The Year of the Closet and the Invisible Woman

Hey guys… long time no talk right!? Well I’ve (we’ve) been pretty busy over here at the ole homestead. Christmas and New Year’s came and went pretty quickly with no major issues… those of you who have college kids that come home for the holidays may know what I mean…

So in the process of preparing the photos for this post I also downloaded and edited the Christmas photos, of which there was not one of me! Which is not a huge deal, until the kids (and maybe grandkids someday) start looking back at family photos and wonder where I am…. I think this probably happens a lot to those of us who are the “photographers” in the family… seriously I need to make sure someone else picks up the camera every once in a while so there is PROOF that I exist otherwise I’m just the invisible woman behind the lens. First world problems right?!

Ok, I’m officially naming this year the “Year of the Closet” because we are renovation/redesigning 4 of the closets in our home. Some of the updates are quick and pretty simple, but the master closet renovation will be pretty extensive. We just finished our middle daughter’s closet, which is what I’m sharing with you today.

It’s a good sized walk-in closet at 6 foot deep and a little over 5.5 feet wide. It does have a challenge with one side being sloped, but other than that it is a great closet… that will probably NEVER get used because Cassidy attends college in VA and only comes home to KY for short visits, her boyfriend lives in VA and well, you know how that goes…

BEFORE

Pretty useless and all those freaking wire shelves drive me bat sh#it C-R-A-Z-Y, yes I have issues I know…

So much more useful now! There is now long hanging space for dresses and  little more hanging space for shirts etc. I painted the walls and shelves the same color, Benjamin Moore White Dove, which I’m totally going to use for the kitchen cabinets too.

The shelves are perfect for shoes or sweaters. Also, we had new carpet installed in her bedroom and closet after we built and installed everything. We built this whole unit out of MDF and used our Kreg Jig set to assemble, it made this project pretty easy.

Also, I bought some pretty vinyl shelf liner online at Chic Shelf Paper, it was a little bit of a splurge, but it’s some terrific stuff. I tried to pick a pattern that was neutral enough, but they have a bunch of fabulous prints like the one below.

It’s thick and easy to work with, but I had wanted to wrap the paper over the edge of the shelves and it just wouldn’t stick, because of the thickness I guess.

This was our solution to installing a rod on a sloped ceiling. There are tons of ideas out there, but this worked great for us. We installed a double headed screw on the right end of the pole to keep it taut in the pole holder and then screwed it into place. We put the shelf in place then drilled a hole through the rod and the shelf. We used a 4” hanger bolt, some washers and nuts to keep it all in place… let me tell you this is not going anywhere!

We didn’t do too much with the other wall, but we did add a picture rail for hanging décor, purses, robes etc. I could even hang a mirror there too.

The picture rail is attached to the 1×4 we extended from the top right rod holder. The hooks are specialty hooks made just for picture rails, I had them on hand from the last house so I don’t have a source for you, but I know I had to buy them online.

I had a ton of fun designing and installing this little “hidden” jewelry area in the unused area beside the dress hanging section. First I installed some wood framing to help define the space and hold the pieces I wanted to use. I installed an unused tie holder from the master closet and used it for hanging necklaces, works like a charm!

Then I installed 2 medium-sized cup holder hooks on either side of the frame and added a wooden dowel that I had stained and waxed. The right hand side lifts up and swivels out for easy access to the bracelets. The chain is “clock chain” from Lowes, I installed it with brass screws and washers going right through one link of the chain. These are PERFECT for hanging LOTS of earrings.

I also added these baskets I found at JoAnne Fabrics. I attached the little metal nametags with hemp string which I think just adds a little something to them… again probably will never get used but they look super cute!

This closet “renovation” was a kind of test to see how easy/well we could build the built-in shelves, because the master closet needs a LOT more than this! I should’ve painted the shoe shelves before putting them together, but now I know that for next time! Well, what do you think?

Next up is the mudroom closet… nothing fancy, but it’s got to work better for us!

Hope you guys are enjoying yourselves, me I’m already thinking I cannot wait until Spring… I’m cold!

As always thanks for stopping by…

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