Once a purely practical pit stop, the closet has become a showcase of inspired closet design and one of the most indulgent rooms in the house. Today’s luxury dressing rooms and closets are part boutique, part boudoir, part command center. From cutting-edge lighting systems to duplex layouts with spiral staircases, here’s how top designers and organization experts are taking dressing room and closet design to the next level.
Retail-inspired Lighting Schemes
“You know how in a nice store, the merchandise looks really good?” says Cecilia Ramos, Senior Director of Architectural Markets at Lutron. “A lot of it has to do with multilayered lighting.” Designers with fashion-loving clients are following suit. Ramos, who previously designed lighting for LVMH, explains that strategic lighting integrated into both the front and rear of shelving enhances color, texture, and dimension. "When you light shoes and bags from behind—using recessed cove lighting, for example—their silhouettes become more defined," she notes. For hanging garments, uplighting from below "creates a floating effect."
For a New York project, California Closets consultant Nina Leese (working in collaboration with interior design firm Jennifer Newman Interiors) installed LED strip lighting across shelf fronts to ensure even visibility, plus rear lighting in deep recesses to eliminate shadows. (Deep recesses over 24 inches should always be lit, says Leese.) The closet design pro even illuminated the jewelry drawers with a closet island, allowing the homeowner to view her favorite baubles through the glass countertop. “The result was a jewel-box effect,” says Leese.
Old Hollywood-style Vanities
In his most recent book, Foundations, AD100 designer Nate Berkus champions classic dressing room vanities, pointing to 1920s and 1930s films where heroines sat before elegant examples—"the height of sophistication of that era," as he puts it.
This cinematic glamour is making a comeback. Sarah Weichel of Los Angeles-based Swike Design creates what she calls "dressing salons," incorporating statement vanities, luxe seating, and Art Deco or Murano glass lighting. “A dressing room is a great place for a vintage chair,” she notes. “It can add form and elegance to the space without needing to withstand the wear of, say, a dining chair.”
Designer Faith Blakeney takes a similar approach to closet design. For an actress client in Silver Lake, she designed a boudoir-style closet using Cole & Sons Hollywood Palm wallpaper, a vintage Italian mirror, and a vintage vanity seating sourced from LA’s Sunbeam Modern. (The chair, Blakeney reveals, is from the set of Big Little Lies.)
Expressive Colors Head to Toe
While neutral-toned closets have long been the default, adventurous clients are looking beyond white walls and pale oak shelving. “We have seen a shift to richer, more interesting and expressive color palettes,” says Bo Hellberg of the Swedish design brand String Furniture.
AD PRO Directory designer Leah Alexander of Beauty Is Abundant in Atlanta recently executed one closet in bold red and fuchsia, another in a bright lavender. "Color in closets is a great opportunity for surprise and delight, and a chance to say yes to something that might otherwise feel risky," she says. Alexander suggests letting the rest of the home guide your choice; the lavender, she explains, was inspired by a similarly-toned artwork on the wall opposite the closet.
For a project in the Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead, Jessica Davis of Atelier Davis enveloped a closet in a pale coral pink that she describes as “fun, feminine, and also universally flattering to all skin tones.” The AD PRO Directory talent extended the palette to the island countertop, selecting stone threaded with pink veining. “Let closet colors reflect your client's fashion choices,” she suggests. “It's a private space where the only person you have to please is your client, so why not go bold?”
And don’t overlook the floor. “There is nothing more luxurious than entering a dressing room blanketed in wall to wall carpeting,” says Weichel, who installed hot pink carpet for the dressing area of a couple in Laurel Canyon. “An unexpected jewel tone can help add personality.”
Hidden Appliances and Technology
Think of it as a Formula One pit crew approach to getting ready—closets conceived as one-stop high-performance stations equipped with specialized appliances and technology. Anne-Marie Barton, an AD PRO Directory designer based in Holladay, UT, calls these “gourmet closets,” spaces outfitted with washers, dryers, steamers and custom solutions from brands like Ornare and Poliform. “A gourmet closet should feel like an extension of the person who lives there. Clients want a serene place where everything is accessible for easy decision-making.”
Brooklyn-based AD PRO Directory designer Susana Simonpietri of Chango takes functionality further, integrating safes and even compact refrigerators into her closet millwork. The refrigerators? For temperature-sensitive skincare. "Some masks and serums need refrigeration," she explains. For clients who self-administer injections, Simonpietri designs concealed compartments for medical sharps containers.
Teenager-proof Security
Security features have evolved beyond protecting valuables from intruders. Simonpietri's clients often request discreet protection from their own teenagers. "Some need to safeguard their wardrobe from kids who might borrow shoes or clothing without taking proper care of them," she says. Her solution: hidden locks operated by keycode or magnetic key—no unsightly keyholes.
Dream Duplexes: Two-story Closets
When wardrobes outpace storage space, some designers are building up—or down. These dramatic two-story closets solve a practical problem, accommodating extensive collections without claiming more of the home’s footprint. Larah Sifuentes-Winter, Senior Designer at San Francisco AD PRO Directory firm The Wiseman Group, recently transformed undefined storage space beneath a San Francisco client’s existing closet. “When the client mentioned that she would love a little more space, we realized we could use the lower level space, connecting them with a spiral staircase,” she explains. Thoughtful details include integrated lighting, curved, leather-paneled walls, and a glass floor beneath a skylight, flooding the below-grade level with natural light.
Closet design pro Naomi Carter of California Closets Gulf Coast took a similar approach for a Lake Charles, Louisiana project living on the water. Building down into what's technically the basement, she created an expansive split-level design with dedicated shoe walls, and separate staging areas for both partners to plan outfits. The closet duplex is a lavish twist on the classic “his and hers.”
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