Coat Closet Mudroom

Do you have one space in your house that you're just never satisfied with? For me, it's my coat closet. I have changed this closet more times that I can count!

I thought I had solved it with my first build of a tall, narrow shoe shelf with hooks above and to the sides of it. It worked for a while, but the kids, and so their coats, have grown! And the weather in Northern Virginia this winter has been having an identity crisis and so we need different jackets from one day to the next! Clutter, crowding, ACK!

ANYway, more thinking and staring has been happening, with the vague plan of trying to do something in there but without much of an idea of what I want to do.

Then I saw this pop up on my Pinterest feed and the wheels started turning. What if I modify this to make it fit the coat closet?! I loved that it provides space for shoes without wasting the rest of the depth of the floor space. And I loved that I could stash stuff in the back depending on the season - snow gear, soccer gear, swim gear, whatever!

When I measured and found my space to just be about half the size of Ana's, I was convinced. Easy mods, organized and hopefully more spacious coat closet, and even a place to sit to get shoes on and off!

I had to plan for the doorway opening that is more narrow than the actual closet. I learned from an earlier failed attempt at getting a shelf system in there that a shelf as wide as the actual closet would never actually get into the closet and be able to turn into place. So this build would have to be assembled in place. In the closet. With no closet light. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Empty it, pull off the moulding (not pictured), ready to go!

I started by cutting all of the pieces I would need for the shoe shelves and storage area. I planned to assemble this with Kreg joinery, so I drilled the pocket holes at this point.

Next I stained everything (Varathane Dark Walnut stain to match the stairs) and applied polyurethane to both sides of all of the pieces.

I don't think I have ever said how much I love this poly, but seriously - this stuff rocks. Super thick application, one-and-done on coats, and a smooth finish without all of the pickiness of regular poly. Seriously, I can basically just slap this on, go over sections to smooth when I need to, and it dries quickly and looks great! If you've worked with regular poly with all of it's bubbles and lines and multiple layers, you will understand how awesome this is! Varathane isn't paying me or anything, I just really love this stuff!

Once all of the pieces were dry, I headed into the closet. There aren't any pictures of the construction here - I basically followed Ana's plans and swore a lot at the frustration of building in an area only 1.5" wider than the piece. ;) But it came together!

I put up the coat rack piece next and then on to the top cubbies. Same process, similar swearing. Installation of this part was a bit trickier - this closet is really odd and is lacking in studs. There are only two on the whole back wall and they're both on the right side! And the side walls are basically devoid of studs. So weird. I decided to hang it with L-brackets to make it easiest. Because there are only the two studs, I put L-brackets on the tops and bottoms just to have more attachment in the stronger areas.

When I was antsy during one of the drying stages, I made this little key/glasses/wallet hanger for one of the side walls. We'll try out this prototype for a while and if it works well, I'll add it to my Etsy shop soon!

All done!  (horrible lighting to try to take this pictures! Sorry!)

I'll explain how I did the plank wall later if anyone is interested. I'm planning to do something on the side walls too, mostly to cover all of the anchor holes from previous versions of the closet, and to cover the paint without painting. ;) Any ideas on what I should do on the sides? Plain (stained) plywood sheets? More planks? Something else?

I noticed I ended my last post about this closet with "maybe it will stay like this for a while now" and now I'd like to say it again, but this time it had better because it's built in! These will have to be taken apart to get them out now! ;)



p.s. - Did you notice my girls' cute little purses in the closet? Don't you just them?! They're custom made by my super talented sister-in-law, Amy. You can find her here and custom order your own! :)

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The Coat Closet - my first build!

Our coat closet is one of those spaces that always felt like a work-in-progress. There has been a LOT of staring involved in this one...

When we toured this house before we bought it, I loved that the previous owners had installed a second rod low enough for the kids to hang their own coats - brilliant! Once we moved in, I was less excited that they also had swinging saloon-style doors on the closet. The front door and the door to the garage both open toward (and then covering) this closet... add 2 adults and 2 kids trying to come in and put their shoes and coats away, and no clearance between the opening doors and the stairwell, and, well, I sort of ripped the swinging (never fully closing) doors off that closet one day. Oh, the satisfaction.

But then the closet was in plain sight every time we walked down the stairs... ahhh! Disorder, clutter, I can't even...

It needed to be WAY more organized now. As it was, we had very little space for shoes, bags, mittens, etc, so it was pretty messy.

First I tried tearing out the shelves and rods and put in a bookshelf and hooks on the walls in front of it. This was actually a pretty good solution for a while. The shelves offered a lot more shoe storage and also allowed for cube organizers for holding hats, balls, etc. But then winter came, coats were bigger, they hung in the way of the shelves, ... clutter (I can't stand clutter!)

... more staring, more measuring.

(Realizing that I really need to take more before and during pictures... sorry for the lack so far! Ha!)

Anyway, fast forward through tearing that out, emptying a different shelf from the basement and hauling it upstairs only to realize it wouldn't actually fit, tearing the jerry-rigged door frame off, spackling and painting... and then more staring and googling.

Internet searching brought up lots of "almost right" but super pricey options. Thankfully, my google searching also turned up these plans. It didn't look much more difficult that assembling Ikea furniture (which I have a LOT of experience at, ha!) and the government shutdown was looming, so I decided the build-it-myself option was better then the spend-too-much option!

I had so much fun building this and Ana White's plans made it so easy! I seriously had it to this point in an evening! I loved being able to customize the size to fit the closet just the way I wanted it to, and the whole thing was just so empowering!

Once I had it in place, I realized I needed the backing so that the shoes wouldn't slip back too far. I decided to paint a subtle circle design on the piece before attaching it (by dipping a plastic cup in paint and stamping the circles in an overlapping pattern) but realized after that it was a bit too subtle and not really noticeable, but oh well! Not every plan works out.

Add lots of hooks on the walls at all different heights for coats, hats, bags, etc and we're all set!

This solution has actually held up now for a year, so maybe I've finally found a solution that will last!


So, what space in your home are you constantly changing? (or staring at...)  ;) 

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Girls' closet renovation

The girls bedroom closet - actually, their whole bedroom - is one of the areas in the house that took me a lot of separate renovations before I was satisfied with it. I spent a lot of time standing and staring at it, trying to figure out a way to reconfigure it to make it more useable for us. My hope was to make it so that we could fit most or all of their clothes into it and so get rid of at least one dresser in their room.

Our girls share a room - 2 beds, 2 dressers, and a bookshelf was too much furniture in there!

My first reworking of the space made it so that I could get one of the dressers into the closet. This worked ok, but they just didn't have enough useable hanging space this way.

More staring... more measuring... more internet searches for inspiration...

Then one day when Brad left town, I started tearing the closet apart. I have this habit of starting projects when he leaves town. His plane hadn't even landed yet and I had this closet emptied, the closet system (that the previous owners had installed) removed and the walls painted! 

I decided to use the "wood" from the closet system as much as possible in the new design. I cut and rearranged the pieces to fit and so I was able to do this closet renovation for FREE! Woot!

Here it is going back in.

Now they have space for all of their hanging clothes. Dresses on top, shirts and skirts on the bottom. In the bins, they have space for pajamas, socks, undies, tights, leotards, etc. Their pants, shorts, and leggings fit in a small 2 drawer bedside table next to the closet.

Now they have space for all of their clothes and we got BOTH dressers out of the room! Success! 

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