In the Meantime... Coat Closet/Pantry Design and Inspiration

While we live in our semi-done/undone kitchen and wait {for what feels like an eternity} for our kitchen cabinets, there are still a million things to be done to keep making progress in our cute little abode. The next thing I want to tackle is the coat closet right inside the front door of our place. 

Here is the coat closet {side note: I can't believe I didn't take a shot of the doors from directly in front of it, argh! I guess you always miss something when trying to cover all of the 'before' pics...}

I have to say, I absolutely love that we have a coat closet. There are so many buildings and houses without one, and I honestly don't understand why there is a building on earth without a dedicated space to hang coats or whatever other outerwear your climate calls for. What about raincoats and boots and everything else we all have and can't fit in our regular closets?! So yay for that.

But, we are pretty tight on space overall, our kitchen is definitely on the small side, and while I have been able to add a decent amount of storage with the remodel, we still need to make sure we maximize every square inch of potential storage, and we will most definitely have overflow from the kitchen.

We also don't have any sort of linen closet, so all bathroom, cleaning, towels, sheets, blankets, etc, have to find a home somewhere also. In order to create more pantry storage for the kitchen and other dry goods {think paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, dog stuff... it's a long list!} we are taking over half of the coat closet and will make a pantry. And we are adding a little fun and personality in one other major way as well ~ some bold color! If you didn't notice in the original pic, the coat closet has no trim around the opening, and the doors are super cheap hollow-core sliding doors. The first thing I did was throw away those horrible doors and add door trim around the opening, I wasn't 100% sure what the final door answer would be, but adding trim has already made a huge difference.

Yep, I'm too busy to clean it out so you get an honest, messy, in-progress photo. What can I say, I like to keep it real {or I have to because this chick doesn't have time for anything else!} You're welcome :)

But really, doesn't it already look so much better just from adding trim around the opening?! After thinking about it, I decided that it makes the most sense to keep sliding doors here, but we'll get new solid-core doors that look a lot nicer and are much better quality. And since it will be half coat closet and half pantry a slider works, you just open whichever side you need. But also, I knew we wanted {and probably most people will} to have some kind of furniture by the door as a place to put mail and keys etc. and if we did any kind of door with a hinge we either couldn't do furniture or we wouldn't be able to open the door more than a few inches. So that decision was easy.

Here's a quick sketch of what I'm thinking for the new setup:

The pantry half will be closest to the door on the right, and the coats will be closer to the living room, on the 'far' side of the closet. I can't really explain why I decided this over having it the other way, it just felt right. Technically this way the pantry side is more in line with the kitchen, and for me it just feels more comfortable to have the coats on the left ~ and there is just a smidge extra closet space to the left of the opening which would be harder to access for pantry storage so this way is more functional. I have plenty of big pantry dreams where I have a whole room with cute baskets and bins and space between so that everything can spread out and have some breathing room and as I scroll through the gram and drool over all of the beautiful pantries, I am definitely getting ideas for organization and storage to make the most of our space...One day... but for this space since we are trying to squeeze in every possible inch of storage that we can, I'm envisioning something with adjustable shelves and drawers so that if our needs change over time we can adjust, and so that when we sell, the new owners can have the flexibility to make the space exactly what they need and want as well.

Kind of like this:

The biggest things I need to figure out before pulling the trigger on this space is exactly what we'll be putting in here, so we'll do an inventory to plan as much as possible so that the space actually works for us. But before all that, and most importantly, what color do I paint the walls!

Paint the inside closet walls you say, with a mystified quizzical look on your face?! YES! I think people often don't consider closets and pantries as spaces to have a lot of color, or actively design, but I couldn't disagree with that more. These ancillary 'work horses' of the house are perfect spots to add a little pop of color or some wallpaper. They are perfect if you are a little nervous to go bold with color or do a big bold wallpaper, these smaller spaces become more of a special moment in a room.

Besides giving yourself that little happiness burst every time you open the door, I think when a space looks great, we are a little more inclined to keep it nice and tidy, instead of just being a boring place to throw things out of sight.

I'm off to pick out paint samples for this puppy, I can't wait to share what I'm considering for this little space, let me know if you have any ideas on color I should consider!