Today I’m sharing our easy closet makeover and my (unsponsored) Rubbermaid Configurations Closet Organizer review. We installed the Rubbermaid closet organizer in the orange bedroom closet and it’s incredibly satisfying to simply pull out a garment, instead of rooting around through heaps and boxes. We had torn out the old closet fittings, and replaced the missing flooring, but then we got busy with moving and work and the closet stayed like this:
Moving is stressful enough – it feels good to finally find a home for things. We loved the maple-look closet fitting in the townhouse because it matched the floors nicely and looked more high end because of the wood tone. But we didn’t find any wood closet systems to match our lakehouse floors. Actually, we didn’t find many good options locally at all – the downside of moving from a big city to a tiny one. After some questing, we found a grey version of the ubiquitous white wire closet organizer that we thought looked kind of nice, so we gave our closet an easy makeover.
Rubbermaid Configurations Closet Organizer Review:
We purchased the Rubbermaid Configurations Closet Organizer system because it promised to be cheap and easy, but it didn’t look cheap – to us, anyway. We liked the titanium color. When the dust settled, it turned out to be kind of pricey because we added Rubbermaid Slide on Baskets. Here’s a look at the organizer installed. (I really hate when people stage closets for photos, so I hope you don’t mind that these photos reflect what it actually looks like, day to day).
Thoughts on the Cost:
First I want to address the cost of the Rubbermaid system. Admittedly, the basic kit is only about $120 dollars, but we ended up spending a lot of money on the baskets (online they are about $45, but we paid $55 in store). When all was said and done, after we bought every little bit and bob we wanted, this configuration cost us around $500! So if you’re shopping for a system like this, just be aware that once you add on all of the pieces, it can get a little expensive.
But, everything is organized and in it’s place – and that’s priceless, right? And you could save money with shelves instead of drawers, but I LOVE the drawers.
Thoughts on How Much You Can Customize it:
As customize-able as Rubbermaid claims this is, you’re a bit limited with how you can place the vertical tracks if you want to add shelves or baskets, or any of the other add-on pieces. We also couldn’t put the bars (on the right side) at the height we wanted them because the baskets use the same tracks to clip on to. That’s why the baskets ended up unevenly spaced, and Hubby’s shirts hang a bit lower than I would have preferred. We might need to fuss with this some more.
The spacing limitation has also left us with another problem: the baskets slide out, which is great, but now we can’t install double sliding doors. If we move the baskets over to the right, they bump into the frame and won’t open. That’s okay – we’ll just do a triple panel sliding door. Again, not a deal breaker, just something to consider if you’re thinking of this closet organizer.
Thoughts on the Quality:
Happily, the wire shelving is smooth and doesn’t snag or catch (although the basket brackets are a little sharp).
UPDATE 2020: Many years later, the quality is still there and these closet fittings look brand new! We’ve never had any issues with pieces breaking or wearing out (knock on wood) and the drawers still slide super smoothly.
Overall Impressions:
Despite these small installation issues, I’m really happy with the closet organizer. I think we really maximized the space. The shelf on top is perfect for bags and the drawers are amazing for sweaters and pajamas. Beneath the pants and dresses I even had room for larger versions of my shoe bins to store winter boots and make use of that awkward space under our longer items.
The colour still makes Hubby smile (I like it too!) and I’m really happy we took the time to swap out the dated light fixture for the cutie one I love so much.
Certainly, it’s a far cry from before:
The former owners had installed the wood flooring around the old closet fitting (argh) so we had to replace the damaged floorboards. Take a look at this post to see how we did that!
UPDATE: We purchased absolutely gorgeous, triple pass glass sliding doors. Take a look here!
Why not just use bifold doors? Those should be pretty easy to find at hardware stores, right? And not much different price-wise from sliding?
I haven't measured, but I don't think there's enough room for them to open with our king sized bed adjacent. But I need to measure to be sure.
I love the way this looks! The condo we're (eventually) moving to has a triple sized closet, but it just comes with one shelf and one rod for clothes. We're hoping to install something similar. Maybe this was a bit more expensive because all the parts are metal – a plus in my books! No warping, bending, breaking to worry about it. Rubbermaid and Ikea are the only two brands we've looked into so far. I think they all end up kind of expensive, but it's worth it to maximize the space, right?
I think you're right – they all end up pricey. Hopefully this stays looking good. I will keep you posted.
Closet stuff is expensive no matter which way you slice it. But think of it this way – California Closets would have been thousands of dollars, and even Ikea would have cost you 1000 and up. PLUS everytime you can find exactly what you are looking for, take 10 bucks off the price 🙂 It will even out in no time!!
If I take $10 off everyttime I find something, it's already paid for itself! What a great way to think about it!!
Not sure on the surrounding space you have but what about a more modern barn door? Slides on the outside so you're not limited to the framed size of the closet. Or bifold doors? Sliding small Shoji screens? Or a set of 4 smaller sliders (size of bifold) that would part and slide open from the middle or slide to either side to access the ends? Or the trusty old curtain but I'm sure that's a last resort, though I'm sure you could come up with some wonderful fabric.
No room for a barn door – I love the look though! I'm on the search for smaller sliders, that might be the best option. I'm also open to fabric, but would love smaller sliders. Thanks for the suggestions!!
This is the same issue we had with our closet, which is why we went with the double doors that both open. Our closet couldn't fit bi-fold doors (not a fan of them, either). Can you do what we did? http://blog.wickedbride.com/2011/07/what-difference-door-makes.html
I don't have the room clearance, sadly. This is why I was totally jealous of your New closet doors!!
Was a name drawn for the 3 cans of paint yet?
Yes, thanks for the nudge! Here is the post announcing the winner:http://dans-le-townhouse.blogspot.ca/2014/02/cil-giveaway-winner-question.htmlI'm sorry I couldn't send everyone paint 🙁
This looks like just what we need. My daughter's closet in our new house has the same brand organizer, sans the drawers, but our closet only has a single rod. Our closet is smaller than hers and we have to share it- it definitely needs an organizer. I was wondering how long your closet is. I'd considered a similar configuration for ours (drawers or shelves in middle, with double rod on one side and single on the other) but I suspect your closet is longer and therefore accommodates that arrangement better than ours could. The first thing I thought of for alternatives doors was a barn rail (I really love them) but I see that you won't have the wall to run the rail along. Perhaps triple sliding doors- depends on the length of opening. We did this in our laundry closet of the last house- the washer sat right in the middle and when we switched to a front washer, we needed the doors to allow access to the middle of the closet. It was a huge opening so I used a top mount sliding door track and hardware and just used three 28" (I think it was) slab doors that gave us a 2" overlap in total. I don't know about finding smaller door for a more typical closet size, though. If you are open to fabric covering, IKEA sells the sliding tracks for fabric panels that offer a more modern look. I really look the orange inside- definitely makes it look more polished.
Thanks for the door ideas!We bought the kit for 4-8 foot closets. Ours is pretty long (by my standards). It's over 6 feet. I will track down a measuring tape and measure it to be more precise. It's somewhere in this mess . . .
Hi Tanya – just found your blog – love your style! For your closet door dilemma – we had somewhat the same problem, not that we couldn't open drawers, but that a 2 sliding door system wouldn't allow us to both access our sides of the closet at the same time. I went to RONA and priced out a three sliding door system which was surprisingly inexpensive in comparison to other home improvement stores – like less than half the price. We've installed this three door system and LOVE it! The doors stack nicely with enough room for either of us to get at our sides of the closet. Just a suggestion. I'm looking forward to seeing what you end up using.
I would love a three-door sliding system. We don't have a Rona in Thunder Bay, but I'm going to see if Home Depot has something similar. That would be absolutely perfect for us, thanks for the suggestion and sharing your experience with it!
Love your closet. I did one of mine over a couple years ago using the Rubbermaid kit. It turned out so nice that I'm in the process of remodeling our master walk-in closet. I bought 3 kits that were on sale for about $79 each. Thanks for your inspiration!
That's so great! What a bargain! Happy organizations 🙂
Tanya, I'm delighted to find your Rubbermaid closet review via Pinterest! I'm in the process of trying to lay out a design for one using Rubbermaid. I'm open to any valuable info you can relay to me since you've now had yours up for a couple years!
Oooo good question! I did have some kind of grease or oil from the drawers drip onto a sweater so I'd recommend putting a less than favourite one on top in the beginning, lol. But otherwise it has held up so well. No sagging or warping. I still wish I could have placed everything a bit higher but there were limitations where things couldn't be spaced. Double check that shirts won't drag if you double up bars height wise. Not sure if this adds anything to my initial thoughts! The quality has been good, I'm happy there have been no issues with wear and tear.