Built in Wardrobe

[deborah]

I have a built in wardrobe in my bedroom. This is pretty standard in Australia. It has three sliding doors to cover it, and it has hanging space and drawers and shelves. These look like what I'm talking about (the second is much more upmarket than mine) - ,

And I hate it. Always have - we've had the place for 15 years, and for 15 years it has bugged me.
The drawers are located so that the doors have to be open exactly right to open the drawer.
The entire setup inside the wardrobe is wrong - there is too much hanging space and the shelves are the wrong size to be useful.
It's not really deep enough (by a couple of inches) so that hanging clothes get stuck in the door gaps, so the drawers can't be opened.
I do like the fact that the doors are mirrored, so they increase the size of the room.

Recently I have inherited a bed, so in a fit of spendy-pants-ness, I am going to remake my bedroom. The carpet was old when we bought the place, so the carpet will be replaced. The room was the wrong colour, so the room will be repainted. The inherited bed is being restored to its former glory, so I have a few months to do the renovations. Most of the furniture in the bedroom will go. And I have to do something about the wardrobe.

So what could I do? It takes up a whole wall, so I could get rid of it (which would mean replastering the ceiling and moving the cornice, but that needs to be done anyway to get rid of the obsolete central heating vent), and have a bigger room, and get a stand alone wardrobe.

I'm not sure what other options I have.

What are your ideas?

[pbkmaine]

I have had closets like this and dislike them very much. What I usually do is take the doors down and cover the opening with an extra set of the same curtains I am using at the windows.


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[MsPeacock]

I have closets a lot like this (in the USA) with stupid sliding doors and all sorts of not suitable shelves. I ended up taking the doors off and using curtains across the opening! No more problems w/ stupid doors! In both closets I tore out all the old crappy shelves and out a dresser in one closet and a variety of Closet Maid shelves (basically DIY coated wire shelves) arranged the way I like it. So much better!

If I was a little more handy I would have opened the closets to the ceiling since there is lost space for storage between the door opening and the ceiling.

I see nothing wrong with a stand alone wardrobe if you can find one that suits your needs. I believe Ikea makes many that can be configured however you like.

[deborah]

Thanks pbkmaine and MsPeacock! In some ways I like the ideas for curtains. I have made all the curtains in the house, and they are gorgeous - mostly pieced (as in quilts) bargello curtains.

However, the inherited bed is a half tester, so it will have curtains, and the window is a big one with one of my best curtains, so I feel that another wall of curtains may be too much of a good thing!

[pbkmaine]

What about bi-fold doors, then?

http://www.lowes.com/pd/Masonite-Hollow-Core-6-Panel-Bi-Fold-Closet-Interior-Door-Common-32-in-x-80-in-Actual-31-5-in-x-79-in/1000055869?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-Millwork-_-InteriorDoors-_-1000055869:Masonite&CAWELAID=&kpid=1000055869&CAGPSPN=pla&store_code=1685&k_clickID=ed934909-2380-43da-be1f-211c3b0ca53a


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