Give your coat closet an organization makeover in under one hour with these storage ideas!
Are you sick and tired of looking into your coat closet and stressing out about looking for an item before you head out of the door? Well, then keep reading, because I found an easy and affordable way to give your coat closet an organization makeover and it only took me about one hour!
My coat closet was a hot mess! Things were all over the place, bins were all mismatched and every time we were heading out of the door, my husband and I would pull every bin out and throw things on the floor and couch looking for an item. It was frustrating to say the least.
Last year I tried to “fix” it by using an over the door hook to hold my purses, but it soon became a catch all for caps, scarves and the lot.
The over the door metal piece was also too thick for the door to close, so we always had the closet door semi-open, which added to my stress of looking at it.
The closet is located near our entryway, so anyone coming over could see our mess.
Well, I had enough. I wanted to reach for a storage container and find what I needed and not feel like I should just torch the entire coat closet!
Coat Closet Organization Makeover
Before
Before I started this coat closet organization makeover I thought about what how I wanted it to function and how much work and money I wanted to spend on it.
Here is what the coat closet looked like before. As you can see, things are piled up on top of each other and it’s quite cluttered.
My storage requirements were simple:
- Storage that was deep enough to hold all of our hats, gloves and scarves (we live in colder weather)
- An easy way to access those items
- Visually pleasing
- Less than U$100
I thought about building extra shelves in the coat closet or buying expensive door storage ideas, but I didn’t want this organization project to take a lot of time or cost too much.
I also wanted it to be visually pleasing. Minimalistic.
No items showing through or to be poking out. For that reason I opted to not have a door storage unit.
I also decided to donate whatever was extra or worn out. I ended up donating several coats, gloves and hats.
After
After some brainstorming, I decided to purchase this 4 cube storage unit and these IKEA storage cubes. The total cost for everything was just under U$100!
The storage unit fit the closet perfectly, with the right height for shorter coats and leaving enough space on the right side for longer coats.
It houses 4 big storage cubes. I went with all white, but you can color code if you prefer that.
I sorted items in each bin in the following order:
Bottom:
- Winter hats
- Scarves
- Gloves
- Swimming bag
I could have used another storage cube for the bottom to make it more visually appealing, but my son has swimming lessons twice a week and I like to have his bag ready to go. Putting it on the bottom allows him to grab it while we head out to the car.
Top Shelf:
- Summer hats and caps
- Picnic blanket
- Travel pillows
I didn’t plan to have a seasonal coat closet, but when I took out everything that was in the closet, I realized that the items actually were seasonal. So summer/spring items were put on the top shelf and the winter/fall were stored on the bottom. As the seasons change, I can rotate them for easy access. It is GENIUS!!
I am really happy the way it turned out and I can’t believe it took me so long to tackle it. It only took me an hour from beginning to end and it looks 100% better. I love that things have their own place, the clutter is gone and we no longer stress out every time we need to find a pair of gloves or a particular hat.
I think having everything white also makes it look cleaner, cohesive and decluttered. It is such a small coat closet that white makes it look bigger.
You can watch the whole process in under 6 minutes in this YouTube Video.
I hope this post gave you some ideas on how you can organize your small coat closet better!
My next project is my home office and it’s a gargantuan undertaking! Stay tuned. Subscribe to the newsletter to be notified of new posts!
