When I converted my coat closet into a cleaning closet there were a lot of shocked people!! The biggest question was where do you put all of your coats because I could never get rid of a coat closet! Let me explain…
Our coat closet is located in the front of the house. You walk in the front door and are looking at a closet door. However, we have lived in the home for two years and we have yet to actually put a coat in this closet! Why? Because we use the back door 99% of the time.
Our subdivision is set up so all of the garages open to an alley. Now these are all homes that have been built in the last 10 years, so it’s not an old scary gravel alley, it’s actually a single lane paved road. How our house is laid out, you pull into the garage via the alley and walk directly into our mudroom area. Take a tour of our mudroom HERE.
Back Door
Garage Storage
At our back door garage entry I have hung a couple coat racks and metal tubs to hold hats, gloves, bags, coats, etc. One picture is from when I first hung the coat racks. The other is a real life, real time picture, which makes me want to clean and organize this area!! But, this is where a lot of our things live.
I’ve also added a little reel showing you how I transformed this back door entrance!
Locker Storage
Once you enter the house there is more storage in our built-in lockers. There are two full lockers plus an additional two sections for shoes. Above those cubby sections is a bench and a window. Currently we have four of us living in the house. So, each person has a designated spot for their shoes and then we share the upper section for coats. Really this typically holds the current athletic gear bag and school backpacks. Teenagers don’t wear winter coats very often!!
Above the section with hooks are a couple cubbies. In these sections I have placed vintage green tins, old picnic baskets, wooden boxes, etc. I have kept the hats, gloves, scarves etc. in these containers, but I didn’t find them easily accessible. It’s easier to just dig through the hanging tubs in the garage than to take a container down out of the cubby to thumb through🤷🏼♀️.
So, recently I have styled the cubbies like THIS!
Watch How I Transformed The Coat Closet Into A Cleaning Closet
Coat Closet
Originally the only thing in our coat closet was our vacuum and some Swiffers! I knew I didn’t want to keep coats in it, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to put in there. So, for a couple years it was just a vacuum closet!! Below you can see how the previous owners used it. This picture was one I took during the inspection. Notice the carpet!!
I got my laundry room updated, check that out HERE. I had been keeping a lot of cleaning products in the laundry room. There were also cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink, under my bathroom sink, with my antique stuff in the workroom and in my daughters linen closet. Basically having a few things scattered all around the house, meant that any time someone got asked to clean something, they spent half of their time checking each location for what they needed!
So, I decided to keep it all in one spot! This also made restocking so much easier! I am typically not a person who likes to have overflow! That is probably one of the reasons I’m against becoming a Costco member! But, when we do buy paper towels or toilet paper I do normally buy multipacks. With everything together, I can easily see when I am low on something and make sure to get it on our grocery list!
Speaking of grocery lists, we have started using a new app, called OurGroceries. We use the free version, but everyone in the family has the app, so they can easily add to the grocery list! It’s also nice to have so if you decided to stop at the grocery store you have your list on you at all times! It’s a win win!
Transformation to Cleaning Closet
Now that I know what I want to keep in the closet, I started brainstorming how I wanted to store these products. I really didn’t want to take out the existing coat rack so that the next person could use it as a coat closet if they wanted. I didn’t want to add more of the same style of closet organizer, because I wanted to have some height for the vacuum and brooms.
Ultimately I decided I wanted a cabinet like THIS. However, I wanted one that was solid wood, not particle board. One that some baskets I already had would fit in, yet a cabinet that was low enough it would slide under the existing coat rack. Do you think I could find one thrifting? No, the answer is no. I’ve seen them all the time out thrifting, but now that I actually wanted one they were no where to be found!
While visiting my parents I dug around in dad’s barn and their garage. I found some old cabinets that my grandma had used as headboards. After months of looking for what I had envisioned using, I gave up and decided that I would go ahead and use grandma’s cabinet.
It had a couple doors on it that open down. I removed those. Then, I opted to screw the cabinet into the wall to get it off the floor a bit. This allowed me to not have to bend over as much when using the shelves. It also provided a space for the vacuum to tuck in under it.
While it wasn’t what I originally imagined, it is totally functional. I’m sure you might be thinking it would look better painted white. It probably would blend in better white, BUT… I don’t want to paint it. Painting is more cost, more labor, and it would show wear and tear a lot quicker. No one, I guess except everyone reading this, will even know what is in the closet anyway! Having a functional closet space is more important to me than what it looks like. Organization is beautiful to me!!
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