Way back before I had a baby, I mentioned in this post how I had big plans for our tiny hall coat closet. I actually managed to accomplish most of those plans before the baby came along, but a few last details were left undone. Until today! I banged out the few remaining tasks during nap time today and can finally share my coat closet makeover with you!

So here’s the deal on the coat closet. It’s tiny. Like a foot and a half square. It’s also just as deep as it is wide, so even what little space we had wasn’t used very efficiently with just a single hanging rod to go across it. I wanted to come up with a way to use the space from front to back as well as side to side.

So I did some measuring, some shopping, some drilling and screwing and I made a coat closet that feels a lot more functional.

First I took out the hanging rod. Instead I got several hooks and attached them to the three sides of the closet. From these we can hang coats, purses, keys and umbrellas. Already it was a lot more functional than the hanging rod. I even made sure to add a couple of hooks low down on the wall so Charlie can hang up his own coat (in theory, at least).

Then I got three nice storage boxes and screwed them onto the back wall. These hold all our scarves, mittens, and hats for winter.

The final touch was the addition of a low shelf to set bags on. I’ve learned that the number of bags you need in your life increases exponentially when you have children. So we needed a place to put the bags.

Did you know you can get wood boards cut to whatever size you need at Lowe’s? Super handy. I don’t have a saw, nor do I see myself needing one often enough to invest in such a tool, so this service is just what I needed to get this little project done.

Under the shelf is a basket for shoes. Now our closet can hold everything we need to head out the door!

Here’s a “styled” picture to show you how everything has a place.

And here’s real life. It’s stuffed to the brim, but it’s a lot more useful than the before.

It even still fits a small child!