Finally, some home-related content! I’m sure you all were on the edges of your seats… 

The first floor of my rowhome has very little storage, which surprisingly isn’t problematic until coat season comes. Then it becomes necessary. There’s a small, sunny room at the back of the house that leads to the patio. I decided to install built-in cabinets for coat storage, knowing that this backroom really couldn’t be used for much else. To the right is a very unfortunate Excel rendition of the layout of the first floor.

I wanted a pretty simple design: a bench with hooks and space underneath for baskets, flanked by two tall cabinets. I needed storage for winter coats and cleaning equipment, like the vacuum and Swiffer. This was all measured out while designing the layout.

My former partner’s parents were in town, and his father, Jeff, who has pretty impressive experience in woodwork and construction, generously spent two days building the cabinets for us.

All materials were from Home Depot, and the tools were brought by Jeff or rented by myself through my employer (perks of working for the top tool company in the world).

I sourced the baskets from Target, Michael’s, and Value Village thrift. The hooks in the middle cabinet are from an antique store near my parents’ house. The paint color is Gentleman’s Gray (2062-20) by Benjamin Moore.

I planned to buy custom-made doors from Barker Door, which I found through Frills and Drills’ Instagram account, but honestly who knows if I’ll get around to that. The coats are hanging and everything is organized, which is all I can ask for now!