John Louis Deluxe Red Mahogany Closet System

We used this set in a small walk-in closet. It helps to have someone that is handy with tools and design. My husband played around with a couple of designs to be able to use the organizer on both walls. Now my closet is wonderful and I can find everything! Overstock.com was also very responsive when we realized a couple pieces had broken in shipment.

I'm pretty handy, as well as physically strong, for a woman; I had big dreams about being able to install this while my husband was out of town on business. Well, that didn't happen... A lot of the dificulty we ended up encountering was caused by a slightly bowed wall in the closet. The system is NOT designed to accomodate things like that, and we ended up having to plane several of the shelf pieces off in order to get them to work. Also, if you are cursed with plaster walls, as we are, invest in steel stud savers or toggle bolts, as the plastic ones that come with just won't work. Once we got past the structural issues, the closet went together beautifully. It looks great, it holds a TON of stuff, and it is a significant addition to the value of our home. We plan to put them in our kids' rooms, too.

The Long and Short of it...First - I'm a Girl! (A Girl with average strength and DIY skills, but a Girl just the same) I wanted to upgrade the closets in my 1950's house in Ft Lauderdale and after checking into some of the closet contractor pricing, felt that I could get similar results at a third of the price if I did the job myself. I bought two Deluxe Red Mahogany kits, one for a 10ft wide reach in closet and one for my smaller 6 x 4 walk-in. I saw them at one of the Hardware Superstores and the same kit was $$ more so I saved $$$ at Overstock and enjoyed shipping! The kits arrived in large cartons well packed and protected and unlike many of these systems where midway through the project, you find they have forgotten to include something that invariably takes weeks to arrive, the inventory matched the packing list. I started on the 10ft closet first and though it did take me two days, the resulting build in is spectacular and even my handyman was impressed with the quality of the kit not to mention that I was able to do it myself. : ) The most important part of the install is the measuring (oh, and beer!). Measure and mark and measure again. Particularly with the tower brackets, of you get this sideways, the shelves won't fit. Get your level out and spot check your widths (do this before you drink too many beers! lol). Though I tried to drill into studs where possible, I did have to purchase a box of different wall anchors ($) as the ones included in the kit were unsuitable for the type of plaster in this older 50's house. In this install, I had a leftover piece of shelving that I cut down into an additional tower shelf and by drilling in four pin holes, was able to gain an extra storage space (it comes with additional shelf pins which was nice). If you don't have any extra shelving, you might want to buy the tower shelf kit in addition, as the base kit only supplies two shelves for a six foot tower. My boyfriend very kindly helped me install the 6x4 walk in system and it went much more quickly even though the configuration was different. The additional storage space is great and so much more efficient than the old home built shelves that were there when I bought the house. All in all, these two improvements look fantastic and I saved a LOT of money by investing my time, not to mention, improved my DIY skills and built my confidence in my abilities. Love this product - just get your tools out and get started and before you know it, you will be enjoying a custom fitted closet!

• How did the color on site compare with the actual product? Red Mahogany was very accurate.
• Please tell us about the quality of the product. Great quality - nice staining, rugged hardware, well thought out packing and easy to follow instructions.
• How accurate was the on site description of the product? Good, though for dimensions, you will need to go to the John Louis website.

I ordered this closet system and it arrived a few days later. I am a 33 year old female with no real "handyman" experience. I opened the box expecting to be overwhelmed and it was quite the opposite. While there were a lot of hardware pieces (screws, anchors, etc.) they were all bagged seperately and very easy to sort. There weren't a whole lot of small wood pieces to put together. It does take some time to measure and mark your walls but once that is complete the job takes off and before you know it, it looks like a new closet. I would suggest downloading the instruction manual and printing it so that you can mark and measure your walls according to the design you choose. I have a small walk in closet and I put this system on one side to see if we liked it first. I WILL be ordering another for the other side. It looks great!!!

• How did the color on site compare with the actual product? just as expected
• Please tell us about the quality of the product. wood is sort of soft and easily dented or scratched
• How accurate was the on site description of the product? very accurate description