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Hey hey,
When we planned the renovation of our luxury slum, we didn’t include a coat closet by the front door.
I know, I know. Everyone needs more storage.
But the reason we did this is because we wanted open storage to make it easier for us and guests to stow shoes and coats. I’m a horrible host and dread the idea of having to say, “can I take your coat?” to every guest that walks through the front door. If Walmart customers are now called guests, is it offensive to call visitors to my home guests?
We designed a recessed space in the wall, kind of like a closet without doors, where we put this old IKEA shelving unit that Andrew found in As-Is a million years ago. It’s like a Kallax, but much fancier. It fits perfectly and the reason it was in As-Is is that it’s missing a shelf, which I could easily replace, but instead, we made lemons into limoncello and put the extra tall shelf to good use storing some sports equipment in it – see the yoga mat and bike pump? The rest of the shelves are filled with shoes and a few baskets that contain winter gear (scarves, toques, mittens, and the like), reusable shopping bags, beach gear, and bike gear (helmets, locks, spare tubes, tools, lights, etc).
So the shelving unit took care of a lot, but we still had no place to hang our coats and bags.
I really wanted a super simple coat rail but all of the ones that I could find for purchase were either a million dollars or only big enough to hold five coats.
As a result, I eventually decided to make a custom hook rail. Ultimately, this was the only appropriate choice for our luxury slum.
I made something that looks a lot like #3 above. Here’s your tutorial:
- Measure your space to determine how long your rails should be, how many hooks you need, and how far apart they should be.
- Buy screw-on pegs.
- Buy spray paint. I used a metallic copper rose colour because I desperately wanted something copper in my house.
- Buy pretty wood boards.
- Screw the pegs into an empty egg carton and spray paint them.
- Cut wood boards to size and sand them until smooth.
- Pre-drill holes for each peg AND for mounting the rails to the wall.
- Using a level and a second pair of hands, screw the rail to the wall, then screw in each peg.
With the hook rail in place, we now have storage for all of our shoes, coats, and bags. I guess the next step will be a luxurious door mat.
Come on over. There’s space for your coat and shoes.
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