Wardrobe guide

Planning a walk-in wardrobe.

A walk-in wardrobe or dressing room is the same carcass as a fitted wardrobe, without the doors. The trick is planning it around what is going in, then building the modules to fill the room corner to corner.

Start here

Plan around what goes in.

Long hanging: dresses, coats and long trousers need a full-height rail.
Double hanging: shirts, jackets and folded trousers fit two rails, one above the other, and double the hanging space.
Shelves: folded jumpers, bags and boxes, on 18mm adjustable shelves.
Drawers: underwear, socks and accessories, in drawer banks on Häfele Matrix runners.
Shoes: count the pairs. Pull-out and rotating racks hold far more than a shelf.

Tell us roughly how much of each you have and we set out the hanging, shelving and drawer banks around it. Rails are cut to the module and supported at 1000mm centres.

Layouts

Layouts and walkways.

One wall

A single run

Fine in a narrow room or a wide landing. Keep the walkway clear in front of it.

Two walls

L-shaped

Wraps round a corner. Corners suit shelves or a shoe rack better than hanging.

Three walls

U-shaped

The most storage, with hanging on the long walls and drawers or shelves at the end.

Facing runs

Galley

Two runs facing each other, like a corridor. Each side can do a different job.

In the middle

Island

A dressing-room island with drawers and a top for folding, if there is room to walk round it.

Space

Walkway

Leave enough room to stand in front of the rails and open drawers. About 1m is comfortable; more round an island.

Fittings

Pull-outs, racks and mirrors.

Pull-out trouser racks and rails that slide out of the module for easy access
Shoe racks: fixed, pull-out, width-adjustable, or a rotating rack for up to 50 pairs in a tall cabinet
Laundry baskets that pull out and lift out for emptying
Jewellery trays, felt-lined, that drop into a drawer
Pivoting mirrors that swing out from a side panel
Servetto System Plus, a modular pull-out system of drawers, trays and racks that adjusts to fit the opening

See every fitting on our wardrobe interiors and walk-ins page.

Light

Lighting a walk-in.

A walk-in rarely has much daylight. Häfele Loox5 LED strips along shelves and rails, with a motion sensor so the lights come on when you walk in and go off after a set time, make it easy to find things. Warm white suits clothes; tuneable white lets you check colours in daylight tones.

Recent work

Walk-ins and dressing rooms we have made.

Walk-in dressing room with lit open wardrobes — Open wardrobes with lit shelves

Dressing-room island with drawers — A dressing-room island with drawers

Dressing table with lit shelving — A dressing table with lit shelving

Checklist

Walk-in wardrobe checklist.

Hanging, shelving, drawer and shoe space worked out
Room measured, with the ceiling height and any slopes
Layout chosen, with a clear walkway
Fittings picked: pull-outs, shoe racks, baskets, mirror
Lighting and sensor switches planned
Drawings checked and approved before ordering

Buying from DTJ