My (inexpensive) closet project

The front hallway closet in my Boston apartment is small but it still has to hold all my shoes (yes, I love shoes), coats, jackets, gloves, scarfs, boots & all other stuff. I completed this project when we moved in about a year ago. I did want to spend a lot of $$ on custom built-in but I still wanted it to look organized & attractive. I LOVE how it looks now.....

Here's how I did it:

• COATS & JACKETS - Replace all wire hangers with wooden ones. Return the wire hangers to the dry cleaner. They will love you for it. Plastic and wire hanger may not hold the weight of your winter coat, or it may distort your garment


• SHOES - Use a shoe organizer. I found this one at IKEA ($9.99 each). Here I have two hanging on each side. You can hang them side my side as well. I like to arrange the shoes with one facing out ad the other facing inwards. This way I can see the front of the shoe and the heel.




• BOOTS - Line them up at the bottom. To keep the boots from falling over, I stuff them with a rolled up magazine. This helps keep the shape of the boots for next fall/winter season.




• GLOVES & SCARFS - I found matching drawers at IKEA what fits into the shoe organizer. Brilliant, isn't it? They were a steal for $4.99 (pack of 2). I placed one drawer in each organizer. The drawers are great for storing gloves and scarfs. I also store shoe polish or wax.




• ALL OTHER STUFF - Again, I found this matching box from IKEA ($14.99 each). You can get a few and line them up on top. I didn't have much space so, I just have one. I also stack the shoe boxes of new shoes that I just bought on top.

Let's break it down and see how much this project cost :

Shoe organizer (2x) - $19.98

Drawers - $ 4.99

Box - $14.99

The total came up to $39.96 (plus approximately 2 hours of organization)

HAPPY ORGANIZING. Just remember to Keep It Organized, Keep It Simple!