This semi-DIY nursery closet build only took a weekend to complete and gave the closet a much more custom look. We didn’t do any difficult builds and used tools most people have on hand!
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All the closets in our new build home came with the standard wire closet shelf and rod combo. This style of closet isn’t my favorite. I think it’s really hard to organize with those big empty spaces.
Since we’ve been slowly customizing our builder-grade home, we decided that baby boy’s room could use an organizational upgrade. Adding a new, (all be it little) person to our family meant we would be buying and receiving a bunch of items that would need a place to go. We debated buying a closet organizer at Lowes or Home Depot, but quickly realized we could build something that fit our needs better.
This closet build is semi-custom and can be achieved without any major power tools (like a table saw). The best part? It only costs us about $175 to create!
**Some things we used we had on hand. Our total would’ve been a little more expensive if we had to buy everything listed below specifically for this project.
Materials
- Cube closet organizer ( This is the one we used, but you can use any four cube shelf organizer)
- 3/4″X49″X97″ White Melanie Shelf (cut into 4 pieces: the top and bottom shelves run the full length of the closet, and the middle shelves are the length of the closet minus the length of the organizer. Home Depot cut all the pieces to size free of charge! I believe some stores charge $0.25 a cut so still super affordable)
- Wood Screws
- 2 wood closet rods
- 8 Closet rod sockets
- 2 2×4 wood (We used 2×4 scraps we already had) or L Brackets
- Edge banding
- White paint (We used left over ceiling paint we had on hand)
- Drywall Patching
- Caulking
Tools
- Drill
- Stud finder
- Leveler
- Paint brush
- Iron
Demo
Our closet was cleared out a few months prior to this project in preparation but essentially it’s just removing the wire rack. Remove the screws that adhere the rack to the wall. Depending on your closet, there may be some drywall anchors that leave bigger holes than normal screws, which is fine, but you’ll need to do a bit more prep work.
Prep and Paint
Fill the holes in the drywall, sand, and paint. I love using DAP to fill holes in drywall, it’s super easy to use. The product goes on pink and turns white when it’s dry. Some of the larger holes took a couple of coats to finish. We then sanded and used a leftover white ceiling paint we had on hand (we wanted to save a little money here and figured paint is paint!).
Mount
The next step is all mounting. Take your stud finder and identify where the studs are within your space. Once you have the studs, take your drill and attach the 2×4 wood pieces to the wall. We attached five underneath the bottom. (If you don’t have enough studs to work with in your closet or plan on having really heavy storage in the space, I’d recommend using L-brackets instead with drywall anchors.) Then place one of your long shelf boards on the supports and drill it into the top of the 2x4s lined along the wall. Then attach the four cube organizer on top of the bottom shelf, drilling it into the shelf from the bottom to secure it. We used the brackets sent with the Target cube organizer, and drilled them into the studs behind the top cube for additional support. Repeat the process with the middle shelf pieces and top shelf, drilling 2x4s into the studs, and securing the shelf to the 2x4s.
Finish
Once your closet is assembled it’s time to add the finishing touches! We used two closet rods that we had cut to size at the store. We drilled the closet rod mounts into place and added the rods. Next, I ordered this iron edge banding from Amazon and used my regular ole’ iron to add the edge to the front. Lastly, I went through and caulked the seams for a more finished look.
We LOVE the final result. The four clothes hanging areas make it super easy to organize baby clothes by size. The quadrants can also be helpful to organize clothes by type or season. The organizer offers a space for nice mementos and items you want on display. We’re novice DIY’ers but this project is easy enough to duplicate in your own home. I hope this inspires you to build your own!
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