Ron Hazelton

How to Build a Custom Closet Organizer

Closet

HOUSE DOCTOR TRANSCRIPT

“CLOSET ORGANIZER” from 605-96

RON:

Well, welcome. We're here with Christina. Hi, Christina. Thanks for being on the show. And Monica. Monica, thanks for being on the show.

We're actually in Monica's room right here. And Christina wrote us a letter and asked us to give her a hand with her closet right here, Christina's closet…Monica's closet, I'm sorry. Did I make a mistake? Oh, my goodness. Why don't you tell us what you'd like to do here.

CHRISTINA:

Okay, I would like to have a combination storage unit and clothes closet for Monica that I can put most of her things in here.

RON:

Okay, and Monica, you want something you can reach, I bet, huh? So let's see what we can come up with.

Well, this is Margie, she's a friend of mine. She's a carpenter. And she's going to be tackling the floor in this closet here. We were just saying that we're going to probably take advantage of this opportunity now and put a new floor in here before we put the organizer in. So, Margie, why don't you take care of that. And I'm going to go downstairs and figure out what I want to do in the shelving.

MARGIE:

Okay, good enough. See you.

Well, I'm going to tear up this carpet. And usually it's not too difficult. It just pries right up. I use my spackle knife here. Once I can get a grip on it, I can just tear the whole thing out.

Okay, we've gotten the tack strip up. And the thing you want to really be careful of is these sharp little nails that are just killers on your knees. So it's good to just clean this whole area before you go to the next step.

The next step is to remove the baseboard. And we start over in the corner. And what you want to be careful about here is not to damage the wall as you're removing the baseboard. And so I'm using this spackle knife to slip behind the baseboard and just pry gently. Once I've got it a little loose, I can use the flat bar. And see, the spackle knife protects it from making any mark on the wall. And then usually they're nailed about every 12 or 16 inches. So you work your way down.

Okay, the flooring that we've chosen is a tongue and groove cedar. Underneath it, we're going to put this half-inch particle board as an underlayment. Normally you don't need that in a floor like

up in the closet because it's really in good shape. But they want to raise the height of the floor to be level with the closet track.

So we'll start cutting. But first, before you cut particle board, make sure you put on a dust mask because that formaldehyde that's in the particle board is real bad for you.

So I nailed up the underlayment with these ring-shaped nails. And I spaced them 4 inches on the edges, and 8 inches in the field. The important thing to remember nailing up particle board is to leave about a 1⁄16 inch gap between two sheets, between this joint here, in case the particle board swells up in any moisture. If it swelled up, then it would lift up your floorboards on top.

This is the cedar that we're using. It's got a groove and a tongue on both sides and also on the edges. I cut the length a little bit short just so we can slide this tongue into the groove. And I've also staggered my joints so it looks better. It would look really bad if all these cuts lined up at the same place. And I'm using 4-penny finish nails to nail it up.

RON:

Now, Christina decided that she wanted half the closet in shelves and the other half in hanging bars. And she looked at some of the ready-made wire systems but decided she really preferred a solid material. So this is what we're going to be using. This is called melamine. It's got a very thin, high-pressure laminate surface right here with a particle board core.

So in a sense, you're getting material that's pre-finished. It doesn't have to be painted, and it cleans up easily, which might be a nice feature for a child's room. It comes in 12- and 16-inch widths. We've got the 16 here. And there are two kinds of boards. This one has holes about every inch or inch and a quarter. This is for shelf supports. We'll show you more of that later. This would typically be used for the sides of the cabinet. And this, of course, has no holes, and we'll use this for the shelves. First of all, let me show you how to cut this.

Now, because the surface of this material is so hard, it tends to chip when you cut it. And to avoid or minimize that, I'm making what's called a scoring cut. Look at the blade right here. You see it's just protruding through, oh, maybe an eighth of an inch or so. So what I'm doing is making a very shallow cut right here. And that's turned out pretty well. There's no chipping along the edge. Now we'll set the blade a little bit lower. That is deep enough to cut all the way through the material and come back for a second pass. You'll also notice that I'm using a straightedge clamped right here so that the cuts are perfectly clean and straight.

Now this is Bob, Christina's husband. He's helping me hold things right now. We've cut our sides and our shelves to length. What we're doing now is fastening everything together. And I'm going to be using a, it's about an inch and a half by number eight screw. We're going right through these pre-drilled holes here and into the end of what is, in this case, the top.

Let's drive that in. There we go. Now these screws come with some trim caps. Just stick right in here and that kind of finishes off the joint there.

Now to give this joint some additional strength, we're going to install these inside corner brackets. And I'm going to begin by drilling a small pilot hole. This is a self-centering bit here. I just want to get through that melamine because it's very hard. All right, and then we'll take a five-eighths inch screw…

Well, as you can see, we've got the top and the bottom in place. This is something called a toe kick. We're going to put this in here to kind of keep anything from going up underneath this bottom shelf, but also to give us some added support. And once again, I'm going to use the holes over here on the side for the screws. Let's use a combination square to be sure we've got this in position. There we go. Tight up against the bottom of that shelf. And then we'll screw this in place again with some of these inch-and-a-half screws.

Now this is a quarter-inch thick fiberboard panel, which we're going to put on the back here for a couple of reasons.

First of all, we're going to use this to square up our cabinet, actually make sure that everything is perpendicular. But more importantly, this is going to give our cabinet a lot of strength. And even though it's very thin, it's going to stiffen this up considerably. So we could nail this in, I'm going to attach this using some finish head screws.

A little bit more, if you would, until we're contacting the wall there. That's good. And then push it this way so that the back is against the wall. Great.

All right, well, here's our cabinet, minus the shelves, of course. Now, it's in position, but I want to make sure this doesn't tip forward. So come on around here. Let me show you what we're going to do here. I've marked the location of the wall studs on this wall. And I'm going to take these angle brackets. I'll put one side on the wall right here, this side on the top of the cabinet. And we'll just screw this in place.

Now, this is another piece of the same material we used for the cabinet sides right here. Only this piece we're going to put up against this end wall over here. It will provide a support for our hanger bars. I'm going to put a spacer in here because the cabinet, remember, has that back on it. So I want this to be out from the wall about the same distance. Now, what's important here is that this be plumb or vertical in this direction, which it is. I'll put this back here.

Stay put there, you. And vertical in this direction, which it is. And as luck would have it, I think we're right on alignment here with the stud. These are about 2-1⁄2-inch screws. I want to go through the board here and then through the sheetrock and well into the stud itself. Let's see.

Now, to give us a shelf between our cabinet and the wall over here, we've cut another piece of that shelving material. And I put those same little angles on here. Okay, Bob, if you hold yours in position, I'm going to push this up now.

Okay, I've already attached the angle to the underside of the shelf. We'll get this up in position. And now I'll simply put a couple more screws right through here and attach this to the side over here.

Now, this closed bar bracket is designed so that these two pins right here are spaced the same distance as these holes. So this simply pushes in place like that. Okay, we have one on each side. And then we drop our closed bar right in here. The nice thing about this is obviously you can have as many closed bars as you want, and you can vary their height infinitely. That is, within 1-inch increments.

Well, the last step here is to put our shelves in. Now, you see these holes that we've been seeing all along? Well, they're designed to receive one of these shelf supports. And, of course, there are four of these for each shelf. And you just drop the shelf right down like that.

Oh, good guy. Well, this is Christopher. That's Monica's brother. And, of course, Monica over here. This is her new storage unit.

Well, Christina, this turned out really well.

CHRISTINA:

Yes, it did.

RON:

Yeah, I think I like the fact the shelves are deep because you can put big things like this on without them hanging over the edge.

And it's adjustable. If you want to put another shelf or two in here, Bob can just get a piece of this material, cut it to size, and you can add as many shelves as you want, put them wherever you want.

Now, the interesting thing about this project is we really ended up with a custom-made shelving unit here. And the cost for the shelving materials was about $125. The cedar planks down here were about another $30. So, really, for $125, you could have just about any configuration you want for this closet in terms of shelves and bars.

So, anyway, enjoy it. Monica, enjoy your new closet. Monica's been sleeping this afternoon. She just got up from a nap. But she'll enjoy this, won't you, honey? Well, maybe you will, maybe you won't.

CHRISTINA:

A place for everything and everything in its place.

From the archives of the House Doctor

A well‑designed closet can completely transform the way a room functions—especially in a child’s bedroom, where storage needs evolve quickly. In this House Doctor project, Ron helped homeowner Christina create a durable, easy‑to‑clean, fully customized closet organizer. The result is a smart blend of shelving, hanging space, and upgraded flooring that proves you don’t need a massive budget to achieve a built‑in look.

Below, we walk through the entire process—from removing old carpet to installing adjustable melamine shelving—so you can recreate this project in your own home.

Removing Carpet and Prepping the Closet Floor

Before any shelving went in, we took advantage of the empty closet to upgrade the flooring. Margie, our carpenter, began by removing the existing carpet and tack strips. As she explained, “the thing you want to really be careful of is these sharp little nails that are just killers on your knees.” Clearing the space thoroughly ensures a clean, safe surface for the new materials.

Next, she removed the baseboards using a spackle knife and flat bar—an important step to avoid damaging the drywall. With the closet stripped down, we were ready to rebuild from the ground up.

Installing a New Cedar Floor

To bring warmth and durability to the space, we installed tongue‑and‑groove cedar planks. Because the closet track sat slightly higher than the subfloor, Margie added a layer of half‑inch particle board underlayment to raise the height. She left a 1/16‑inch gap between sheets to allow for expansion—an essential detail that prevents buckling later.

Once the underlayment was secured with ring‑shank nails, the cedar flooring went in. Staggered joints created a clean, professional look, and 4‑penny finish nails held everything firmly in place. The cedar not only smells wonderful but also resists moisture and insects—an ideal choice for a closet.

Choosing the Right Material for the Closet Organizer

Christina wanted a combination of shelves and hanging bars, but she preferred a solid, easy‑to‑clean material over wire systems. We selected melamine shelving, a popular choice for DIY closet organizers thanks to its pre‑finished, wipe‑clean surface and professional built-in appearance.

As Ron explained during the build, melamine’s hard surface can chip during cutting, so we used a scoring cut—setting the saw blade just ⅛ inch above the surface for the first pass, then lowering it for a full cut. A clamped straightedge ensured crisp, clean lines.

Tips for Building the Custom Shelving Unit

With the panels cut to size, use screws that are appropriate for your width to hold pieces together. Use trim caps to conceal the screw heads, giving the unit a polished finish.

To reinforce the structure, we added inside corner brackets and a toe‑kick. The toe‑kick prevents items from sliding underneath the bottom shelf and adds stability—small details that make a big difference in long‑term durability.

Once the cabinet was positioned in the closet, we anchored it to wall studs using angle brackets. This prevents tipping and ensures the unit stays secure even when fully loaded.

Adding Hanging Space and a Bridge Shelf

To support the hanging bars, we installed a vertical melamine panel on the opposite wall. A spacer ensured it sat flush with the depth of the main cabinet. Between the cabinet and the wall panel, we added a bridge shelf using small angle brackets. This created a seamless top surface and tied the two sides together visually.

Adjustable Shelves

Finally, we inserted the adjustable shelves using standard shelf pins. The deep shelves offer generous storage for toys, folded clothes, and bins. As Ron noted, “you can put big things like this on without them hanging over the edge.” And because the system is modular, Christina can add more shelves anytime simply by cutting additional melamine boards to size.

The result is a clean, functional, and flexible storage solution that will grow with Monica for years to come. As Christina put it perfectly at the end of the project: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” If you enjoyed this project, you may enjoy browsing similar closet organization and closet projects that we’ve done at HouseCalls!