Master Closet Re-do

 I have been wanting to build in my Master Closet for YEARS...but I knew it was going to be such a huge project and so messy since we would have to empty everything out...that I never felt ready to tackle it.

Then one day about a month or so ago, I had an epiphany!  I realized that instead of building in shelving and cubbies (HUGE pain!!) that I could simplify {i.e. cheat} and buy an IKEA Expedit bookshelf instead.  And then all I had to actually build-in was the hanging areas.  Hooray.  Once I made that decision...I could. not. wait. to start the project!!

Here's a few BEFORE shots of our Master Closet.  We had tons of plastic bins and a dresser to hold all the stuff.  And even though everything had a place, I just felt that it had a cluttered, crowded look and I longed for a clean open closet.

The view from our bathroom:

My side...

 My hubby's side...

And the "laundry" corner...

So a couple Saturdays ago, I just tore into it and emptied out the entire closet and had my hubby take down the existing ONE long wire shelf.  At that point, I realized it would be kind of cool to paint the back wall behind the bookshelf, so off to Sherwin Williams I went!!  I picked a color just two shades lighter than the orange in my dining area (I'm LOVING orange right now...it is my new red!).

When I got home, the hubby had taped it off for me and I just started painting.  I absolutely ADORE painting one wall.  I love that it is done in just about 30 minutes start to finish!!  (I am extremely impatient!)

The kids had such a fun time helping me.  It was the perfect place for them to help because I knew that the wall was going to be COVERED UP in my closet, so it wouldn't matter if it weren't the perfect painting job.  Don't mind my daughter's scary face.  She tries to smile, but she is missing so many teeth it just looks frightening! ; )  Gotta love being 7!

Here it is right after we finished rolling it.  I forgot to turn my flash off, so this looks brighter than it actually is...but you get the idea.

Then came the fun part...putting together the IKEA bookshelf and moving it in and filling it with the bins I had found.  Both Target and Home Depot had great selections and I was able to find things that worked perfectly for us...color-wise and size-wise.  Hooray!

So, after that one day...this is basically what we had...see how much the paint mellows with no flash on!

And then the hard part started!!  ( boo. i hate the hard parts!)  I actually had to build in the shelving units and install the hanging rods.  I worked in little...and I mean little...segments all through the week but never could seem to get much done.  So on the next Saturday, I was determined to FINISH it!!  (Remember that all this time we are living with the dresser and all those bins lining the walls of our bathroom and bedroom.  Annoying!)

It really is not hard to build in this kind of shelving.  You simply decide where you want your shelves, nail on the cleats to the studs in the wall and then nail the shelf to those cleats!  If only it went that easily when you actually install them.  (And if only your builder actually believed in putting studs every 16 inches like they are supposed to be!! )  But then, what project ever turns out to be as easy as you think it will be??

The cleats were primed mdf boards and the shelving is 11 1/4" bull nosed plywood.  The one vertical dividing board is 15 1/4" bull nosed plywood.  You have to use the deeper board on those vertical ones so that it extends far enough away from the wall to mount the hanging rod to it.  I learned that the hard way in my kids' closet!

Another thing I learned is to NOT used the painted or melamine coated boards.  When I tried caulking and painting those in my kids' closet, the paint would not stick.  So there was no way to give it a seamless look.  This time it worked GREAT with these plain boards.  I love how it turned out.

This is my side.  I have the double hanging space on the right for shirts, skirts, and workout clothes.  I only have a few long dresses or skirts and one bathrobe that needed a longer space, so I made that relatively small and I fit a small shelf above it...on the left.

Here's my husband's side.  It was very straight forward.  No vertical dividing boards.  Just double hanging all the way across.  The only thing he has that is long is his robe, so now that just hangs over on my side.

Here is both of our sides all caulked and painted.  Hooray!!  I love how clean it looks.  

I decided to paint the wall cleats on the back wall orange, so that they would blend in better.

And then came the hardest part of all...in fact, I kind of procrastinated it for a few days...hanging all the clothes rods.  Ughh....I absolutely hate that part.  I have no pictures of any of the process because I was so frustrated that I felt like chucking things across the room (just cuz I'm mature like that!)...so I really didn't want to pick up my camera!

But FINALLY it was done and WE LOVE IT!!  I am so glad I did it.  It seriously just makes me happy to put my clothes away now.  I never want to leave anything on the ground...but I wonder how long that will last??

So...here's what it looks like now!    The view from our bathroom...

My hubby's side...

My side...

I just LOVE the contrast of the color and the birch bookshelf...and I love that there are no longer huge toppling piles of sweaters.  I hated those.  ok...so I guess I do have one toppling sweater in the top left corner...dang, I didn't see that before I took the picture!

The brown half-bins are from Target and the full size bins are from Home Depot.  They have SO many color choices (they are Martha Stewart brand) that we were able to pick exactly what worked with our color scheme.  They seriously had three or four different browns!

So let's do some side by sides just to really see the difference...


Before...                                                                           After...

Before...                                                                        After...

Before and After (my side)...for some reason these pictures would not go in like the ones above!  grrr.

           
Before and After (laundry area)....ditto on the weird photo thing!

I LOVE our new hampers. We have never separated our colors and whites before and I am loving it.  It is so nice not to have to dig through the clothes to start a load now!  I am currently making a really fancy towel rack for my kids' bathroom and then I will move their more utilitarian one onto this wall above the hampers.  It will hold our towels for showering and I also figure it will be a great place to hang things that need to be ironed.  Then I might (might) actually remember to iron sometime.  We'll see....

Can I just say how lucky I am to be a stay-at-home mom and get to do these projects?  I LOVE IT.  Though, I am not the greatest at being very "Zen" and enjoying the process.  I told my husband that my very happiest days are the day we start a big project that I have dreamed about for SO long and then the day it is actually completed.  Those are my JOYFUL days!   Happy project-ing!!