How I Designed A High End Closet For Cheaper Than IKEA

Two things you should know about me— I’m one of the cheapest people you’ll ever meet… and I have a WEIRD closet in my bedroom. It’s half a-frame, has windows, a low ceiling, and nearly zero storage. After doing some research, I found out custom closets start at around $3,000 for a closet my size. One designer service was going to cost around $20K. Every single thing I ordered came from Amazon. Here’s a link to the list of every single thing I used.

After hours of measuring, shopping, and doodling, I finally ended up paying $1,557 for everything. While I’d rather pay $0 or, at the very most, $200, I quickly learned it’s not easy to get a cohesive look if you’re thrifting, repurposing, and penny penching. It’s possible, but I wanted to splurge for this project. My total included 8 rolls of peel and stick wallpaper, 6 large pieces of furniture, clothing racks, blinds, new lights, rugs, shelves, and more! Let’s take a closer look at this project. Please note that this blog contains affiliate links, but I paid full price for all items and this blog is not sponsored.

Here’s a glimpse of the “before” of my closet. Granted, it’s giant, but it’s very awkward. It’s the only space in our home that would work as a closet for our bedroom. We purchased the home a year ago and I’d been getting anxiety from this space ever since. It did have some wire storage racks from the previous owners, but it was far from high end. I decided to reach out to a popular, VERY expensive closet company for a custom quote…

… and this is what I got. I was told their closets run in the $20K range. After MONTHS of waiting for a high end design, THIS is the sketch I got. I thought I was being Punk’d. My husband and I stared at it slack-jawed for no less than an hour. At this point, I knew I was going to be on my own.

My first project was simple— make this wall look fancy. It’s the view from my bed, and it’s the first thing you see when you walk upstairs to our bedroom. It was blue wood planks, so I installed this peel and stick wallpaper for a pop of gold and depth. If you use this brand, I’d recommend overlapping by a few centimeters as it will shrink after install. Mine hasn’t peeled off at all.

Now, I started adding furniture and decor. I purchased this standing jewelry mirror months ago, and it worked perfectly in this closet.

Next up was the dressers. Building custom storage and drawers was out of my budget. IKEA dressers are terrible quality, but the prices insinuate otherwise! I found 2 dressers to fit under the windows and 3 to fit in the closet area. They were high quality, sturdy, and affordable. I got lucky that they were from the same brand and matched! This link will take you to the long dressers and this link will take you to the tall dressers.

Now came one of the harder parts— visible storage. Dressers hide clutter, but hanging clothes are a different story. I ordered this armoire from Amazon to hide the more vibrant and busy clothes. For the neutral clothing, I wanted those visible! I used this gold hanging rack which was plenty long enough for this project. On the shorter wall, I used this white hanging rack. It’s small but mighty. If you have a small closet, this may be your best option.

The original lights weren’t great either. I switched those out for these modern gold track lights. Each one holds 4 lights and it really illuminated my space. High end closets are NOT dark. Even if you go with a dark color scheme, you need to be strategic with your lighting.

After spending about 2 hours shopping online for shoe storage, I finally found this beautiful shoe tower. It held all of my shoes and had space to spare. My Instagram followers nearly made them sell out. It’s a beautiful piece to get your shoes off the floor. For a fancier look, you could install lights to each shelf.

Click here for a link to all of the items I purchased, including the corner shelves, fluffy rugs, belt storage, and more!

I’m beyond proud of this space. If I did it with zero home design training, no closet experience, and a pretty small budget.. you can, too! Here are some photos and videos to enjoy. Please follow me on Instagram for more content!