Coat Closet Makeover: A Step-by-Step Transformation
Looking for inspiration for a coat closet makeover? Follow my journey from cluttered coat closet to organized and streamlined closet!
The entryway closet or coat closet is used every day, likely multiple times per day. While it may seem like a small and insignificant space, a well-organized and aesthetically pleasing coat closet can really enhance the overall functionality and appeal of your home.
Is your closet overflowing, or poorly designed? Do you want to do something about it?
In this blog post, I will walk you through the transformation of my coat closet into an organized, functional space. You will get practical tips and creative ideas for maximizing every inch, and get inspiration for your own coat closet makeover!
This post is all about my coat closet makeover.
Coat Closet Makeover
The “Before”
In the “before” photo, you can see why I was dying for a closet makeover. The closet design was super inefficient. There was a partition in the middle that really interfered with the function of the closet. Because of the partition, the closet rod was split into two and the higher closet rod was honestly hard to reach.
The closet space was pretty small to start with, but the poor design and overflowing stuff made it way worse than it needed to be.
There was also tons of “dead space” – especially the room under the coats (because there was no horizontal shelving), and in the far right side of the closet (because I had storage solutions that were too narrow for the space).
Also, there was simply too much stuff. So, I decided it was time for a change! Here’s how I tackled the closet transformation, step-by-step:
Step-by-Step Small Coat Closet Makeover Guide
Step 1: Remove everything! With any closet re-design project, it’s best to start with a blank slate. Especially in this case, one of my biggest issues was the partition in the middle, so I wanted to start from scratch. In this first step, I removed everything including the coats, shoes, shelving, and rods. This allowed me to fully see the space I was working with.
Step 2: Declutter and Donate. Once you’ve taken everything out of the closet, you’ll probably be shocked at how many items were stuffed away in there! Now is a great time to declutter. Donate or discard items you really don’t need. Also, identify what items actually belong in the coat closet – relocate what makes sense to go in different storage areas in the home! This step is super important, it will allow you to design an efficient closet based on what you have and actually need to store in the closet.
Step 2: Touch ups & re-finish. Once everything was removed from the closet, there were some holes, scratches, dings, and other imperfections that I wanted to touch up. We patched all the holes, and painted the interior to make the inside of the closet look new and fresh again. This gave me a clean canvas to create a new, more functional design!
Step 3: Choose storage solutions. While it may seem odd to choose your storage baskets and other storage solutions this early, hear me out. I find it so hard to retrofit bins to your space. Once you’ve already drilled shelves in, trying to find baskets that exactly fit the width, height, and depth of your space is tricky.
So, instead, I bought my bins first and then designed the shelf spacing based on these measurements. I bought my baskets from the local Dollar store, but you can find a ton of storage basket recommendations here.
Step 4: Design the closet. Now the most fun step – designing the closet! This is a time where you can search Pinterest, YouTube, blog posts, etc to find a design you like. Of course, it’s important to focus on your specific space and what you’re trying to achieve and fix based on your old closet design.
For me, I knew I wanted to include:
- At least 2 shelves for storage baskets (I wanted lots of space for hats, mittens, umbrellas, etc)
- Room in the bottom of the closet for winter/wet shoes (I live in the Pacific Northwest after all!)
- A rod that utilized the entire width of the closet
- A shelf for “overflow” at the top that’s intentionally out-of-reach, but could be used for off-season footwear, etc.
Step 5: Purchase and install your materials. Luckily, my partner is quite handy so he was able to purchase all the materials and custom cut/install the storage.
But, if you aren’t as handy, don’t feel like you need to suddenly become a carpenter for this project. Here’s a few suggestions for storage solutions you can utilize and retrofit to your space, instead of building your own:
- Hanging Closet Organizers – if you have a closet rod already, hanging closet organizers are a perfect solution to add vertical storage and even drawers without having to do any installation/building!
- 3-Tier Closet Storage Organizer – this is another great option for coat closet organization if you don’t have the ability (or want to save yourself the work) to create custom shelving. This pre-built organizer can be inserted right into an existing closet to maximize floor space. It adds shelves and drawers at the same time!
Step 6: Finishing touches. In this final step, I painted the shelves. Of course, you won’t have to do this if you’re buying pre-finished material/storage solutions.
In this last step, it was also time to put away all the contents of the coat closet. It was such a relief to see how much more organized and streamlined this new closet system was!
A few small things that made a huge difference in how visually pleasing the closet is: 1) Uniform hangers (these are my favourite) and 2) Uniform storage baskets (check out some of my favourites here). It’s not absolutely essential, hence I added this to the “finishing touches” section – but I do think it makes a difference in the overall appearance of the closet.
The “After”
Overall, I love the new coat closet. The evolution of this space from cluttered coat closet to functional space was so much fun to watch!
This closet is used every day, multiple times per day since it’s at our front entrance. I love that it’s so much more organized and streamlined than it was before!
With these tips, you can turn your coat closet into a well-organized and visually appealing space.
Watch the final touches of the closet transformation here:
This post is all about my coat closet makeover.
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