Budgets for high-end projects have skyrocketed, as homeowners opt for larger and more luxurious spaces
On an October evening, Kimmie Turiansky and four girlfriends sipped pink champagne in her Bedminster, N.J., home as they prepared for a night out. Chandeliers illuminated silk wallpaper and pink window treatments as pop music blared, while the women swapped clothes and perched on window seats.
The primary setting for all this activity wasn’t Kimmie’s bedroom or bathroom, but the roughly 470-square-foot closet she created at a cost of roughly $120,000 during a recent home renovation.
“It didn’t feel like this was my house until this was done,” Kimmie, 49, said of the closet. “This is truly the only space that is mine alone.”
Closets in luxury homes are getting bigger and more expensive, as homeowners look to display increasingly extensive, curated fashion collections. Closets are also doubling as entertaining spaces, with seating areas and champagne bars where owners can host friends, said Christina Relyea, president of the Association of Closet and Storage Professionals.
These days, “clients actually do hang out in their closet,” said Container Store executive Barbara Snook, who leads sales-and-design training for the company’s custom-closet design service. When a project is completed, “the first thing they will often do is throw a closet-reveal party.”
Average budgets for top-of-the-line closets have skyrocketed to $200,000 to $300,000, up from $60,000 to $80,000 a decade ago, according to custom-closet builder Claudio Faria, chief executive of Ornare Miami, who said he often works on projects costing more than $500,000. Closet designer Matthew Quinn of Design Galleria in Atlanta said a client recently spent over $1 million on a two-story closet with a spray-tan booth and an elevator.