We are nearly finished with our game closet renovation. In the meantime, I wanted to share another closet project we did a few years ago, which has been a huge success in our house. Living in a small house means we have to be creative when we do a makeover. My wheels are always turning, trying to come up with ways to make our space more efficient.
For 10 years, we lived with our over-cluttered coat closet. We had lots of coats and jackets. There was an overflow of hats, scarves, and gloves. We had numerous backpacks. We had piles of shoes heaped on the floor. It was a perpetual mess. In addition to the chaos of all of our stuff, the space wasn’t functioning for our family. The kids couldn’t reach the hangers, so John and I had to hang up all the coats every time we walked in the door. That got old quick, so we decided to hang hooks at a lower level for the kids. This worked better, but it was still not great. The kids would constantly knock our coats off the hangers while trying to use the hooks mounted on the wall.
After thinking it over, I decided that I wanted to convert our coat closet into a mini mudroom. I wanted to get rid of the hanging rod and install large hooks instead. I also wanted to build in storage for our shoes along the bottom. And lastly, I wanted to add a second shelf to the top of the closet for extra storage. At first, I think John was a little skeptical of my crazy hook plan, but he quickly got on board and helped me turn my dream into reality.
I forgot to take a “before” picture, but I am sure you can imagine the scene. Picture an overstuffed closet, with a mountain of shoes on the floor.
This is what we ended up with after transforming the space…
The very top shelf was installed for photo album storage. The next shelf was installed to hold baskets for scarves, hats, and gloves. Below that shelf, we hung 8 hooks around the perimeter of the closet. These hooks had two prongs – one for a light jacket and one for a thicker coat. Midway down the wall, we hung another set of smaller hooks. This area was designated for backpacks. And finally, we installed two shelves for shoe storage.
Here is a picture of the closet after we put our belongings back inside…
This change has been an overwhelming success. We did this makeover in 2018, and since that time, we have had and organized and efficient coat closet. There are no longer piles of shoes on the floor. The kids always hang up their jackets. The backpacks are completely out of sight. We love it!
I am hoping the game closet makeover turns out just as awesome as the coat closet! We are going to try to finish it this weekend. Stay tuned for the big reveal.
Love it!