Michael Holigan: Well does your closet look like this? My closet doesn't either. Well we've got an expert on fixing closets with us. We have Barry Roberts shoving some stuff back there. How it's good to have you here back.
Barry Roberts: Hi Michael, nice to see you.
M.H.: This closet looks great and I know it didn't begin like this. It really looked packed. Can you tell me a little bit about it?
B.R.: Sure. Initially the closet was pretty standard as new homes go today. It had two hanging pulls on one wall. It had a single hanging pull on another wall and through here basically what we had was just a tower unit, with about five shelves in it. And, unfortunately for people today, it's not very adequate. It doesn't really meet their needs in the closet.
M.H.: Well, it looks like a great system. How long did it take to measure and then construct the system itself?
B.R.: Well our designer, Todd, came in and measured everything. It probably took him about an hour to measure it and conceptualize the closet for them and then maybe another hour or so to lay out the design, detail it for them. And in this case we come in and we scribe everything and get the caulking broken out so it doesn't tear the paper off of the walls for the drywall and stuff. And we just tear all of that out. Then when we come back, in this case it's a two day process because the tear out and the paint's going to happen one day. And then we come back the next day, which was today, and we came back about 10:00 in the morning and the closet was finished about 2:00.
M.H.: Well the system looks very solid, but the system is not resting on the floor. I see that every piece is actually hanging up in the air. How did you do that?
B.R.: Yeah, well the technology is a lot different than it used to be. I mean, basically and what was in here before stood on the floor and was erected from the floor up. We do it just the opposite and come from the top down. The technology that we use is a European cabinet system just like hanging a kitchen cabinet.
M.H.: And how much more will it hold now than it would before?
B.R.: Well, you're probably going to get 100% more things in this closet. The hanging improvement is probably 50%. The shelving, there's at least 1000% more shelves in this closet now than it was before. We do a lot of drawer units in closets now because people are really trying to get more into the closet. What's happening is that because the bathrooms and the closet's proximity are so close nowadays and the size of the closets will accommodate these drawers, they're taking or putting fewer dresser type furniture and things like that in the bedroom.
M.H.: Yeah most bedrooms now have so many windows it's hard to add a dresser or armoire to the bedroom.
B.R.: That's true, absolutely.
M.H.: It looks like you saved a lot of space in the closet, just in the corners alone instead of crisscrossing rods.
B.R.: Exactly. The crisscrossing effect of the closet is disastrous for people with those rods going like this. 'Cause they end up losing space going in two directions. This way and this way. Almost two feet in each direction 'cause it's nonfunctional. What we do, we take it all the way into the corner on one wall and then we give ourselves and allowance so we can see what's back there and physically access it very easily. It's very simple to get something out of the corner of this closet and put it back in again.
M.H.: Barry it looks like all the shelves are adjustable in this unit and I take it that you can add drawers then if you want to. You could pull out a shelf and actually add another drawer.
B.R.: Certainly. It's very, very flexible. The entire inherent design of the system gives the customer a lot of flexibility in what they want to do down the road. If offers them the opportunity to grow and change. As their lifestyles change the closet will change right along with them.
M.H.: You've got a couple of added details here. Could you tell us a little bit about them?
B.R.: Sure. We have several things that we standardize in the walk-in closets. This is called a garment valet and it's really great if you're going out of town or something. Put your travel garment bag here and you'll put behind it the things you're going to pack in it and the next morning you just put 'em in, zip it up and you're gone. Here we have tie racks, slides in and out, holds 24 ties, really convenient, it's easy, easy to see the ties and find what you're looking for. We also have a belt rack. Same concept as the tie rack. Also we have some laundry and dry cleaning bins here, which are nice.
M.H.: What are some tips that you can give the viewers to do to their own closet to make the most out of the space they have available?
B.R.: Well some things that will help them if they're going to remake their closet, one they want to be cognizant of the corner areas we discussed earlier. Now they don't want to be crisscrossing the shelves and the poles in the corners 'cause it just destroys that part of the closet and wastes a lot of space. Two, when you're hanging things, hang your shortest things up high if you have high and low hanging. You also don't want to expand your poles and your shelves too far. You know, if you go more than three, three and a half feet with one, you're going to have to really give it a lot of support. You have to be careful too if you're using metal poles. Because then if you expand 'em too far and put too much load on them then they pull the wooden supports out of the wall.
M.H.: Thanks for the help Barry.
B.R.: Thanks Michael, my pleasure.
Episode 020 1995 - 96 Season
| Wallpapering | Garage Door Problems | Buying New Appliances | Sweat Soldering | Closet Redo | Verifying Cash to Close | LIST |
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