In an airplane hangar-sized facility the team at Closets By Design builds customized organization solutions for closets, garages, offices, pantries, laundries and hobby rooms for families in homes across NE Illinois. Co-owner Jamie Trewartha recently shared with SW Lake a few insights about their business.
In March 2020 my ownership partner (Paul Paluch) and I acquired the business which was founded in 1998. It’s a rewarding experience to run your own business and provide practical and great-looking solutions for our wonderful customers. Recently we relocated to a larger facility to give us the ability to continue to grow.
The team now numbers 60 people, and each of us cares a lot about creating a great solution and experience for every customer. Previously, Paul and I lived the corporate life where a lot of things were outside of our control. Now we can focus on customers and employees without relying on anyone else for permission to do the right thing.
Our goal is to provide a customized solution for any customer’s budget. Through the whole process — design, installation and support — we want customers to be impressed by the quality of our team and our products. We produce everything in our Bartlett production facility which means from the time one of our designers envisions a solution for you, we can get that installed as quickly as four-to-six weeks later.
We really appreciate customer feedback. Asked what she most liked about her new closet, Kildeer resident Olha Marchak said: “I love the multifunctionality of their custom design; you can adjust it to your needs. You can place boxes, you can do hangers, you can switch things up so it’s very practical, especially for a woman. And a really nice thing is they use the space very efficiently. Every inch of space in the closet was used with excellence. It’s wonderful.”
Over the last couple of years we’ve also had some interesting and fun projects. We’ve done a full “shoe closet” for a serious collector to display all his Nike Air Jordans (some dating back to 1984). We’ve created hidden panels that enter secret safe rooms.
We also donated a $5000 closet to a very deserving essential worker during the worst days of the pandemic. We provided design and installation to a nurse in Algonquin, and it was a lot of fun making that a big event for her family.
Learn more about Closets By Design by browsing over to ChicagoNorth.ClosetsByDesign.com.
“Our standard is a floor-based solution. Many walk-in closets or other solutions have well over a ton of material. Since we provide a floor-based solution we distribute the weight over the floor and not on to the walls. This is a big differentiator for us that’s better for the homeowner.”