ELFA Closet Organizers?

In My Humble Opinion
1

We need to make our closet space more usable… and Container Store is having their Elfa sale right now (30% off). The system looks too easy. I know it’s not as fully-customizable as, say, a place like California Closets - especially if you go for the nicer style of shelves/drawers you’re pretty much stuck with 24-inch-wide sections. However it’s also a lot more affordable.

So - anyone here have Elfa closet organizers? Or have any anecdotes from friends? Love 'em? hate 'em?

2

Never heard of ELFA - but after much agonizing over the cost of California Closet-type systems vs. lack of sufficient skill to build something myself the frugal way, I went with this , which appears to be a similar idea. I am happy with it, and pulled it off with very basic tools.

3

I don’t have a full Elfa closet but I’ve got a tower of the wire basket drawers in my closet that I use to store small things like undies, socks, tank tops, and shorts. The organizer is of very good quaility (so much better than the knock-off versions from Walmart I’d tried in the past) and was fairly easy to put together. One word of caution, if you’re going to the Container Store in person, spend some time getting full measurements and figuring out what you want before you go. The Container Store gets super busy during the Elfa sale and it can be tough to find anyone to help you.

4

Interesting - I’ll check into it.

I should have included a link to the Elfa stuff initially - PDF file showing their nicer-looking stuff (their basic stuff looks sort of industrial and doesn’t include wall-mounted drawers): http://www2.elfa.com/userimages/elfa%20d�cor%20brochure%202004_WEB_GB.pdf

5

Heh, true words!!! I went today - and waited perhaps 90 minutes. I knew it would be a long wait and was prepared for that, fortunately. My decision at this point boils down to:

  • Do I want to do this vs. a “traditional” custom-installed closet system
  • How well the Elfa stuff really works, and holds up
  • Appearance (custom closet organizers’ lower-end affordable stuff looks like crap, their better stuff is $$$$; Elfa’s better stuff is “merely” $$)

Elfa wins out over custom, floor-wise; we had the custom version in our last place and the installers set the verticals on the carpet… making the carpet non-replaceable :mad:

6

A friend of mine is really into Elfa. She has Elfa’d two of her closets, and done them for friends as well (including me). The benefits of Elfa, as I see it, are that it’s easily installed and somewhat flexible when picking components. I didn’t find it particularly inexpensive, but it was cheaper than the alternatives. But it works fine for what I need, and there are some neat things (for example, I added a pull-out jewelry tray, which is still my favorite part of it). It’s neither attractive nor unattractive to me; it’s just functional. And it’s better than what was in my closet before (some kind of plywood closet organizer that had been set on top of the carpet; ripping it out meant discovering the layer of green shag carpeting underneath).

7

I love ELFA, and it is very customizable- you can have shelves of several depths and just about any length.

Get the catalog or go online, and fill out the checklist for measurements and current space needs before you go in. It makes it much easier and faster.

Yes, the store is a bit crowded, but it’s worth it.

8

I see I’m a little late, but my wife and I are big Elfa fans. They’re easy to install for even a marginally handy person such as myself, relatively inexpensive, and fairly good looking. We have Elfa systems in two closets, and shelving in both bedrooms (the monitor from which I’m reading this thread is perched on an Elfa), in the laundry room and the storage area of our condo. I would definitely recommend it.