Overview
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Supersize your closet!
By utilizing every extra inch, this organizer create tons of extra space for your stuff.
If you have to dig through a mountain of clothes to find your favorite sweatshirt,
it’s time to take on that messy closet. This simple-to-build system
organizes your closet with shelf, drawer and hanging space for your clothes,
shoes and accessories. Buying a closet system like this would cost you at least $500,
but you can build this one for about half that.
Our system is really just four plywood boxes outfitted with shelf standards, closet
rods or drawers. We built it for an 8-ft.-wide closet with an 8-ft. ceiling, but it’ll work
in any reach-in closet that’s at least 6 ft. wide if you adjust the shelf width between
the boxes or change the box dimensions.
Time, money and materials
You can complete this project in a
weekend. Spend Saturday cutting the
lumber, ironing on the edge banding
and applying the finish. Use your
Saturday date night to clean everything
out of the closet. That leaves you
Sunday to build and install the new
system.
We built the entire system with birch
plywood. The total cost,
including the hardware for the drawers,
shelves and closet rods, was about
$250. You
could use MDF or oak plywood
instead of birch. Everything you
need for this project is available at
home centers.
Cut and prefinish the parts
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Photo 1: Finish now, save time later
Prefinishing gives you a
faster, neater finish
because you'll have
fewer corners to mess
with. Apply two coats
of polyurethane quickly
and smoothly with a
disposable paint pad.
Start by cutting all the parts to size following
Figure C and the Cutting
List (see Additional Information, below). The corner box sides are
slightly narrower than 12 in., so you
can cut off dings and dents and still cut
four sides from a sheet of plywood.
You won’t be able to cut the shelves
that fit between the boxes to length
until the boxes are installed (the
shelves need to be cut to fit), but you
can rip plywood to 11-7/8 in. and cut
the shelves to length later.
Once the parts are cut, apply edge banding (iron-on veneer) to all the
edges that will be exposed after the
boxes are assembled (Figure A). Build a
jig to hold the parts upright.
Place a part in the jig. Then cut the
edge banding so it overhangs each end
of the plywood by 1/2 in. Run an iron
(on the cotton setting) slowly over the
edge banding. Then press a scrap piece
of wood over the edge banding to make
sure it’s fully adhered. Trim the edges
with a veneer edge trimmer. (See
our article on Edge Banding for more
advice on veneer edges.)
Lightly sand the wood and your closet
rod with 120-grit sandpaper. Wipe
away the dust with a tack cloth, then
use a paint pad to apply a coat of polyurethane
on everything
except the drawer parts (Photo 1).
This inexpensive pad will let you finish each
part in about 20 seconds. Let the finish
dry, then apply a second coat.
Figure A: Closet Storage System
Figure A: Closet Storage System
Strong, attractive birch plywood makes an ideal wood for the shelves and sides.
(A complete Cutting List and a Materials List are available in pdf format in Additional Information below.)
Figure B: Drawer Construction
Figure B: Drawer Construction
The drawers are constructed from durable 1/2-in. plywood and 3/4-in. fronts.
(A complete Cutting List and a Materials List are available in pdf format in Additional Information below.)
Attach the hardware
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Photo 2: Preinstall drawer slides
Attaching slides is a lot
easier before the boxes
are assembled. Position
the slides using reference
lines and a spacer.
Remember that there
are left- and right-hand
slides, usually marked
"CL" and "CR."
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Photo 3: Gang-cut the standards
Cutting 16 standards
one by one with a hacksaw
would take hours.
Instead, bundle two or
more together with
tape and cut them with
a jigsaw.
It’s easier to install the drawer slides
and the shelf standards that go inside
the boxes before you assemble the boxes. Use a framing square to draw
reference lines on the drawer unit sides
for your drawer slides (see Figure A). The
slides are spaced 8 in. apart, centered
8-3/4 in. down from the top of the box.
Keep the slides 3/4 in. from the front
edge (this is where the drawer faces
will go). Use a 7/64-in. self-centering
drill bit to drill pilot holes and
screw the slides into place (Photo 2).
You’ll need to have your wire basket
now (they’re available at home centers).
Attach the glides for the basket
3 in. below the drawer slides. If your
basket is narrower than 22-1/2 in.,
screw a cleat to the box side so the basket
will fit.
Now attach the shelf standards. You
can cut them with a hacksaw, but an
easier way is to use a metal blade in a
jigsaw. Place two or more standards
together so the numbers are oriented
the same way and the standards are
aligned at the ends. Tape the standards
together where you’re going to make
the cut, then gang-cut them with your
jigsaw (Photo 3).
Screw the standards to the inside of
the box sides, 1 in. from the edges.
Keep the standards 3/4 in. from the top
(that’s where the box tops go). Be sure
the numbers on the standards are facing
the same way when you install
them—this ensures the shelves will be
level.
Assemble the boxes
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Photo 4: Nail first, then screw
If you have a brad nailer,
tack the boxes together
to hold the parts in
position. Then add
screws for strength.
Use a brad nailer to tack the boxes
together following Figure A and Photo 4. If
you don’t have a brad nailer, use
clamps. Then screw the boxes together.
We used 1-5/8-in. trim screws because the screw heads are
small and unobtrusive (we left the
screw heads exposed). Here are some
tips for assembling the boxes:
- Attach the screw strips to the box
tops first, then add one side, then the
bottom shelf, and then the second
side.
- Drill 1/8-in. pilot holes to prevent
splitting. Stay 1 in. from edges.
- If your cuts are slightly off and the
top, bottom and sides aren’t exactly
the same width, align the front edges.
- The boxes will be slightly wobbly
until they’re installed in the closet,
so handle them with care.
- The middle bottom box has a back.
Square the box with the back, then
glue and tack the back in place.
- After the corner boxes are assembled,
screw shelf standards to the side that
doesn’t abut the wall (it’s easier to
install the standards before the boxes
are installed).
Build the drawers
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Photo 5: Square the drawer boxes
If the boxes aren't
square, the drawers
won't fit right or glide
smoothly. Drawers take
a beating, so assemble
them with nails and
glue.
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Photo 6: Center the drawer faces perfectly
Stick the faces to the
boxes with double-sided
tape. Then pull
out the drawer and
drive screws from
inside the box.
Cut the drawer sides and bottoms (see Additional Information, below). Assemble the sides
with glue and 1-in. screws. To square
the drawers, set adjacent sides against a
framing square that’s clamped to your
work surface. Glue and tack the drawer
bottom into place (Photo 5). Then set the
drawer slides on the drawers, drill
pilot holes and screw the slides into
place.
Install the drawers in the box.
Getting the drawer faces in their perfect
position is tricky business. If the faces
are even slightly off-center, the drawer
won’t close properly. To align them,
place double-sided tape over the
drawer front. Starting with the top
drawer, center the drawer face in the
opening (Photo 6). You should have
about a 1/8-in. gap on both sides and
the top. Press the face into the tape.
Take out the drawer and clamp the face
to the drawer to keep it stationary.
Drive two 1-in. screws through the
inside of the drawer into the face.
Hang the boxes in the closet
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Photo 7: Plumb the shelf boxes
The corners of your
closet may not be
plumb, so check the
box with a level before
you screw it to the
studs. Mark stud locations
with masking
tape.
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Photo 8: Install the center unit in two parts
The center unit is big
and clumsy, so install
the shelf unit first, then
prop up the drawer unit
with spacers and screw
it to the shelf.
Now install the boxes. Start by drawing
a level line in the closet, 11 in. down
from the ceiling. This will give you just
over 10 in. of storage space above the
closet system after the top shelf is
installed. Then mark the stud locations
on the wall with tape.
Don’t assume your closet walls are
plumb—they’re probably not. So you
can’t just place a box in a corner without
checking for alignment. Hanging
the boxes is a two-person job, so get a
helper. Start with the corner boxes.
Align the top of the box with your level
line on the wall. Have your helper
plumb the box with a level while you
drive 2-1/2-in. screws through the
screw strip into the wall at the stud
locations (Photo 7). Attach the other corner
box the same way.
Find the center of the wall, then
make a mark 12 in. on one side of the
center mark. That’s where your shelf
unit will go. Again, have your helper
plumb the box while you align it with
your marks and screw it to the wall.
Prop up the drawer unit on spacers so
it’s tight against the shelf unit. Align the
edges, then clamp the boxes and screw
them together (Photo 8). Drive screws
through the screw strip into the wall.
Then place the top shelf over the
boxes. We could just barely fit our shelf
into the closet to lift it into place. If
yours won’t fit, you’ll have to cut it and
install it as two pieces. Make the cut
near one end, over a corner box, so it’s
not noticeable. Screw the shelf to the
box tops with 1-1/4-in. screws.
Then attach shelf standards along the
sides of the shelf and drawer units
(Figure A). Cut the adjustable shelves to
length to fit between the corner boxes
and the middle boxes. Finally, screw
the closet rod flanges into place, cut the closet rod to size and install the rods.
Figure C: Closet
Storage Cutting
Diagrams
Figure C: Closet Storage Cutting Diagrams
We're showing only
the 3/4-in. plywood
here. The 1/2-in.
and 1/4-in. plywood
sheets are for the
drawers and back.
