it would have been quicker if it wasn’t for my big, stupid mistake.

So when you design the closet online the first step is to enter the measurements of your space. So I measured our closet (multiple times!), plugged them into the computer, and got to designing. Come to find out, I measured wrong.  I put in that the back wall was 127 inches when it was really it’s only 126 and change. I don’t know if maybe the wall is slightly crooked, or if I have a faulty tape measure, or if I’m just terrible at measuring (it’s the last one), but the closet system was too long and didn’t fit.

So instead of everything clipping together in a few short minutes, I stuck Adam with re-measuring everything, cutting down shelves and rods, and jury-rigging it in a few places. I’m sure EasyClosets would have been happy to help in this situation (we didn’t ask), but neither one of us wanted to wait…so we made it work.

Moral of the story is make sure you don’t have a faulty tape measure when you are figuring out the exact dimensions of your space. Faulty tape measures are everywhere y’all, and you don’t want to end up as one of their unsuspecting victims.

ANYWAY, you want to see it all put together? Do you want to see the first finished space in the whole house?!

Behold.

custom closet

master closet from easy closets

master closet organization

I can’t even tell you how excited my super pregnant, nesting self is about having a finished space in this house. I can’t wait to get all our clothes out of the garbage bags and piles they have been in for months and organized into a real closet. As soon as that is finished (hopefully before the baby comes) I’ll give you a tour and show you some of the cool details (like a jewelry tray and hidden hamper!).

I’ll leave you with a real life shot of the master bathroom, which you have to walk through to get to the closet. Baby step y’all, baby steps.

master bathroom progress

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25 Comments

  1. I literally can not use a tape measure either… my husband does all kinds of fancy bendy things to make it fit perfectly in the space but I’m way more on the “estimate is good enough” side of life… I love the closet! I can’t wait to see it live and in action!

    1. Haha, Adam does the same thing, bends and measures everything six different ways. I’m more like “ehhh…it’s 16 and 5 tick marks” and he’s like “good grief woman, give me that thing..”

        1. I do that too! I do know the 1/4, 1/2, & 3/4 marks but then everything else is just “2 lines past to 1/4” or “3 lines past the half” or “1 line before the half”. My hubby and my mother in law have told me a million times what all the lines are, “1/8” or “1/16” but I don’t get it. I never remember. Plus why should I remember when my hubby can do it all so much faster and more accurate anyway? :P

  2. I’ve used Easy Closets and was able to install the system by myself….except for getting 3 of the screws into studs. Had to get help for that! I love how it looks and how easy it was to install.

      1. Full price was about $3K, when I ordered there was a sale going on that took it down to about $2,400. It’s a big closet and I ordered a lot of accessories and upgrades, it is certainly possible to get it for much cheaper (or more expensive, if you want to go that route!).

  3. You look beautiful and are sooooo blessed to have such a sweet husband that can build anything!! I can’t wait for your next posts!! thanks so much for sharing…it will be absolutely beautiful when it’s all done!! You are super blessed!!!

  4. Whoa! What a beautiful closet! You have the best husband ever, who can (and will) build anything at the drop of a hat! I love that closet and thought it was so convenient that they not only numbered the boxes but also told you what to open first so everything went smoothly. Can you post more pictures when you have it full? Your baby looks so cute climbing in the boxes and love the little tshirt. So comfy! Hope you have enough time to get your closet done before baby arrives! Enjoy these last days!

    1. I do have a pretty amazing husband, no denying that. I will have another post showing the final organized closet, don’t worry! EasyClosets also asked me to do a video tour/review, so you will get to see plenty of closet action (and also, me being awkward on camera).

      1. Looking forward to the video. You always sound and look different than you think you do. That’s just you though, we will think you’re delightful!

  5. Tomorrow!! Wow, how exciting! Good luck with everything.
    The closet looks amazing! It will be SO GREAT to have everything put away yet accessible. BTW, I have the same problem with measuring. Why is it so hard??

  6. Hey Ashley! What paint color did you use for your bathroom? I am loving all of these fantastic ideas! We are building a home in rural Houston and my In-Laws are remodeling a 1900’s farm house, so you are giving us all the inspiration!

  7. Love that closet! Lucky you! My husband used to build everything too, but as we get older we are gearing down and mostly “plan” ;P Waiting on that baby!!

  8. I’m home so I can empty him and remove anything that gets stuck. We’re still getting settled, so he eats random dinosaurs and rocks every now and again and needs assistance. He works great. I just vacuum the area rugs once a week if that and everything always looks fairly clean. Totally worth the money!garage

  9. I love the picture – congrats! ???? I stumbled onto your blog today and am looking forward to reading more!For more Visit here to get any type of information. For more visit Visit here

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