We saw our current apartment for the first time about a month ago.  We had two days in Vitoria to find an apartment to rent so my husband could move and start work in 10 days.  One step across the threshold and I knew I liked it.  After a quick tour I was ready to sign the papers. My husband hesitated.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“Well, it doesn’t come with closets.”

I did a double take. Plenty of cabinets in the kitchen,  and…nothing else. That’s it.  No closet or storage room of any kind.  Unless we wanted to store our socks above the sink, we would have to purchase a closet.

“Brazilian homes typically don’t have built in closets,” my husband explained later.  “It’s just a piece of furniture your have to buy. It’s cultural.”

Obviously, Brazilians have clothes.  They have towels and bed sheets.   Cariocas seem to think 60 degrees requires a coat and scarf, so where do they store the coat?  In separately purchased, often custom made, cabinets and closets like the one pictured above.

In our quest for a closet, I developed my own theory to explain the lack closets.  It is one giant conspiracy between developers and furniture manufacturers.  Oh, the architects and interior designers are in on it too.  Everyone’s involved.  It’s a massive, money-making conspiracy.  And you the poor home buyer, with your four suitcases of clothes and one of shoes (yes, you need it all), you are the victim.

For those of you scoffing at the idea of a closet conspiracy, let me tell you about the first stop on our closet shopping quest.  We went into a beautiful store, just a few, tree-lined blocks from our new apartment.  They had efficient yet elegant looking layouts of closets and cabinets for every room of the house.  We sat down in front of a lovely woman.  My husband spoke to her for all of forty seconds.  Before I could even catch up in the conversation, we were leaving.

“What was the problem?  I couldn’t understand what she said.”  I scurried after my husband out the door.

“They only do custom work.”

“Is that a problem?”

“It would probably cost around R$3,000/m.  So, a big closet could cost between R$27 – 30,000.”

In dollars, about $15,000.  A $15,000 closet!  A closet!  Hell no, I’m not paying for a closet the same amount that I could pay for a car.  Never going to happen.  I will live out of my suitcases forever, before I spend that kind of money on what are essentially very tall cabinets.   Now, tell me there is not a conspiracy here?

We did eventually find the above closet for way, way less and it is working beautifully.  It keeps our clothes off the floor, which is where we’ve had them for the past two weeks.  My husband keeps saying this is just how Brazilians do it.  Big closets are an American thing.

I thought about that last comment.  I’ve stayed with families in a few different countries and I have to admit that I don’t remember ever walking into a closet or even seeing one.  Still, if the idea of “0” can be developed independently on two different continents, I refuse to believe the concept of a walk-in closet is uniquely American.