Make Your Own Rolling Closet
A great way to make a rolling closet is to start with a foot locker or other large crate. The box doesn’t necessarily have to have a door on it. You can make a nice closet with no door. If you don’t have a crate or locker, a thick cardboard box will work nearly as well.
To make a rolling closet you’ll need a stand with wheels. You can make your own by using a piece of board and installing the wheels. Or you can purchase these already made. They come in various styles, such as ones used to scoot a computer monitor around. It’s important that the base be sturdy enough to hold the closet, complete with clothing and other items.
Turn the locker or box over and screw the base to the bottom. If you’re using a cardboard box, secure by using duct tape to go under the platform, up the sides of the box, then across the top and back down. Do this several times to be sure the box is secure and affixed to the stand.
Stand the box or crate upright to where the door or opening is facing you. This will be the main part of the closet. If you’re using a crate or wooden box, attach hardware and a dowel to hold clothing. If you’re using cardboard, drill a hole on each side of the box, at the top, to slide a dowel rod through for clothing. You can prevent the dowel slipping out of the holes with something as simple as rubber bands. Wrap large ones around each end of the dowel, on the outside of the box, and scoot the bands up next to the box. This will keep them from sliding.
You can organize your shoes in the bottom of the crate or use the area for other items like belts or purses. You can purchase plastic bins to fit in the bottom, use a clothes basket, or just leave it as-is and arrange the items on the “floor” of the closet.
Most dollar-oriented stores have all types of hanging plastic compartments. They sell ones that hold shoes, ones that hold jewelry, ones that hold toiletries. These are very handy for hanging on the outside of the homemade closet. Simply place a set of nails or screws on the top edge of the box and hang the plastic holders. If you’re using a cardboard box, purchase two of the organizers, sew a piece of fabric or plastic in between the top edges of the two, then hang the entire set over the cardboard box. The sewn-in piece will go across the top and allow the compartments to hang over the sides.
Depending upon how much room you have inside your box, you can place a small set of stackable drawers off to one side, for holding socks, undies, or belts. If you have plenty of room for your rolling closet you can also use these drawers on the outside. Use contact cement to affix the drawers, down one or both sides of the box. Contact cement won’t work well for cardboard boxes so use duct tape to attach the drawers to the outside of the closet. If your homemade closet isn’t too tall, the drawers are also handy when placed on top of the closet. To cover the duct tape, cut strips of cloth, hem them, and glue them over the top of the tape.
Replace any of these ideas with your own. Some items you could probably use in place of these ideas would be pillowcases or duffle bags to hold dirty laundry or folded blankets, plastic zipper bags attached to the inside, office stackers to hold tees or sweaters, hardware like brass rings to hold belts or “C” hooks to hold purses, one or two small shelves across the bottom, or even cake pans to hold jewelry, scarves and other accessories.
You can make a set of curtains that covers the front of the closet, if there’s no door and you can make a huge closet or a small one. If you have no wooden trunk you can stack small crates on top of each other, secure them, and attach them all to a set of casters. You can also decorate it many different ways. It’s your closet, make it to suit yourself.
