When 3 of the kids started grade school, I thought I’d repurpose toy bins for their school catch all.
It worked a little too well, and those bins filled up fast.
So I went to Pinterest for ideas and fell in love with the idea of hooks by the door. My kids and hubby loved it too. It was meant to be the one jacket you use ALL the time but sooner or later most coats left the coat closet and became a giant mash of jackets on 6 little hooks and backpacks on the floor.
I wish I lived in an area where mud rooms are the norm but I do not so it doesn’t exist. My dream was for the mudroom to be the ultimate drop off zone for shoes backpacks and jackets.
So I’m happy to say inspiration hit again when I was staring at my semi empty coat closet that was just filled with stuff we didn’t use. It is a perfect space for all this gear plus behind closed doors to prevent visual clutter.
It took me 2 weekends. One to empty the closet and sort / purge. As standard under-the-stairs coat closets go, there was a bar up front and you had to wade through it to get to the back. That was the first to go.
The next weekend I installed hooks and set up shoe racks.
I was able to create a more usable coat closet with 12 hooks this time, a shoe rack, and even a tiny step stool ottoman for the little ones to hang up their coats. I was lucky to find a 6 hook rack with the hooks spaced far enough apart and the whole width just wide enough to fit the length of my walls.
I moved shoe racks that were being used to stack more useless stuff into the closet so there were 7 levels to.hold everyday shoes – one for each of us!
I found battery operated motion detection lights that only came in when it was dark and stuck it on the ceiling.
Now the kids enjoy walking in the closet to out away their shoes and backpacks without fear of being stuck in the dark.
I think it turned out pretty well!
If you want to give this a try just follow these 5 steps.
- Empty the closet and find homes for everything but jackets and shoes going back in.
- Measure walls and plan where hooks and shoe racks will go.
- Remove clothes bar.
- Install hooks.
- Set up shoe rack.
Done!