Nestled on a quiet, idyllic suburban street, quaintly called a business district, is a small custom closet company, Ravinia Custom Closets. The shop, set in the middle of a block of a charming mix of small businesses from dining and drinks, to a bookstore and antique shop, violin build and restoration house, arts and crafts, and even an “ole-timey” speakeasy, has brought a vision to reality for hundreds of customers.

Sitting in the “front room” of this multi-vignette showroom is Alan Turner, the owner of the Highland Park, Illinois-based closet and organized-solutions company. 

While he has a traditional office space in the back, which doubles as an office vignette, he prefers to work out front, by a glass window, facing a small park with families strolling by, so that he can see the community in which he serves. 
Ravinia Custom Closets is a small, privately owned business with all of the capabilities of those bigger guys, Turner said. The difference is personal attention from the owner on every project. The company does not have a customer service number, you get the owner on the phone every time. 

The 1,500-square-foot showroom is the epitome of the owner, as well as the closet industry, which has, for the last five years, become his calling. Each room is a showcase. Each room is a vignette displaying luxury complementing utility. 

The front room begins the story, showcasing the basic components of a typical closet such as doors, drawers, countertops, finishes, hardware, lighting. Open a cabinet door, pull back a drawer, check every nook and cranny, and you will see the various samples and options available to a customer wanting to dress up a custom closet, laundry room, mud room, pantry, garage, home office or just about any other room in the home.

Function equals form
Design ideas might indeed be squeezed in every available space, but touring room after room does not appear messy or disorganized. In fact, the showroom is neat and clean and is emblematic of the business that often solves organizational problems. 

“We want you to get the perfect solution for your needs,” he said. “Customers often ask me if what they want will look good or ‘stupid,’ and I always tell them that if what they buy works for their needs, then it is beautiful. Function equals form all the way.”

Turner has been in the closet business for five years but comes to the industry with an eye for design and a knack – created by years of experience – for understanding storage needs. 
His interest in closets was sparked after seeing a TV commercial for a major closet company. Turner intuitively understood the opportunity when he saw it. 

“I realized that closets are a natural fit to my background, which is in commercial design and office furniture with a specialty in filing and storage,” he noted. “For years, I designed and built file rooms. And then I moved into entire office plans, including cubicles, private offices, and conference rooms so when I saw the commercial, I immediately said, ‘I think I can do that’.”

The business model from his office furniture days is one that he has replicated for his closets business. Dealers dealt with the end user. They measured the area, designed the storage solution and placed a production order with a manufacturer. Then, the dealer would install it.

Fit the space
Turner said that while there was a lot to learn, he came into the industry with some basic skills, such as knowing how to measure a room, and was comfortable specifying parts and pieces.

“I have a good eye for understanding what needs to be stored and a good eye for knowing what can be stored in the space available,” he said. “I know how to determine how many inches of this and how many inches of that. This is directly taken from my days doing filing rooms. And I just literally overlay that into closets. I measure how much double hang, how much long hang, how many shoes; I literally count what somebody’s got when possible.”

While form does equal function, the myriad options available do make for beautiful, often luxurious closets and cabinets for many other rooms. These include rich and striking finishes such as Mysterious, myriad door styles, crown mouldings, base mouldings, accessory offerings, and more.

For instance, the showroom’s newest vignette is a piece of “furniture” that would look good in any room of the house. The unit’s elegant green finish is called Duke, and the countertop finish is called Metro. One puck light under the top cabinet and flat crown moulding finishes it off. It features flat crown moulding that Turner says turns even a basic unit into a lovely piece.

“We often put the applied base with mitered corners down at the bottom,” he added. “We miter the corners so it’s a furniture look for their house. It’s not a closet look, it’s furniture.”