It struck me that there was a lot of dead space between the bottoms of all my hanging shirts and the shoes and some shelves would allow that space to be filled. So I decided to put some of the random items in my garage to good use.
When I moved out of my apartment, I took apart all my Walmart bookcases without any intention of ever reassembling them. I intend to build a proper library with shelving permanently placed in the wall. But it seemed like this wood would come in handy in the future, so I carefully kept it in good shape and moved it into the house.
When I was a kid I always liked to play with Legos, building and rebuilding the one complete set I owned. I'd modify the design or add pieces from other small or partial sets I came across. These book shelves are just like Legos, all build to specific standards. So even though the colors may not exactly match they would all fit and play well together.
Taking approximate measurements of the closet space I found the exact bookshelf pieces that could build a perfect organizer. This consisted of one tall board that would normally be one of the outer walls of the shelving unit. This would be the top of the new cabinet. From this would be three legs: one at each end and a third toward the middle, but spaced specifically with the clothes hamper in mind. In the other space between legs, I'd install shelves. I originally only thought about putting in a single shelf and a second at the bottom to act as a supporting foot. When I saw how much room I had though, I decided to add a second shelf. Since I didn't have a supporting foot on the open side where the hamper would be, I installed two L-Brackets to re-enforce the leg.
Thus, from seven spare boards I had hanging around, I built this:
