The front entry is spilling over with stuff. It is the staging ground for recycling boxes and recent tools and stuff going out to the RV and extra stuff from my kids move that I haven’t organized yet. Given my lifestyle it may always be getting cluttered but I hoped having the front closet set up for storage and coats would help with the clutter. So it was the next closet I tackled.
The closet poles I had on hand were a bit too short for this closet so I used 2×4’s instead of 1×4’s to hold the shelves. Attaching pole holders to the 2 x 4’s allowed me to use a shorter pole.
Pole hangers
I was able to take advantage of the salvaged lumber pile for the boards again, With two coats of white paint no one can tell some of the boards were gray and weathered.
Reused boards with corner filler
I assembled the support system as a set because there was no backing for drywall between the support post and the wall in the corner of the closet so there was an unfinished gap. I bought a 1×3 to fill it and attached it to the shelf supports with my finish nail gun.
Supports in closet
With the help of a friend we made use of some of the new storage at least temporarily while clearing off some of the stuff I moved from my mother’s apartment when she passed away this summer.
Storage shelves
I had tried to hang the closet door several months ago but the wall opening was not square and the old door frame didn’t allow the door to close. I had to use the reciprocating Sawsall to take off part of the 2×4 on the right to allow the frame to clear the door. I messed up the interior drywall with the saw but it was not a fantastic job anyway. Then when I finally got the door to fit the space, the lower hinge was bent. So I took a hinge piece off another door and it would not line up with the hinge cutout on the door. I tried moving it up and down and still could not get it to fit, having carved out an ugly space above and below the hinge. I finally got the hinge to align by hanging the door from the top hinge and then screwing in the bottom hinge while it was attached to the door. Notice I also could not find the hinge pins.
Bad hinge alignment
This door with its unsightly hook was the narrowest closet door I could find in the stash and it barely fit the frame. I will have to do some upgrades on this door in the future.
Reused closet door
I’m glad the closets have poles and shelves. That will help us stay more organized as we do finishing work inside the house.