Organize your messy closet by installing closet organizers.
If your closet is so full of clutter that you can never find what you're looking for, what you need to do is install some closet built-ins. Built-in storage units inside the closet provide the perfect way to organize shoes, sweaters and other clothing items, so you can find them easily. While you can purchase prefabricated closet organizers at your local hardware store, building your own is the best way to ensure that your organizers fit your particular closet and that they suit your individual needs. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Building the Shoe Rack
1. Measure the height, depth and width of your closet using a measuring tape. Record these measurements on a sheet of paper. You will be building a low shoe rack topped by two vertical storage units with a clothing rod mounted between.
2. Draw out a sketch of your built-ins and write in the measurements you just took. The shoe rack should cover the entire length of the closet wall to a height of 10 to 30 inches. At either end of the shoe rack, draw a vertical storage unit extending up the wall to the ceiling and divide it into individual cubbies.
3. Use a jigsaw to cut two sheets of 1/2-inch plywood for the top and bottom panels of your shoe rack. To cut these panels, use the length and depth measurement of your shoe rack. Cut two sheets of 1/2-inch plywood to the depth and height of your shoe rack to serve as the side panels.
4. Arrange the four sheets of plywood in a rectangular shape, sandwiching the side panels between the ends of the top and bottom panels. Drive nails from a nail gun through the top and bottom panels into the thickness of the side panels to secure them.
5. Cut additional shelves and dividers for your shoe rack out of 1/2-inch plywood. If your shoe rack has more than one level, cut the additional shelves, using the depth measurement of the shoe rack and the length measurement, minus 1 inch. Cut the vertical dividers for your shoe cubbies, using the height of the shelf and the depth of the shoe rack. Each shelf should be between 6 and 10 inches high.
6. Install the dividers and any additional shelves in your shoe rack. Slide the shelves horizontally between the side panels and drive nails through them into the shelves. Measure and mark the desired intervals for the vertical dividers then slide them between the horizontal panels and nail them in place.
Building the Vertical Storage Units
7. Cut four sheets of 1/2-inch plywood to the desired depth and height of your vertical storage units for the side panels. Use the jigsaw to cut four more sheets of 1/2-inch plywood for the top and bottom panels, using the depth measurement and the width measurement, minus 1 inch.
8. Create two rectangular frames, using two each of the larger and smaller sheets of plywood. Sandwich the shorter boards between the upper and lower edges of the longer boards. Secure both frames by driving nails through the side panels into the top and bottom panels.
9. Measure and mark the position of the horizontal dividers for your vertical storage units. Cut sheets of 1/2-inch plywood, using the depth measurement and the width measurement, minus 1 inch, for your dividers. Slide the dividers between the side panels and drive nails through the side panels to attach them.
Finishing and Installing the Built-Ins
10. Fill all the nail and screw holes with wood filler, then sand the surface smooth after the filler has dried. Paint or stain your shoe rack and vertical storage units then apply a coat of clear varnish or polyurethane.
11. Use a stud finder to locate the studs in the closet wall. Slide the shoe rack into place along the back wall of the closet. Anchor the shoe rack by driving 2 1/2-inch wood screws through the corner joints into the wall studs.
12. Position the two vertical storage units on top of the shoe rack at either end. The bottom of each vertical unit should sit flat against the top of the shoe rack and the outside of each unit should be flush with the adjacent wall.
13. Anchor the vertical storage units to the wall by driving 2 1/2-inch wood screws through the corner joints into the wall studs. Secure the vertical units to the shoe rack by driving nails from the nail gun through the bottom panel into the top of the shoe rack.
14. Follow the instructions included with the clothing rod kit to mount the supports to the side panels of the vertical storage units, then slide the wooden rod into place. If you cannot find a clothing rod kit with a rod of the right length, purchase a wooden rod and trim it, using the jigsaw.
Tags: shoe rack, shoe rack, side panels, storage units, your shoe