Coat Closet Part I

I am about to share one of my dirty little secrets…my coat closet is absolutely, horridly unorganized.  I shamefully just throw things in there and the only thing "organized" are the coats, and that is only because they are hanging up.  At the beginning of this year I did an "inventory" of the house and made a list of projects I wanted to get done around the house.  The main area that was consistent throughout the house were the closets.  So the closets quickly went to the top of the list and the coat closet is first up.

I started looking on the world wide web for some inspiration and started piecing together my favorite parts of each closet.  I brought the pictures to my husband and he started thinking of ideas himself and drew up a plan for the closet…totally awesome!!!  This past weekend he was able to get a start on the closet, while I kept the girls entertained.

I will totally admit that I have a huge smile on my face just looking at the picture!!  Let's rewind to the beginning of the weekend and take a look at what we started with.  I will warn you the following pictures are not pretty and I cringe just looking at them.

One of the frustrating things about this coat closet is that it actually doesn't properly fit the bigger coats. The depth of the closet is too short so when you close the door you have to turn the coats sideways to shut the door.  We have lived with this for almost six years, but that has now wonderfully changed for the better!!!  First things first, we emptied the closet and unscrewed the clothing rod.  I am hanging onto the rod for a project for another closet upstairs!

For the coat closet, the main things I wanted in here were cubbies to hold smaller bins for seasonal items and two shelves at the bottom for shoes.  Since it is a "coat" closet, also want to add some hooks on the wall to hang the girls' coats and backpacks.

My husband used the existing shelf in the closet to build the cubbies, but made some adjustments first.  Since the cubbies I had my eyes on were averaging 6" in height, he made the height of the cubbies at 6.5".  In order for him to do this, he added a 1x2 board on each side.

Then to make it look seamless, he covered each side with a thin piece of birch panelling.

A few of our favorite closets had used bead board, which I love the look it gives the closet.  This step was purely for aesthetics, but totally love it!

Next step, was to make the bottom cubby.  My hubby used the Kreg Jig to assemble the two boards together.  This is where I forgot to take a picture after he installed the shelf in the closet…my bad!!  From here, he kreg jigged together two pine boards (1x10 and 1x8), to make the shelves for the shoes.

We decided to put the bottom shelf about 13" from the floor to allow for two bins to be placed under that we plan to use for toys.  Instead of always bringing down toys from the playroom, we want to have two designated bins of toys for downstairs.  The shelves for the shoes are placed 7" inches apart, which allows for plenty of room for our shoes.

It is hard to see, but quarter round was placed around the edges of the bead board.  Part II of the closet includes adding the additional two cubbies above the existing ones and then adding in the hooks for the coats and backpacks.  Once everything is assembled and installed, I will paint everything and then get to organize this bad boy.

Right now, I am over the moon in love with the closet and I will admit I walk by and peek inside just because!!!

With much love,

Kristin