What production I'm having these days. Cold temps sure do make for good project weather. With all of the snow and ice we've been having in Atlanta, I'm definitely putting my "cabin fever" to use. This past week I made headway on the closet room. After the shoe wall installation, I was actually quite surprised how many people are digging the whole closet room idea. I definitely thought I would be shunned for not putting a giant guest bed in there. I think I've started something though. I've had a couple of people tell me they want their own shoe wall now. So, I'm moving forward. Where the shoes go the clothes must follow.
First things first, plan and design. The clothing wall is going to be next to the shoes, which happens to also be the only other full wall in the room without windows or doorways. The design, I decided on a mix of wire racks and rods for hanging and some sort of shelving to use for folded items. This was actually the design of my last closet, and it worked really well for me. The wall itself measured about 12 feet, and with the use of shelving that meant I would actually be losing hanging space compared to the closet in my room. Hard to believe, but true. I had to really maximize and use all of the space wisely. I made a list and headed to Home Depot. I was pretty organized and thorough in my list, so it didn't take me much time to load up the cart and get in and out. I was not prepared for the cost though. This is the moment when I contemplated what the heck was I doing. Was this really necessary? I already have a closet. Why can't I be normal, and be okay with the closet I have? Simple answer always is....because I'm Tanaira, and simplistic never occurs to me first. I also knew that I bought extra and "just in case" pieces, so some of it would be going back.
I hope that you all enjoy this whole blog thing because it definitely adds another level of project madness. I woke up, did not eat breakfast, did not collect $200, and went straight for the drill and screws. 20 minutes later, I realized "Oh wait, I need my camera. I have to take pictures for the blog!". I made a mad dash to the basement and back up. So, here is the before (plus 20 minutes) picture.
As you can see I bought a bookcase for the shelving part. This is the Billy Bookcase from IKEA, which I picked up on one of my last trips there. I somehow got the genius idea to go by myself. (Which I will never do again). Those flat bed carts are definitely not conducive for little people. Not only did I pull a muscle in my right hip trying to maneuver it down off the shelf (My idea to pull, tilt, and slide worked better in theory), I was also afraid that I would take someone out on the way to the checkout. I definitely felt laughter in my direction because the cart was pushing me instead of the other way around. I just wanted to get out there without having to pay anyone's hospital bills. I did get it into the Corolla though. *Snaps for me* Don't worry, I have learned my lesson, and will never go pick up furniture again without back up.
Now, back to the closet. The first steps of installing your own closet is to screw in a hang track. This anchors everything to the wall and provides additional support. Then you hook the standards (long vertical pieces) on to the hang track and screw them into the wall. Seemed easy enough. Naturally it made the most sense to place the bookshelf in the middle, but you know I'm more methodical than that. I measured out how much space I would need for each section of clothing and designed it that way. I decided the right side would be 4ft and the left would be 5ft 4inches. I wanted to make sure to leave a few inches between the end of the racks and the shoes.
I went with adjustable shelves because they are more versatile. It makes it easier to change the placement or add another one if I ever need to. With the standards set I attached the brackets for the top shelf.
Once the brackets were in place I added the wire shelves. I got all of my pieces cut to size while I was at Home Depot. Unfortunately, the lady cut them wrong so I had to have them all re-cut. I only needed 3 cuts and she jacked all of them up. I feel like accurately reading a tape measure should be a requirement to work at Home Depot.
I stood back to applaud my handy work. It was easier than I thought. Only issue I had was that the rack sat lower than the top of the bookshelf which is how I had planned it. It had to be okay though because I was not redoing it. I added the J-brackets and closet rod. I then repeated the process down below and added another shelf. However, once I got to the bottom shelf I realized that adding a closet rod would hang too low and my clothes would touch the floor. So, I opted to leave out the rod and just hang the items right into the shelf itself. The bottom was for pants and skirts, so this was a viable option.
With everything in place I slid the bookshelf over so it would sit right up against the right shelves, and repeated the whole process on the left side.
*Insert happy dance*
Can you believe this only took me a few hours to complete. I marveled at it for a day or so before adding the clothes. I ended up starting with the shelves first. I was trying to measure space for shorts, and had a full eureka moment. Rather than fold them (which I hate), why not hang them. *Insert awesome idea dance here...which is so much cooler than just a happy one*. Based on the length of my shorts it was a perfect idea. I screwed a cup hook into the top of the book shelf on both ends, and then added a small curtain rod. To hang the shorts I used hanger clips. I attached a clip to each pair of shorts, and used the hole at the top to slide onto the tension rod. How genius is that!
I spent the next couple of days organizing and transferring everything to the new closet. I also bought a rolling garment rack. It added extra hanging space, and gave me good place to use for long dresses and rompers.
Now it was beautiful, but I had to admit I wasn't in love quite yet. It was nice and organized, but it wasn't feeling very "Oprah's Closet". I realized, it was missing the built in look. I had originally went with wire shelving because it was cheaper, but now I missed the sophistication of having built ins. So, I decided to add covers on top of the wire shelving. I did some Pinterest searching and got a few ideas. I ended up back at Home Depot, and picked up some 1/8" Tempered Hardboard and 2" wide craft pieces.
I cut the hardboard to the specific shelving size, and added the 2" craft board around the front and side edges. The surface of hardboard is smooth and shiny, so I used Zinser All Surface Primer to make sure the paint would adhere. Once the primer was dry I gave all 4 pieces 2 coats of white paint.
I let everything dry overnight and carried them upstairs with such excitement. The finish line was near.
Let's all say it together.... MA-GI-CAL!!!! What a difference the cover pieces make. Definitely feeling like I'm on the way to closet amazingness. So a closer look.... My closet is organized by the way I get dressed in the morning, style and then color. On the left side I added shirts and blazers. On the right side I added dresses on the top and skirts and pants on the bottom. Like I said before those hang right into the shelving, because adding a rod would have dropped everything too low.
To fill the shelves I added my shorts to the top. Then I folded my tee shirts and under that jeans and pants. I added 2 decorative boxes to the bottom, but I don't think they'll stay there. At this moment I'm not really sure what to add down there. It's a big space so we'll see how it unfolds
And here is a view of the clothes along with the shoe wall.
I must say I'm quite excited. The room is finally starting to feel like it's coming together. I think I was naive about what a closet redo would cost. Definitely more than I expected to spend, however after doing some research and looking in the Container Store sale paper, I actually did really well for the size of the project. So, I can't complain too much....not to mention the feeling I get when I walk in there is close to priceless. So, with that being said....It's on to the next project!
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