Coat Closet Makeover

Our coat closet is in a teeny tiny foyer.  The front door, when open, blocks it completely, and the closet door was designed to open only about 80 degrees.  Nice, huh?  The lack of color made the space kind of sad.  Add in the cracks in the corner, and this closet was downright depressing.

BEFORE

Our teeny tiny foyer.

I needed some more function and heckuva lot more beauty, so I went to Pinterest for inspiration.  I know, weird for me.  I dig around every now and then, but the site is not a time suck for me, mainly because I know my attempts to replicate the cute crafts and recipes would show up on one of those Pin-Fail sites.

Source (Posted here with permission)

But look what I found!  Above you'll see a major closet makeover on House of Smiths that I really liked.  I didn't have the budget or wherewithal to demolish and then build such a complex project, but I loved the idea of taking the door off and making the closet more functional with some hooks and a couple of baskets.

Of course, I would also need plenty of color.

So here's my own renovated coat closet*:

AFTER

 I decided to use the Cayman Bay paint from the living room.  And then just plain white above the shelf.  The trim around the door opening, though, I wanted to keep wood-toned along with the shelf.

We put in some large hooks for the kids to use.  (Be sure to use strong anchors for hooks. Otherwise, they'll rip right out of the walls once you start hanging stuff up)

I now have the chevron pattern in my house.  I'm not enamored by the two-toned look I usually see, but I love this multi-colored option.  The baskets are from Lowes and are perfect for holding hats and gloves.

I needed coat storage, especially for the bigger jackets, so I thought a small rod in the side nook would do the trick.  

And the basket on the floor is perfect for shoes.

We'll do some tweaking as new needs arise, but overall, I'm very pleased.  Such a nice cheery entrance to the house.

I originally tackled this "Pinterest Challenge" for the Winter linkup at Young House Love. We finished a few days too late, so I'm up at the Spring party instead.

*Taking photos of the closet was very challenging.  If only we could have demolished the wall behind us so we could back it up a bit. Or purchased a nice lens.  But the money tree harvest was kind of weak this year, so this'll have to do.

Shared at Savvy Southern Style.