Back To School| Organized Drop Zone Closet

You guys. I'M SO EXCITED. I'M SO EXCITED (a la Jessie Spano).

It's closet reveal day!
We've been demoing, painting, wallpaper installing, shelf decorating and tweaking for a few weeks and now she is ready for her debut.

When we first moved into the house, there was a sad little space just off the garage door entrance that was overlooked and underused. Without having a mudroom, I knew this space was crucial as a drop zone for all. the. things.  

As with all projects, I started off by creating a mood board and measuring the dimensions to ensure my new plan would fit.  I shared our mood board for this closet here as well as how I needed the overall space to function.  This small space ( maybe 8 sq ft total) was stretched as far as she could go to serve many functions.  We also knew we wanted to leave the door off and keep this closet open so not only did it need to be functional but also pretty and chic, naturally. 

Let's start with a before! 

So pretty huh? There's actually 2 small angled walls hidden behind the door frame on the right hand side that I don't have a before picture of. Boo. 

So, we my husband started removing all the hooks, ripping out that plywood shelf, and prepping the walls for a new paint job.  That is of course after he took out all junk that was in there...which was a lot.  Here's a perspective shot to see where this closet is located:

Oh, I still swoon when I see my wallpaper foyer. Back to the closet....

I'll spare you the demo photo's and I'll just get right to the pretty ones! 

Now mind you, we still need to get new floors. So just ignore the ugly linoleum. One step at a time!

I'm a firm believer when spaces are pretty they stay cleaner and more organized, so my goal was to make the prettiest darn closet ever.  We painted the walls a custom Sherwin Williams color (similar SW breathless) that was leftover from our front door.  My husband wanted white... but I won :)  You may also notice some gold dots on the wall...that my friends is some fancy pants wallpaper.  I scoured the internet for an inexpensive easy to install paper and found the jackpot at Walls Need Love. And guess what? It's removable! Perfect for renters or indecisive decorators. But for real...could I just have plain walls? No way.

The command center of the closet is both pretty and functional.  I purchased a clear wall file organizer from staples and added some cute vinyl labels using the silhouette to corral all the school paperwork. Seriously, in this digital age how are there so many pieces of paper?! 

Now when the "Where's my homework" question comes we all know just where to look. 

I also added a calendar to help us all keep track of sleepovers, lessons, and practices.  The clock is useful and fun and I love the cheeky art print I ordered from The Crown Prints. Vertical storage space is our friend in this tiny space so we maximized every square inch of it!

Now let's look at the back wall:

Aside from the fun wallpaper, we needed to pack this wall full of storage.

We added 4 Ikea shelves with wall anchors to ensure they were sturdy and weight bearing.  I sprayed the brackets gold, of course.  You may spy the study box I made a bit ago which sits nicely right on the shelf, super accessible.  The smaller gold dot box holds bills.  How I found these boxes that so perfectly matched the wall was just pure fate. They were on clearance at Joann Fabrics so I snatched them up. My daughter thinks they are too matchy matchy and I somewhat agree, but for now I'm enjoying them! 

The pink boxes on the top will contain "keep" paperwork throughout the school year. Art projects, pictures, and report cards will remain in those boxes until the end of the school year and then will be filed in a more permanent location. Again, so. much. paperwork.

I added in some decorative elements on the shelf because after all, this is now open to the rest of the entry way.  I took some frames I had and placed a family photo in one and a framed piece of paper from a Kate Spade book in the other. On the top shelf is an art print I picked up at Hobby Lobby because I loved the floral/colors/and words: 'Start each day with a grateful heart'.  What a great reminder! 

You may be wondering by now what that cabinet is.  Well, it's shoe storage! We had one similar from Ikea in our old house but this one is from Wayfair.  I jazzed it up by painting it and applying some decorative hardware which I'll post about.  

Now there is zero excuse for shoes to pile up on the floor! 

I just love this cabinet.

Our final corner of the wall is hidden but still needed to be functional and fabulous.

We added our Anthropologie knock off hooks to some painted wood and attached them to the wall with wall anchors for some super sturdy back pack hooks.  There is also room for them to drape their coats on the hook come cooler weather (which is inevitable).  

And that about wraps up our closet tour! We pulled and stretched every square inch of the floor and walls in this tiny space to maximize function and so far we are loving it! Walking past this space multiple times a day makes my heart smile and knowing exactly where things are is priceless.  There is nothing worse than scrambling in the morning to find school papers, shoes, bills, etc.  But who am I kidding...there will always be scrambling in this house!

And what's a makeover without some before/afters?!

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and I hope I inspired you to organize or wallpaper a closet!  Has anyone else been re-organizing for back to school?! It's just a few days away here.  Enjoy your Labor Day weekend friends! Oh, and don't forget to enter my rug giveaway with Rug Expedition! All the details here.