A Zero Dollar DIY Closet Organizer
I'm working on finishing up the closet organizer for our small bedroom. You may recall that I had a roof leak back in August, which lead to me *finally* repairing the water damaged wall last month. Everything kind of snowballed from there and I started just re-doing the whole room.
What I didn't tell you was, the whole reason I tackled this project is because we're taking classes and applying for our Foster Care license. Turning the office back into a bedroom is the first of many steps in getting the house ready....
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This is sort of where we started (I'd already started cleaning off the shelves). This is a view into the closet of our tiny bedroom. It measures 24 inches deep by 72 inches wide:
When we moved in, we decided to use the smallest bedroom as an office space. Since we didn't need a traditional closet, I took down the closet rod and shelf and installed a wall shelf system with four 12" x 72" long shelves to help with our "storage" issues. (read: clutter.)
Taking On The Closet
We removed everything from the closet—which might as well have been a whole room unto itself, because that's where we stored EVERYTHING that we couldn't fit anywhere else. So truthfully, this began as a decluttering exercise.
After taking down the shelves, we discovered that the wall was pretty damaged, so I scraped and sanded the wall, which resulted in the old drywall tape coming loose and tearing off. SO, I re-taped the corners, and spackled & sanded the heck out of everything. (I know, seriously, it's a closet—but still.)
I then re-painted the interior of the closet (because I can't help myself). I used the same color I'd painted the rest of the bedroom—our gray (clearance-shelf) paint from Lowe's.
Since I'd already spent my room reno budget on the bed and wall repairs, my goal was to attempt to create a closet organizer for $0. I'd come across a number of closet organizers I really liked, but they were all in the $1,000 range. After some web surfing, I found Ana White's free plans for making a closet organizer out of one sheet of plywood. Since I didn't have any plywood sheets laying around, I reused those four white laminate shelves that I'd originally installed in the closet. Two of the 6-foot shelves would become the sides of my organizer, one of the shelves would be cut down for the adjustable and set shelves, and the final 6-foot shelf would be cut down to make the top shelves.
My original plan looked like this:
But I didn't have all of the materials to create a closet with four shelves on the left and two on the right.
Starting the Build
I decided to first focus on the basics and work on the center shelf unit. Once that was built and in place, I could get more accurate measurements for the potential shelves on either side, which would help me figure out what my possibilities were.
The center shelf would be constructed out of three of the larger shelves. Two 6-foot sides, three 12-inch set shelves (not moveable), and four 12-inch adjustable shelves.
(If you're thinking that math doesn't quite add up, you're right. I cheated a little and cut the very top shelf out of the original closet shelf. You can kind of tell that it's a slightly different width at 3/4 of an inch, instead of 5/8ths like the rest of the laminate shelves.)
You can also see, at the bottom of the picture, the four 12-inch adjustable shelves I cut (with blue tape on the edges). When cutting down the laminate shelves, I taped the board along all of the cut lines—both front and back and around the edges, to make sure the cuts were clean and to avoid tearing the laminate edge. I was dubious that this trick would work, but it did. All of my cuts were crisp and clean and none of the laminate chipped off. Definitely worth the extra time and effort.
Drilling the Holes for the Adjustable Shelf Pegs
On the two long sides, I used a scrap piece of peg board to help me drill the holes for the adjustable shelf pegs:
I marked off the holes to use as the guides, taping over every other one. Then clamped the peg board to the fore-edge of the shelf. I used a 1/4-inch drill bit to drill the holes.
I measured and taped my drill bit, to help me drill to the appropriate depth, without blowing through the other side of the board (although I did mess up once and drill completely through one of the sides. It was a total "Squirrel!" moment):
I used 1/4-inch dowels (leftover from an Ikea build) to line up the already drilled holes with the peg-board template (since my peg board scrap wasn't as long as my 6-foot shelves). I had one peg for each set of holes:
Securing the Set Shelves
I measured 3 inches up from the bottom of each panel and 2 inches in from the front and back and drilled pilot holes for the bottom shelf (which was secured with wood screws). This would leave enough room at the bottom to cut out notches so the shelf would fit over the floor molding.
I measured half way up and pre-drilled holes for the center shelf, then did the same for the top shelf. I then screwed the shelves into one of the side panels, then the other.
Once the center shelf was constructed, I notched the bottom with my jig saw, so it would fit over the molding and sit snuggly against the wall.
Finding Materials
With the center unit in place, I measured the space on either side, then started rummaging through the house and the shed to see if I had any extra materials that would work with the organizer.
Turns out, I had a small 12 inch deep by 31 inch tall set of laminate shelves that I once used for books—I'd emptied it with the thought of "decluttering" and getting rid of it. Instead, I decided to use it as part of my closet organizer by flipping it on its side to use it as a cubby shelf. It required me to scoot the center unit over about an inch, but it solved my problem of how to create extra shelves on the left-hand side:
I anchored the top of the center shelf with an L bracket, then measured and screwed in supports for the the cubby shelf. Once everything was leveled, I screwed the cubby into the center shelf (from the cubby side), and into a stud in the far wall.
I then removed the side supports (mainly because I didn't like the way they looked). I replaced them with my dowel hangers (which also serve as side supports for the shelf). Afraid that the shelf would sag, I also put a support along the back wall.
After the cubby and rod were installed on the left, I started working on the shelves and hanging rods on the right-hand side.
The top and middle shelf were cut from the original shelf that hung in the closet. The hanging rods came from this closet and from the front hall closet (which I re-did a couple of years ago & managed to hang on to the closet rod, just in case).
The closet rods are 1 1/2 inch wooden dowels & looked pretty beat up, so I spray painted them with some left over glossy white spray paint.
The dowel rod holders are 6 pieces cut from a scrap piece of 1 x 6. I cut it down and used my 1 3/4 hole saw bit to drill holes for the dowel ends. These were then screwed into the wall and the center shelf unit. The dowel had to be inserted before I screwed both end pieces on. (So, the only way it comes off is by unscrewing one of the ends.)
Problem Solving the Shelf Pegs
The only thing I didn't have (& couldn't find in my stash) was the 1/4-inch shelf pegs to support the four adjustable shelves. I started pricing them out online and at the big box stores & discovered that for a pack of 8 it'd cost me about $5-$6 (or I could order them from China at $1.01 per 4 pegs, and wait 60 days for them to arrive). I was completely willing to spend $12 on my "zero dollar budget" build, but thought I'd make one last pass through the shed to see if I could find anything.
What I found was a 1/4-inch wooden dowel, stashed in a scrap bucket in the corner. It wasn't the shelf pegs I'd been looking for, but it'd would work perfectly well for my purpose. I cut it with a hand saw, in 1-inch increments and used these to hold up the shelves.
I finished up by painting all of the shelf supports along the back wall to help them blend in better.
Tools & Materials
Materials Used
- 3x) 12" x 72" white laminate shelves
- 1x) 1" x 12" x 72" pine board (original closet shelf)
- 1x) 12" x 12" x 31" white laminate cubby bookshelf
- 1x) 1 1/2" x 72" wooden dowel (original hanging rod from closet)
- 1x) 1 1/2 " x 34" wooden dowel (hanging rod from front hall closet redo)
- 1x) 1" x 6" x 42" pine board—scrap wood
- 1x) 1/4" wooden dowel—scrap wood
- 2x) 1" x 3" x 12" particle board—scrap pieces (came as packing filler with furniture)
- 1x) 1" x 2" x 8" pine—scrap wood
- various wood screws
- drywall anchors
- Paint (for closet walls)
Tools Used
- Small hand saw
- Circular saw
- Clamps
- Drill
- Drill bits: 1/8 inch,1/4 inch, 5/16 inch
- 1 3/4 inch hole saw drill bit
- Philips head screw driver bit
- Stud finder
- Jig saw
- Tape measure
- Scrap piece of peg board (used as a hole jig)
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