*prices reflected at the time they were bought*

The HARTTOOLS were gifted to me for this project as I am part of their ambassador program. 

Supplies:

3/4″-4×8 sheets of plywood
underlayment 4×8 sheet
select pine boards
drawer glides
wood filler
trim screws
pocket hole screws 1-1/4″
primer
paint
drawer pulls

Tools:

table saw/or router for cutting dado grooves
circular saw
drill
sander
Kreg rip-cut
Kreg shelf pin jig
Kreg K5 pocket-hole jig
clamps
carpenters square

We’ve lived in the house for three years now and one thing that has really bothered me since we moved in and got settled was our closets. To be honest, all the bedrooms did have closet systems in them but they were pretty much all the same; cubbies in the middle and hanging rods on each side of that. The issue was everyone uses their closet differently. I have big plans for our master closet and since this one was not working for my son, I decided to redo it so I know what I’m getting into when I redo mine. 

Here is a look at what I started with. 

Once everything was removed I used some painters tape to help me visualize what I wanted to do with the space. My plan was to lower the top shelf to make it easier to reach when wanting to store things. I will have adjustable shelving to the left for shoes. The lower middle section will be custom built drawers and a couple of shelves on top of that for more clothes or storage and then to the right will be for all of the hanging clothes.

I then began to take measurements and roughly sketch out a plan. I went to my local home improvement store and purchased this plywood and got started on the build. 

I cut down my large sheets of plywood using my circular saw attached to my rip-cut. I assembled everything with glue, pocket holes and pocket-hole screws.

I also used my shelf pin jig for adjustable shelving for shoes.

The process for this closet system was, I built the carcass (box) and attached to the wall. Then I attached another piece of plywood that was the same depth but the entire length of the wall on top of that using glue and a nail gun but then just ended up using my drill and trim head screws because the nail gun was too large and I couldn’t get next to the wall with it. 

Then I cut three pieces that will make up the upper portion of the custom closet system. They were the same depth as the bottom box and I attached the first one to the wall making sure to secure it into studs. The remaining two I attached to the picece of plywood they were sitting on using glue, pocket holes and pocket hole screws. I added support pieces as well to keep the wood plumb and prevent bowing.

Then I added the top shelf and cut the four shelves for the adjustable shelving and one for a fixed shelf in the middle upper portion of the closet system.

DRAWERS

Now that the main portion of the closet system was installed I got to work on the drawers. I have a quick tutorial on my Instagram showing my drawer building process. 

After the drawers were built I went in and plugged all of my pocket holes and filled all the nail holes with wood filler and caulked all the seams. 

Once the wood filler was dry I sanded and primed it. 

Once the primer dried I lightly sanded everything with a 220 grit, and applied two coats of paint in the color Marshmallow by Sherwin Willliams in a satin finish. 

I’m so happy I decided to take on this DIY closet system. I have the whole process of this build on my Instagram stories under DIY closet.