Turning a Small Coat Closet Into a Useful Broom/utility Closet

by Cynthia H

7 Materials

$30

3 Days

Easy

We had a tiny coat closet in one corner of our enclosed back porch. Coats were stuffed in there, and were hard to pull back out. Misc. items were shoved on the floor and shelf. It was a hot mess. I finally realized that instead of wasting storage space, when I had hooks on the walls for coats, and a coat rack, now, that it would better serve as a broom closet. So here's what I did.

turning a small coat closet into a useful broom utility closet

As you can see, it was overstuffed and messy.

The upper shelf had some useful things on it, but, the coats were so much in the way, that it was hard to reach anything.

So I took everything out, including the clothing rod. Here was some old paneling we had put in it to finish the walls about 30 years ago (we wanted to recycle the old paneling that was on every wall, but, not on the walls. Plus, the price was right!

The blocks on the left are from our chimney. The vent pipe was no longer in use, since it used to vent a washer that was on the other side of the wall. The washer and dryer were moved about 20 years ago, and this remained. My husband cut it close to the floor and installed a cap on it. The floor is concrete.

First I painted the walls with Kilz paint. I bought this broom hanger on Amazon. It was easy to install and inexpensive.

I installed this hanger, also from Amazon, on the side of the closet on the right, where the framing was.

Then I bought an inexpensive plastic shoe box at Walmart to keep my rug cleaners in. The little woven rug is from the dollar store.

I reinstalled the shelf after I cleaned it up, to hold cleaning rags, pads for my steam cleaner, dust rags, etc. and of course garbage bags and clothes pins (in the galvanized bucket). I already had the container for the cleaning rags, and the bucket. Both were from Walmart.

The closet didn't have a door, so I took an unused bifold closet door, disconnected the two halves, painted them and installed new hinges. My husband helped me install them.

So there you have it - a closet to keep my many cleaning tools and ironing board in! The only purchases were new hinges for the door, the two hangers, the shoe box and the rag rug. I had leftover paint.

This is how we store coats currently in use, and have a big closet in the front entry where we keep the coats not currently in use.

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4 of 11 comments

Ruth Halpin on May 10, 2018

Nice job Cynthia! I had the same similar dilemma. Only my little closet area was where our central air/heat furnace used to be.
We had stopped using the central air due to mold all over the A coil. So instead of paying to have it cleaned, we opted yo have it removed because of my COPD & emphysema.
What was left after the furnace was taken out, was a good sized area for a nice hall closet! I had already planned how it was going to be, as soon as "someone" helped put some shelves in it for me lol.
Well, after 5 years in the making, my son came over and he made, sawed, and installed 2 very nice looking shelves in that hall closet of mine. I was thinking the same as you, by getting some hooks to hang the broom, mop, swifer or dust mop from.

1 Reply
- Cynthia H on May 12, 2018
  
  You'll love it when you get it the way you want it. Now everything has a place!
  
  Like
Kay on Feb 28, 2019

This is something I've needed to do for so long and never got round to it. Thanks for the tips and the inspiration. Great job!

1 Reply
- Cynthia H on Mar 01, 2019
  
  You are welcome! Good luck with your project!
  
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