How many custom wardrobes have you designed in your life? If the answer is zero, or if you know a guy who says he has done it once before, then take note: custom wardrobe design is a niche business! It’s not something the average homeowner, builder, or even a ‘jack of all trades’ does on a daily basis. Inexperienced individuals are likely to improvise, leading to potential issues and careless errors in your design. These mistakes often come to light only after you have unpacked all your clothes into your new custom wardrobe.
Fineline Wardrobe Solutions have been the experts in this niche market for 40 years. Many less experienced businesses, known in South Africa as the ‘bakkie brigades’, may assert that they can provide the same services at a lower cost. Many kitchen companies may also say they can do you a favour and put together a wardrobe for you. The simple truth is, no one knows the secrets to a stunning custom wardrobe design quite like we do.
Here are some of the most common mistakes we have observed in novice installations.
Mistake #1
You have dead space above your top shelf.
This mistake is simply an injustice to storage space! Granted, not all spaces have this luxury available; if they do, it would be a crime not to utilise it. We all need somewhere to store away awkward-sized items such as suitcases or boxes of out-of-season clothes. The space above your top shelf is the perfect place for these items.
At Fineline Wardrobe Solutions, we design our wardrobes from floor to ceiling. We make sure the top rails and shelves are at the optimum height for accessibility. Above the top shelf, we create a large open storage space for all those awkward items you need to stow away.
Mistake #2
Not enough storage for your shoes.
The average woman has 31 pairs of shoes. The average man has 8. More often than not, custom wardrobes are designed with not enough shoe storage space, which results in shoes ending up in a cluttered mess on the floor of your cupboard.
Fineline Wardrobe Solutions carefully considers your entire shoe collection, designing your wardrobe with ample storage to maintain a neat and orderly collection. If you have ample space, then angled shoe shelves reminiscent of fancy celebrity closets on Pinterest are lovely. However, if you don’t have the space, then our pull-out shoe drawer is probably a better solution for you. In these shoe drawers, a middle bar allows you to store two pairs of shoes staggered over each other, doubling up on space.
Do you have too many shoes and need to declutter? Here is another one of our helpful blogs to assist you.
Mistake #3
Shelves aren’t deep enough and rails are too high.
A shelf in your custom wardrobe can’t be any old size. It has to be at a certain depth for clothes to sit on neatly. Many inexperienced carpenters fail to understand this and cut shelves too shallow, which leads to clothes hanging over the edge and giving the entire wardrobe an untidy appearance.
Fineline Wardrobe Solutions has been designing custom-built wardrobes for 40 years and has worked out the perfect measurements to allow a wardrobe to function at its best. We have also observed clients straining to reach their clothes due to excessively high hanging rails.
Mistake #4
Finding the ideal balance between hanging space, shelving, and drawers in a custom wardrobe design.
Designing a custom wardrobe isn’t about throwing together a random number of shelves, one or two drawers, and a single rail. You need a mix of long and short hanging space, and certain clothes work best folded on a shelf or contained in a drawer. Often we see carpenters not getting this mix right, resulting in cramped rails and jumbled, messy shelves.
A salesman from Fineline Wardrobe Solutions would be able to look at your current collection of clothes and work out exactly how much shelving, drawer space, and hanging space you need. Having the right mix will guarantee that everything finds a ‘home’ and maintains order and neatness.
Do you struggle to decide which clothes to hang and which to fold? Here are some tips.
Mistake #5
Drawers that are badly positioned.
It is true that many hardware stores now sell mechanisms for sliding wardrobe doors, leading to a widespread belief that anyone can install a sliding wardrobe door system. However, it’s important to remember that the internal configuration of your cupboard must align with your sliding doors. Sliding wardrobe doors slide over each other, opening a section of the wardrobe at a time. We have observed poorly positioned drawers at the intersection of two sliding doors, preventing them from opening.
Fineline Wardrobe Solutions have been the experts at installing custom wardrobes with sliding wardrobe doors for 4 decades now. We know exactly how to configure the internals of a wardrobe so that they work perfectly with your sliding wardrobe doors, allowing you to access everything easily.
Look at some of our stunning sliding wardrobe doors.
Mistake #6
Excess use of fillers creates dead space.
Many handymen aim to construct a wardrobe at the lowest possible cost. This means they will use as many standard-sized boxes as possible to construct your wardrobe. However, standard sizes frequently leave unused spaces between these boxes, which they then fill with a blank piece of board known as a filler. These fillers are a complete waste of precious storage space.
At Fineline Wardrobe Solutions, every single job is individually designed, and the internals are made to fit the space perfectly using every inch of available space.
Mistake #7
Corner wardrobe sections are poorly designed.
Designing the corner section of a custom wardrobe can be daunting for an inexperienced carpenter, and often they don’t get it right, resulting in lost storage opportunities.
At Fineline Wardrobe Solutions, we see corners as a wonderful storage opportunity. Corners are often excellent places to put drawers. Sliding wardrobe doors allow both doors over the corner area to open, facilitating simple drawer access. Corners also make for larger shelves, which are great for storing odd-shaped items such as handbags and hats.
Mistake #8
You weren’t sure what you were getting because you didn’t see a 3D design of your custom wardrobe first.
Examining a 2D custom wardrobe design bears similarities to examining a 2D architectural plan; many of us struggle to envision the design’s final appearance. Often, a client approves a proposed 2D wardrobe layout, but upon construction, they discover design flaws. This is typically due to the client not having seen an elevated drawing of the custom wardrobe beforehand.
Every job at Fineline Wardrobe Solutions begins with an elevated perspective or a 3D rendering. You will know exactly what you are getting before your custom wardrobe gets built, and our clients are very much part of our design process to ensure complete satisfaction.
Mistake #9
Inferior hardware mechanisms were used.
As we mentioned before, many hardware stores sell mechanisms for sliding wardrobe doors. This does not imply that all mechanisms available on the market are of the same quality. While these readily available mechanisms may be more cost-effective, their often inferior quality compromises the safety and longevity of your sliding wardrobe doors. After a while, inferior systems stop moving, resulting in jammed sliding doors.
Fineline Wardrobe Solutions does not compromise on quality. We import our hardware mechanisms, and both our mechanisms and sliding wardrobe doors comply with South African and international safety standards. We have clients who have had our sliding wardrobe doors in their homes for decades, and they are still working perfectly. Fineline also has excellent after-sales service. If a client needs us to do a service call six months or ten years after installation, we will be there.
Look at our excellent safety specs and warranty.
Mistake #10
Poor workmanship and installation of a custom wardrobe
Sho! Have we seen it all? Skew rails, skew panels, and units falling apart a few months after installation. This is purely the result of poor, inexperienced workmanship.
Fineline Wardrobe Solutions employs expertly trained installers who have been consistently installing built-in custom wardrobes for years. We manufacture our doors in our factory, not on site, to ensure quality and precision.
This was a recent testimonial from one of our clients that says it all:
“We’ve been dealing with lots of contractors these past few months, for both personal and business use and I must say, it seems like people don’t know their craft very well. They make mistakes, their measurements are inaccurate and it’s almost like we have to do that work for them for it to be correct, (including showing where the middle of a section actually is by measuring ourselves).
I was telling My hubby just now, that from everyone we’ve dealt with, we’ve not had this issue with you guys. I’ve not had to feel like there’s a lifelong problem with your work that ‘I must just deal with’.
Workmanship, professionalism and ethics.. well done!”
Chantal Naidoo, Vanderbijlpark.
Don’t make the mistake, choose the right people for the job.
We get it; we all need to spend money wisely. Even if you go for a cheaper option, you are still investing a good deal of money in your custom wardrobe. Not only should your wardrobe look good, but it should also function efficiently. You don’t want to experience the frustration of a poorly designed cupboard that prevents you from finding what you’re looking for; this, we assume, is the reason you originally desired a custom wardrobe. Consider the costs of having to possibly redo your wardrobe again in the not-so-distant future due to silly mistakes. The most cost-effective way to get a custom wardrobe is to get it done by the right people the first time around.
If you are seeking a custom wardrobe, choose the company with the most experience; contact Fineline Wardrobe Solutions today.
For more creative tips and ideas, look at our trendy blog.
