Walkin', Talkin' Closets

I’ve come to this event alone and a stranger to everyone there, but within moments Mikel Welch has taken me under his wing. I walk with him from room to room, and in a low voice he tells me about those we pass. There’s the lady that wants for nothing. The businessman with his tailored suit and silk tie. The young professional couple, arm-in-arm—he's in a smart, short-sleeved button down and, from her top to her shoes, she’s his subtle complement. Welch knows these people intimately. He’s created them for Inspired Closets in Baton Rouge.

Formerly Ultimate Closet Systems, the custom closet business owned by Neil and Darla Jackson has just joined the new Inspired Closets brand, launched by The Stow Company. For years, the Michigan-based Stow was solely a manufacturer for close to two hundred custom closets dealers, like Ultimate Closet Systems, throughout the country.

This evening marks the soft debut of Ultimate Closet Systems' complete transformation into an Inspired Closets location, still locally owned but with a more focused approach to marketing themselves. “Nobody knew The Stow Company, because they’re just a manufacturer,” said Neil Jackson. “But with 175 dealers all doing their own marketing, you have an opportunity at synergy and to bring the brand together. We’ve been doing this for close to fifteen years now, and people still don’t have any idea what we do. So having an opportunity to be a part of something bigger is what attracted us to it.”

To bring an individual touch to each of the forty-three Inspired Closets showrooms throughout the country, The Stow Company secured Welch, an interior designer who may look familiar from his work as a set designer on Steve Harvey and Harry Connick Jr’s Harry, as well as his participation in HGTV Design Star. With Welch’s talents, the showrooms are transformed from simple product displays to beautiful interiors, ranging from clothes closets to garages and home bars, that are just familiar enough. “I don’t want anything to be bland or boring,” said Welch, who prefers a mostly neutral palette with pops of color. “Each space should tell a story.” I see my own life in the young professional his-and-hers closet—or at least what my life will be once I find a better place for the baby’s stroller, stop treating the top of my dresser as a shelf, and keep my shoes appropriately in pairs.

Baton Rouge is the third city Welch has traveled to, after Chicago and Richmond, but there are forty more left to visit. In each new place, his goal is this: meld his own tasteful aesthetic with the interests and traditions of the city. Welch will leave, but the closets he creates stay behind. More than a line item in his portfolio, they’re meant to resonate with a city he’s only just met. “Each showroom needs to appeal to the market that we’re in, so we buy everything locally,” said Welch. Visitors to the Jacksons’ showroom need to see their own habits reflected in these mocked-up spaces. Welch must work fast but diligently. He interviews the business owners and tours the city’s popular destinations. He absorbs before he advises. (He enjoys himself too. In the four days he’s been in Baton Rouge, he tells me, he’s eaten at the Chimes five times. “Most every meal I’ve had has been some kind of Louisiana fare,” said Welch. “And that’s intentional, so when I go back and people ask ‘How was your Louisiana stay?’ I can say, ‘You know what? It was great. I had Jacked Up Oysters. I didn’t know what that was, but now I do. I had authentic Louisiana gumbo.’ I don’t like the cookie cutter experience.”)

Welch’s Chicago closets hold down jackets. In Richmond, Welch tells me, he used lots of blues as well as University of Virginia and Virginia Tech paraphernalia. Here in Baton Rouge, of course there are purple and gold LSU items; hues of wine stand out in each closet’s fashionable apparel; and in the garage showroom, attention is paid to a sportsman’s needs. Welch’s quick observations of Baton Rouge play out—I note Darla Jackson and another employee are both clad in claret.

Neil and Darla launched Ultimate Closet Systems in 2003. Intended first as a wholesale business, they found far more interest from homeowners than builders. In fourteen years of operation, consumer demand has only increased. Whether it’s the glossy pages of lifestyle magazine or an episode of reality TV, people see perfection and they want that for themselves. But often, the closet and other storage spaces are where a not-so-lovely life hides: your dirty clothes, your rarely used appliances, a skeleton or two. (Though there can be unexpected benefits to clutter. When my dad was a boy, a thief loose in the neighborhood was thought to have taken refuge in my grandparents’ garage. “If he ran in there, he’s still in there,” a neighbor assured the police.)

You can’t find the perfect closet in a House Beautiful spread. That’s someone else’s life. For your customized space, Inspired Closets will send a designer into your home, who then assesses the shoes, blouses, wall hangings, and other items your closet needs to hold. “We measure it all so that everything has a place,” said Neil. “Then we come up with a design.” Clients will see a 3D version of their proposed closet, after which materials are ordered. The subsequent installation usually takes just a day.

“A lot of people in this industry just focus on product. Product, product, product,” said Carl Seymour, vice president of The Stow Company. “We did a lot of consumer research. We did focus groups in Chicago, New York, New Jersey and Seattle. We’re in a difficult space, because we go into the most intimate spaces in people’s homes. You don’t even let your mom in your closet. So we’re working to break down those barriers.”

Baton Rouge’s Inspired Closets will debut their new name and showroom in a grand reopening on October 27 (9 am–3 pm) & October 28 (10 am–2 pm). inspiredclosetsbr.com.

More on interior designer Mikel Welch at mikelwelch.com.