Organized Game Closet Makeover for Board Game Storage

We turned a small closet into a practical storage space for board games. See the before and after in this organized game closet makeover.

Over the years, my family has really collected a lot of games! We’ve got a ton of board games, card games, tabletop games, and puzzles. While I’ve decluttered and got rid of the ones we never play, I need a good way to store the one we do play often.

My son has a second, smaller closet in his bedroom that has been the game closet. We threw a plastic shelf in there when we moved in, but it was difficult to keep organized and it quickly became the place to toss toys.

When my husband and I took down the pine shelving in the older child’s room for the Teen Bedroom Makeover, I immediately knew I wanted to use them in this closet.

The rest of the bedroom needs some work, as you can see in the photos, but now this game closet is perfectly organized.

Game closet before

We started by taking everything out of the closet. I didn’t get a true before photo, but just imagine all of those shelves stacked full of board game boxes, bags, and miscellaneous toys. And the floor, covered in stuff… and a few things hanging off the edges of the shelves.

I spent some time sorting through all the games. We got rid of maybe a third of them, mostly little kid games with missing pieces, half-finished craft kits, and fast food ephemera.

Our budget makeover

Supplies

• white paint
• painting supplies
• pine boards
• L-brackets
• screws and wall anchors
• drill
• level

After emptying the closet, we took down the original wooden shelf and bar across the top. We touched up the damaged areas and gave the whole closet a coat of white paint.

While I love color, white background for the game closet makes the whole thing look neater.

Next, we measured the closet and calculated how many shelves we could get from the leftover pine boards. We originally purchased them at Ikea, but of course, you could purchase lumber from a hardware store if you’re not repurposing.

We ended up cutting 5 shelves for each side of the closet. They measure 18-inches wide by 11-inches deep.

Each shelf required 2 white metal L-brackets, plus 6 screws per bracket. We used wall anchors on the majority of the screws into the wall for security.

Since this post is more about illustrating the concept than providing step-by-step instructions, I want to elaborate on my planning strategy.

By putting a row of small shelves up each side, rather than wide shelves across the whole closet, I’m actually creating more storage in less space.

Almost all of our board game boxes are 18-inches long or less, so they fit on these shelves. The few that are larger are simply set on the floor to one side.

This means I can step inside the closet, which measures about 55-inches wide by 19.5-inches deep, and turn to either side to select games. If the shelves went all the way across, the corners would be dead space and prone to clutter.

Installing the shelves was as simple as attaching the brackets to the shelves and attaching the shelves to the wall. The only trick is to make sure each shelf is level.

Game closet after

Each shelf has space for 3 to 5 regular board games. By limiting how many games go on each shelf, it’s easy to grab the game off of the bottom of the pile.

With our previous bigger shelf, taking games off of the bottom of a shelf caused a lot of messes.

For smaller boxes, a lot fits on a single shelf. We’re able to group like items together too. And as you can see, we still have a ton of games.

We’ve been collecting board games for almost 20 years and some of them are literal collector’s items. We probably aren’t playing Lord of the Rings Monopoly any time soon, so I put the less-often played games toward the top of the closet.

With this new tidy system, there is room to put a stepstool in the closet so it’s easy to reach games at the top, just in case.

Family favorite board games

Our organized game closet now has plenty of room to store all our favorites. If your kids are tweens and teens, they’re probably not as interested in Candyland or Go Fish, although mine still love to play Guess Who?. Here are some of our newer favorite games to play together:

• Munchkin
• Sheriff of Nottingham
• Dice Forge
• Fluxx – Fairy Tale edition and Monty Python edition
• Odin’s Ravens
• Exploding Kittens
• Labyrinth
• The Wizard Always Wins
• Love Letters

What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:

• Teen Bedroom Makeover
• Wallpaper Accent Wall Tips
• Retro Gift Guide: Art Supplies and Toys