Coat Closet Makeover

Hello!  I hope you are having a great weekend!  While reading a few blogs this weekend (my new fave is Jen @ I Heart Organizing.....it's a must read!), I was inspired to give my coat closet a makeover.  It wasn't being used to its full potential.  I had coats in there, of course, but it also stored our board games (which were so high I always had to get the hubby to get one down if we wanted to play) and it stored our suitcases (which was a nice thought at first, but I knew there had to be a better solution).  So after I cleared everything out, this is what I had to work with:

I didn't want to spend a penny in this makeover, so I decided to paint it with the leftover paint from the master bathroom project.   I had about a half gallon left, so it was perfect!

(This was after one coat.)  Then I placed all the coats back in the closet.  I decided I wanted to keep all of our shoes in here because now that spring is here, my bare feet have been finding all the stickers from the yard we have been tracking in on our shoes.  So the shoes are not allowed in the living room or anywhere else in the house besides the entryway!  :)

Since this tiny closet needed to be super organized (and that's what I am going for in my house now) I decided that we needed some shoes storage in the closet.  The problem was that we I have a lot of shoes and needed more than just one organizer.  So I went with two different kinds I already had:  one was the hanging kind (and I actually had two I could use!) and then I used to shoe rack on the floor.

It worked beautifully!  I placed the little fella's shoes on the floor rack so he could reach them.  :)  I also placed a blue plastic basket (also what I had on hand) on the top shelf to hold all of the hubby's hats (and my two hats as well).

Then I was thinking my entire entryway is going to be changed (yes, again!) so it will function better for my family.  The way it is now is cute, but it could be used better.  I have really been trying to look at each space in my house and really see how we use it and design/decorate it to fit that, rather than just decorating to please the eye.  Why not do both?

I said all that to say, my coat closet still needed something extra.  I am thinking of taking the table of out the entryway altogether, so my hubby needed a landing place for all his papers, his wallet, keys, watch.....you get the idea.  So I swiped borrowed took the over-the-door organizer from my son's room:

His little house shoes are still in it!  See if you can spot them!  When hubby got home and I was showing him my project, he was starting to have something to say about not being able to reach his hand into the pockets to get his stuff, then he realized it would work!  Score!!  So here is my cute little happy coat/shoe closet now!

Now that is a closet being used to its fullest potential!  This tiny closet proves it doesn't have to be a large space as long as its organized!  Let's look at the before one more time:

And the after:

Love love love it!  And the final cost:  $0 baby!!  Everything I used I already had on hand!  All it took was the time and effort to do it!  You know I love free projects!!



God bless,
Jessica



I linked this project at Jen's at I Heart Organizing!!  (Sorry, Jen, I couldn't get your button to work right!)
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2011/05/reader-space-closet-case-of-laundry.html