Coat closets are what I like to call prime organizing real estate.  They’re in a very accessible location, easy to customize, and have a door (so they’re don’t have to look neat and tidy all the time).  Rather than waste that optimal storage space on hanging coats that we only pull out for a few months of the year, I decided to convert it to a cubby closet for my kids.

I purchased this simple wire shelving system from Target for $15 (you can find it by all their dorm supplies).  The pieces snap together so it’s easy to customize it to various configurations.  However, I recommend you spare your fingers a little work and use a small hammer to tap the joints together.

I created 6 vertical cubbies but you could adjust it to 4 cubbies and 2 baskets if you needed a place for storing things like sports gear or jackets.  It’s surprisingly sturdy once it’s all assembled.  I know this because my son – the climber – managed to scale it and teeter on the top in hopes of retrieving the gummy worms from my church box on the top shelf. I had the kids set their school stuff on the shelves, but if you need more hanging space for small items you could add a few s-hooks/repelling clips to the cubby sides or line the bottom of the cubbies with foam-core posterboard.

It’s a fast, cheapand easy fix that makes a big difference.  Just thought I’d pass it on.  By the way, if you’re willing to spend a little more time and have a few power tools on hand, you might want to check out this clever coat closet solution on the Lazy Organizer’s blog.  You’ll want to dig around her archives while your there, she’s got loads of great ideas.

In our old house, these inexpensive stackable shelves used to stack vertically and house my son’s books in his closet. In our new house, I gave them a new purpose by laying them horizontally across the top shelf in my daughters’ closet. The cubbies provide convenient toy storage for the rarely used items and allow me to take advantage of the loads of available space above the hanging bar. This same technique would be great for a hall closet, mudroom, or laundry room. Just thought I’d pass it on.

I purchased my shelves at WalMart for just under $10 each. I couldn’t find them on their website, but I found a similar product at Target.com. Here’s the link so you can check out what you’re looking for before you head to the store.