ooh! good post. I am actually moving into a brand new loft today! and looking for a decent system. Out of box, or hire someone to build I'm ok with.. anyone have any suggestions?

I spent a FORTUNE on customized closets! My husband almost had a heart attack. I think it was worth it. I'm not as organized as I'd like to be but I think that's really more about me and not the closets.

I had California Closets, and a few others quote to turn my den into a wardrobe/dressing room, room is about 8x10, they wanted $10k, I did it from Ikea for about $2.5k and a weekend of time.  Turnout is amazing.  Couldn't be happier.

My take.......by using a little ingenuity, 'out of the box' kits  combined with a few custom made elements can be just as functional and aesthetically rewarding.  In other words, one does not necessarily  have to put out a great deal of money to achieve their personal needs.    

There are area's of our home that has IKEA but for items that we don't need to last forever as IKEA's not really made for that.  We have California Closet in our closets for the quality, customization and for when we sell, I think it will be great to be able to advertise that in the listing.  Our mudroom will be next!

My husband and i re-did our master bedroom and got rid of the small closet we had and the closet in the next bedrrom and made an open wall. then we installed 12 feet of the Ikea Pax closets with lots of drawers, hanging space, andupper shelves. we selected the 84" model which goes to the ceiling. we even have the laundry hamper in there! it looks great and keeps the clothes organized.

We are fortunate enough to have a 14 foot wide walk in closet with double doors.  (the builder gave us an option of having 2 separate or one long)  I am so glad we chose to combine them.  (made for better wall space in the bedroom anyway for furniture placing).  Hubby built 2 floor to ceiling shelves for each of us. And from there he made 2 sets of "double hanging" areas for shirts, extra shelves up top and we have some regular hanging rods for longer items.  About 1/3 of the space is his and the rest is mine or storage for other stuff.  I am so pleased with the results.  When we open up both doors, it looks so neat and tidy.  I don't think one of those kits would have done as nice a job.  And we saved a tremendous amount of money doing it ourselves.  We've done the same for the kids rooms and even the front closet has a floor to ceiling narrow cubby system for the kids winter stuff and soccer shoes.

My daughter has had fun with her walk-in closet set-up and it actually looks like a little play room!