Archive for the 'Information' Category
Not all closet organizers are equal. Closet organization systems are usually categorized into the following categories: Wood Organizers, Plastic Organizers and Wire Organizers. This post will attempt to help a potential buyer decide which type of material is best for the buyer’s specific situation.
Wood Closet Organizers (looks and luxury)
Closet organization systems made of wood are by far the best looking option. Although stores selling plastic and wire systems have made great strides in appearance, they are still very wanting in looks when compared to the wooden systems. Another advantage of wooden closet organizers is that they are very durable.
The main disadvantage of wooden closet organization systems is the price. In most situations buyers will be able to find better prices when shopping for plastic and wire systems.
If you have the money and want to spend it making your closet look fancy, then we definitely recommend going with wood.
Plastic Closet Organizers (ease and utility)
Plastic closet organization systems offer you all of the utility of a wooden system, but they are much easier to install. You still have to find the studs to bolt down the uprights, but changing the length of the shelves and rods is much easier. With wooden shelves you have to use a saw to change the length, but most plastic shelves and rods are adjustable (an extremely nice feature). With plastic systems you won’t need to measure as much, because if you don’t like how something fits it is extremely easy to adjust.
The main disadvantage of plastic organization is its appearance. Even with all of the emphasis on making plastic look posh, they still can’t match the appearance of wood in most situations.
If looks aren’t your main concern and you are looking for easy installation, good utility, and a decent price then we recommend plastic for your closet organization system.
Wire Closet Organizers (utility and durability)
This type of closet organization system has many of the same advantages as the plastic systems. One advantage it may have over the plastics systems is its durability. The wire organization systems are great if you are constantly moving. Somehow they survive no matter how many times you take them down and then reinstall them.
The wire closet systems are probably the least attractive of the bunch (though they have improved in recent years).
If you are someone who moves regularly and doesn’t have the money to purchase a new closet organizer everywhere you go, then we recommend wire.
We here at The Geek Closet Organizers Guide don’t recommend one closet organization shop over another. We are simply trying to provide value by saving our reader’s time by providing small reviews of the following companies and their web pages.
Closet Maid
If you can get over the appalling background color of their website, then you will find that Closet Maid isn’t a bad place to shop. One of their best features is that they have a live chat representative. This is a very handy feature as you can browse their website and ask questions to a real person without even having to pick up the phone. Also, having a live chat feature is usually a sign that the company provides quality customer service.
Closet Maid’s website overall was a little confusing. We had our best success when we clicked their link to the Closet Maid Online Store and then clicked on “Closet Organizer Kits.” Their closet design software was good, but it appeared they were charging $5.00 to design a closet. Most online stores we visited allowed you to design your closet for free.
Closet Factory
The Closet Factory is an upper end closet organization shop. They sell extremely nice, custom built closet organizers. The Closet Factory’s website is very aesthetically pleasing (especially after looking at the Closet Maid site). The one downside of the Closet Factory’s website was that they kept pushing you to call them or visit a local shop. This can be a problem for people who are interested in doing most of their shopping online.
If you have a lot of time and money and are looking for a luxurious closet organizer, then The Closet Factory may be the place for you.
Rubber Maid
We’ll be honest, we were trying to keep Rubber Maid off this list, but their website was by far the best we have seen. In fact if you have a few seconds we recommend you head over to www.rubbermaidcloset.com. They have a fun little feature where the clothes, shoes, and other objects come flying out of the closet and it is up to you to reorganize the closet.
The Rubber Maid site also shows you how to install a closet organizer kit (this is a handy feature as installation can be a real bugger). Perhaps the only flaw with the rubber maid site is that they only sell plastic. If you were looking for wooden closet organizers you would have to look elsewhere.
People searching for closet organizers on the Internet may be searching for vastly different things. Person A may be searching for a fully customizable closet organizer setup, while Person B may be searching for some shelves to organize their shoes better. This article will attempt to define the different categories of closet organizers and hopefully provide you some aid as you search for products to clean up your closet.
Let’s start with the people who are just looking for a few items to organize their closet. Items they are potentially searching for include shoe storage bins, closet hangers, closet shelves, tie organizers, and hang bars. These people may want all of these items for their closet or maybe they just want one or two of these items. Let’s call these items closet organizer accessories just so they have a name.
If you are someone who is only looking for a few accessories to organize your closet than we suggest you search for them by their given name. For example instead of typing in “closet organizers” to the search engine (this will likely result in showing you “complete” closet organizers with everything included) try typing in “closet shelves” or “shoe organizer.” Not everyone wants to spend $400 to get a complete closet organizing system.
Let’s proceed to the next group. This group wants the whole kitten caboodle. They are the ones who want to be able to purchase a complete closet organizing system. This group faces its own dilemmas. They must decide if they want to personally develop their own closet organizer of they would prefer to buy a cookie cutter version.
Customizing Your Closet
The main advantage of designing your closet is that you get exactly what you want; you decide where everything goes, what could be wrong with that?
I’ll tell you what could be wrong with that: it can be a lot of work/time. If you are designing your closet online then you have to learn how the website’s design software works. Another problem is that you may design a closet organizing system that won’t actually work (meaning that your design won’t cooperate with the house specifications).
With that being said, designing your own closet can be fun and rewarding as long as the proper steps are taken.
Cookie-Cutter Closets
This type of closet organizing system has already been designed by the manufacturers. However, even these require some work on your behalf (for example you will have to measure the depth and width of your closet).
Tip: Try purchasing a closet organizer accessory if you are only looking to clean up a small part of your closet. This is a lot easier than having to design your closet and install a huge system.
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