It’s been quite a long time since I’ve done a C.O.P. project (cleaning, organizing, purging). But in the last few days, my patience ran out with my closet situation in our bedroom. Right now, Matt and I use the guest bedroom as our main bedroom, and we’ll continue to do that until we build our addition. That addition will have a much bigger bedroom with a large walk-in closet, and another smaller closet.
But for now, we have these two closets flanking the window…
I built those closets knowing that we’d be using this bedroom temporarily as our main bedroom, and I just assumed that Matt would get one closet, and I’d get the other one. But Matt doesn’t really need an entire closet for himself. In fact, he doesn’t need a closet at all.
Since Matt has M.S., and was homebound for over a decade, he didn’t need a variety of clothes and shoes. And even now, he still doesn’t. Matt wears very comfortable clothes, and he only has one pair of shoes that he can tolerate being on his feet. So all of his clothes can fit in the dresser in the bedroom.
But for some reason, when I realized that Matt wouldn’t need a closet, I didn’t take over the other closet for my stuff. Instead, I used it to store things like the comforter that we use in the winter, the quilt and large decorative pillows that go on the bed in this room, and lots of other things that don’t really need to stay in this room.
And because I was trying to force myself to use one small-ish closet, this was my shoe situation…
There’s no way all of my shoes would fit inside the closet along with my clothes, so I’d line up the rest of my shoes neatly outside the closet. But that neat lineup would only last a few days before my shoes would end up in a mound like this. And just imagine trying to step over and through that mound in order to open the closet and pick out an outfit or put clothes away!
So on Monday, I had to go to Lowe’s to pick up some things for the studio, and I decided to take a stroll down the shelf and closet organization aisle to see if they had any small shelves that I could use under the TV in the studio. And while I was on that aisle, I got inspired to go ahead and purchase what I needed to organize that other closet. I didn’t want anything expensive or elaborate, so I found a very simple closet organization solution that would work inside this closet to create a shoe closet.
So last night, I decided to take a couple of hours and resolve my shoe storage problem. I started by clearing out everything from this closet so that I was left with nothing but an empty box..
I started by adding these two Closetmaid ShelfTrack metal tracks for adjustable shelving. Since I was screwing these onto a solid plywood backing, this process took about five minutes. The tracks come in various lengths, and these 84-inch tracks were perfect for my closet.
These shelf brackets slip into the notches on the tracks, so the shelves are fully adjustable to any height needed.
For the actual shelves, I decided not to use the Closetmaid wire shelves that are made to go with the ShelfTrack system because I don’t really like wire shelves, and I figured I could find something cheaper.
I ended up using stair treads! I was pretty excited about finding this option. Not only are they one of the cheapest options (cheaper than 1″ x 12″ x 8-foot lumber, cheaper than pre-primed MDF, etc.), but they’re thicker than most standard lumber. The stair treads are actually one inch thick, whereas standard lumber is called 1-inch, but it’s actually three-quarter inch thick. These stair treads also have a nice bullnose on the front edge which I think looks really nice.
So I bought seven stair treads, cut them to length with my miter saw to fit inside the closet on the brackets, and then sanded them before putting them in the closet. Because I wanted to get this project finished quickly, I opted not to stain or paint the shelves. I didn’t clear coat them, either, but I may end up doing that later. For now I just needed to get this done quickly so that I could get my shoes organized and out of the way. I’m so ridiculously excited about this shoe closet.
I ended up being one shelf short, which is why the bottom of the closet looks a bit cluttered. I need to get one more stair tread and make room for one more shelf so that those shoes currently occupied the middle part of the bottom of the closet can have their own shelf.
In the process of organizing, I ended up getting rid of six pairs of shoes that I don’t wear anymore. So this was not only an organizing project, but also a purging project! I’m so excited to have this taken care of now. And when Matt and I are finished using this room as our main bedroom, the shelves are completely adjustable, so I’ll be able to store anything I want to in this closet.
This is one of those organizing projects that seems insignificant. I mean, it’s just a shoe closet. And yet, going from this before to this after will have a huge impact on my life.
Being able to stand in front of that other closet to put clothes away or choose an outfit without having to stumble over shoes is going to be a dramatic improvement in the way I use these closets, and will definitely improve my mood when I have to get ready to go somewhere. I can’t believe how quick send easy this project was, and I can’t believe I put it off so long!!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
