Homes & Estates Florida Portfolio February 2018 | Page 61

Confessions
of a Hollywood Closet Designer
The closet - once an afterthought in
architectural design - is having a moment.
Fashion-minded homeowners with square footage
and dollars to spare are increasingly opting to turn
their dark, narrow closet spaces into Instagram-
worthy wardrobes. Some are even going so far as
to create closets that rival their favorite designer
boutiques in design, style and organization. To
craft the dressing room of their dreams, they
frequently call upon Lisa Adams. As the CEO of LA
Closet Design and star of HGTV’s “Million Dollar
Closets,” Adams has designed closets for a bevy
of high-styled stars, including Kris Jenner, Kendall
and Kylie Jenner, Fergie, Christina Aguilera, Billy
Crystal, Joey Kramer of Aerosmith and
Ray Romano.
A chemist-turned-MBA and purveyor of
fashion herself, Adams understands the unique
demands of her high profile clients who often want
a completely customized closet to accommodate
very specific wardrobe needs. (For example,
she designed a special display for Billy Crystal’s
collection of black tuxedos that he has donned as
a repeat Oscars host. For another client, Adams
crafted rolling stacks to accommodate her 1,000-
pair shoe collection. She has even opened up an
attic to install a dry cleaner-style carousel.) For an
average fee of $60,000 to $100,000, LA Closet
Design offers everything from closet design and
organization to styling and wardrobe evaluation.
The firm currently has 22 projects in the pipeline
from Los Angeles to Chicago to Dubai.
“My mission is to create wardrobe and
storage spaces that are balanced functionally
and aesthetically,” explains Adams. “The closet
is where we most often spend the first and last
moments of a day and unfortunately at those
times many of us deal with universal closet issues:
cluttered, overstuffed and unorganized spaces.
Instead, I look at both your room – and your life –
and then I create a space of peace, beauty and
even glamour.”
We caught up with Adams on a sunny
afternoon in West Hollywood and asked her to
share her best-kept secrets for creating classy
closets of calm.
First things first. What inspired you to start
LA Closet Design?
I witnessed kitchens booming and becoming
the “heart of the home.” It was in 2004 that I
thought, “What about closets?” It was becoming
more common to hire a kitchen designer, and
no closet designers existed at the time. There
were architects and interior designers, and closet
C O U R T E SY O F
L A C LO S E T D E S I G N
companies, doing closets, but no one specializing
only in closet spaces and at the level of design and
craftsmanship I had my eye set on doing.
Generally, how do your clients see their
own closet spaces and how do they want
them to function?
My clients usually cannot see beyond their existing
cluttered and overstuffed closets, so they turn
everything over to me - to design a closet that fits
their lifestyle and inventory, while being beautiful
too. Clients want to walk into their new closets feeling
organized, knowing where everything belongs,
feeling empowered because the dressing process is
easier, and like they are “shopping in their closet.”
You talked about closets being designed as
boutique spaces, à la the Louis Vuitton store.
Can you describe that concept for our readers
in more detail?
My clients want the boutique experience - like they
are shopping in their own closets, from in-cabinetry
and LED backlighting to staging areas, purse hanging
tables, and shoe and handbag display shelves.
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