Entryway Closet Makeover.. by Lindsey

Lindsey here.

Before we even bought our current house, I knew what I wanted to do with the closet right as you come in from the garage. It is a closet at the end of the hallway from the kitchen, so it can be seen from the kitchen and living room, but that doesn't bother me. 

We have 3 other closets on our main floor alone, so taking one away to turn into an entryway landing area for everything was my goal from the beginning. 

It has finally happened! I found this site  and sent it to Adam and requested it to be done for my birthday. I think Adam was a little frustrated because the site didn't have step-by-step/specific directions, but he figured it out. Extra points for him!

I also think our closet is a lot deeper than what they have, but it still turned out just fine. 

First the closet door and track came off. Then the shelves inside were removed and the walls were spackled and sanded. 

The closet walls were painted the same color that I have in the hallway leading to it. I also painted the ceiling just to touch it up. It needed it. 

Next was installing a frame for the bottom platform for shoes, and a middle platform for the bench. 

Hardest part here was decided how tall I wanted the bench to be. Don't ask. I don't remember what was decided, but I basically sat down on Connor's art table because it is a nice height and measured it. Pick a height that is comfortable for you. 

Next task was cutting boards for both the shoe area and the bench seat and staining the boards. 

Of course this led to an interesting situation as the stain that I used for 85% of the boards I ran out of and the new stain I bought to do the remaining 3 boards wasn't the same shade as the other boards. 

I believe it was easier to do individual boards and nail them down as opposed to one big piece. Personal preference though on how you want your bench to look. 

Next steps were to install brackets to hold the shelving. That included figuring out how tall I wanted to shelf to be (how much room for hooks and stuff to hang down), as well as how wide I wanted the shelves to be. The bottom shelf is longer than the top shelf. 

Adam added trim pieces to the front of the bench and shoe frame to finish it off, so allow the boards that creates the area for the bench and shoe area to be longer than the original frame so that the trim pieces don't stick out further than the bench wood. (I hope that makes sense!)

This shelving? Very tricky! Adam attached the dividing panels to the top shelving piece first. I then had to hold this piece up as high as I could so he could maneuver the bottom shelving piece up and over the brackets. he then screwed the big shelving piece to the metal brackets, and then screwed the dividing panels to the lower shelving piece as well. 

Other than adding hooks, and finding some containers for shoes at the bottom and metal paper holders for the top area to hold school papers, etc. it is complete! 

It is really nice to walk in from school and the sitter and throw everything here and not on the kitchen island. No more hanging Connor's jacket on his closet door handle. 

Big props to Adam. I know doing this caused headaches and marital spats, but within 2 weeks of doing it after work, it was completed.

This place will be even more convenient come March when we will add an infant seat into the mix!