Men's Closet Makeover

I was lying in the bathtub about 2 weeks ago and the view is straight into Joe's closet.  It wasn't a very good view to say the least. There was the beige carpet, the wire shelves, disheveled clothes, extra flooring from our old house shoved in the back forcing other things to get pushed forward. There was also the view of the horrible florescent light fixture.   Now it looks like this!  Behold! The coolest DIY project ever. Those ceiling tiles.  All of the sources are linked at the end of the blog post.

Here is the BEFORE when we first moved in.

And here is sort of what the state of the closet was in the present. Joe was using a blue bin to store summer clothes and using a red suit case with broken zippers.  I removed everything from the closet and forced him to sort the items he no longer wore.  He only got rid of a few items, including a beautiful pair of blue suede shoes he never wore because they were too big.  I got to work ripping out the carpet, painting the walls and making wooden shelf facades in order to keep the wire shelves. 

I used up the old flooring which saved some money and paint we had used in our pantry.  Joe helped me remove the florescent light and we added this beautiful brass school house fixture.

The ceiling tiles were definitely an experiment. I have never put up these before and learned a few things along the way. I started at the center to align the light fixture in the middle of the tile.  But looking back I kinda wish I started at the farthest wall so I didn't have to make so many extra cuts. I painted the tiles once installed and attached them using Command Velcro strips and some liquid nails.  I also caulked the seams.  

Joe now has a great place to store out of season clothes, in these cute gray fabric bins with rope handles.

His door was also painted prior to me starting this project and I added the milk glass door knob. 

Joe already had these vintage wooden pant hangers in this blonde wood color so naturally I purchased shirt hangers in the same color and decided to leave the shelves in their natural state. I just added a coat of Polyurethane. 

I am so in love with this old school fixture.  

No this is not a refrigerator. It just pretends to be. I scored it brand new for $50 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  It provides great storage for accessories and travel supplies. 

A proper tie holder was a must needed accessory organizer. I love that Joe can now hang them and they will stay ironed.

 

Sweaters should always be folded so instead of buying soft hanging baskets that would eat up valuable hanging space I decided Joe needed a bookcase to store them.  This was fun to build and turned out so  well. 

The door knob is so beautiful. It's made of solid brass in an oil rubbed bronze finish with a milk glass knob.

This little detail was something I came up with.  I thought it was to provide more stability when I connected the face trim pieces to the shelves. They are actually brass hinges.  We used nails to connect the pieces so these hinges are purely decorative. 

I found a cute "J" hook at Anthropologie and it's a great place to hang his robe. 

And now for some gratuitous ceiling shots. 

This project entailed everything I'm good at -organizing, color coding, painting and filled my week keeping me busy during the pandemic.  I will now be twiddling my thumbs until I come up with a new project.  Hope you like it. 

Sources

Wall Paint - Benjamin Moore Boothbay Gray

Coat Hangers -  Top Line

Gray Fabric Bins - Storageworks

Tie Hanger - Ohuhu

Belt Hanger - Ohuhu

Ceiling Tiles - A La Maison

Door Knob - Nostalgic Warehouse

Similar Wood Flooring - Dutch Barn Oak

Wood for Shelves- Home Depot

Light Fixture - Lamps Plus

xo
Cathleen

 

Boy's room makeover

I wish I could blame the Quarantine (and all the closeness) but I really can't. Separating my two boys was long overdue. Having a son in their early teen years was proving too much for my younger son who could no longer deal with all the teen angst. The pediatrician advised us to give the teen his own room (if we were able.) I guess I didn't really *need* my own craft room/gift wrapping room so I turned it into a room for my son.  Now my teen has a HUGE room all to himself and he is loving his own space. They both in fact love that they can be apart in their quiet spaces and come together to play when they're in the mood. It was emotional for me to see them want to split up, but in the end it was the right decision. And now that they are being home schooled they are finding their quiet rooms even more useful. 

Here is an idea of what the craft room looked like at one point. Although under the window once lived a bunny cage, and then an office space for my husband.  Because of this room change, you can imagine, most every other room also changed. I had to move my husband into my office space, the older son's room needed some reorganization, the game room also became the craft room (and also the work out room.)  So many changes!

BEFORE

NOW

The first major change was giving the walls a new color. I used the Benjamin Moore Paper White that I had left over from the downstairs. It was a perfect way to save some money and not have to go to the Hardware store unnecessarily. My son's initial wants were a "Green" room. Instead of going all green, I added Emerald Green velvet drapes and painted the closet door and the backside of his main door Green.

BEFORE

NOW

These built in counter tops at first seemed like too much storage for one kid, but it turns out having all this workspace during homeschooling time has been really beneficial. He has already made several art projects here and even has his own space for his laptop and an entire workspace for Legos. I was glad not to have to purchase a dresser and desk for him.

BEFORE 

A while back the light fixture broke in this room. The glass behind the metal frame cracked so we put in the light fixture that I originally bought for my office. It's a bit feminine but my son doesn't seem to mind at all. In fact he has found that the metal outside provides the perfect place to tuck old rubber WWE characters. 

NOW

BEFORE

NOW

The metal futon was already in the game room and to make room for my craft supplies in there I decided it was best to give him this bed. And it has a nice trundle for sleep over friends. His old bed remains in his old room so my older son can also host sleepovers. The beehive black and white rug is from Amazon. At first I had ordered a gray one from Overstock, but they sent the wrong color so I had to return it. 

A few of his favorite things: a dream catcher, his initial, and his most recent award, The Cub Scout Arrow of Light. I was on top of the ball and had this made for him before all this Coronavirus stuff hit, so I was able to present it to him this month. His pillow cases are from Restoration Hardware and the dog sheets are from Eddie Bauer Home.

The round gray table was something that came from his old room, a Habitat for Humanity find years ago.

Let me give a shout out to the store The Purple Painted Lady in NY.  That is where I purchased the Annie Sloan chalk paint for the doors. The customer service is extraordinary and she shipped it really fast.  The color is called "Amsterdam Green." And really was exactly the shade he wanted.  I used two coats and a final coat of Annie Sloan Wax to seal it in.

 BEFORE

I took down my wrapping paper rack and moved it into the game room (stay tuned for this makeover!) And we added Rubber Maid laminate Gray shelves and black metal brackets from the Home Depot. 

 NOW 

The closet also got some touch ups. The kids painted the walls a light aqua blue color (the ceiling color of their shared room.) 

 BEFORE

AFTER 

I put up a little robe hook and added some artwork (it's always fun to have unexpected things like art in a closet.)

It's not classy, but old record crates hold some of his clothes for now.

We hope everyone is well and finding ways to beat the boredom. We hope your kids didn't have to break up over this. Be safe everyone.

xo

Cathleen