coat closet makeover

Last winter I put up with it. This winter, with the addition of a new dog, I couldn’t tolerate it any longer. We had to do something about the downstairs coat closet.

Just a quick story of how terrible the closet setup was - last winter I was looking for my welly’s that were in a reusable grocery bag. I yelled at That Guy for losing them somewhere (I’m SURE it was his fault, right?) and looked EVERYWHERE. One day in the spring, I cleaned out the closet and there they were - hanging on a hook, in the back with 3 coats strung over them. Who knows how they got there, but nevertheless, it made me mad.

Fast forward 6ish months and we’re back using the closet everyday for our winter coats. Now we’ve got tons of dog crap to accommodate and I had about enough.

Before…

closet chaos

After…

happiness

Let’s get a little closer…

so efficient

The shelf is just high enough so I can only reach the stuff you see (reason why it’s all up front) but I have to blindly pat to find everything else. Of course, while you’re blindly patting, those things in the front are falling on your head.

organization at its best

I wanted some “pretty” baskets but the white ones shown came in at a cool $8 per while most decorative baskets hovered around the $20 range.

See that white box in the bottom left corner? It’s an old, old security system and we built around.

this is where we store our junk

We’ve got cat scratchers, dog food, an ironing board, vacuum and some dog things that need an explanation.

So, our precious pup can’t “hold it” the entire day while we’re at work. SO, we had to invest in what they call “belly bands” which are pretty much diapers. Inside this belly band, you are supposed to put a maxi pad for extra absorbency. Also, you can see the white towels that go inside his create to soak up what the belly band misses. Ahhh, the glamorous life of an Italian Greyhound owner.

old and improved

  Now we get to hide all the embarrassing stuff and we don’t lose our scarves (or our “gumboots” as they say in New Zealand).

Don’t you agree that this was money well spent? I forgot to mention that we now have 15 more inches of hanging space! Now thinking about the upstairs…

more terrible closets