Coat Closet & Storage Closet
In this step-by-step tutorial, I’m showing you how to transform a regular sliding door coat closet by your garage door into a multifunctional storage closet that stores cleaning supplies, bulk items and your coats.
Remove everything.
Clean the space.
Repaint the walls (if needed).
Add a second wire shelf.
Buy tall baskets.
Categorize your items.
Hang up the vacuum.
Hang up the coats.
Add the trashcan and recycling bin.
Video Tutorial
When you walk in through the front entrance, we do not have a coat closet. Our coat closet is in the kitchen right off the garage entrance. Although this is great location for hanging up our coats, it doesn’t give me much room to organize all the cleaning supplies.
THE PROBLEM
With the coat closet only having one shelf, the cleaning supplies were disorganized and hard to reach on the top shelf.
THE GOAL
I wanted this coat closet to function as a storage closet for cleaning supplies, our trashcans, as well as our coats in the winter.
the before
Remove everything.
I first removed everything we had from the coat closet and put it on our dining room table.
Clean the space.
I wiped down the walls but was unable to get the stains off because the previous owners painted the entire house with a matte finish paint. Matte finish paint is unable to be cleaned, it doesn’t wipe as easily as a semigloss or satin finish would.
Repaint the walls (if needed).
Knowing that we store both our trashcan and recycling bin in our storage closet, my husband and I decided to paint the closet so that it would be easier to clean in the future. We chose a satin finish so that it would be easy to wipe any splashes or spills we would have as we tossed food and items into the trash.
We used Sherwin Williams Alabaster Satin Finish to paint the walls.
4. Add a second wire shelf.
I bought this wire shelf from Lowes for $20.
The shelf is called: ClosetMaid All Purpose/Linen 6-ft x 16-in White Universal Wire Shelf
The wire shelves only come in certain sizes so I got the 6-foot long shelf and my husband trimmed it down to 4.8 feet to fit inside of our closet.
TIP: Measure the length of your wall before buying an additional shelf.
The prepackaged kit to attach the shelf to the wall was also $20.
The hardware kit comes with paper tape so that you can line up the holes exactly where they need to be. They need to be spaced 12 inches apart for maximum support.
5. Buy tall baskets.
I first measured how much space I had between the two white wire shelves, then went to Target to see what storage basket options they had.
I decided to buy these white 11-inch tall baskets so that I could hide the contents inside.
The baskets are called Y-Weave XL Curved Decorative Storage Basket - Room Essentials and they are $9 each.
TIP: You can also find cheap storage baskets at the dollar store, Walmart, and Marshalls or HomeGoods.
6. Categorize your storage or cleaning items.
I could only fit six white baskets on the white wire shelves so I divided my cleaning supplies into six categories.
Trash Bags
Gloves
Rags
Hand Soap
Cleaning Products
Chlorox Wipes
7. Hang up the vacuum on the wall.
Knowing that Dyson vacuums come with wall attachments, I decided to look through our vacuum accessory bag, and to my surprise we had one too.
(That would have been nice to know at our old house, lol).
You can also buy these large black hooks at any hardware store and hang up a duster or other cleaning supplies.
Since we use our vacuum daily, I decided that it needed to go in our storage closet. We use the vacuum on our vinyl floors and rugs frequently, so I think it’s just more efficient to keep the vacuum within easy reach.
The infrequently used items such as the broom and mop will be stored in the garage, hanging on the wall. Still easy to reach but a few steps away from the storage closet.
8. Hang up the coats.
I only hung up the coats that we use weekly. We don’t get a lot of snow so I left our heavy winter coats upstairs.
TIP: When you have a multifunctional space, I wouldn’t store all of one item in that space. I would only store the bare essentials and most frequently used items.
9. Add the trashcan and recycling bin.
Our kitchen island doesn’t have enough space inside of the cabinets to install a pull-out trash can drawer so we originally had a trashcan sitting to the right of the island. I didn’t like how much space it took up so I bought a small trashcan at Target and put it in the storage closet.
* We just empty our trash every other day or once a day when we cook something unpleasant-smelling like fish and we haven’t noticed any odd smells in the storage closet.
I found this blue Rubbermaid Recycling Bin at Lowes for $11 and placed it in the closet as well.