Heather Shattuck-Heidorn, owner of the Tailored Closet and PremierGarage of Southern Maine, and Stephanie Treantos, founder of Lemonaid Solutions, are on a mission to help Mainers maximize their spaces. It’s the perfect partnership: the Tailored Closet offers custom-designed storage solutions for the home while Lemonaid Solutions implements organizational systems that keep clients on track. We sat down with both women to learn more about how they’ve solved storage challenges across the state.
Empty Space
The owner of this new build found her clothing inventory was outgrowing her closet space. Luckily, there was an empty room attached to both the bedroom and bathroom that could be converted into a larger closet to store her clothing. The Tailored Closet added drawers, a built-in hamper, and plenty of hanging space while using shelving to frame the windows to preserve a feeling of openness in addition to natural light. Shaker finishes and gold matte hardware add an elevated feel while keeping in line with the rest of the home’s aesthetic. In the client’s former closet space, deeper shelving was added to accommodate blankets, linens, and bedding. “When you’re considering any closet or storage design, you really need to think through the details around how it will function when in use. Where will deeper clothing storage be? Does the use of a space for hanging clothes impact any walkways or windows? How deep should the shelving or drawers be for your intended use? These are the sorts of questions we bring to our design process so that our clients can have storage that really works for them,” explains Shattuck-Heidorn.
Dormered Design
The busy young professionals who reside in this home had a variety of medium-sized closets they hoped to use more efficiently, while also considering the dormered ceilings that are frequently found across Maine. The Tailored Closet was tasked with incorporating a built-in vanity to help maximize space in other areas of the home, which was ultimately centered under a window for maximum natural lighting. Drawer stacks were added to the primary walk-in closets while ensuring the narrow space still had a usable walkway. In the dormered child’s closet, a clever system combines a full-size hanging section, a drawer stack, and shelving. Lemonaid Solutions joined the project once the closets were completed to help the family make the most of their newly designed storage spaces. Treantos divided the closets into zones and categories that made sense for the family’s everyday life. “The closet needed to make sense in terms of what went where. Even with a new design, putting items back into the space isn’t always easy for clients,” she explains. “As a busy professional and mom, the client’s top pain point was the lack of time to create a functional system that would last.”
Basement Blueprint
Treantos was approached by a client with a large basement who lacked functional storage space. When she arrived at the client’s home for a consultation, the basement floor was covered in boxes, so she contacted Tailored Closet to build a system that would get everything off the floor and make use of vertical space. The Tailored Closet developed an open cabinet storage design so that the client could see everything and make use of the organizational systems Treantos developed. “We designed this in our garage cabinetry line,” explains Shattuck-Heidorn. “The heavier density material is an inch thick, so it’s meant for projects where the shelving could be supporting hundreds of pounds of weight. We use it most often in the garage and heavy-duty storage spaces, and occasionally in pantries,” she adds.
Budget-Friendly Built-Ins
Simple, clean, and efficient was the goal of this closet project in which Treantos and Shattuck-Heidorn worked together to maximize their client’s daughter’s available space without breaking the bank. “When organizing, we take into account the person we’re organizing for,” explains Treantos. “In certain cases, a client may not refold everything, so we use baskets to conceal items. It’s an easy way to keep the space looking great with minimal upkeep,” she adds. Before heading to the design phase with the Tailored Closet, Treantos took inventory of the daughter’s clothing while defining what would hang and what would remain folded. The daughter didn’t need drawers or high-end finishes in the closet, so the Tailored Closet designed beautiful and sturdy built-ins that offer ample storage space. Once the build out was completed, all the daughter’s clothing fit into the redesigned space.