Custom Closets in the Upper Florida Keys, FL

Nothing about storage in the Upper Keys works the way it does on the mainland. Houses sit up on pilings because Monroe County floodplain rules put the lowest floor at base flood elevation plus a foot, so one level has to hold everything a household owns. Canal homes in Port Largo and Venetian Shores come with dockage but with nowhere to put rods, tanks and fins. And the older concrete-block houses strung along the Overseas Highway through Key Largo and Tavernier were built with a closet that is one rod and one shelf.

LD Finish Custom Closets is a family-owned company that has been designing and installing custom storage in South Florida since 2016, and our service area now runs down US-1 into the Upper Florida Keys. Every project starts with a free in-home 3D design: a designer comes to the house, measures the real room, and shows you the finished layout on screen before anything is built. The work is Made in the USA, professional installation is included, we are insured, and we carry a lifetime warranty. LD Finish holds 4.9 stars across 70 Google reviews. You can browse finished rooms in our inspiration gallery.

Why Upper Keys Homeowners Choose Custom Closets

• Elevated houses put every bit of storage on one floor. New construction in Monroe County has to sit at base flood elevation plus a foot of freeboard, and homes built since 1975 were already required to be elevated. The enclosed space underneath an elevated Keys house is not habitable living area. Clothing, linens, luggage and off-season gear all get pushed upstairs, into the same rooms where people sleep. A closet that is designed top to bottom, rather than simply made wider, is usually the only space left to gain.
• Canal and waterfront homes are storing marine gear indoors. The deep-water canals of Port Largo, the bayside pockets off Blackwater and Buttonwood Sound, and the canal streets of Venetian Shores in Islamorada all come with a dock — and with reels, regulators, tanks, fins, dry bags, safety flags and coolers that end up stacked in a bedroom closet. Key Largo is known as the Diving Capital of the World, home to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first undersea park in the country at roughly 70 nautical square miles, and Islamorada is called the Sport Fishing Capital of the World. Those titles are not tourism copy to the people who live here; they are the contents of the closet.
• The older Keys housing stock has original closets from another era. Plantation Key was coconut and pineapple ground worked by Bahamian settlers before Flagler’s railroad came through, and Windley Key’s quarry supplied the fossilized coral rock that built it. Much of what went up along the highway afterward is low-slung concrete block with a single shallow closet per bedroom. Replacing that interior is normally the only way to add real capacity without moving a wall.
• Second homes and longer stays need storage that resets. Unincorporated Monroe County holds a 28-day minimum on residential rentals, while the Village of Islamorada licenses shorter stays, so a great many Upper Keys houses alternate between owner weekends and guest stays. That calls for a split system: a section set aside for the owner’s belongings, and open, obvious hanging and shelf space for whoever is in the house this month.
• Storm season and marine air both belong in the plan. After Hurricane Irma in 2017, and every season since, Upper Keys households bring shutters, patio furniture, bikes and supplies indoors for days at a time. Salt air is also hard on metal and on moisture-sensitive materials. Both are worth raising with your designer during the in-home visit, while the layout is still on the screen.

Custom Storage Ideas for Upper Keys Homes

Walk-In Closets for the Upstairs of an Elevated Home

In a stilt house, the primary suite is often the only room with square footage to spare, and it is carrying the load for the whole family. A designed walk-in closet uses the full wall height instead of stopping at a single rod, separates long-hanging from double-hanging, and puts drawers inside the closet so the bedroom does not need a dresser. For houses where the ceiling follows the roof line, the design visit matters more than usual: the measurements come from your actual room, not a catalog.

Reach-In Closets and Wardrobes for Older Key Largo and Tavernier Bedrooms

A 1960s block house near Old Settlers Park in Tavernier or off the Rock Harbor side of Key Largo typically has a narrow reach-in with one shelf above the rod and wasted air above that. Rebuilding it as a custom closet or wardrobe adds double-hang sections, shoe storage, and drawers in the same opening. For guest rooms with no closet at all, a freestanding wardrobe gives you one without construction.

Garage and Ground-Level Storage for Boats, Dive Gear and Storm Season

Below an elevated Upper Keys home, the ground level is where the boat trailer, the kayaks, the dive tanks, the shutters and the generator all compete. A planned garage storage system with wall-mounted racks, overhead shelving and closed cabinets gives each of those a fixed home, which matters most in the week you are bringing everything inside ahead of a storm. Shelving, bins and wall racks keep fishing and diving equipment off the slab and in one place.

Laundry Room Cabinets for Sand, Salt and Wet Towels

Laundry in the Keys handles beach towels, swim gear, charter clothes and rinse-off loads that a mainland laundry room never sees. Laundry room cabinets with a folding surface, a hanging rod for line-dry items and upper storage for supplies turn a passage into a working room. In houses where the laundry doubles as the back entry, the same wall can take a drop zone for bags and gear on the way in.

Pantries, Home Offices, Murphy Beds and Entertainment Centers

Upper Keys houses ask rooms to do two jobs. A Murphy bed turns a home office into a guest room when family comes down for a long weekend; home office cabinets keep a remote work setup from spreading across the house; an entertainment center organizes a great room that opens to the water. Pantry storage and custom shelving handle the provisioning habit that comes with a long drive to the nearest big-box store.

Upper Florida Keys Areas We Serve

Everyone in the Keys navigates by mile marker, so here is our service area in those terms. LD Finish serves Miami-Dade, Broward and the Upper Florida Keys, from Key Largo south as far as Layton at Mile Marker 68.

• Key Largo (ZIP 33037), roughly Mile Marker 106 to 97, including Ocean Reef Club at the northern tip, Port Largo, Rock Harbor, Buttonwood Sound and Blackwater Sound
• Tavernier (ZIP 33070), around Mile Marker 92, including the historic Tavernier district
• Islamorada (ZIPs 33036 and 33070) — Plantation Key, Windley Key, Upper Matecumbe and Lower Matecumbe, roughly Mile Marker 90 to 73, including Venetian Shores
• Craig Key and Fiesta Key, around Mile Marker 72 and 70
• Long Key and the City of Layton (ZIP 33001), Mile Marker 68 — the southern edge of our service area. Layton counted 210 residents in the 2020 census.

Key Largo sits about 60 miles from Miami, roughly an hour to an hour and a quarter down US-1 through the 18-Mile Stretch, which with Card Sound Road is one of only two ways in and out of the Keys. Our team is bilingual, English and Spanish, and you can reach us here to pick a date.

Start With a Free In-Home 3D Design

The honest way to plan a closet in the Upper Keys is to stand in the room. Ceiling heights change under a roof line, canal-side rooms have window placement a floor plan will not show, and a house on pilings has corners that a standard system simply does not fit. A designer comes to your home in Key Largo, Tavernier, Islamorada, Long Key or Layton, measures, and builds the 3D design with you, free and with no obligation. From approval, projects are installed in 7 to 21 days. Flexible financing options are available, and every project carries a lifetime warranty. Request your free in-home 3D design and we will come to you.

Upper Florida Keys Custom Closet Questions

What does a custom closet cost in the Upper Keys?

A designer measures your space, then you get your price. No obligation. Every Keys house is different — a reach-in in a Tavernier block house and a walk-in in an elevated Islamorada home are not the same project — so the number comes from your room, not from a chart.

How long does the whole thing take?

Projects are installed in 7 to 21 days from approval. Before that, the free in-home 3D design is a single appointment at your house and you approve the layout before anything is made.

How far down the Keys do you go?

We cover the Upper Keys from Key Largo at the top, through Tavernier, Plantation Key, Windley Key, Islamorada, Lower Matecumbe, Craig Key, Fiesta Key and Long Key, as far south as Layton at Mile Marker 68. That is the southern limit of our service area.

Do I need to remodel or do construction first?

In most cases, no. These are storage systems fitted to the room exactly as it stands, installed into the existing opening. All LD Finish projects come with a written guarantee.

Call (786) 999-8242 or schedule your free in-home 3D design. LD Finish Custom Closets, 12226 SW 128th St, Miami, FL 33186 — serving Miami-Dade, Broward and the Upper Florida Keys.