Coat Closet Organization
This project couldn’t have come at a better time. We’ve had Lilly for almost two months and her stuff was starting to spill over everywhereee. I tried to keep as much of it contained to the coat closet knowing that was where I wanted to store it long term (we’re gonna dive into this mindset a bit!).
We’re also in the thick of summer so sunscreen, bug spray and towels desperately needed a place to live. As a reminder, we moved in January so a lot of the summer stuff was in storage plus we don’t have a linen closet to store them!
So the coat closet was the perfect place for us and, as always, I’m going to break down how I organized it and with what products. Psst here is what it looked like before I got my hands on it:
Before I get into the organization, I’d like to touch briefly on the mindset regarding being intentional about what you store in certain spaces. If you’re blessed with lots of closets in your home, I would suggest you “assign” jobs for each closet. One can be pet supplies and outdoor stuff like mine, one can be for cleaning products and hardware (like lightbulbs, a toolbox, etc.), one can be for decor or serving ware. And so on. It shouldn’t be that you have a little of this and a little of that scattered throughout your house.
Each space should be given a purpose so before you organize a new space (or reorganize an existing one), decide what you want that space’s job to be.
In this case, it’s job is to hold pet supplies, summer supplies and, oh yeah, coats.
As you saw in the before photo, there wasn’t a lot I could work with. Just one shelf and rod. Dat it. I contemplated adding a second shelf but thought a better idea would be to add something I could easily take with us when we move.
Enter … the Elfa door rack.
I could go ON about how much I love these! I’ve used them for clients in the past and for so many different purposes. Everything from baby stuff in the nursery to gift wrapping supplies in the basement and pantry products to bathroom back stock. The main reasons I love these door racks are that they are versatile (meaning you can easily repurpose them), they’re high quality (meaning they’ll last forever) and they’re completely customizable to your needs/easy to adjust.
Plus, with the right height, they can be hooked instead of drilled meaning no holes in the wall so perfect for rentals!
You know what else I like them for? Small items that you want to grab quickly but equally want them to be contained.
If I had to choose a downside to them, it would be the price tag. They can run you anywhere from $100-150 but the investment is worth it in my honest opinion. TCS runs sales on the Elfa systems sometimes too so you can always keep your eyes open (or sign up for their free POP program and get some discounts!).
You can purchase “pre made” rack solutions or you can build your own which is what I did.
Here are the exact components I used to create this one:
*they also come in platinum and graphite colors and the sizes 77 - 3/4”or 94 - 5/16” (but they can be cut to your specific door height!)
*two in medium, two in large and they also come in small and narrow sizes
*in size 18 x 2 - 1/2“ but they come in other sizes!
*they also come in slim and double styles
Before ordering anything, I sorted my categories:
Dog grooming
Extra treats
Wet food
Sunscreen/bug spray
Hanging items (leash, harness and travel bowls)
Based on those categories, I ordered 4 baskets and 1 pegboard.
Note, Lilly’s tag still has her foster name on it. She doesn’t really answer to either name though lol
Once the small items were taken care of, that left the towels and wee wee pads. I had a vision of open wooden bins on the shelves but the two types that have been on the market (one from Target and one from TCS) would be too deep for my shelves. Thankfully, The Home Edit launched their new wooden line with iDesign and their open wood bin fits justtt right!
Oh and by the way, it also comes in a cool gray color!
One bin holds the towels, the other the pads and if I want or need to ever add more stuff to this closet, the really neat thing is they stack!
Come winter, I plan to swap out the towels for hats, scarves and gloves.
We own one umbrella between the two of us (lol for real and I’m sure you can guess whose it is) so I simply laid that off to the side.
Our very heavy winter coats are in storage but the majority of them can/will stay here year round. I always recommend using wood hangers for medium to heavy weighted coats because the velvet ones can be a little too flimsy (they work great for vests or light jackets!). I got my white wooden hangers from HomeGoods years ago but TCS actually has them for a good price!
Lilly’s dry food is stored in a lock tight container on wheels which we ordered from Chewy (also available at Walmart) along with this adorable bamboo scoop.
The two lingering things are labels which I’m on the fence about because I don’t think they’re necessary. We know exactly what’s what but if things start to get wonky, then YES! I will definitely add them.
The other thing? The boots! I have two pairs - one rain which should be out year round and one snow which definitely don’t need to be in there while it’s 87 degrees out. But we have the space so for now, they’re fine off to the side. Come the nasty weather, I will most likely invest in a boot tray to keep the floors nice. Pretty sure I just kicked them off by the front door anytime it was snowy or wet out earlier this year … oops.
And that’s it! I hope this inspires you to organize or reorganize your coat closet or even just the area where you’d like things like pet or summer supplies. It really doesn’t matter where you store these things at the end of the day. It just has to make sense to you and everyone else in the house. And look cute to boot ;)
See you soon!
PS I have an Etsy shop now if you’re looking for gifts for that organized person in your life!
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.