Thoughts on open shelving vs. enclosed cabinets for a MIL suite conversion?

I went thru this exact dilemma when I converted my basement shop into a hobby room for my wife. I initially left the storage racks as open frames using 2x4s and some heavy-duty brackets I picked up at the local lumber yard. Within two months, everythign was covered in a fine layer of sawdust and it looked like a mess. For a living space, expecially for family, I realy think those doors make the difference between a garage and a bedroom. You don't have to go full custom cabinetry if you're in a rush. I ended up using some 3/4-inch birch plywood panels and hung them on some basic sliding track hardware. It hides the notched bars and the lumber overflow perfectly. Even just a simple frame-and-panel door with a coat of Osmo Polyx-Oil can really warm up the room. Your mother-in-law will probaly appreciate not staring at your offcuts while she's trying to sleep.

I acutally lean toward the open-frame design, especially if you upgrade your materials. When I converted my back shed into a guest suite, I skipped the heavy doors and used 3/4-inch Baltic Birch for the vertical supports. If you sand the edges down to 220 grit and finish them with a clear coat of Minwax Wipe-On Poly, it looks intentional and high-end rather than unfinished.

The real trick to avoiding that warehouse vibe is using a French cleat system for the shelving components. It gives you the flexibility to move things around as she figures out her layout, wich is a huge help during a move. Instead of bulky doors that eat up floor space when they swing open, I used a few nice wicker baskets on the lower racks for the smaller items. It keeps the "airy" feel you’re after while hiding the actual mess. If you round over the edges with a 1/8-inch bit, the whole rig feels much softer and more like a home.

Have you ruled out the moisture factor before committing to either design? I’m a bit skeptical that simple doors or fancy sanding will solve the 'warehouse' feel if you haven't looked at the garage slab's humidity levels first. If that lumber overflow starts to move or the wardrobe gets musty because of poor airflow behind solid panels, it won't matter how nice the finish looks. Are you planning to install a subfloor or a vapor barrier, or are you just mounting these frames directly to the masonry? Sometimes an open design is actually safer for the wood in a converted space.

You're spot on about the doors making it feel more like a home. I did a similar conversion and those sliding panels really do the trick. One thing people usally overlook when doing the sliding track setup is adding a small felt strip or brush seal along the edges. In a garage-turned-studio, it helps keep that lingering shop smell out of her clothes and stops the panels from rattling if someone slams the main door. It’s a tiny detail but makes the whole thing feel way more solid and premium for her.

If you opt for the door enclosure, you must precisely calculate the clearance between the outermost edge of your notched horizontal bars and the interior face of the panels, because even a fractional protrusion from your lumber overflow will cause the sliding hardware to bind or mar the finish. I previously executed a similar hybrid storage configuration and realized that unless the frame is perfectly plumb — which is rarely the case with standard garage walls — you'll likely need to incorporate adjustable floor guides to prevent the panels from oscillating. Are you planning to utilize a bypass configuration, and have you considered how the increased depth of a double track might affect the room's narrow egress pathways?

Listen, back before everyone got fancy with sliding tracks, we just used simple Shaker-style frames with a bit of heavy canvas or tongue-and-groove cedar. If you're worried about the warehouse look, cedar's the way to go—the smell alone will hide any old garage grease and keep the moths out of her coats. I’ve built plenty of these 'temporary' setups that ended up staying for twenty years. Just make sure you’re using real joinery, like a blind mortise, instead of those flimsy metal brackets. A solid frame shows you actually care about the work, and the MIL won't feel like she's sleeping in a shed.

Quick update — I decided to go with the sliding panels and added those felt strips suggested to keep the dust and drafts out. The 'warehouse' feel is gone, and the room acutally feels cozy now. I also checked the slab humidity just to be safe. It looks great and the MIL is actually excited to move in!