DIY guide · Wardrobes & closets
From a closet system in an alcove to fitted wardrobes wall to wall. How deep, how high to hang the rails, hinged or sliding, and plans made to your room.
IllustrationWhere to start
A weekend
Shelves, rails and a stack of drawers fitted inside a closet or an alcove. No doors, nothing to scribe, and the walls are already there.
Two weekends
Carcasses or ready-made frames set on a plinth, fillers scribed to the walls, and doors on concealed hinges.
Two to four weekends
Carcasses made to the room, a top box to the ceiling, under the eaves or beside a chimney breast, all finished in paint.
Types of wardrobes & closets
IllustrationWall to wall and floor to ceiling, with doors that suit the room. The most storage a bedroom wall can give.
See the plan
IllustrationDoors that slide past each other need no floor to open into. Good where the bed stands close.
Design yours
IllustrationThe recess beside a chimney breast, filled with a rail, shelves and a cupboard above. Period homes are made for it.
Design yours
IllustrationRails, shelves and drawers fitted inside a closet you already have. The easiest way to double what it holds.
See the plan
IllustrationRails and open shelves along the walls of a small room. No doors, so the work is all in the layout.
Design yours
IllustrationDoors that follow the roof line, with low drawers where the ceiling drops. Space no shop-bought wardrobe can use.
Design yours
IllustrationPull-out drawers and stepped cupboards that follow the stairs. Coats, shoes and the vacuum, out of sight.
Design yours
IllustrationReady-made frames with made-to-measure doors, fillers and a panel to the ceiling. Looks fitted for a fraction of the work.
See the planPlans
Each one becomes a 3D model, a cut list, drilling maps and step-by-step instructions, at the size you need.
Four bays behind full-height doors, with hanging space, shelves and internal drawers.
Double hanging, a drawer tower and a top shelf, sized to the opening you have.
Floor-to-ceiling fronts and scribed filler panels turn three frames into a fitted wall.
Plan the inside
Count what you hang and set the size of the wall. See the rails, the heights to fit them at, and what is left for shelves and drawers.
About 25 mm of rail per shirt or jacket and 50 mm per coat or dress. Rail heights allow for a shelf above them.
Before you design
Clothes on hangers need about 600 mm front to back. If the room can’t spare that, plan shelves and drawers instead, or rails that run front to back.
Count what hangs long (dresses, coats), what hangs short (shirts, folded trousers) and what folds. Short hanging doubles up in two tiers. Long hanging gets one tall bay.
A hinged door needs clear floor in front of it equal to its width. Keep doors to about 600 mm or less so they stay light on their hinges. Where space is tight, more narrow doors beat fewer wide ones.
Under the eaves is where made-to-measure pays for itself. No standard wardrobe fits a roof slope, and the space lost around one is usually the most useful storage in the room.
Hardware
Four parts do most of the work. Your plan has every one of them, with the holes where they go.
A cup set into the back of the door and a plate on the side. They adjust three ways after hanging, so every gap ends up even.
35 mm hinge-cup bit and a guide
Full-extension runners show you the back of the drawer. Fit them on spacer blocks so the drawers clear the door hinges.
Runners and spacer blocks
An oval steel rail on end supports, 50 mm below the shelf above. Add a centre support on any rail longer than a metre.
Rail, end supports, spirit level
Walls are never straight. A filler wider than the gap is marked from the wall and cut to its shape, so the wardrobe meets it with no gap.
Compass, jigsaw or block plane
Materials
| Material | Cost | Stiffness | Edges | Finish | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birch plywood | €€€ | Layered edge: show it off or band it | Oil, lacquer or paint | Carcasses and shelves. Holds hinge screws well. | |
| MDF | €€€ | Smooth, paints well once sealed | Paint | Painted doors and end panels | |
| Melamine chipboard | €€€ | Needs edge banding | Ready finished | Insides of carcasses on a budget | |
| Oak-veneered plywood | €€€ | Band with matching veneer | Hardwax oil or lacquer | Doors that show the grain |
Tools
Enough for every first-build plan here.
No saw? Most timber merchants cut sheets to a list. Take the cut list from your plan and pick the panels up ready to drill.
Each one opens up a new kind of build.
Safety
A wardrobe full of clothes is heavy and tall, and a freestanding one can tip when a door is pulled. Fitted wardrobes fix through their top rail into the wall; freestanding ones get an anti-tip strap. Here is what holds in which wall.
Something else in mind?
Say it the way you would to a carpenter. Caminu draws it, checks the spans and writes the guide.
Questions
About 600 mm inside for clothes on hangers. Shallower wardrobes work with shelves, drawers or rails that run front to back.
Hinged doors show the whole interior at once and are simpler to build. Sliding doors save floor space but hide half the wardrobe at a time. Caminu’s templates currently use hinged doors.
Yes. Describe the height at the front and at the back of the slope and the design follows the roof line.
For long clothes, about 1,700 mm from the floor. For double hanging, about 2,000 to 2,100 mm for the top rail and 1,000 mm for the lower one. Leave 50 mm between a rail and the shelf above it so hangers lift off.
Yes. Have the panels cut to the list where you buy them. Fitting a wardrobe is mostly drilling, screwing and levelling.
From the blog
Ideas
Attic rooms waste space under the slope. How to measure the angle, where to put hanging space, shelves and drawers, and how to plan doors that follow the roofline.
Guides
A cut list turns a design into panels you can cut. What it contains, how finished sizes, saw kerf and grain direction work, and how to send one to a panel-cutting service.
Keep going
Show Caminu your room and describe the piece. You get the 3D model, the cut list and the assembly guide.