Last Project of 2013

As the cold weather hit & we spent more & more time digging through the PILE that was our coat closet, I decided this project had to get done this calendar year.  The only project for 2013 that didn't get touched was the linen closet/dresser.  Lots of things from our 2013 projects to finish up in early 2014 before starting to tackle that list, but I think Project Make Our House OUR House 2013 was pretty darn successful.

I didn't take any before pictures, because I was so ready to take this closet on that I had it 3/4 emptied before the though crossed my mind.  Imagine misc. coats hanging 1/2 on hangers, 1/2 piled on the floor.  Random gloves, hats & scarfs scattered about.  Plain tan, scuffed, filthy walls... very similar to those in the cleaning supply closet I tackled this summer.

I am oh so very in love with how this turned out.  I spent days & days (or really nights & nights) on Pinterest searching for ideas of how to make this space best work for us.  And I think its going to serve us well now.

 An over the door pocket organizer hung up with command hooks takes advantage of all that otherwise wasted space.  

 Perfect for easily finding hats, gloves, shades.

I added a bunch of the velcro command strips too so it stays secure to the door.  I hate those things flopping around & messing with the door handle.  This was my best idea yet!

 I hung the organizer low enough the kids can reach it & then there is room above for over the door hooks to easily stash coats, scarves, etc.  

 I had Jeff install some higher up wood brackets so we could move the shelf & bar up about 2.5 feet. 

 Just enough room up there for 3 baskets to stash more of mine & Jeff's hats, scarves, mittens.

 A little $6 Walmart bin for umbrellas in one corner.

 And on the other wall.... rows & rows of hooks!  Let's face it.  Hangers suck.  So much more work involved than just throwing a coat up on a hook.  Plenty of hooks for hats, backpacks, bags, umbrellas & just right for the kids to hang up their own coats!

 And paint... you know me well enough to expect paint, right?!  Everything got a fresh coat of the same grey from Liv & the boys' closets, and the bottom half got some bling.  I wasn't sure how I would like it so I just did the bottom, but I wish I would have done all the way up.  It was quite a bit of work though.  I definitely did not go for perfect as I just whipped this out one night while the rest of my house slept & well, it is afterall just a closet.  Someday I might find the motivation to go back & paint the top 1/2 too, but for now I quite like the fun little pop it gives.

 Since the coat rack got moved up, we had room for baskets below!  They stash the kids hats & mittens in one & the other holds little jackets, fleeces, etc.  So they can be responsible for getting out & putting away their own stuff.  

Love these easy to label baskets from Walmart.

Put it all together & we have this!

This is the other closet, but basically the same.  So we essentially went from this:

 

To THIS!