To Hook or Not to Hook

An entryway closet can seem like a dream to hold all of those items you need as you head out the door but it can also become overstuffed with coats, hangers, and bags.  When this happens it’s hard to see the back of the closet where things can often get lost.

We have a small coat closet in our front entryway that was becoming just that.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think this project would turn out as great as it did so I didn’t take any before photos.  But you can image what this looked like.

Here is a pretty close example:

 

My first solution was to go through my closet and clean out what I didn’t need.  But, after cleaning it out, I realized everything needed to be put back in.  The closet is a ‘normal’ size depth and width but I needed to really utilize the back of the closet and the floor.  And, with coats hanging down it’s too hard to use the floor for storage.

We have a nook in the back of house that just has a row of hooks for the kids to hang up coats and bags.  It is so much easier than having them try to use a hanger.  I decided this was the route I needed to go in this closet.  I was planning to buy a few hooks to use but a trip to my favorite store, Container Store quickly gave me another idea.

Even those these are made for a more industrial space like a garage, I thought why not a closet?  You don’t need the vertical brackets–the horizontal bracket can easily be mounted directly to the wall.  What I liked about these hooks the most is you can add more, take some away and even move them to adjust for thick or thin coats.

Here are some AFTER shots:

 

I also needed somewhere for my husband to store all of his shoes.  I put in a vertical shelving unit and then had the brackets cut down to the exact size I needed, Container Store will do this for you for FREE (how about that?  Nothing is free these days!).

I also find using hooks is so much faster than hanging up a coat on a hanger.  The space looks less cluttered now that you can see the back of the closet.  We gained so much more storage space for our shoes and now it only takes a quick glance to find our shoes.

 I also found this great organizer to hold all of my clutches and scarves.

 

This was such a quick fix and I didn’t even bother taking down the closet rod–I was so excited to just install the new hooks.   Happy Organizing!