Adding a closet to a small bedroom
Q: One of our bedrooms is small and has no closet. Should we build a closet before selling? A: While many buyers may be accustomed to small bedrooms, especially in a space-restricted city like New York, Highlyann Krasnow, a partner at MNS real estate in New York, said most of them still want bedroom closets.
Not having a closet in the room is an issue, she said. “Especially for women, that’s going to be the first thing they bring up.”
For a standard reach-in closet, “you need about 65cm in depth”, Krasnow said. “That isn’t going to eat up that much floor space.”
But the bigger concern, she said, may be the door swing. By the time you move a bed and other furniture into the room, there may not be space to open a closet door. “I’d recommend using either bifold or sliding doors,” she said, “so it doesn’t affect the furniture layout.”
Lisa Frantz, an owner of the Manhattan interior design firm Marks & Frantz, agreed that storage space in a bedroom is essential, but noted that a traditional closet isn’t always the best solution in a smaller room.
“Sometimes, it can make the space more awkward and create useless corners,” she said. “But there are lots of other ways to get closet like storage in there.”
One of the best options, Frantz said, is to use custom millwork and install cabinetry up to the ceiling. For instance, “a lot of people will design storage on either side and above the bed, and put the bed in the middle”, she said. “You create a little alcove.”
That built-in cabinetry can be just as deep as the interior of a closet (Frantz recommended making the interior space at least 50cm deep for hanging clothes), and have doors to conceal the items inside.
An added advantage, she said, is that “you eliminate the need for nightstands” and can install wall-mounted lamps, saving more space.
But millwork can be expensive. If you don’t want to invest so much money, a simpler solution would be to put an armoire in the room, which can be taken with you after the sale.
“And it makes a room present nicely if it’s a pretty piece of furniture,” Frantz said.
As a rule, freestanding furniture and built-in millwork “usually make a room look larger”, she said. “Closets make it look smaller.”