HOW TO PLAN A WALK-IN CLOSET
1. START WITH A DECLUTTER
It may seem obvious, but the first thing to do when planning a walk-in closet is to declutter. 'Without having sorted out your clothes, got rid of ones you don't need and taken stock of what's left, you don't know what you're building a closet for,' Vicky says of a process that needs to come before you get to your walk-in closet ideas. 'Often we'll find ourselves having to squash clothes into a space which hasn't been designed with the owner's possessions, which defeats the point of having a lovely space.'
2. WORK OUT THE HANGING SPACE YOU NEED
Once you have done a declutter, you're better placed to build a closet which perfectly suits your needs - it's good to have done this if you're working with small closet ideas as you can truly use every inch of space. 'Count up the clothes you have left, and check the lengths that they tend to be,' Vicky says.
3. CATEGORISE YOUR CLOTHES
In order to avoid just throwing your clothes anywhere - and so as to be able to find them easily - sort your clothes into categories in which to store them in the walk-in closet. 'I love categories,' Vicky says. 'But there are only a few you need to stick to. Firstly it's the obvious one, put blouses with blouses, trousers with trousers, jumpers with jumpers, and so on. And then within that, categorize twice more - once for color, once for length - short sleeves or long. It's that simple.' Vicky goes on to say that some people like a final category for work clothes 'so that they can ignore them on the weekend.' Which seems like a nice approach to add to dressing room ideas, too.
4. FOCUS ON SHOES
Shoes need to be a focus of your closet design, not an afterthought. 'People often think they can just shove them at the bottom on the floor, but there is never enough room for that,' Vicky says. She suggests adjustable shelves instead, of differing heights. 'Some for trainers, some for boots, depending on what sort of shoes you have.'
5. DECIDE WHETHER TO HANG OR FOLD
Just like how deep a closet should be, this is open to interpretation. 'There is no hard and fast rule as to whether you should hang or fold items like sweaters,' Vicky says. 'You've got to do what's right for you. The only thing to remember is not to put drawers or shelves too high - if you've folded your sweaters and put them in a spot you can't reach it'll just be irritating.'
6. MAKE AN ISLAND FOR BELTS AND ACCESSORIES
In a super luxe walk-in closet, you'll want an island in the middle for extra storage. 'I would suggest that this is full of drawers,' Vicky says. 'Keep them really simple, ideally with bespoke dividers made especially for you, but if not, with ones you can chop and change as your habits evolve. Amazon do really good drawer dividers which you can fit in as you need - they have a spring to hold them tight in place.'
7. CHOOSE THE RIGHT HANGERS
There is no point going to all the effort of building a walk-in closet of dreams only to fall at the last hurdle with a mishmash of hangers. 'Be sensible with hangers,' Vicky says. 'Uniform hangers will be so much more pleasing and make your clothes feel so much more desirable to wear.'
8. FINISH THE SPACE WITH A BLACK OUT BLIND
If you're lucky enough to have natural light in your walk-in closet then you'll want to cover the windows for the time you're not in there picking out clothes. 'You'll need a blackout blind last of all,' Vicky says. 'To make sure your garments don't get sun bleached.'