Coat Closet Makeover

When we purchased our house three years ago, one of the things I loved about our house was the entryway.  An open space with tall ceilings, beautiful hardwood floors and a coat closet.  Fast forward to 2014 and that coat closet had become such a "blah" space that frustrated me DAILY!! Over time, it had become a catch all for everything from coats and shoes to board games, tools that we were apparently too lazy to return to the garage all the way across the hall and even flower pots! (It's not like I was about to use those flower pots....it was February.) It was also really dark.  I felt like I was in a cave whenever I had to search for something in that darn thing.



(This picture was taken after I had thrown out about half the junk that was in there.) 

And then there were the doors.  The doors were sliding doors which looked nice enough but if more than one person was trying to get something out at the same time it became quite frustrating.  More than anything I fantasized about ripping those doors right off the track and throwing them out into the street.  (I don't have an anger problem, I swear.) I had to do something asap!



We took the doors off and immediately I felt like I could breath!!  Then, we took everything out and removed the shelf, and filled/sanded the nail holes.  I brought in a garment rack for a temporary solution for hanging coats and such.

 

 

 

Next I had to take care of the lighting issue.  I wasn't too excited to find an electrician and pay him to do wiring and lighting for such a small space.  After I did some searching on the internet I found the

solution.  A battery-operated, motion sensing light perfect for small spaces.  No electrician needed, no reminding everyone to "TURN OFF THE LIGHTS", and it was only 20 bucks!!  Woo-Hoo!!!  Installation took minutes (seriously) and then it was time to paint.  I used the same color that I had painted in our entryway.  I love it.  Light, calming and refreshing.  I was already loving this space.

 

 

 

The next step was to buy some wood planks.  The guy at Lowe's was super helpful because while I knew exactly what I wanted, I didn't have the lingo.  It went something like this: "So, I'm redoing my
coat closet and I need some wood to attach those coat hanger thingies and but I don't want to spend like a bajillion dollars for 2 wood planks or whatever they're called, can you help me?"  He showed me exactly what would work and cut them in the size I needed.  I took those bad boys home, sanded and painted them with a bright white semi-gloss and the hubs attached them to the wall.  While at Lowe's I also picked up some coat hanger thingies  garment hooks and easily screwed those into the wood.  Later that week I headed over to Home Depot to get the beadboard paneling I wanted.  I love the look of the beadboard but it also serves as a nice shield protecting the wall from scuffs and marks when the kids kick off their shoes and fling them into the closet.  After this pic was taken, I used some spackle to fill in the gap between the two sheets of beadboard.  We also put up some trim around the outside of the beadboard to give it a more finished look.

I also knew we needed a "home" for little things like sunglasses, keys, etc.  So I bought a few organizational accessories and mounted them to the inside of one of the side walls that way all of our everyday stuff is kept together for easy access but it's not something you see when you walk in our front door.

 

Ta-Da!  The finished product.  Simple, functional and so much prettier than the dark cave it once was. I love it!









 


Products I used for this project:

Paint:  Belle Grove Aloe Green, Valspar Signature, satin finish -Lowe's
Lighting:  Mr. Beams MB980 Battery-Operated Motion Sensing LED -Amazon
Beadboard:  Home Depot
Garment Hooks (top row):  Brainerd Zinc Die Cast Garment Hooks -Lowe's
Garment Hooks (bottom row):  Gatehouse 2-Pack Zinc Die Cast Garment Hooks -Lowe's
Clock:  Chantal round iron clock -World Market
Key Rack:  Target
Plastic Organizers:  Command Caddy (large) -Target