Entryway Closet Makeover!!!

I am so excited about this make over I can hardly stand it! 

I have been day dreaming about a solution to our closet mess for quite a while now. 

Not everyone has a garage or a large mud room. So many of us have these little hallway closets that we barely fit in.  We have lived in three houses with all five of our kids and I have tried several ideas. We have had a big shoe bin outside the closet, in the entry way. We have had individual baskets for each of us on the bottom of the shoe closet. All of which resulted in big piles of shoes messed up on the floor. 

The kids would dig through their shoe baskets and it would end up mixed up, messed up and spread all around our entry way. Every day we did this...then I would throw everything back in just so I could barely close the door. Oh and the next pair of shoes I needed, they were of course, on the bottom of the pile. :) 

Here is the BEFORE picture. I am sorry to say I should have taken a better picture. I was so excited to get started on my project and I wish you could have seen it at its worst.

Let me reassure you, it has been much worse than this. Much higher than this. Involving coats that were knocked down from hangers, more backpacks piled on top and shoes spilling out the front. 

Let me show you how I went from the picture above to this...!

This is my new favorite thing! Scroll down to see how this happened. 

This was NOT my original plan. I was going to put U shaped shelves around the back but it was going to be work, and involve measuring and my table saw which was being blocked by clutter at the time. While I was out shopping with my husband I stumbled upon these at Ikea. It took a minute to sell my husband on the idea but I was convinced these were the perfect solution! 

This is maybe one of the few things from ikea that didn't require a ton of instructions. They come in packs of three but are individual. They lock into place to stack on top of each other which is nice. 

The front covers come off super easy so you can drill them into the wall. However, they do NOT come with anything so you have to have your own screws to get this project done. 

Another reason I like that the cubby part comes off is that with all of the debris we track inside the bottom of the cubby is bound to get dirty. I can take these off and give them a quick rinse and easily slide them back into place. 

So, I put these above the molding that was in our closet. I wanted them to sit nicely against the wall. And because I had the room underneath, my husband and I could slide our shoes under on each side!

These are going to be very simple for my little ones to use. 

They are very tight into the wall and ready for storage!

I am giddy by this point! I don't remember the last time I saw the floor in this closet! 

As you can see above, there is room on top where the wire rack was already built in. These aren't super tall. I intend to take out that wire rack...as you will see below. 

Look at that! Full of shoes!~ Including rain boots which are quite bulky. 

For right now I used painters tape to put up pictures (blurred out) for each kid. Some of them are too little too read and I want them to put away their own shoes. :) The younger kids are on the bottom of course. 

We have five kids but I have six cubbies. If ever we had another, Lord willing, it is ready to go.

But these cubbies are also perfect for more than shoes!  As you can see below you can put hats, gloves, sun glasses, and even umbrellas inside! 

Another option: umbrellas on top. 

Here are all of the cubbies open and full. Nothing bumping into each other. We can technically see them all at once, if that were ever the desire. :)

And then...we can close them and not see them at all! 

Below you can see that there is a little shelf with a lip. Another option would be to find little baskets that fit on here, maybe from the dollar store and you could put gloves or sun glasses in them? 

The next part of this project was to take care of the coats and backpacks. While some might be sad to see the wire rack go, it just didn't work wonders for us. The backpacks on top piled high and knocked each other over when we tried to take just one. So I lifted up the front, and opened the lid (in the picture below) and the wire rack came right out. 

Once I took the wire rack out I closed the lids and decided to leave them in the wall. Just because, IF I were to ever want to put the wire rack back in, all I would have to do is slide it in place. 

So here they all are...and for now, I will leave them be. They won't be seen once my new hooks are up.  And I can always take them out later. 

I put six double pronged hooks up. Two on each side and two in the back. 

They each hold a winter coat and a backpack for the kids. 

 Now granted the kids have other jackets, rain coats, and hoodies. But most of those can be in their closets. In the summer we put winter coats in a big rubbermaid tub in the garage. But I wanted to make sure that they would fit their biggest coats. 

Here are the adult shoes underneath! And guess what...still floor space! Ack! So excited! 

I think I will add two more hooks in the center between the cubbies. So my husband and I can each put our coats and I can, for the first time, have somewhere to hang my purse! 

I played around with the idea of having a stool in the middle of the floor, so my oldest can reach inside the top shoe bin. 

Another option. I suppose you could put a little air freshener pouch in each one so they smell a little better than shoes typically do. Depending on how many shoes you have in each cubby you could keep the hats, gloves, and sunglasses inside as well so every kid has all of their items in one spot. 

All done!

And out of sight! 

So there you have it, boys and girls! 

I am so happy that all afternoon I have been taking a peek inside when I walk by. 

There are lots of ways to makeover these small entry way closets but I often see the decorative, 

take-off -the-door displays with decor, baskets and one or two hooks. Well, for this family we need storage. Simple storage. 

Who would have thought you could fit a large family into one of these tiny entry way closets?!