This hallway closet needs some serious assistance! Being the only closet in our apartment other than our bedroom closet, I need to utilize every inch of space here. And, as you can see in this before photo, there is all sorts of wasted space that can be reclaimed with a little reorganization.
When we moved into this apartment, the hallway closet was set up as seen in the "before" photo above — a few high shelves positioned over the clothes bar with wasted space underneath. To get new life out of this closet I decided to take out the old shelving completely and start over.
Having shelves at the top of the closet was practically useless because the closet is so narrow that it was impossible to actually put anything on them. I decided to move the clothes rod higher in the closet, about nine inches from the ceiling. This served the dual purpose of utilizing wasted space while also raising the coats to allow for more storage room below. My husband and I are both roughly 5'9" so hanging coats and jackets at this height is still comfortable. We do have to reach up but we don't have to stand on tippy toes. I had actually planned on raising the bar even a little higher but we tested it at that height and it was too much.
Below the coats, I added my own shelving using wood I picked up at the hardware store. The wood for the shelves was already the width of the closet (otherwise I would have had them cut to size at the hardware store) so all I had to do was create braces in the closet for the shelves. I did this by attaching pieces of 2’x4’ to the wall – one short strip on each side and one long piece on the back of the closet. The wood shelves firmly rest on these wood support pieces. To give the closet a more finished look, I covered the wood shelves in contact paper leftover from another project.
Adding the shelves below the hanging clothes gave us a lot of additional space in this closet but I knew I could take it one step further. By converting the bi-fold door, just as I had with our bedroom closet, I was able to hang a shoe organizer on the back of the door. This shoe organizer has become a practical and space-saving way of storing a lot of the small items that would otherwise clutter the shelves.
This closet now serves all of our storage needs. There's a space on the floor for the cat's litter box and supplies, the shelves are sturdy and deep enough that I can stow away the vacuum cleaner and still have room for other stuff, and with the shoe organizer on the back of the door we finally have all the small stuff put away in an organized manner.
I'll admit that I went a little skimpy on the details in this closet project. I was a bit sloppy with the paint and I had only enough contact paper to cover the tops of the shelves. But the way I see it, it's a closet for Pete's sake. Of any place to get a little sloppy, it's the closet where our cat uses the bathroom.
Images: Jason Loper
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That is a groovy shoe organizer. Where did you get it?
where do you store your shoes?
my apt is the same way, 1 hall closet and 1 bedroom closet.
we have to store our shoes in the hall closet on hanging organizers on the clothes bar.
that takes up the majority of our space, so the coats are CRAMMED onto the remaining length of bar.
i found that hanging a pegboard on the exposed wall in our closet was a great way to organize our 'little things' and has been a great spacesaver for my collection of scarves and hats.
great makeover though, love the contact paper.
WOW! I have a closet with high shelving that I tried to work with and it is impossible to get stuff off the shelves. This may be a solution.
awesome use of a shoe organizer. very inspiring. I think my front closet could use one too. thanks for the tip!
Wow! I love how you've managed to store so much (even bathroom items) in one neat closet.
Great job
i love the cat door, and having the litter box in the closet. i wish i could put a cat door in mine, it's such a challenge to find a spot in a small apartment to put the liter box.
D'oh! That shoe organizer is the PERFECT solution to how to store the gloves, earmuffs, and hats that I can never figure out what to do with in my coat closet. How did I not think of this before?
I am intrigued with the soft "boxes" that are placed on the left sides of the upper & middle shelves.
What are they made of?
@Kathryn: Show organizer is from Lowe's.
@digger61: The boxes are made out of faux bois oilcloth. Here's a how-to: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/how-to/how-to-make-an-oilcloth-storage-cube-122837.
Good plan with the extra shelving. I find closets have so much wasted space. A shelf here and there will double or triple your space.
That looks great and I too love that shoe organizer! I ended up putting shelves side ways instead of one the length in my closet. That way I can store stuff I never need to get to up there as the shelves go all the way up to the ceiling. Very clever place to put the cat box. I keep mine in the tub to eliminate cat sand everywhere.
Nice closet and use of shoe rack! I will be painting my pantry soon....
nice! i actually reorganized our hall closet this weekend too, didnt come out as pretty as yours but its much nicer looking after!
The biggest improvement was the closet only has a bar so i added one of those canvas hanging shelf things and slid boxes into it, really worked well for all the small stuff (dog stuff, misc. cleaning supplies, shopping totes)
I love the idea of ditching the bi folds and getting the back surface area for storing things. May have to try that. Would be great spot for hanging things like hats, umbrellas, dog leash etc.
What a great organizing job! I, too, love the use of the shoe organizer. It reminds me of how I used to use mine for all my craft supplies before I pared down.
Beautiful job. So well done and thought out. ...and I love the wallpaper in the hall!
I really like the idea of the higher clothes rod... You always end up with a shelf up top where it's impossible to get at things that you use on a regular basis (like mittens and scarves). I'm tucking this idea away for use later! Thanks!
@designersdesigner - If I recall from a previous post, that "wallpaper" in the hall is actually stencilling done by the homeowner. Pretty incredible, I think!
Looks great; good idea with the high closet rod.
What a clever & efficient re-use of space. Love that sleek shoe organizer ... so much tucked away discreetly with style! Would love to try this; but, all of our closets are bi-fold doors. Argh!
I am a big believer in the high rod and the shoe organizer. It changes lives.
@homeatlast: wow. that makes it even better. It's really gorgeous!
I LOVE the cat door in the bottom of the closet. That's such a cute little litter box, too!
I wouldn't put a catbox in my clothes closet if you paid me $10,000. Maybe for $100,000.00.... but it would take some hard thought.
I was actually thinking about that too urbancricket... wouldnt there be smells that would get into the clothing?
Excellent and inspiring! Thanks for sharing this.
Clever use of the space! Gives me ideas for my closet. I would also fear smells and litter dust though - no sharing with the box for me!
I raised the hanging rod in my bedroom closet so that there's room for my husband's shirts on it, a second hanging rod beneath it for more of my husband's shirts, and his shoes on the floor beneath that. The easy adjustment increased usable storage space considerably.
Where did you find faux bois oilcloth?
It looks great!
I love the change and could use all the ideas I can for my closet. <div style="width:480px;text-align:right;"><embed width="480" height="360" src="http://static.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf" flashvars="rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed492.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Frr288%2Fjetset777%2FCloset_1%2Ffeed.rss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" /><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_geturs.gif" style="border:none;" /><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_viewall.gif" style="border:none;" /></div>
@lifeabundant
It looks like this closet started with bifold doors too, and the owner converted them so they don't fold any more.
I did something similar in an old aparment in a very small closet with the cat box. I would not recommend putting any clothes in there. Think of it has hard storage. Only stuff that would not absorb the smells or could be put in ziplocs and storage totes. It can work but you have to plan on losing the space for clothes.
I imagine your huband smells like a dirty cat box whenever it's chilly enough for a jacket. I also don't understand the soft boxes, seem like something that wouldn't hold up well and end up looking sloppy.
We've actually had no issue with litter odor. We are frequent litter scoopers, we keep a small container of charcoal in the closet, and the litter box and clothes are separated by three solid wood shelves. Now the kitty litter that getting tracked out of the closet - that's another story!
What is the name of the litter box?
I actually bought that litterbox a few years ago when I was living with two girls who got kittens and then proceeded to have passive-aggressive standoffs about whose turn it was to scoop the poop.
I can't remember what it was called, but I picked it up at Target.
I got that nice closed box because the cheap open one was grossing me out (and the kittens were shooting litter everywhere when they dug), and once I decided that our indoor air quality was more important than letting the bitchy roommates fight, that particular box really helped keep the smell down. Of course, I ended up scooping the most poop of any of us, but there you are.
Personally, I wouldn't put a litterbox in a coat closet, but then, I don't plan on owning a cat in the near future so it's a moot point. As long as they're scooping daily and not using some crazy scented litter, the closet is probably fine.
I'd think it would be hard to get things hung up and taken down now though.
The shoe organizer is now on clearance at my local Lowes, I was there buying other things and happened upon it. It was $9 and also comes in hot pink.
I use a hanging shoe caddy like this in my hall closet for hats, scarves, gloves and shin guards.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=hanging+shoe+caddy&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=1732075855327065409&sa=X&ei=yUVrTbK2OJC6sQODl8ymBA&ved=0CD8Q8gIwAg#
I'm in the process of trying to add shelving to my front closet in the exact same way you did. However I live in an old Chicago bungalow with plaster walls even in the closet. And I can't find studs anywhere in there. I've put screws in various places, but they just pull right back out. Ugh. Any suggestions??
i can't believe such a simple idea as having the rod higer up makes such a difference! i HAVE to try that...
to those talking about litter boxes in small apartments, mine looks like a large planter with a nice silk fern on top... with the opening turned away from the room, one would never know it's a litter box (you could do your own thing with the top if you don't like silk plants - i have a black thumb so it works for me) google hidden litter or hiddnlitter(?)
Now I know what to do with that old show organizer I had just lying around. All of my tools can go in it! Brilliant.