Winter Hang-Ups

As the weather is getting colder, I'm reminded of last winter's hang up....

Help! My entryway is overflowing with jackets, mittens, and hats. The kids manage to put their jackets and hats into the entryway closet (or somewhere close) but everything is just in a pile. It's hard to find matching gloves. Where did the baby's jacket go? Occasionally I'll hang up the jackets, but its inevitable that they all end up back on the floor. The kids can't reach to hang up their own coats. And let's face it, I'm a little lazy. Why hang it up when I'm going to need it in a few hours?

 

But then I walked into my friends house, who is the hostess. She had a nice shelf with hooks to hang up all the coats and jackets. What a great idea!! I asked her about it and she said she had gotten it on sale. I looked it up online - $80. I showed my husband the picture and we brainstormed. Here is the solution he came up with.

The great thing about building our own coat rack/shelf is not only the money we saved, but also we got exactly what we wanted. I needed something a certain width and depth to match our entryway. I also needed plenty of hooks, as well as shelf space to organize hats and gloves and such. The top part could be used for displaying pictures or knick knacks.

So, my husband measured the distance between the closet door and the end of the wall. He made two shelves, to fit the boxes I had picked out. He put six hooks to give us plenty of places to hang up all our stuff.

One box was filled with hats and gloves. Another held raincoats and an umbrella. The boxes I choose were from jugs of bottled water, cut down to be a little shorter. I decorated one box with my kids' artwork/handprints and then covered it with clear contact paper. The other box I decorated with plain white paper and stenciled some scripture and then covered it with contact paper.

We mounted it at a level where the kids can get down their own jackets and hang them back up themselves. The gloves and such are now organized so that they aren't lost in the mess. My husband enjoyed the wood-working project and I enjoyed decorating the boxes and displaying some family pictures and other special items.

Problem: how to organize the winter wardrobe in a way that is accessible to all members of the family and in a way that can stay neat

Traditional Solution: buy a coat rack type shelf for $80 (maybe less if you find a good deal), that may or may not fit your house

Creative Solution: Make your own shelf with minimal cost, designing to your specific taste and space and can fit your storage needs. Supplies we used: 2 1”by6” pieces of wood, hooks, boxes, paper, contact paper. Minimal tools needed: skill saw, speed square, screwgun and screws. Sanding and routing will give it a more finished look, but it is not necessary. Add shelves to fit your storage needs.