How to make a wardrobe closet from scratch
If your home has limited closet space, or even worse, NO closet, then a DIY Wardrobe closet may be the perfect option for you! A DIY solution is substantially less inexpensive and allows for complete customization of size, look and storage options. It’s also much easier to build than you might think!
It’s week three of the One Room Challenge (aka the ORC), hosted by Calling it Home – A six-week event that challenges those of us with a love of design to transform a room in just six weeks. It’s a blissfully crazy time but one of my favorite things to do!
Wanna catch up on the progress? It’s all right here!
Wanna see all the projects? It’s all right here!
week1 |week2 | week3| week4| week5| week6 |
In week one I shared the plan to transform our daughter’s room into a Glam Bohemian dream, with a slight edge, full of gray and silver tones mixed with soft pastels. You can check out the whole design plan and the rest of the nasty before pictures HERE.
Last week I shared with you the new teeny unuseable closet turned closet bed nook. The bed nook gives us so much more usable space, but we had to lose the closet to gain that space! A teen girl without a closet is a bit like a world without air. But a teen girl with this crazy – that’s just as bad!
Coming up with a plan was a bit challenging. I knew all along that I was going to want to add a standalone wardrobe closet, but I didn’t know what that was going to look like.
How to make a wardrobe closet from scratch
Getting Started

Building Plans
Using Common Wood
Using common wood helped to keep the costs down to reasonable – was able to build the entire unit for around $150, minus the doors – but meant a little more sanding and prep work. I often use common boards for parts of a piece that isn’t visible, such as the inside of a closet, and splurge on trim work. If you’re using common boards, do your best to check each board for straightness and fill any knotholes with wood filler. I started off giving all of the wood a good sanding, then built the framework for all three columns.
The Drawer Column
Before securing any of the columns to the wall, I completed the drawer column so I could move the center if needed. I’d decided on a depth of 18″ for my closet and as luck would have it, found wooden crates at Home Depot with the perfect dimension to accommodate that depth – score!
At $11 a piece and ball-bearing drawer slides, using the containers was time-saving, economical and functional. I built the supports from the bottom up, adding cross supports at the location of each drawer.
The closet columns
The plans from Easyclosets.com helped to determine the placements for the closet rods in both of the more prominent units.
In the closet section with the single rod, I added four half-shelves for shoes, allowing for better viewing of the shoes when stacked.
Finishing up

Left to Do
TODO:
Create space for a larger bedInclude additional closet space- Provide well-lit make-up vanity
- Homework desk
- Add Sitting/hangout area
Still, I’m happy to say that the wardrobe closet is mostly done!
Eeek! There are still more than a few things to get done, and we’re halfway through the challenge! I better get my butt moving! Be sure to pop in next week for hopefully the latest updates on this room. If you are looking for me, you know where I’ll be! In the meantime, be sure to check out the other guest participants in the One Room Challenge and prepared to be wowed! There is much inspiration going on over there!
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Wow Kim! That is one impressive closet. It’s beautifully made and love the soft color, too! So excited to see your progress this week! Half-way to the finish line. XO ~~ Susie from The Chelsea Project
Stop it! This is just amazing Kim. You keep impressing us week after week. This is a perfect storage solution and it is beautifully made in a gorgeous color! Great job!
WHOA!! That’s awesome! You’re so talented!!! I never would have thought from the original pics that it could look so amazing!
You’re rocking it on this challenge, Kim! Loving all these projects you’ve done already. Can’t wait to see this room all done!
GIRL!!! This is AWESOME!!! You killed it, of course!! Great job 🙂
Excellent closet solution! It looks like way more closet space too! Good decision!
That’s one impressive closet! So much storage!
Great job on that closet!! You would never know that it wasn’t there to begin with. I can’t wait to see your progress next week!!
This is a really great DIY project! Love seeing the progress!
What a fabulous build!! Looks great and ALL.THAT.STORAGE!!!! Yay!