If you want to know a little bit about someone's personality through their home, you can get some insight from their furnishings, the contents of the refrigerator, and the artwork on the walls. But if you want insight into their soul, no other room in the house will tell you more than their closet.
And I've seen thousands of closets....... some more memorable than others.
There was that insane penthouse apartment I showed my client overlooking the city by the United Nations. I remember walking to the southern-facing window and watching a helicopter fly by beneath us. The living room was huge, and the kitchen looked like a jewel box that had never been cooked in —a home for a superstar. The largest primary bedroom closet was packed full of baseballs signed by the captain of the Yankees and a few of his uniforms hanging next to his suits. That was a cool moment (even though I didn't sell the apartment).
Recently, I was hired to sell a couple's apartment. They both interviewed me, but I dealt only with the wife when it came to scheduling showings and the apartment details. She was very involved. After a few showings, something felt "off," and then I realized there was no sign of the wife in any of the closets. Not a stitch of clothing (or anything else) anywhere. Weird, to say the least, and I still haven't figured it out because they were very close and intimate and clearly not going through a divorce. It gave me Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibes....
And who can forget Carrie Bradshaw's closet in her apartment in "Sex and the City?" The apartment was mediocre, but her closet was a showstopper, although still not as impressive as the one closet I saw in the West Village townhouse I sold, which had about 25 Birkin bags in it.
My wife and I shared a teeny closet in our bedroom for the better part of 6 years at our last home. The weird thing is that when we moved to a home with an enormous walk-in room for a closet, I didn't notice it. We have the same stuff, but still manage to fill it to capacity.
There's always that question about which person (alive or dead) you'd like to have a meal with. A more intimate question about getting to know someone's soul would be whose closet you would like to walk through with....
Let's do this!
Shaun