I had been putting off getting all of the winter coats and stuff that I have picked up since January moved into a place for storage until time to list for the fall. Those heavy wool coats are too much for plastic totes. I have a closet in the bedroom that I am now using for ebay photos, prep and shipping. It is a good sized closet with the ever popular Closet Maid wire shelving system. I have never been fond of the way this one was arranged. The long area for dresses and coats was way up high and the short area for blouses and slacks was way too low and the shelves were totally useless because a 12" wide wire shelf that is about 5" tall is only going to hold so much stuff and not 5" tall worth of stuff.
So, you can imagine what happened. I had it loaded, not fully loaded I thought, and it came crashing down. Almost broke my fingers on my left hand when the thing collapsed. Not to mention the tangle of stuff and holes in the wall. Sorry, but I didn't get any photos. Believe me it was a big mess.
I let it sit for a day before I had the courage to dig everything out and see what needed to be done. Holes in the wall from pulled out hooks and supports. Nothing bent or damaged but the walls.
I decided to just put a shelf across the back with a real wood closet rod that would support the Titanic. But because I didn't want to waste the shelves I tried to come up with a solution for how to best use them. The closet is 35" deep and the wire shelves were 36" long. Finally something working in my favor. So I think I have fixed the problem and now have lots of storage.
The right side of the closet with the floor and one shelf for shoes and another shelf and the tall shelf and hanger rod for short things, blouses and pants.
Above the hanger rod for short things I put another shelf to help use some of the space that 10' ceilings create. No one could stack something on those two lower shelves tall enough to use the excess space. Now you could put blankets, suitcases, Christmas stuff or anything you want to store. Just a step stool and you can reach it.
And I put the other shelf that I had on the other side of the closet just above the door for storage. All set except for the closet rod and support brackets that go under that wooden shelf across the back of the closet.I didn't set out last week to totally remodel a closet but that is what I did. I took everything out, fixed the holes, painted the walls, reassembled the shelves, added a sturdy closet rod and hopefully made it better. Now all I need to do is find that dang stud finder so I can get the rod supports in place and fill up the closet again.
You go girl! My hubby put in two CM wardrobe shelves (one above the other) for me with extra extra supports in one of the extra bedrooms. (This room is so packed with junk I have to roll something out before I can step in.) I had 20 feet of heavenly hanging space. All was well for a couple of years. One day, I heard an awfully familiar sound - yep the top shelf came crashing down. A couple of days later the other gave way under all that weight. That was two years ago. Yep - I couldn't wrap the thought of having to figure out a way to get in there to even try and sort, and worst of all, find a place for all those clothes as the closet got fixed. So I just wore clothes from my other closets. I probably grew a size or two since so if I ever get to that closet again, I will have to sell the clothes. Lots of black and things that are timeless but also lots of animal prints cuz that's how I roll. This house was built in the 60s and the original wood rods in the master bedroom closet while not very efficient are still going strong. Find that stud finder and good luck with your project!
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