Entry closet makeover

I wish I could find the before picture I have that gives you the full horridness of the entry way closet… this is the best I can do for now.. it’s lost in the jumble of iPhoto, unlabeled and unsearchable…

I’ll try to set the stage.. imagine this toy space JAMMED with what felt like 35 coats and all the hats and scarves on the floor (as you see here) lacrosse gear, random umbrellas, and anything else no one wanted to deal with.. THAT was the entry closet. A complete embarrassment and the reason I added a coat rack at the front door. No one wanted to open it… who knows what would fall on your head.

I’ve been dying to do something with it for over a year but was unmotivated of the thought of measuring, cutting, painting, etc… to get what I wanted. I couldn’t take it anymore and headed into Home Depot with a list of what I would need to build out what I saw in my head. On a whim I wandered into the “closet” aisle and ran across this:

Which looked so much like the picture in my head (with an extra rack) that I skipped the lumber aisle and headed home. I mean I think the whole thing was roughly $80 if I remember correctly and I am pretty sure I couldn’t get all the supplies for that….plus think of all the time I would save! My time is pretty valuable these days so I just went for it.

Install was easy and it gave me nearly exactly what I had pictured in my head:

I wanted the double hanging rack because then we have the same amount of hanging space. The bonus is that the kids coats can hang on a level they can reach now. Shelves mean space to put the gloves and hats within reach so they don’t get piled on the floor.

The rods that came with the kit were of course too long. Guess what? That is no problem. Ryobi JobPlus to the rescue!

This number made quick work of trimming them to the exact length needed. No fuss, no muss (wear your eye protection, flying shards of metal would no be fun imbedded in your peepers)

Here is the filled space:

SO much better, don’t you think?

It’s almost time to start using all those coats so I am hoping it’ll help quite a bit this year being able to find and use the cold weather gear.

The whole closet makeover project took maybe two hours… (lugging out all the stuff was the longest part- I got to clean out the stuff that doesn’t fit too so less junk!). Makes me wonder what took so long…

Well, have I motived you to try anything new? What’s on your project list for the near future?

XO!

~Scottie

(While Ryobi has given me tools to use and review, Home Depot has no idea who I am… all opinions are my own and always will be)