John Louis Home JLH-529 Premier 12-Inch Deep Closet Shelving System, Red Mahogany
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of John Louis Home JLH-529 Premier 12-Inch Deep Closet Shelving System, Red Mahogany
Customer Review: Take your time... Double check the contents
Summary: 4 Stars
Just installed the closet yesterday - a one-day project which included demo of the old closet bar/shelf and re-painting. All in all, a very nice looking closet now. Take your time when you first design and lay out your closet - it's the foundation for how you'll like the finished product.
The closet arrived in excellent condition - no dents or dings in the outer packaging. Everything inside was well packaged but, upon inspection, one small piece was damaged (a corner was broken off one of the shelf support arms. It wasn't a big deal, as I used the enclosed marker to color the damaged part.) I don't see the support arms when there are clothes hanging... so I didn't bother to return.
For the money, looks and quality, I would have given this five stars, but I found during installation that the 1 1/2 inch screws required were replaced with 1 inch screws (which did not work for their intended application). I wasted a fair amount of time figuring out what I was doing wrong (I thought), and finally wound up at the hardware store buying the correct screws. Not that big of a deal, but I thought that dinging one star was appropriate.
I would certainly recommend two people to install this closet. I was able to install by myself, but an extra pair of hands would have been good at certain points during installation.
If you use the appropriate tools, pre-drill holes and take your time, you'll have no problems with installation. Some reviewers were complaining about the wall anchors, and I didn't have any problems with them after pre-drilling. In fact, a couple of anchors were attached without drilling, and I had no issues with them either...
I wouldn't call myself a home improvement "expert," but I've got a fair amount of experience with smaller jobs. The most important part is to take your time, and always be thinking ahead a few steps...
Another thought... if you're planning on selling or staging a home, you can't beat this closet... at $400, it'll add a great "custom" feel - $$$ - I'm planning on doing that with a condo we're planning to sell.
I like this product enough to buy another one... Definitely recommended.
Customer Review: Think: Ikea-style Junk made of solid wood
Summary: 3 Stars
It's hard to trash this product or speak it up. The John Louis closet organizer systems represent a middle tier of closet organizers that has no competition. That is, if you want a solid wood closet organizer that costs significantly less than $1000 and you don't have to completely build from scratch, this is the only way to go. However, The method of construction is the same as the Ikea junk that falls apart as you install. First, the package includes a ton of drywall anchors that are meant to be self-drilling. They don't work; they're junk. They simply melt before they get into the wall. If you're lucky, you'll get one halfway in, the head will break off and the extremely hot melted tip will fall down into your wall. If you're really lucky, it will land on extremely dry cellulose insulation. The cam bolts that hold some pieces together are the classic Ikea junk. When assembling the main tower, you are required to assemble three pieces together before attaching to the wall. This guarantees that the third piece will pull away, tearing the cam bolts out of both pieces and leaving you with either useless junk or a new fix-it-yourself engineering issue. For $400, more than a few expletives flew from my mouth during the installation. I could not finish the installation in one sitting because I needed to go buy additional drywall anchors. I foresaw this issue and had pre-purchased some, but not enough. The look of the product is pretty good. The wood is solid, not medium-density-fiber-board, but it still cracks easily Every piece I installed cracked when I used the recommended 1/2 screw. It is unclear what kind of wood this is, but since the product appears to be manufactured in China, you can bet yourself that this is an unsustainably harvested wood product. The only conselation there, is that I can tell you this is a fast-growing wood; it's soft like a young, highly-productive wood, not hard and tight-grained like a mature wood. Thus, it is possible they are not mowing down older forest to create this product. At first, I would have thought it was something unsubstantial like eukalyptus, but the entire package is very heavy. I bet they don't care what wood or where it's from, so it may vary from batch to batch. The finish is easily scratched during installation, but the packaging includes a small vial of colored powder. I couldn't tell if it was meant to be powder or if it dried out in the warehouse. Overall, this product is probably worth $100, well overpriced at $300 to $400, and has no competition in the $250 to $800 price range, so you can rest assured the price is set arbitrarily. If you do choose this product, make sure to have a second (maybe third) set of hands for installation of the main tower, and supply your own fasteners.
A normal reach-in closet is about 2 feet deep. Mine is 23.5 inches deep. It is difficult to guess whether to install the 12" or 16" deep organizer. I chose the 12" deep model, and I think there is room to have gone 16" deep. The deeper one gives you the option of drawers, which might be nice if your closet doors accomodate.
Anyway, I think I would prefer this over the MDF junk, but I am am still underwhelmed by the materials quality. If I were a real stickler, I would ask for the entire unit to be replaced by John Louis Home because almost every piece broke in one way or another during installation. With additional equipment, I have made it work, but I have yet to decide what I will request from the company for retribution.
Hope this was helpful. Though, it may not have been because this is neither a recommendation for, nor against the product.
Customer Review: Works well, except....
Summary: 4 Stars
Our closet came with a single shelf and a single rod hanging beneath it. That was all I needed for many years, but now I'm married and have a child. Our storage needs have gone way up and the old configuration proved to be inefficient and inadequate. Thus it was that we discovered the John Louis Premier Solid Wood Closet System. It seemed like something that would work. We installed it in "Configuration C" and it works splendidly.
A note of caution is in order. Before you attempt to install this closet system, you'd better do an honest evaluation of your skills. Are you very handy around the home, or are you just barely able to get things put together? If the answer is the latter, don't attempt this project. It's very difficult. The instructions are opaque, to say the least. This project will favor those who are able to improvise when things don't go well. Things won't. If you are unable to do anything except following instructions, don't attempt this project. I ended up with far more parts than I would ever have needed, and not enough parts to get the job done.
After the very difficult task of getting the whole thing assembled inside the closet, I found that there were only two "G Shelves," although the drawings I was following clearly indicated three were necessary. Hmmmm. There were enough parts for the installation of three shelves, but there were, in fact, only two shelves included in the package and, clearly, no room for three. I called a 1-800 number and explained the situation. First, the telephone experience was exceptionally good. I got a person on the first ring and the lady was both understanding and helpful. She said an additional shelf would be shipped immediately. Evidently this is an ongoing problem that they are familiar with. But, why would they sell a product that indicated the need for three shelves but supply only two?
Another thing I noted was that a little tube of finish repair was included in the package. Expect to use the repair kit. The wood finish on this closet is very easy to damage and the repair kit will come in handy.
Well, all in all, my experience with this closet system is very mixed. I love the way it looks and works. I hope it lasts over an extended period as the wood seems very easy to damage. I gave it four stars, but perhaps three and a half might be closer.
Gary Peterson
Customer Review: kind of junky but real hard to assemble
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm pretty handy but it took me no less than 11 hours to assemble more or less correctly. Screws are cheap and many break... some do not really even fit well. The fastening systems are a bit flakey. Overall, this is more expensive than it's worth, but a fairly functional modular unit. As far as price/value, it should cost about 2/3 of what it does.
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