Wondering what to do with your old master closet after converting a spare room in your NOVA home into a luxurious walk-in? An accessories closet could breathe new life into your wardrobe.

Northern Virginia has become one of the fastest growing areas in the DC metro area. In addition to the growing number of Fortune 500 companies located in the area, homebuyers are growing increasingly attracted to the additional space found in a typical Northern Virginia (NoVA) home.

With so much to offer, it might come as a surprise that even though homes in NoVA tend to be roomier than DC homes, the closet space in the master bedroom can often be quite limited. In fact, according to zoning guidelines for Virginia, there are no closet requirements for bedrooms, which means that you can technically have a bedroom without a closet in Northern Virginia.

While it’s rare to come across a home without any type of master closet at all, a large number of the older homes in the area err on the small side. Of course, one obvious solution to this problem is to convert a spare bedroom into a luxurious new walk-in master closet—but that still leaves the question of what to do with your current master closet space.

Getting Creative with Your Space

One creative use for your old master closet is to turn it into an accessories closet dedicated to being the ultimate home for all of the items that you would normally use to complete your outfit. This would give your shoes, handbags, jewelry, hats, cufflinks, sunglasses, and scarves a place to shine. Since accessories take up less space than your clothing does, housing these items in a smaller space gives you a centralized location for adding final touches as you get ready.

When dreaming up your new accessories closet, be sure not to forget:

• Shelving: In a normal closet, we’d recommend including shelves for shoes. While this still holds true for your accessories closet, you should also think about including additional shelving in this space for items like hats, sunglasses, perfumes/colognes, and handbags. These are all items that can easily be displayed in your closet to create a boutique-like feeling inside the space.

Drawers: An accessory space wouldn’t be complete without a place to store jewelry! Our velvet-lined jewelry drawers are excellent for storing and organizing your jewelry with its various compartments and come in single or double level options. If you have a healthy collection of clutches, scarves, and/or chunky belts, it may be worth considering an additional couple of drawers for these items too.

• Small Hanging Section: Even though this closet space won’t serve as the primary closet space, it’s still a good idea to include a short, single rail hanging section in your closet. This space can easily be used for storing items like robes that you may use while getting ready, or even provide hanging space you may need to temporarily store outfits you’re packing for a trip to help plan the accessories you’ll need.

Valet Rod: Since accessories are often added after you’ve selected your outfit, including a valet rod in your closet space gives your outfit a temporary holding spot while you complete your look. What’s great about valet rods is that they take up minimal space and you can push the rod back into place when not in use. 

Making the Best of Your Master Closet

In Virginia, a bedroom doesn’t have to include a closet in the room in order to be considered an actual bedroom, which has led to some interesting (and rather small!) master closet configurations. Don’t worry though—we know just how important closets are to homeowners. We want to make sure that you make the best use of the closet space that is available in your master bedroom, and creating a more specialized closet space, like an accessories closet space, can be an excellent way to utilize the space in a creative way.

If you’d like to learn more about how a second master closet might function in your home, schedule your free design consultation with a member of Closet America’s design team. In real time, we will work together with 3D design software to show you exactly what your new closet can look like—and we’ll provide you with an exact price quote in writing that we promise to honor for 12 months. That way, you have plenty of time to decide whether or not you’re ready to take the next step with your wardrobe. We look forward to helping you find space for what’s important in your life.

Lead image source: Flickr user Carmen Shields