Closet to Mudroom Makeover - Part 1

I love our house, but I was always wanted a mudroom right off the garage enterance so we could drop off our shoes, coats, and gear in a nice organized place.  Instead, we had a closet where we would just toss our shoes very haphazardly.

One day, Chris took the doors off of the closet because one needed repaired.  I happened to walk by the doorless closet and I suddenly had an idea of what we could do with the space. Had you been standing next to me, you would have actually seen a lightbulb appear above my head.  We could turn the closet into a mudroom!  I instantly started collecting some general photos of my vision from the internet and started looking into Ikea "hacks" that would fit in the space.

This was the closet before:

*gasp!*

It took a year for us to save some money and find some time to hit IKEA for the pieces we'd need.

Also, I had previously turned the small closet directly across from this one into a drop station (which we loved).  When we started this project, the drop station was dismantled and turned back into a coat closet.  We did make bi-level storage on the bottom for Chris' gigantic shoes.  The top area still holds the "car toy" bin and some other storage.  There are hangers on the inside of the door for the "church/restaurant toy" bag and any other hanging bag.

I'll show you the finished project soon!