How to Organize Your Coat Closet

All of us have areas of our home that have a tendency to get out of hand. Maybe yours is behind a closed door. One of mine is unfortunately right by my front door. Until recently it looked like this:

I KNOW! It's bad. What's even more embarrassing is how long it looked like this before I did something about it.

The closet had a few problems:

Too many coats - including many that we never or almost never wore.
Cluttered top shelf that was in no way organized.
Shoes in a huge pile.
Coats on the floor because the 4 year old isn't tall enough to hang them on hangers.

To get things under control, I shopped my house as well as picked up some of these supplies from the store:

White Command Hooks
Chalkboard tags and labels from the dollar spot at Target
Whitmor Natural Wood Shelf

Some of the links in my supply lists may be affiliate links.

How I did it:

Step 1: Pull everything out

I got everything out of the closet so I could see what I really had. Anything that we used less than twice a month got put away in a different part of the house. Anything we didn't want anymore, we set aside to sell.

Step 2: Clean it out / fix it up

I vacuumed and wiped everything down. I also fixed the hinge that was keeping the door from being able to close all the way.

Step 3: Sort

Of the coats, shoes and other things we were keeping, I sorted them into piles by person. The coats were hung in the closet, the shoes were put on the shoe rack (each person has a shelf), the accessories were put away in that hanging IKEA drawer deal you see in the pictures.

Step 4: Hooks

I added hooks to the door so that the 4 year old can take care of his coat and backpack independently without throwing it on the flook or needing a grown up to hang it for him. I also have a place to hang my purse now.

Step 5: Labels

I added labels so family members could easily find their bins.

Take a look around

Labeled bins make it easy for everyone to find the spot their things go in.

Keep less used items (like helmets) up high. Use a large basket to hold onto smaller items.

Keep shoes organized by giving everyone their own shelf. Put a rubber-backed mat next to the shelf to hold boots that come inside with rain or mud on them.