Family-business owner Andy Popkin leads Inspired Closets in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. After working primarily in carpentry, Popkin and his wife, Amy, bought a home in Bucks County that needed organizational renovations — there, they both discovered a love for building masterful closet spaces.

Photo Copyrighted by The Stow Company

They start with in-home consultations and discussions to prepare, well before the installment begins. After finalizing a plan to ensure that everything has a place, Popkin and team use a 360-degree view design software to show clients a mockup of their upcoming space.

Another closet-creating brand, Casa Design Group, works with their manufacturing partner, Molteni & C, to create sophisticated closets in the Boston area and beyond. The company began as an Italian design furniture showroom, and expanded over the years as they discovered their client’s consistent needs for high-quality closets.

Both teams highlight features that they value in every closet, and actually note the same factor as the most crucial: lighting.

“If you can’t see it, you likely can’t find it,” Popkin says. “We want clients to enter their closet space and feel relaxed by what they see.”

Mixed with the lighting, catering to the specific vision of the client is paramount.

Photo Courtesy: Casa Design Group

“There is no better feeling than seeing a closet beautifully designed and executed just for you, every morning,” says Molteni & C custom closets expert and designer Elydia Riley. Many of their clients enjoy utilizing specified dimmed lighting for their closets, to accommodate for any mood or time of day.

There are plenty of options when it comes to customizing this space in the home — function and ease are the first priority, Popkin and Riley note. But most of all, both companies stress the importance of showcasing every client’s personality within this space.

“Closets are among the most desired features for home buyers,” Popkin notes. “Maybe it’s a lighted display of shoes, or pictures of their family on top of the built-in dresser, or a center island with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.”

More and more homeowners are converting bedrooms or other rooms into closets — space is a premium and clients want to make the most of it.

Molteni & C came up with a specific solution for this issue, titled the Sistema 7. Created as a freestanding closet with hidden doors that fold on top of the adjacent cabinets, “this gives you an entire walk-in closet space without bulky doors, walls, or openings, allowing you to maximize every inch of space,” Riley notes.

Photo Courtesy: Casa Design Group

Ultimately, Popkin and Riley want homeowners to value the closet as a high priority space, and as a tie-in to their personal style.

Photo Courtesy: Casa Design Group

“Your closet is where your day begins and ends,” Riley adds. “I truly believe that the importance of a beautiful, well-organized closet that is designed specifically for your own lifestyle is imperative to daily life.”

By Lara Becker