Closetcase: A Deep Dive Into Closet Design

CLOSET ENVY. Design by Paris Forino, Photo by Genevieve Garruppo

June has arrived and with it, as indicated by every rainbow-clad storefront in New York City, so has gay pride month. A time to recognize the vast contributions of the LGBTQ community and to be proud of being free from the shackles of the closet.

Being raised a devoutly-religious Midwestern boy, I’m more familiar than I’d like with growing up in the closet. But that’s a story for another time—today we’re turning the lens around and going back inside the closet to look at the fabulous world of closet design.

We see our fair share of closet projects here at Paris Forino. Oftentimes with new construction and gut-renovated spaces we work closely with brands like Italian bespoke-closet vendor Porro to completely custom design storage spaces with all bells and whistles of any high-end boutique. Such was the case for a recent residential project in Meatpacking District where we worked with Porro to design his & hers walk-in closets; with hers being an entire converted extra bedroom—a.k.a. the New York dream.

But creating the closet of your dreams doesn’t mean having to start from scratch or pay a small fortune. You can drastically redesign your existing closet for less than the cost of a round trip to Fire Island. (Did we mention it’s Pride?). One of my go-to tricks is painting the inside of a closet in a deep hue to instantly give it a facelift. I recommend sticking with neutral colors but taking things towards the darker end of the spectrum to instantly give a more luxe feel as the backdrop for your clothes. Furthermore, I suggest going with a matte or eggshell finish which will helps to hide any surface irregularities. If you’re feeling truly ambitious—I’d suggest switching things up with wallpapering the inside of your closet for an even more elevated look.

Another path to refresh your closet design is through lighting. Unfortunately most walk-in closets come with less than desirable flush-mount fixtures but on the bright side (pun intended), there’s been some great developments in the field of flush-mount design to swap out your dated, existing fixtures. In addition, LED battery-operated lights have come along a way and can now mimic the warm glow of incandescent lights. Another nice touch is installing a light sensor to illuminate your entire closet upon opening the door.