When I bought my Mediterranean Style home in Delray Beach two years ago, the closets were the last thing on my mind. The arched doorways and clay tile roof and courtyard out back were what I noticed first. I lived with a single rod and a shelf for about six months before I started researching what it would cost to fix.
What Palm Beach Homes Need in a Closet System
Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Revival homes throughout Palm Beach County were designed for the Florida climate, not for modern storage habits. The thick stucco walls and open floor plans handle airflow well. The closets, though, weren’t built around two people working from home out of the same bedroom, or a wardrobe that has grown considerably since those homes were originally constructed. Coastal Modern and Key West style homes I had toured during my search had the same limitation. More square footage doesn’t automatically mean more usable storage.
The humidity makes the problem worse. Choosing cheap particleboard that swells, and standard metal hardware corrodes, and the salt air along the coast accelerates both. Cheap wire shelving has a documented history of failing within a few years in coastal South Florida conditions. The materials matter more here than they would in a drier climate, and I went into my search knowing that.
What I Looked for in Shelving Materials
My first priority was panel thickness…I wasn’t willing to consider anything under 3/4″ for the main shelving and vertical panels. The “edge banding” was the second item on my list. Cheap edge banding peels in humid conditions, and once it starts separating, the whole panel eventually follows. Drawer slides needed to be full-extension, and I wanted confirmation that the hardware was rated for a coastal environment before anyone put a drill near my walls.
The Companies I Researched
I got quotes from two companies. Inspired Closets Palm Beach came out first and the designer knew the product well. Pricing was reasonable, and for a standard walk-in they’d be worth calling.
Bella Systems Custom Closets of The Palm Beaches came out second. They claim to be luxury closet designers, and have a gallery of larger and more customized projects. They’re a closet company Palm Beach Florida location for their parent company, which is across the east coast. I wasn’t expecting much difference between the two consultations. I was wrong about that.
The Free Design Consultation Made the Difference
The Bella Systems designer measured the room, then pulled up a 3D rendering of the finished closet on the spot. In the design, every shelf, every drawer, every hanging section placed exactly where it would actually go in my Delray Beach closet. Inspired Closets had given me a binder with catalog photos. Seeing a rendering of my own room, with my ceiling height and my wall dimensions, is a different experience than flipping through product images. I didn’t expect that to matter as much as it did.
The closet design South Florida conversation also covered material specifications in detail. All panels run at minimum 3/4″ material. Edge banding runs at 2mm. Drawer slides are full-extension across every configuration they install. The designer knew exactly why I was asking about those specs in a coastal environment, which told me something about how often they get asked.
The Warranty Was the Final Factor
Bella Systems’ parent company and all the locations have a warranty that covers defects in materials and workmanship for as long as you own the product, not for a year or five years but for the entire time the system is installed in your home. For custom closets built into the walls of a house I plan to stay in for a long time, that distinction mattered more than the price difference between the two quotes I had received.
The closet systems installed in my Delray Beach home have been in place for fourteen months. The shelving hasn’t shifted. The drawer slides pull out the same as they did the day the installer left. The edge banding shows no sign of the humidity that has degraded cheaper materials in other parts of the house.
The free consultation costs nothing. You see exactly what you’d be getting, dimensioned and rendered in 3D, before you sign anything.
