Forget the Pool or Even the Living Room—‘Our Closet Time Is Precious’
Some homeowners are taking the coziness and intimacy of the primary suite’s walk-in wardrobe to the next level and transforming it from functional storage into the home’s centrepiece
4 min
A room you might not expect comes to mind when home seller Karen Haines reflects on fond memories at her Hollywood Regency-style house in Palm Springs, California: her bedroom closet.
“Forget the great room, swimming pool or hot tub. All the action in the house happens in the closet. It’s where everyone wants to be,” said Haines of the enormous space, which is decked out with white tones, mirrors, marble and gold finishes, and has double sinks with bird-shaped faucets.
Haines and her husband, Chris, are selling the house, designed by acclaimed architect Robert Marx and on the market with Douglas Elliman for $5.2 million. The couple, both entrepreneurs in the music industry, usually keep classic rock ‘n’ roll playing in the closet all day, she said.
“My daughter and I try on clothes in there, and Chris and I drink coffee in the morning and cocktails come evening,” she said.
For most homeowners, closets are merely functional—that is, a place to hold clothes, accessories and other items that they turn to for everyday wear. Some, however, are taking the coziness and intimacy of the primary suite’s walk-in closet to the next level and turning it into the home’s prized space. It’s become a place where couples can connect at the end of a hectic day or a lounge where owners socialise with friends, enjoy a morning coffee, and, yes, even imbibe with cocktails and wine.
Chris Lim, a real estate agent and former president of Christie’s International Real Estate, said that he is witnessing a redefining of the concept of walk-in closets.
“With the inclusion of features like bar sinks, lounge seating, spacious islands and glass displays and expanded vanity areas, walk-in closets now offer a retreat for morning rituals and post-day relaxation,” he said. “They’ve become hubs of activity and connection in multimillion-dollar homes.”
Part of the trend, he said, is the growing number of fashion and social media influencers, who often use their bedroom closets as their offices or filming space.
When it comes to showpiece closets, Brazilian design firm Ornare is a leading name and charges between $30,000 and close to $1 million for its services.
Claudio Faria, the CEO of Ornare Miami, said that when he opened his business in 2007, closets were an afterthought with homeowners investing their money in zhuzhing up public-facing spaces such as kitchens and family rooms. Now, he said, closets are dominating home design—his business has grown 50% annually for the last five years as a result.
“Closets have become more important because, in the way that wealthy people collect cars and art, they’re collecting clothes, and closets are the venues to show them off,” Faria said. They’re also a unique area to use in your home because of their intimacy and become talking points.”
Ana Paula Siebert Justus is a client and tapped Ornare to bring her vision of a glamorous closet to life. Justus, a fashion influencer, and her husband, Roberto Justus, an entrepreneur, own a five-bedroom condominium in Sunny Isles, Florida. The large wardrobe in their bedroom is awash in green hues, wood and leather. Backlighting features throughout, and there are sections for handbags and clothes plus a hat rack and a vanity with a chair.
“I spend a lot of time in my closet shooting content, so it needs to be in photograph-ready shape,” she said. “It has no door, and one of my favorite ways to connect with Roberto is to catch up as I’m getting dressed for the day or evening events. Our closet time is precious.”
Tina Trahan, a philanthropist and art collector, lives in Los Angeles’s Studio City neighbourhood in a 5,100-square-foot home that was the exterior for the home on “The Brady Bunch” TV series. She shared similar sentiments about her closet. She has repurposed one of the bedrooms into the space and has outfitted it with double-height rolling racks, a three-way mirror, a sofa, a Miele coffee machine and a fridge stocked with drinks including White Claws—her beverage of choice.
Trahan said that she frequently entertains girlfriends, and they love heading to her closet to drink tequila and wine and catch up.
“We end up ordering sushi and eating it there. My closet is 100% our favourite place to hang out,” she said.
Other examples of these double-duty flashy closets abound.
Real estate agent Katrina Barrett of Christie’s International Real Estate Walt Danley | Local Luxury is overseeing the marketing and sale of a $40 million home in Paradise Valley, Arizona. The centrepiece of its primary suite is an expansive closet with seating, a steaming area, hidden panels to store valuables and a secret door leading to a sports barn with a pickleball court and golf simulator.
In another example, Susan Archer is selling her home in Issaquah, Washington, near Seattle, for more than $6 million through Windermere Real Estate/Luxury Portfolio International. She described the property’s primary bedroom’s closet as “a haven for creating memorable moments with friends and family.”
The white-painted space has marble and cream walls and features backlighting, a display case that’s common in upscale boutiques, a washer and dryer, a wet bar, an island and seating.
“Many of my girlfriends and I have gathered around the island, their excitement palpable as they admire my collection. With champagne flutes in hand, the atmosphere is lively and carefree,” Archer said. “Beyond the soirées with friends, my closet holds a special place for precious moments with my daughter. As she grows, her interest in fashion blossoms, and my closet becomes a treasure trove of inspiration for her budding style.”
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Selloff in bitcoin and other digital tokens hits crypto-treasury companies.
3 min
The hottest crypto trade has turned cold. Some investors are saying “told you so,” while others are doubling down.
It was the move to make for much of the year: Sell shares or borrow money, then plough the cash into bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies. Investors bid up shares of these “crypto-treasury” companies, seeing them as a way to turbocharge wagers on the volatile crypto market.
Michael Saylor pioneered the move in 2020 when he transformed a tiny software company, then called MicroStrategy , into a bitcoin whale now known as Strategy. But with bitcoin and ether prices now tumbling, so are shares in Strategy and its copycats. Strategy was worth around $128 billion at its peak in July; it is now worth about $70 billion.
The selloff is hitting big-name investors, including Peter Thiel, the famed venture capitalist who has backed multiple crypto-treasury companies, as well as individuals who followed evangelists into these stocks.
Saylor, for his part, has remained characteristically bullish, taking to social media to declare that bitcoin is on sale. Sceptics have been anticipating the pullback, given that crypto treasuries often trade at a premium to the underlying value of the tokens they hold.
“The whole concept makes no sense to me. You are just paying $2 for a one-dollar bill,” said Brent Donnelly, president of Spectra Markets. “Eventually those premiums will compress.”
When they first appeared, crypto-treasury companies also gave institutional investors who previously couldn’t easily access crypto a way to invest. Crypto exchange-traded funds that became available over the past two years now offer the same solution.
BitMine Immersion Technologies , a big ether-treasury company backed by Thiel and run by veteran Wall Street strategist Tom Lee , is down more than 30% over the past month.
ETHZilla , which transformed itself from a biotech company to an ether treasury and counts Thiel as an investor, is down 23% in a month.
Crypto prices rallied for much of the year, driven by the crypto-friendly Trump administration. The frenzy around crypto treasuries further boosted token prices. But the bullish run abruptly ended on Oct. 10, when President Trump’s surprise tariff announcement against China triggered a selloff.
A record-long government shutdown and uncertainty surrounding Federal Reserve monetary policy also have weighed on prices.
Bitcoin prices have fallen 15% in the past month. Strategy is off 26% over that same period, while Matthew Tuttle’s related ETF—MSTU—which aims for a return that is twice that of Strategy, has fallen 50%.
“Digital asset treasury companies are basically leveraged crypto assets, so when crypto falls, they will fall more,” Tuttle said. “Bitcoin has shown that it’s not going anywhere and that you get rewarded for buying the dips.”
At least one big-name investor is adjusting his portfolio after the tumble of these shares. Jim Chanos , who closed his hedge funds in 2023 but still trades his own money and advises clients, had been shorting Strategy and buying bitcoin, arguing that it made little sense for investors to pay up for Saylor’s company when they can buy bitcoin on their own. On Friday, he told clients it was time to unwind that trade.
Crypto-treasury stocks remain overpriced, he said in an interview on Sunday, partly because their shares retain a higher value than the crypto these companies hold, but the levels are no longer exorbitant. “The thesis has largely played out,” he wrote to clients.
Many of the companies that raised cash to buy cryptocurrencies are unlikely to face short-term crises as long as their crypto holdings retain value. Some have raised so much money that they are still sitting on a lot of cash they can use to buy crypto at lower prices or even acquire rivals.
But companies facing losses will find it challenging to sell new shares to buy more cryptocurrencies, analysts say, potentially putting pressure on crypto prices while raising questions about the business models of these companies.
“A lot of them are stuck,” said Matt Cole, the chief executive officer of Strive, a bitcoin-treasury company. Strive raised money earlier this year to buy bitcoin at an average price more than 10% above its current level.
Strive’s shares have tumbled 28% in the past month. He said Strive is well-positioned to “ride out the volatility” because it recently raised money with preferred shares instead of debt.
Cole Grinde, a 29-year-old investor in Seattle, purchased about $100,000 worth of BitMine at about $45 a share when it started stockpiling ether earlier this year. He has lost about $10,000 on the investment so far.
Nonetheless, Grinde, a beverage-industry salesman, says he’s increasing his stake. He sells BitMine options to help offset losses. He attributes his conviction in the company to the growing popularity of the Ethereum blockchain—the network that issues the ether token—and Lee’s influence.
“I think his network and his pizzazz have helped the stock skyrocket since he took over,” he said of Lee, who spent 15 years at JPMorgan Chase, is a managing partner at Fundstrat Global Advisors and a frequent business-television commentator.
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